I completed Art Criticism with a paper entitled Aural and Visual Sign Functioning: A Semiotic Analysis of Wassily Kandinsky’s Composition VIII discussing the entertwining communicative properties of visual and musical idioms.

I hope to post additional details (and pictures!) of our wedding in the near future. We just got a complete set of prints (around 300) from our photographer, and we’re really excited about getting them put in frames around our house.
Attached Files:

Aural and Visual Sign Functioning: A Semiotic Analysis of Wassily Kandinsky’s Composition VIII

also, here are some photos from our wedding (taken by my brother-in-law). tj getz (of getzcreative) also took bridal portraits of crystal available here.

this summer

I finished my spring quarter at SCAD in Savannah, and promptly moved all of my earthly possessions back up to my parent’s house in Greenville. No, I am not quitting my degree program, just merely relocating for pragmatic and financial reasons. The past year in Savannah has been a learning experience–certainly not always the easiest or most comfortable, but most valuable experiences aren’t. SCAD has been a mixed bag thus far, a mixture of disorganization, high tuition, and somewhat helpful classes, with a couple of extraordinary classes and professors thrown into the mix. Although I may be somewhat reticent to recommend SCAD at this point for graduate studies (at least in my field), I do know the direction of the new chair of the graphic design department, and the movement I’m seeing is positive.

So, all of these details about SCAD this past year leads me to my move back to Greenville. I realized early on that student loans were going to be one of the unfortunate casualties of my graduate education, but there’s nothing like looking at a loan statement for one year totaling over $18,000. This realization prompted me to consider working while completing my degree. Fortunately, SCAD offers an MFA in Graphic Design through distance learning, and, although the environment is not especially ideal, it does provide the pragmatic basis to pay off student loans, continue my education, and (most importantly) get married this fall. I have been working at Port City Java in Greenville since its first location opened in March 2004, and continued working in an assistant manager capacity until I left for SCAD last fall. Due to the gracious flexibility of management and owners, I was able to continue working to make extra money during breaks and on weekends up during my school quarters. After I made the decision to return to Greenville, PCJ was a logical choice to continue employment. So, I am currently working at PCJ as a store manager, soon to take control of a new store poised to open on Augusta Road. I have been training staff and dealing with logistical details since I returned on June 1, and hopefully will be opening in the next couple of weeks.

this fall

My primary plan for this fall is to get married. As most of you know, I proposed to Crystal Marquardt on August 28, 2005 in Baltimore, MD after a long friendship and brief dating period (original post of the engagement). Our wedding date is set for October 13, 2006 (yes, that would be a Friday, we’re quite aware) at a small bed and breakfast in Lancaster, SC. We both wanted a smaller wedding, so the ceremony and reception will include just family and close friends. We’ll just let all of our friends throw the big weddings! Crystal will be moving to Greenville at the end of August at the conclusion of her (and my) summer quarter at SCAD. At this point, she’ll be finished with her coursework for her MA in Art History, just leaving her master’s thesis to finish. I will continue taking classes, with a projected graduation date of August 2007, including my thesis.

the near future

For the near future, we plan to stay in Greenville while we both attempt to finish our masters degrees and pay off our student loans. I plan on staying on with PCJ for the next year or so while I finish off my coursework, and hope to eventually teach on the college level. In the more distant future, I hope to go back to school (for the last time, I think) for doctoral work. After spending much time researching Design doctoral work at a handful of schools (Carnegie-Mellon, SAIC, NC State), I feel that a more standard academic doctorate in Art History would serve me better for the long haul then a shaky degree in a still amorphous field (degree programs are still sketchy at best, including virtually no faculty with terminal degrees in the area of study). My best and most hopeful prospect for the future at this point is Emory University, which would be fully funded if I was able to get in (they accept only five candidates per year into their Art History program). Crystal and I are praying that God would lead us in the right path over the next number of years as we attempt to complete our education, and find the next thing He has for us.

We would welcome getting together with our friends that we’ve lost track of, or have inadvertently broken contact with. Although this summer will be busy with school, wedding plans, and work, we would welcome getting together with you as we finally get a place of our own in the Greenville area.

Following that lengthy proviso, I will provide updates to two of my classes, the third is stilll wrapping up. I posted a preliminary paper for Pre-Columbian Art in Mesoamerica a while back, and over the past several weeks, I expanded the material culture method (read: no research) into a real, live, 15-page research paper complete with cool footnotes, figures, and everything. Who said academia is dead? Suprisingly, I already received the paper back from the professor, and aside from minor notes and elaboration on minutia I would have no way of knowing anything about, the paper was well received (for all those keeping track, that was a B+). So, for that class, I just get to present my research on Wednesday for all of the adoring mesoamerican students.

In semiotics, things have also been grand. Lectures have been stimulating, and I’ve had a number of chances to talk about Christianity within the theoretical and philosophical realms as it relates to our diverse and broad discussions (including evaluation of truth, beauty, behavior, creativity, the sacred and profane, color theory, et al). Suffice it to say, semiotics has been a whirlwind of thought and a dramatically affective construct to write within. The paper that I posted below has gone through some changes, hopefully positive, establishing a better overall conception of semiotics, and the essence of style, both in a universal and specific sense. This discussion of style allowed me to synthesize with art history, which is what I really love anyway. Fortunately, only a rewrite (or edit) of this paper was required for final submission (which, incidentally, is today), which becomes even more positive when considering the aforementioned mesoamerican paper, and a large digital studio project that is coming due this week as well.

[Just an editor’s note: if you don’t know what semiotics is (and I sure didn’t before I started my graduate degree), it’s OK. I provide a reasonably concise explanation of the semiotic model in my paper, attached below.]

I’ll just briefly note the digital studio project, since it is still in the final developmental stages. All quarter, my group (consisting of four members) has been developing a web site from the ground up for the Savannah Civil Rights Museum, aka the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum. I was fortunately able to sign on as the technical lead, primarily building out the site in code, while others dealt with the visual design and content. I say “fortunately” with my tongue-in-cheek since one of my group members decided to not do the aforementioned visual design. This resulted in me doing the entire visual design, in addition to all of the other responsibilities I already had. This has especially been evident this past weekend, where I spent three days of my holiday weekend working at this project. My only solace is the fact that the project is due on Wednesday.

Attached Files:

Political and Religious Symbology at Río Bec B: Power as Symbol in Temple B(yes, it’s the same title)

A Semiotic Analysis of Post-World War One Graphic Design: An Associational Study of Signs in De Stijl(same here)

In the realm of semiotics, lecture has been fascinating, and the paper that I recently completed ties many of the concepts we have discussed into an analytic framework that allows a semiotic analysis of a specific object or movement. I have chosen to work within the graphic design and traditional art movement of the De Stijl in the Netherlands (1917-1928), analyzing the sign functioning of complex gestalts and anti-naturalist features within the style. Further, I briefly explored the movement from introduced complex gestalts to the eventual recognition or comprehension of these complex gestalts as simple, or natural gestalts. This transformation of sign denotatum in the universal context allowed the perpetuation of universal signs, primary as logos and graphic symbols, later in the twentieth century. I’ll be writing a revision and expansion of this paper later in the quarter, hopefully using a more significant portion of my extensive bibliography in my citations.

Political and Religious Symbology at Río Bec B: Power as Symbol in Temple A

A Semiotic Analysis of Post-World War One Graphic Design: An Associational Study of Signs in the De Stijl

Semiotics in Visual Communication Syllabus

As a proviso to my discussion of this project and course, it is helpful to understand that identity and logo design is not my specialty. As many from my undergraduate career can attest, logo design is neither a talent or desire of mine in the scope of graphic design. I very much enjoy creating logotypes–I love tweaking letterforms and attributes to create a beautiful product–but I do not approach brandmark or logo projects with the same level of skill or enthusiasm. I understand the importance of identity design in the graphic design industry, but due to the increased segmentation of the design market, identities are generally created by specialized agencies. I choose to specialize in other areas of graphic design. I actually interned at an branding agency in Greenville (fuel) during my undergraduate degree, and, after learning more about their approach to branding, and the general feel of that portion of the industry, I found that there are many areas of graphic design I am much more effective in. Unfortunately, I was not able to opt out of this course due to my aversion to identity design. I am reasonably happy with the result, especially after spending many hours executing three disctinct approaches to this logo from my research and thumbnails (to attempt to satisfy the professor.) Unfortunately, the professor was never too thrilled with any of my solutions, so I eventually gave up my quest for the “approved” logo, and moved on to the production of my brand guidelines, mostly out of necessity.

Through the production of my brand guidelines brochure, I made a vast visual departure from my early design concepts, and settled on a textural treatment that more accurately depicted the natural foundation of CHCC. Fortunately, the professor was happier with this piece, although he still maintained a distinct dislike for the logo included on each page. Lots of work went into this piece, and it ended up at almost thirty pages, including brand identity, brand application, environmental graphics, and merchandising.

The final project was stuffed into the final two weeks of the quarter, and included the creative production of a direct mail media kit. Creative execution and consistent brand identity were important in this concluding piece. I chose a format about the size of a DVD case, with a CD and fold out trifold brochure inside. The trifold also tears away from the CD, and folds out into a branded poster for increased brand identification. The graphic treatment followed the design of the brand guidelines, partially for brand consistency, partially out of time necessity (the two pieces came due together, even though 3X as much time had been spent on the eBrochure.) I’m pretty happy with the final design, and the textural treatment represents a pretty clear departure from my trademark clean and sophisticated style. The entire project reinforces my general dislike for the branding market, but also resulted in further exploration of textural design and description of brand components.

Additional Downloads

Market Research Paper
Market Research Paper
Logo Design Narrative
Chattahoochee eBrochure

This personal journalistic perspective in mind, my comments on my courses and professors relate my individual feelings and experiences in this vital stage of my educational process. My comments do not necessarily reflect the feelings of my alma mater, my professors, or my family and friends. Although some comments may appear harsh or denying personal responsibility, I have generally taken every effort to resolve the issue before it appears in a summarized statement. I have made every attempt to give the professor the benefit of the doubt, and in the majority of cases, I learn much through the educational process. Unfortunately, this quarter has been exceptionally difficult, both intellectually and academically. Through the course of this quarter, I have sought opinions from several trusted friends, and, in combination with the criticism of the professor, have attempted to refine my graphic design work. I have received helpful comments from my professors this quarter, but, in the case of social awareness, these comments were sometimes overshadowed by personal bias. Although I had not shared these classroom experiences (since my blog was not pursuant to those goals), they have shaped my perceptions of professors and their criticism. To reject the shaping effect of personal bias on classroom teaching and criticism is ludicrous. My personal bias (or worldview) revolves around my relationship with Christ, and every life experience and design problem can only be understood in relation to that primary relationship. The secular classroom is meant to be a neutral exchange of ideas, but often, the personal worldview of the professor has overwhelmed the proposed neutrality of the subject. I do not posit that the Christian classroom is without bias, or that either educational situation provides an excuse for the Christian to mentally disengage, but, rather, it provides an opportunity to engage secular culture within the necessary Christian context. I have been extremely reticent to provide negative educational context, especially because the majority of my courses at SCAD thus far have been extremely helpful. My positive experiences far outweigh the negative, but to ignore the negative critique and conversation would be disingenuous.

In social awareness, the professor made a point of decrying traditional Christianity and moral values, instead inserting her views on the necessity of Transcendental Meditation and Buddhist philosophy to engage a design problem. It became evident following a series of email correspondence and classroom discussion with the professor that the values that I was attempting to communicate were not understood on a cognitive or visual level (our communication was not effective, probably from either direction.) Further, the project was executed on behalf of the client (in this case, International Christian Concern), and in every other case, design solutions were judged based on the client’s needs and audience appropriateness. It became evident, through the suggestions offered by the professor, that she did not understand or acknowledge the audience appropriateness required by this project. I made every effort to satisfy her unstated visual desires, but, because of incompatible visual languages in the area of religion, we could not come to an amicable consensus on this project.

In summary, my faith in Christ dictates my design methodology. To approach any design problem apart from this foundation would deny the efficacy of Christ to mediate any problem in life. Although a Christian should approach any conflict or disagreement with tact and sensitivity, when confronted with a choice between academic (or visual) acceptability and my ultimate responsibility to Christ, I will gladly reject secular favor in exchange for a clear conscience. Although my goal is to pursue higher education, both as a student, and eventually as a professor, I have come to the conclusion that an acceptable grade is never an excuse to forsake my faith.

Although I spent many hours working on the project, and despite the appopriateness of the end product for the market, the professor was not happy with the end result. After reviewing her comments (reproduced below), I can only come to the conclusion that she did not understand the christian target audience, or that she had some antogonism toward the presentation of this aspect of the gospel. I included elements of iconography that are vital to a complete understanding of the flyers: a cross to represent christian suffering (”take up my cross”; identification with early church martyrdom), drops of blood to represent death and suffering (clearly identified with Christ’s drops of blood at Gesthemane; a demonstration of the suffering inherent with following Christ), and a crown of thorns on the final poster to directly identify with Christ (identification with the suffering of Christ in our redemption, thus Christ’s suffering is the reason for our own suffering). These icons are carried through in some form to the brochures, although in a diminished sense. The texture of the two pieces defines the gravity and violence of the topic, and unifies the two pieces as part of the same campaign.

As the comments below clarify, the campaign obviously held depth of meaning and message to classmates, but, for whatever reason, this feeling was not shared by the professor of this course. Although I have no regrets for presenting the gospel in this context, the incompatibility of subject matter for the professor may have resulted in a less than desirable grade.

Additional Downloads

Project 2 Classroom Brief
Project 2 Personal Design Brief

Additional Notes

February 20, 2006
Professor Casem

I reread your Brief to see what your goals were but none were stated except for the general strategy of the ICC itself. I can only assume it would be fundraising and general awareness? I’m not sure how hard it’s working toward either of those goals. Nothing outside of your headline addresses religion or Christianity — or persecution for that matter. Your headline would be more effective if you dropped the nation and just said,
“What would it be like
to be persecuted for your faith?”

The rice paper or paper texture is pleasant. The color connotes bloody.

I’d agree, it’d be stronger with soft edges all around.

Let’s see if you can get more of the subject matter into it.

February 27, 2006
Professor Casem

I agree with Matt. The style difference is so drastic from one to the other… Aren’t they supposed to be pieces of the same campaign?

On the brochure — is this the outside of the brochure or is it only a two-sided card? The photo is great in that it says “China” but I’m not sure how it relates to religious persecution.
–The typeface is so modern and ordered that I don’t feel any tension as I believe it should if the subject is persecution. We’re talking PERSECUTION here and it feels like a pleasant travel brochure almost. Shouldn’t persecution be painful, mentally or emotionally, if not physically? Where’s the outrage? the hostility? the deep faith? You’ve not tapped into that. It feels more decorative.

Flyer
You have added some content but not very innovatively. The type feels like an invitation to a garden party. “What are you willing to do for your faith” has more emotion in it than the entire flyer.
– why not ghost back the cross, multiply in P’shop? so it looks more subtle? Or what about the “fish” icon?
I still have a problem with 3 straight edges and one deckled.

I don’t feel you’re digging emotionally into the subject. This should feel more like pain and courage.

March 1, 2006
Colin Gray

I have a few questions regarding my final project for OL social awareness. I have been working with International Christian Concern (persecution.org) on a few items for informational and awareness purposes. From the helpful comments you provided, it seemed that we were looking at this campaign from two separate vantage points, perhaps compounded by my potentially non-comprehensive brief. You had recently suggested a grittier (for lack of a better word) approach to the subject, and someone else suggested amnesty.org as a source of inspiration. After working with my contact, they made it reasonably clear following my initial design consultation and later contacts, that these materials were for a very broad audience in a church setting, and thus had to be “toned down” for family appropriateness (I had originally suggested a stronger approach as an option). I tried to accomplish both ideas (grittiness and family appropriateness) by utilizing heavy texture (unusual for a church application) and thought provoking copy, thus leaving a “fill in the blank” for people to think out for themselves. You had also remarked that the two pieces (brochure and flyers) didn’t look like they were in the same campaign; they were never really meant to be used side-by-side, and were presented as two separate projects that needed work by the client. The flyers are more meant for overall awareness and thought, and the brochures are designed for detailed informational purposes for a specific country, thus they are not really going to be deployed together. That being said, I did initially explore texture, but found that it limited the clarity and amount of copy that could be placed, thus defeating the purpose of the informational brochure for this application.

From looking at other student projects and reading over the design guidelines posted on the site, it appeared that this project was largely guided by the non-profit client. Although I understand that, for logistical and objective grading reasons, the client cannot control the entire process, it did seem that the client’s wishes were a definite guiding factor. I am perfectly willing to make alterations to these pieces and redesign if necessary, but at this point, the client is pretty happy with the results. I suppose what I’m asking is whether you want me to keep on pushing the project for the classroom experience, even if the result isn’t necessarily appropriate for the target market? Any comments would be appreciated. I would like to do well on this project, and am willing to work hard for a good result, but would appreciate guidance in making that happen. Thanks for your time.

March 1, 2006
Professor Casem

Thank you for your note. I understand what you’re saying about the client being happy but we all know that clients are not
the best judges of good design — which is why I’ve continually said you all need to create work worthy of graduate level
design. That is your priority. If it satisfies the client, great, but if it doesn’t, you still need to honor the class project
requirements.

You can go ahead and give these to the client if you like but you need to create several more pieces AND bring these up
to grad level standards based on the commentary I gave earlier. The two pieces you have now would perhaps be
acceptable on an undergrad level but they need to evolve enormously for this class for your sake. As they are now, they’re
not working at all. Dig deep. Try to get inside the head of someone who’s being persecuted. See if you can express the
fear and the pain along with the faith.

March 6, 2006
Jeff Knight

The imagery you use in this campaign really caught my attention. I’m a big fan of the texture and the use of symbols to get your point across. I don’t know what the religious tolerance there is in China, or other countries in the world, for Christianity, so I’m not going to comment on the appropriateness of the message.

I’m assuming you’ve done your research and you’ve come up with evidence to support your goals. However, I’m not sure how much you want to connect the concept of fear with specific countries. It seems to lend a part in apprehention for visiting those countries. Like your tagline says, Would you go to church if it wasn’t comfortable? On the same hand why would I visit the country if they were persecuting Christians? this might be stretching it a bit far, but I think a lot of people will associate with this and it of course depends on ones personal beliefs). Just a thought.

I will however say you’ve done a great job in getting my attention through the design you’ve created. In terms of the brochure, I really like the background, it helps separate some of the elements in the foreground nicely. The text is easily readable and the fonts you’ve chosen are nice as well.

The posters really make an impact. The colors are very vibrant and engaging. I think on the green one the cross could be bumped up in darkness a little.

Overall, I really like the design you’ve created and it definitely achieves it’s goal of being noticed. Good work!

March 8, 2006
Colin Gray

I just received my grade for my process book, and I have to say that I’m a bit confused. When I turned my book in at midterms, I received full points and no comments, so I assumed that I was following the format and content level that you wanted. When I turned in my final book in identical format, apparently the format was not acceptable.

You noted in my grading comments that “Your process books was supposed to be one seamless PDF file for each project. It should be well organized and contain the project assignment, original thoughts, the Brief, research info, sketches and revisions to final comps.” According to the guidelines on the website, posted below, the “pages” were merely supposed to be organized in a folder. Nowhere did you specify that they were to be in a combined pdf file. If you have specified this, I would have been more than happy to make it happen. Also, since you had approved my earlier book with a full score, I didn’t know that you wanted our research and original assignment in the book, and it was never noted in the assignment itself. I have pdfs of all of these elements, but thought you wanted primarily project development in the actual book. At this point, I feel like there has been a communication lapse, and the posted project description was never specific enough to convey the information you expected. If you would allow me to resubmit or supplement the material I have already provided with the other materials I already have on hand, it would be most helpful. Thank you for your help.

-colin gray

Process Book

Submit your completed process book, detailing the development of Design Projects 1 and 2.

The contents of the book must be digitized in reasonably accessible formats, such as PDF, RTF, or MS Word (image files should be embedded in these formats).
Place all “pages” of the book in a folder named “jdoe_processbk”. (Replace “jdoe” with your first initial and last name.)
Zip the folder, and submit it via the “Submissions” link in the course menu.

March 10, 2006
Professor Casem

The midterm process books is a yes/no submission. I acknowledge its submission with a 100. If not submitted, I give a
0 but the process books is not graded and carries zero weight. The one at the end of the Quarter is the only one that
counts. I thought you submitted it in pieces only because it didn’t count for a grade.

I would think that since this is not your first Quarter at SCAD as a grad student, you would already be aware of what’s
appropriate for a process book and what’s not. Grad reviews include and give strong weight to a thorough, organized
process book. You were the only person in this class and previous classes who submitted piecemeal files so I must
assume other students are aware of and do understand what constitutes a Process Book. I was going to attach a typical
one from our class so you could see what should be included but the files are all too large. The number of pages varies
from 52-108.

In the course Syllabus, Prof. Boylston (the writer of the online course) wrote this about graduate Process Books:

Your process book is both a scrapbook and a journal which details the process by which you developed your designs in
this course. Because files are submitted electronically, you will need to digitize the contents and “the book” in reasonably
accessible formats, such as PDF, RTF, or MS Word (image files should be embedded in these formats). You will be asked
to submit your process book at midterm (complete through Design Project 1) and at the end of the term (complete for
Design Projects 1 and 2). Note that your process book is an important document, for it illustrates your progress as a
designer. A well-written, well-kept process book will assist you in the 15-Hour Graduate Review required of all MA
candidates. The Graduate Review is a committee review of your work in the program after completing 15 graduate credit
hours. Students are asked to submit 6 of their best graphic design projects in addition to their process books, design
narratives, transcripts and a resume.

As you can see, “The Book” he describes is not plural. It’s a single file. However, since you claim ignorance and I didn’t
take any specific steps to correct you at midterm, I will raise your grade to a C for the process book. I would highly
recommend however that you redo it completely before you get to your Grad Reviews or that alone will cause you to fail.
Ignorance is no excuse. At the grad level, you must take responsibility for your education.

Perspectival Difference in Untitled 1972
Image Appendix
Class Presentation Slides