CSULB ART 366 • MEDIA DESIGN: Web & Interactive Design

Syllabus | Projects | Exercises | Site Analysis

SYLLABUS

TTH 7pm - 9:45pm • LA5-369
Instructor: Mari Abril
Office Hours: TTH 6:30am - 7pm or by appointment
email: mabril@csulb.edu
Studio Phone: (619) 881-9826 (please email me)

Important Dates
Furloughs (no class)
Th 1/28
Th 2/11
Th 2/25
Th 3/11
Th 4/8
Th 5/6
Th 5/13

Spring Break
3/29 - 4/2

Final Exam
Th 5/20, 7:15pm - 9:15pm

Course Description
This course prepares students by giving them the skills and principles to design for nonlinear environments. Students learn how to, conceptually, theoretically, and aesthetically, design for web standards, information progression, usability, and accessibility.

This will probably be the most difficult class that you have taken thus far in your educational career because you will be responsible for learning new software and creating interesting and exciting projects in a realm that most of you are unfamiliar with. I want to expose you to as much as possible in the web design field. This is why this course is so intense. I demand that you will give every project your all. You are working hard not only to learn the computer programs but you are also working hard to get portfolio pieces. I expect to see solutions that I have never seen before. I expect to hear comments during
critiques that are articulate and well thought out.

Go above and beyond the norm or obvious and raise the bar.

Students will work on short in-class examples that will help strengthen their understanding in the standard web languages, specifically XHTML, CSS, JavaScript and Actionscript. They will also work on long-term assignments that will focus on content management, design and site pitches. The end goal is to have students be able to complete an entire project in web and multimedia design using the most advance technologies available.

Prerequisites
YOU MUST HAVE COMPLETED ART 326 Computer Graphics

You must have the prerequisites to take this course. Even if you are enrolled, you must have
prerequisites to remain in this class. Students may be required to show proof of their prerequisites.
Students will be added to the class based on the professor’s own determination.

Students who do not attend the first two class sessions will be automatically dropped from
the class roster and will be responsible for formally withdrawing from the course.
Withdrawals must be made according to CSULB policies and deadlines. Incompletes will
only be considered at the professor’s discretion under extremely extenuating circumstances.

Goals
1. Gain knowledge of web design with an understanding of core process, strategic planning, content organization, information progression, accessibility, user scenarios, etc.

2. Use traditional design, aesthetic and conceptual paradigms to reinforce sensibilities, while developing alternate structures.

3. Gain an understanding of nonlinear storytelling and application as it relates to interactivity.

4. Explore alternative forms of layout and apply it to web content through a building process utilizing traditional structures.

5. Understand the use of time and/or interactivity in visual work as a tool for communication.

6. Increase knowledge and use of industry-standard, web-related software and programming languages.

Format
The class format includes critiques, lectures, discussions, demonstrations, in-class worksessions, exercises and formal assignments. You will be given formal assignments via project briefs that are broken down into research, user scenarios, concept development, site mapping, storyboarding, prototyping and final
solutions. These projects are designed to help you learn how to apply formal compositional paradigms to dynamic media communication. The exercises will provide hands-on learning of specific web technologies. Each is designed to enhance the knowledge learned in demonstrations.

Materials
REQUIRED
Lynda.com subscription
http://www.lynda.com/Member.aspx

Hosting and Domain
To be discussed in class

Sketchbook
Personal, will not be graded or reviewed

Notebook
This graded notebook is for notetaking, site maps, research, concept development, storyboarding, etc. See Notebook Description

Creative materials to complete Storyboards, Roughs, Sketches, etc.

Magnets for posting roughs and sketches

Data Storage Devices (USB drive, CDr/DVDr, ipod, external hard drive, etc.)

OPTIONAL/RECOMMENDED
An at home Ink jet Printer with paper and ink supplies
A digital camera

RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Web ReDesign 2.0: Workflow that Works (2nd Edition) by Kelly Goto
Hands-On-Training Series
Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium Classroom in a Book

Attendance
3 unexcused absences will result in the lowering of one full letter grade. Each absences after the third unexcused absence will continue to lower your overall grade by one letter grade. 3 tardies is equivalent to one absence. Excused absences are for very serious situations only and must be discussed with the Professor and student. Excused absences are for extreme situations, i.e. life or death situation to the student or immediate family or an extreme illness (must be followed by a doctor’s note or official notice of some kind). If a student does not approach the Professor regarding the situation it will be unexcused. A scheduled doctor’s appointments, portfolio review, school/another class event, traffic, working, oversleeping, etc. are not excusable. It is the student’s responsibility to notify the professor promptly of the expected dates of predictable excused absences.

Because of an anticipated increase in seasonal and H1N1 flu, any student who has influenza-like illness should stay home until 24 hours after fever is gone. Absent students should notify instructors prior to each missed class by email or telephone. As much as possible, instructors will accommodate students who are absent due to influenza-like illness, but it may not always be possible to make up work missed. In considering students requests to withdraw from courses, flu illness will be considered a “serious and compelling reason”.

More information about influenza is available by following the “Medical Advisory, Flu Information” link on the university home page, www.csulb.edu.

Course Work
PROJECTS (3)
1 Corporate HTML Web Site (25% of total grade)
2 Film Web Site (25% of total grade)
3 Personal Web Site (25% of total grade)

Each project will include site planning, a site map, wire-frame designs, storyboards, roughs and sketches and final html/swf files turned in on cd/dvd and uploaded to your web space. Each project will build upon your design and aesthetic sensitivity while giving you real problems to solve with the computer technology. This will increase your knowledge of the computer programs and give you a real world understanding of the scope and appropriateness of each in association with the project. The specific details of these projects and grading guidelines will be presented in assignment briefs.

EXERCISES (5)

SITE ANALYSES (15)
Based on the criteria, the site reviews will allow you to explore the variations of sites
on the web.

NOTEBOOK
A notebook will hold your notes and your documentation for the sites you are designing

Grading

Late Work
If a project isn’t turned in on the due date, at the time indicated it is late. If a project is turned in late on the same day (i.e. if you are tardy) the grade will drop half a grade (i.e.. A- to B+) For each class period after the due date, the late project will receive a lower grade by one letter grade (i.e. A- to B-) per class period.

In the event of an excused absence students must turn in their project the next class session.

If a project isn’t turned in on the due date, at the time indicated it is late. If a project is turned in late on the same day (i.e. if you are tardy) the grade will drop half a grade (i.e.. A- to B+) For each class period after the due date, the late project will receive a lower grade by one letter grade (i.e. A- to B-) per class period.

In the event of an excused absence students must turn in their project the next class session.

Revisions
You may redo a project for a better grade if it was turned in on time the first time. Revising your work is no guarantee for a better grade. There must be an improvement. Your grade will not go down, regardless. You may only re-do the first two projects. The final project is due on the last day of class. Resubmitted work must be turned in by Thursday, May 20 [FINAL DAY]. Please see me for explanation of specific re-do comments.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism=taking someone else’s ideas or work and passing it off as your own. A single
instance of plagiarism will result in a failing course grade regardless of the grades on other
assignments. You may also be suspended or expelled from the University as deemed
appropriate by the Academic Integrity Committee. It is simply NOT TOLERATED.

Campus Policies
Withdrawals
The deadline to withdraw without a “W” on your transcript is February 7, 2010. The final deadline to withdraw from the course is April 09, 2010. The University policy on dropping and withdrawing from classes is set forth in the Spring 2008 schedule of classes. Students are obligated to officially withdraw from their courses even though they have not attended. Withdrawals require the signature of the instructor, the chairperson and the dean of the college. Drops are not permitted without the Dean’s signature as stated in the spring school schedule material.

Special Accommodations
Students with disabilities who need reasonable modifications, special assistance, or accommodations in this course should promptly direct their request to the course instructor. If a student with a disability feels that modifications, special assistance, or accommodations offered are inappropriate or insufficient, he/she should seek the assistance of the Director of Disable Student Services on campus. Disabled Students Services is located in Brotman Hall, SS/AD 270.

Academic Integrity
Students in this course will be expected to comply with California State University, Long Beach Policy on Academic Integrity. Any student suspected of violating this obligation for any reason during the semester will be required to participate in the procedural process, initiated at the instructor level, as outlined in the University Guidelines on Academic Integrity. This may include, but is not limited to, the confiscation of the examination of any individual suspected of violating University Policy. Furthermore, no student may bring any unauthorized materials to an examination, including dictionaries and programmable calculators. It’s the student’s responsibility to drop a course he or she does not plan to attend.

Campus Computer/Network Usage
Careful and ethical use of computing resources is the responsibility of every user. As a user of these resources, you agree to be subject to the guidelines of the “Policy Governing Access to and Use of CSULB Computing Resources.” These guidelines apply to all computing resources provided by the University some guidelines are more directly related to time-sharing systems, some to microcomputers and local area networks and some to all systems.