Course Syllabus
History of Graphic Design
Course Information
Instructor • Grendl Löfkvist
Please contact me through the Canvas Inbox. I'll respond to your messages within 48 hours, excluding weekends and school holidays. If you don't hear back during that time, please resend!
Office Hours
Most Thursdays 5:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. through ConferZoom. Please contact me 24 hours in advance through the Canvas inbox to make an appointment!
Course Description
A study of the development of visual communication in art, graphic design, illustration, and popular culture. The influence of political, social, technological, and commercial forces will be discussed and analyzed, with an emphasis on the use and interpretation of imagery, symbols, and type in design. An historical background will be provided through weekly reading assignments and slide lectures.
Course Requirements
Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Discuss the development of printed language from ancient civilizations up through contemporary processes.
- Identify graphic design movements and key figures in who have had a significant impact on the History of Design, as well as their relation to world events that influenced them.
- Analyze how design affects, and is affected by, various cultures.
- Describe the effect of changing technologies on the field of graphic design.
- Identify the influence of historical styles of graphic design in contemporary graphics.
Class Meetings
This is a MOSTLY asynchronous, full-term online class, with one synchronous Zoom meeting and four In-Person meetings at Mission Campus, Room 012.
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- Deadlines for quizzes, reading reviews ("Posts") and discussion submissions ("Replies") are on Sundays (Posts) and Wednesdays (Replies) at 10 p.m.
- All due dates are posted in the Modules and on the course calendar.
- If you need to miss more than one homework deadline in a row, please contact me in advance to avoid being dropped from the class.
Required Textbook
The required textbook is Graphic Design History: A Critical Guide. Johanna Drucker & Emily McVarish, Pearson Prentice Hall, Second Edition. It is available for purchase at our Campus bookstore, and you can often find used copies for sale online.
Grading Breakdown
Discussion Posts 300 points
Discussion Replies 150 points
Quizzes 150 points
In-Person Lab exercises 200 points (50 each)
Midterm exam 100 points
Final exam 100 points
Total Possible 1000 points
Grading Policy
All work will be graded on factual accuracy, quality of content, understanding of subject matter, and quality of research. All submitted assignments must be in your own words, your own work, and any quotations must be properly cited.
Plagiarism will result in a failing grade.
Grading Criteria
Weekly Reading & Lecture Reports
Post: Due Sunday!
Each week, you must complete the reading assignment and lecture(s) for that Module and write a brief review (between 200–400 words) of the reading and the lecture.
This should NOT be a recap of the chapter or lecture, but instead should take the form of questions and observations from the reading and/or lecture that interested you, inspired you, annoyed you, disgusted you, amazed you, etc.
Reply: Due Wednesday!
Next, please reply to another student in your group. Please choose someone who has not yet received a reply. Your reply should be about 80–200 words and should be thoughtful and respectful.
Generic replies such as "great idea!" or "love it" are not acceptable. Be specific!
Your interactions with your fellow students are important as you question and learn from each other, and failure to participate in group discussions will impact your grade considerably.
(You are not expected to write a review for the weeks that you have the midterm and final exams.)
Quizzes
You will be given several images to identify, meaning you need to know the title and/or designer and the time period.
You will have to answer a multiple choice question about each image. Each quiz covers one to two modules.
Exams
You will be asked to write a short, creative research essay on other voices in Graphic Design History and decolonizing design, from a personal perspective, with a full bibliography, for both the Midterm and the Final Exams.
In-Class Projects
We will have four hands-on projects. The purpose of these assignments is to invite you to try some of the historical techniques we are reading and learning about. They are intended to be engaging, educational, and fun! As such, they are an important part of your grade.
- The first of these is a calligraphy project where we try our hands at Uncial Script;
- The second is a letterpress project, setting and printing wood type;
- The third is a collage assignment in the spirit of DADA and Surrealism;
- The fourth is a stencil project, invoking the protest artwork of the 1960s and Atélier Populaire.
These projects are a fun way to engage with the course material hands-on. They will be graded, however, and are not optional!
Special Needs
Student Accessibility Services provides individualized counseling, priority registration, evaluation of learning disabilities, academic accommodations and more to students with disabilities.