Module 2

Design

This week is all about design. Your first question is probably, why are we doing design now when the portfolio is not due until much later? For one, as you will read in an excerpt from Bryan Lawson’s How Designers Think, design is endless; thus, the sooner you start the better your portfolio design will be. Design is writing, and writing is design. It’s better when you have some time to try some different options rather than try to cram it all in at the end.

What are the affordances of 15th century print?

It’s also easier to think about the options and opportunities for showcasing your work when you understand the constraints. Gunther Kress defines design decisions as assessing the affordances or potential of a mode or medium within the constraints of the rhetorical situation. For example, you might imagine for your portfolio that you would take readers on a virtual reality journey through your mental process as you write, but the constraints of the medium, time, and your technical skill would make that very difficult.

For his week, the module is in two parts.

For Module 2.1, you will be learning about the basics of design. Jenkin’s video is from the Lynda.com course that you have access to if you have a Denver Public Library card. Rather than make you go through all those steps, I have included the video here in MP4 format. Watching the whole thing from start to finish in one sitting might put you to sleep, so keep track of where you are so you can watch it in bits. Another thing to note is that most of her examples have her designing in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, two advanced graphics editing programs. The theories are the same even if you are only adjusting space and colors in DU Portfolio or Google Sites, or changing themes and templates in Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress.

For Module 2.2, you will be producing two homepages using two separate online web design tools. Review the technology overview so you understand your options, then select two of them to design a mock portfolio homepage with.

 

Module 2.1

Reading this week

Design this week

 

Module 2.2

Reading this week

Design this week