Goal

The goal of this assign­ment is to use com­mu­ni­cate abstractly through the use of symbols.

Objective

The objec­tive of this assign­ment is to cre­ate a series of three sym­bols that illus­trate (and com­bine) oppo­sites using Adobe Illustrator.

Background Reading

• Pic­tograms http://​en​.wikipedia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​P​i​c​t​o​g​ram
• Sym­bols http://​en​.wikipedia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​S​y​m​bol
• Icon (tra­di­tional) http://​en​.wikipedia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​I​con
• Semi­otics http://​en​.wikipedia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​S​e​m​i​o​t​ics
• Olympic Pic­tograms http://​www​.nytimes​.com/​i​n​t​e​r​a​c​t​i​v​e​/​2​0​1​0​/​0​2​/​2​4​/​s​p​o​r​t​s​/​o​l​y​m​p​i​c​s​/​p​i​c​t​o​g​r​a​m​s​-​i​n​t​e​r​a​c​t​i​v​e​.​h​tml
• Sym­bols http://​www​.aiga​.org/​c​o​n​t​e​n​t​.​c​f​m​/​s​y​m​b​o​l​-​s​i​gns
• Exam­ples http://​abduzeedo​.com/​a​m​a​z​i​n​g​-​p​i​c​t​o​g​r​a​m​s​-​a​n​d​-​i​c​ons
• http://​www​.logode​signlove​.com/​n​e​g​a​t​i​v​e​-​s​p​a​c​e​-​l​o​g​o​-​d​e​s​ign
• https://​www​.andyrut​ledge​.com/​g​e​s​t​a​l​t​-​p​r​i​n​c​i​p​l​e​s​-​1​-​f​i​g​u​r​e​-​g​r​o​u​n​d​-​r​e​l​a​t​i​o​n​s​h​i​p​.​h​tml
• San­toro, Chaper 5 p127-150 and Chap­ter 10 p 255–276
• Dab­ner p 34–41, 166–169

Assignment

Plan, cre­ate, develop and pro­duce a sim­ple abstract sym­bol that com­mu­ni­cates the mean­ing of the cho­sen term pair. Com­bine the result­ing solu­tion into a hybrid third mark. Repro­duce the sym­bol as directed on the attached template.

Part One

Choose a few term pairs from the list below. Research those pairs, and then choose one to pro­ceed. Sketch a min­i­mum of 20 solu­tions to the pair, rep­re­sent­ing at least three (3) con­cepts and sev­eral visual vari­a­tions on form. Explore var­i­ous styl­is­tic deriv­a­tives includ­ing var­i­ous shapes (free-form, geo­met­ric, etc), high-con­trast images, and var­i­ous art styl­is­tic tech­niques (paint-like, print-like, etc). You are lim­ited to black and white vec­tor art­work only. Type, gra­di­ents or tints are not allowed. Choose the best pair and pro­ceed to the computer.

• Admit-Deny
• Ancient-Mod­ern
• Ascend-Descend
• Begin­ning-End
• Bright-Dim
• Sharp-Dull
• Ebb-Flow
• Fre­quent-Sel­dom
• Implode-Explode
• Inflate-Deflate
• Pri­vate-Pub­lic

Part Two

Using Adobe Illus­tra­tor, cre­ate a vec­tor ver­sion of each oppo­site sym­bol. Once com­pleted, com­bine the two marks into a third sym­bol. Use the pathfinder and sim­i­lar tools to recre­ate the mark as a work­ing file, and the com­bine the var­i­ous lay­ers to cre­ate a final­ized graphic. Present all ver­sions of vec­tor illus­tra­tions includ­ing oppo­site sym­bols and com­bined third for review. Prints for cri­tique. PDF for grading.

Part Three

Com­plete the project tem­plate with the sym­bols as directed. Print this final Part, and save a PDF ver­sion of this file in the appro­pri­ate D2L dropbox.

Assessment

• The fol­low­ing rubric posted on D2L will deter­mine assign­ment score: Assign­ment 02.04: Oppo­sites Attract

Techniques

Pen tool, Pathfinder Palette, Sav­ing, file struc­ture, PDF creation

Supplies

Lay­out paper, pen­cil, Adobe Illus­tra­tor and/or Pho­to­shop, access to b/w and color laser printer, tem­plate file(.zip)