Analyze two to five artists, designers, or influential art or design studios that are related to your interests in some way. Locate journal articles, interviews, book chapters, etc., to aid in your research. Some potential resources are listed below; you are encouraged too look for new, obscure, historical, or otherwise thought-provoking creators—not just mainstream pop culture.
Writing prompts:
The following are not required 'sections,' rather they are suggested prompts to help you focus your writing and research. Please do not number your essay with these sections; follow whatever path of inquiry seems interesting to you.
- Summarize their work, their legacy and their impact on a particular art or design field.
- Can you identify central themes, patterns, or behaviors in their work or habits?
- What is the context of their work? Was the work a part of an art or design movement, or influential period in art or design history?
- What was their path to get to where they are?
- Distill their ideas and achievements into main points and then relate those points to your own work, interests, learning path, and/or future plans.
Organzie your thoughts into a cohesive essay, including an introduction, conclusion, and paragrpahs devoted to discrete topics. Build your essay around a main idea or opinion of the work in question. Don't just summerize! Reveal your own point of view and connections by offering a new take on the material.
For each creator that you discuss, include a description of one or more work. Your description should familiarize the reader with the appearance, subject matter, distribution or exhibition context, and visual design choices made by the artist or designer. Use descriptive adjectives to articulate the precise aesthetic style or mood of the work.
Please use MS Word for this project.
- Name, date, title
- Minimum of 1000 words (2 pages single spaced)
- Bibliography using citations throughout writing
- Submit a DOCX file
- Word count met: 5%
- Formal writing style. Includes use of art and design vocabulary throughout writing: 40%
- Thoughtfully and critically answered writing prompts: 45%
- Spelling, punctuation, grammar: 10%
- Penn State Library: Filter by resources avaialble online. Search for a medium, subject, or keyword and start browsing! There are lots great books that collect works of a particular theme or media. Look for contemporary or historical examples.
- Fast Company: An essential design publication; features mainstream design and weird creative stuff.
- We Make Money Not Art: A quirky blog of new media art; search for keywords to browse years of material.
- Dribble: A social media platform for designers (mostly UI and graphic design)
- Creative Bloqq: A very pop-y blog of creative tech stuff.
- Surface Magazine: A high-brow publication on "architecture, art, design, fashion, and travel."
- 99% Invisible: Every deisgner's favorite podcast; browse years of stories on design of all kinds.
- Abstract: The Art of Design: A Netflix series about innovative desingers.
- Art21: A great video series on artists of all kinds.
- TED Talks: You know what they are; search for designers, artists, and practioners.
- Smashing Magazine's list of uncommon inspiration sources: links to various publications and IRL design examples like architecture and package design.
- The world around you: look through your books, albums, video games, or other design work that you love and find out who made it.