Week 1: Aug. 27

Introduction to visual communication, syllabus, key course concepts

Semiotics of architecture: a campus tour

First outline (.pdf download)

What is culture? Visual culture? Visual rhetoric?

For Wednesday:
1. Read the syllabus for a possible quiz.
2. Contemplate the questions, "What is culture?" and "What is visual culture?"

For Friday:
Your first safari (instructions here)

Week 2: Sept. 3

The visual rhetoric of comics (outline) | Visual media & discursive surfaces | Personification | Roy Lichtenstein and the rhetoric of comics

Silence speaking: Chris Rock, Kristi Yamaguchi

Chapter 1: Seeing, sensing, selecting & perceiving

No class Monday: Labor Day

For funsies: Visual rhetoric of tattoos | The grammar of comics | an explanation of Fair Use | Comics going digital | Comics to teach science

For Wednesday:
1. Read Chapter 10. Ask yourself: What is the grammar of comics and cartoons? The vocabulary? What is the rhetoric of comics?
2. Second safari: Half the class bring in a photograph or example of the oddest, or most unusual, unexpected artifact of visual culture

For Friday:
Read Chapter 1 (probable quiz)

Week 3: Sept. 10

Seeing, sensing, selecting & perceiving | Ch. 1

Light as metaphor | How we see | How we perceive (Ch. 2 (COLOR, FORM, DEPTH, MOVEMENT)

For funsies: Afghan eyes | Visual rhetoric of TV news | Visual symbolism of 'State of the Union' addresses

For Wednesday:
1. Read chapter 2.
2. Third safari: Other half of the class bring in a photographic example of light used as metaphor. Original photography; no photoshopping.

Week 4: Sept. 17

Introduction to visual communication theory (chapter 3):

• Gestalt (Think brown)
• Using Gestalt in web design
• Semiotics (Berger, Peirce, Barthes)
• Cognitive theory (memory, projection)
• Constructivism

Peirce's symbolic code (iconic, idexical, symbolic)

Newsbreak: French newspaper & controversial images; and the film that has sparked so much violence AND

USA Today's re-design: The power of dots.

Safari #4, for Monday: Half the class bring in a still photo you took of a "broken dream." On back: name, date taken, location; no Photoshopping.

Probable quiz Friday: Chapter 3.

For funsies:

• Annotated Watchmen
• mindthecurb.com
• Saudi Arabia to ban the "X"?
• Swastika on a Buddha?

Week 5: Sept. 24

Berger's Metonymic (Snicker's ad), analogical, displaced, condensed codes -- another outline for note-taking

>>The Washington Post on Snicker's ad (an example of a metonymic code)

>>Andy Warhol's newspaper art (an example of a condensed code), with commentary

NO CLASS Friday: BC in Tuscaloosa

Safari #5, for Monday: (Half the class) Bring in a metaphor, visually presented, as the prof did in class, like "Lawyers are sharks" or "File-sharers are pirates."
Blog instructions here.

Safari #6, for Wednesday: (The whole class) Take a photo or find and bring in an advertisement that has Peirce's iconic, indexical, and symbolic signs. Include a paragraph identifying the three in the image, explaining why each representation is in fact what you say it is.

Week 6: Oct. 1

Denotation/Connotation (Barthes) | another outline for note-taking

Anti-stimulus bill editorial cartoon case study:

• Al Sharpton on MSNBC
• Background on the chimp shooting
• Chimp shooting followup story
• Monkey/ape as racial epithet
• Obama toy

For funsies: Microsoft's brand new logo | ebay also with a new logo | Real complainers vote | Mad magazine on Apple's maps

Due Wednesday: Berger code safari -- four groups, each bringing in a print ad that uses either a metonymic, analogical, condensed and displaced symbolic code to persuade. Type up an explanation, print out and submit, with a copy of the image.

Week 7: Oct. 8

Visual Persuasion: Gestalt, myth, persuasion, symbols: The Think Different (Apple, 1997) | Another one | backup version | an outline for note-taking

The Cymbalta ad on YouTube
A clever little card trick
Count the ball passes
BC's Prezi on Cymbalta

Anti-gay marriage | anti-anti-gay marriage vids

For Monday, read chapter 4, visual persuasion

Week 8:Oct. 15

BC to Glasgow, Scotland: No classes this week BUT you do have one safari to complete this week, in addition to the midterm. Details on Wandering Rocks.

You will work on take-home midterms during this break

For Wednesday, Oct. 17: Respond to the blog post asking you what the Cymbalta ad means. What is the mythic truth of the ad (Barthes)? How does it communicate this truth? (Vocabulary, rhetoric, structure/syntax)

Due Monday, Oct. 22: Take-home midterm printed out, stapled, with name and honor pledge.

Week 9:Oct. 22

Visual Persuasion & Advertising | Product placement >> Logorama | 30 Rock strikes again | Starbucks on Best In Show | CatholicVote | Superbowl Advertising | tobacco advertising

Stereotyping in visual persuasion

For Wednesday: chapter 5, stereotyping

For Friday: Comment on Dr. Carroll's post on learning memories (by noon)

Week 10: October 29

Colbert's Stereotypes One | Two |The Racial Draft | Backup Racial Draft | Asian/Black stereotypes | Terrorist stereotypes

A demonstration from Harvard AND a survey at UnderstandingPrejudice.org (blog post response required)

The Six Perspectives Method

For Monday, read Ch. 6, in particular the Six Perspectives

For Wednesday, ad safari >> 1/2 bring in an ad with stereotype, other 1/2 with an ad countering stereotype.

For Friday: Blog comment to BC's post on stereotype surveys,
due 9am, Friday, Nov. 2

Week 11: Nov. 5

Typography (ppt download) | Obama & Pepsi | Obama, Change & Gotham | Gotham's print shop | Obama.com | Obama's logo design | Type sketch on College Humor | Typography Deconstructed | iPad app that teaches typography |Comic Sans on The Onion Network | Occupy Wall Street from Jest | Metamorphabet | Why you should care about type (FastCompany) | If typefaces were cats | Designer of Transport typeface on Top Gear

Helvetica the film, an intro to typography

BC's Prezi | Ballot designs (as we think about graphic design and INTERFACE) | Six creative front pages

For Monday: ch. 7

For Wednesday, Read "Man of Letters" article from The New Yorker magazine (quiz probable)

Looking ahead: Choose your favorite school or era of graphic design, using primarily the textbook

Due Friday: Type safaris

Week 12: Nov. 12

Graphic Design

History of movie posters| negative space logos |negative space II | title sequences and title screens | screen grabs of title sequences | great logo examples | really bad logos | Good minimalist logos | Nieman Reports: Visual Journalism | Gestalt

Tropicana fiasco, Pepsi bulls--- & Peter Arnell | Coke's David Butler | New, square Coke bottles

No class Friday: BC in Boston

Read Chapter 8, Graphic Design; 20th century history of graphic design; choose a favorite era

On Wednesday: Helvetica, with your host, Glenn Garrido

Berry Style Guide (.pdf download)

Week 13: Nov. 19

Finishing graphic design

Bridging (quickly) to cinema, and using La Jetée to do this

No class Wednesday or Friday: Thanksgiving!

Due Monday: A briefing on your favorite design era/school/philosophy (full instructions on WanderingRocks)

Week 14: Nov. 26

Monday: View La Jetée in the Science Auditorium, a bridge to cinema

To help you with your midterms:
>>Selling to Muslims, video from the NYTimes
>>Examples of David Butler-level work
>>American Muslims, from CAIR (.pdf download)
>>LivedInImages.com (for graphics)
>>Islam for Journalists (two free online courses)

No class Friday: BC visiting Piedmont College

Read: Chapter 12

Crescents, Islam and inanity (Ikea?)

Pictures at an (safari) exhibition

Midterms due Wednesday, beginning of class

Week 15: Dec. 3

The rhetoric of cinema | The Truman Show and a transition to television

The rhetoric of breaking cable news | The rhetoric of sit-coms (My Life as a Sit-com) | So who was right? Orwell or Huxley?

• The Future | The Past (Conan)
• Dick's Sporting Goods ad
• Orange Bowl design contest
• The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
• The Plot Device
• Ingmar Bergman parody
• An image is missing (for Latinos)

Friday: last day of classes

Read: Chapter 13; BC's Richard III

• View Truman Show for Wednesday's class.
• View: Prelinger Archives
• Read Michael Kimmelman on culture

Commencement, Dec. 15

Take-home final exam due: 10:30 am, Thursday, Dec. 13. Drop off at Dr. C's office or leave in his mail slot in the COM main office

keep your eyes on the prize!

“Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.” John Berger, Ways of Seeing (1972)

“It is a paradox of the twentieth century that while visual images have increasingly come to dominate our culture, our colleges and universities traditionally have devoted relatively little attention to visual media.” Sturken and Cartwright, Practices of Looking (2001)

• Visual Communication, Paul Martin Lester (Thomson), fifth edition
• Access to a digital camera (model, sophistication not factors, and don't buy one just for class; you can borrow one)

• Ways of Seeing, John Berger (Penguin)
• The Image, Dan Boorstin (Vintage)
• Ourspace, Christine Harold (University of Minnesota)
• Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, Philip B. Meggs and Alston W. Purvis (Wiley)
• Visual Methodologies, Gillian Rose (Sage)
• Graphic Communications Today, Ryan and Conover (Thomson)
• On Photography, Susan Sontag (Picador)
• Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture, Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright (Oxford)

Professor: Dr. Brian Carroll
Office: Laughlin Hall 100
Office phone: 368.6944 (anytime)
E-mail: bc@berry.edu
Home page: www.cubanxgiants.com
Blog: Wandering Rocks

Office hours: MWF 10-12; T/R 10-noon

Policies

• Attendance: Attendance is a part of your grade. Be here every day on time, just as you would for a job, surgery or even a haircut. Everyone gets one unexcused absence >> no questions asked. Stuff happens. After that, unexcused absences will result in deductions from the "professionalism and participation" portion of your grade -- one point for each unexcused absence and/or lateness to class. What is excused is at the instructor's discretion, so you are best served by discussing situations and extraordinary circumstances prior to class whenever possible.

• Distractions: This instructor is easily distracted. Ringing cell phones, therefore, will be lobbed out of the classroom window and/or run over with a truck. Chatter during lecture will result in "professionalism and participation" point deductions, as will Facebooking, texting or any other Internet use during lecture or topic presentations, particularly after a warning has been issued. Do homework for other classes somewhere else. If you have to arrive late or leave early, clear it with the instructor beforehand whenever possible.

• Preparation: Complete the assignments and be ready to tackle the activities of the day. Be ready to discuss and debate ideas, approaches and opinions.

• Deadlines: When an in-class/in-lab assignment is due, it is due. This reflects the reality of many mass communication professions and work environments. Late in-class assignments will not be accepted unless permission for extension had been granted prior to deadline. Turn in whatever has been done by deadline. If we have out-of-class assignments, they will be accepted for up to one week after deadline, but late assignments will be penalized. Remember, penalized work is not necessarily the same as 0 (zero) points. Complete out-of-class assignments and learn from them, even if they are turned in late. After an assignment is more than a week late, however, that work is not eligible for points.

Please note: If a student misses a class when an assignment is due and that student has a legitimate excuse, the professor will accept the late assignment without penalty at his discretion. The professor defines what constitutes a legitimate excuse and reserves the right not to grant full credit for assignments turned in under these circumstances.

How you will be graded:

For daily projects and blog posts, grades of check plus, check, check minus, and zero will be awarded. Roughly translated, check plusses = As; checks = Bs; and check minuses = Cs. The wide variability of subjectivity of these daily assignments, such as “bring in three examples of metonymic symbolism,” preclude a more precise grading scheme. The check system also facilitates a faster turnaround time.

To compute your final grade, add up your point totals, apply the appropriate percentages, then refer to the grading system summarized here:

Berry Viking code
Academic dishonesty in any form is unacceptable because any breach in academic integrity, however small, strikes destructively at the college’s life and work. The code is not just policy, it is foundational to the academic environment we enjoy and in which scholarship thrives. It is in force in this classroom.

For the complete Viking Code, please consult the student handbook. In short, each student is “expected to recognize constituted authority, to abide by the ordinary rules of good conduct, to be truthful, to respect the rights of others.” The College’s mission, in part, commits to a community of integrity and justice. During an era when ethics are sometimes suspect, there seems no higher goal toward which students ought to strive than that of personal honor.

Students with special needs
If you have special needs of any kind, including learning disabilities, please let me know. Come discuss it with me. I want to make sure on the front end that we prevent any problems associated with the course. Martha Van Cise, director of the Academic Support Center, suggests: “Students with disabilities who believe that they may need accommodation in this course are encouraged to contact the Academic Support Center in Krannert Room 301 as soon as possible to ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion.”

Finally, I believe we are here for a good time, not a long time, so let’s have some fun!

bc home | berry home | email the prof
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