The Montibon Company Symbol The Montibon Company Logo / Shaping Vision, Context & Experience

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POWERFUL DESIGN: SYLLABUS
Creating Memorable, Compelling and Coherent Work
UCLA Extension | Online


ROY MONTIBON, Artist, Creative Director
roy@montibon.com

The Montibon Company, LLC
www.montibon.com

Sanctuary Studios
www.sanctuary-studios.com

Royal Mastodon Society, LLC
royal-mastodon-society.com



Art 4 units
11 Weeks Total
Enrollment limited.

Course notes for each week will be uploaded on Thursday evenings at 7:00pm, Pacific Time.

NOTE: The instructor will be online between 7:00pm and 10:00pm, PT, Thursday evenings, available to answer questions and comment on your projects and postings in the Disucssion Forums. Although class materials may be accessed, and postings uploaded, at your convenience, 24/7, students are encouraged to log in during this time period to gain the benefit of real-time interaction with the instructor and fellow students.


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Artists of all types are engaged in the quest for seamless mind-to-mind and heart-to-heart connectivity with their audience.

How does one go about creating work that effectively conveys what one actually intends to express: joy, sadness, longing, humor, inspiration, outrage and/or "just the facts"?

All attempts at communication are indirect, and the outcome is uncertain. Subject to the personal histories, cultural backgrounds and even the emotional state of recipients at the moment of receiving, the impact and effectiveness of one's work is difficult to predict and control.

As the volume of created work grows exponentially, it is crucial that your vision is experienced as powerful and meaningful. Every created work - music, film, photography, painting, literature, design or architecture -- is really a living context for conveying a set of experiences.

This course details a process for evaluating how you can effectively communicate what you intend to your audience -- and then developing the right contexts to accomplish that. We ask these questions: What is to be conveyed? To whom? Why? To what extent do they care? What is my relationship with the recipient? What do I want the recipient to leave with?

Only then do we ask: What is the ideal form for this work? What is the best medium to carry this form? What tools/resources should be used to craft this work?

Lastly, since all communication involves context design, we ask, what variables can I modulate within: the context of the piece itself; its viewing context; and the layers of surrounding social/cultural contexts?

A clear vision, objectives and strategies (Creative Direction) provides the foundation for structural integrity (Architecture), tactical decisions (Art Direction, Content Development) and interactive ingenuity (Navigation, Interface Design), resulting in a context that facilitates an effective connection.

Using examples from the web, film, music, literature, photography, art, architecture and advertising, students will learn to: evaluate and identify critical elements; assess possible forms and structures; optimize every element within the chosen context; and deliver an experience that is powerful, memorable, compelling and coherent.

Concepts covered are applicable to all creative professionals.

Projects: This online art and design course revolves around personal projects as well as readings, critiques and discussion.

Prerequisite: Ability to upload digital project files for review. Students are free to work in the medium and format of their choice, including non-digital media, as long as the projects can be digitally photographed, scanned, or otherwise converted to digital files to upload for peer and instructor review.



1. Introduction
  • About This Course
  • The Elements of Experience
    - Content
    - Context
    - Culture
    - Meaning
    - Memory
    - Action
2. Information, Communication and Experience
  • The History of Communication
    - Forms of Communication (Mind, Media, Message)
    - Spoken Language and Written Language
    - Ritual and Ceremony
    - Myth and Storytelling
    - Cultural Contexts
  • Achieving Clarity
    - Data vs. Information
    - Information vs. Content
    - Content vs. Communication
    - Comprehension vs. Action
    - Cybernetics: Communication and Control
  • Learning, Understanding and Insight
3. Representation, Metaphor, Abstraction
  • Attention and Cognition
  • Forms of Representation
    - Concrete vs. Abstract
    - Signs and Symbols
    - Texts and Contexts
    - Concept and Metaphor
    - Codes and Ciphers
    - Classes and Taxonomies
    - Categorical vs. Qualitative
  • Memory and Meaning
4. Interface and Interaction
  • Facilitating Interactive Processes
  • Interfaces
    - Human-Machine Interfaces
    - Human-Information Interfaces
    - Layered Meta-Interfacesbr>
  • Interactivity
    - Controlling Interaction
  • Developing Effective Interfaces
5. Structure/Architecture
  • Structural Options
    - Linearity
    - Directionality
    - Hierarchy
    - Nodes, Hyperlinks
  • Read Levels
  • Expected Associations
  • Databases / Feedback
6. Designing Experiences
  • The Value of Experience
  • The Psychology of Experience
  • Putting it All Together
    - Content Design
    - Information Design
    - Structure Design
    - Navigation Design
    - Interface Design
    - Graphic Design
    - Directory Design
    - Database Design
  • Context Design
    - Presentation
    - Optimization
  • The Importance of Coherence
    - Evaluating the Experience
    - Perceived vs. Delivered Experience
    - Subjective vs. Measurable
7. Context and Culture
  • What is the Message?
  • The Mechanism of Meaning (Agreements)
  • Modulating the Context
    The Context of the Work Itself
    - The Viewing Context
    - Cultural and Social Contexts
    - Oblique References: Implied Information
    - Direct References: Links and Annotations
  • Culture:
    - Communication, Community, Commerce, Culture
    - Culture Fragmentation
    - Sub-Culture-Specific Language
    - Sub-Culture-Specific Values
8. Spacial and Quantitative Presentation/Representation
  • The Representation of Spatial Information
    - The Grid
    - Cartography
    - Diagrams
    - Perspective
    - The Origin of Computer Graphics
    - 3-D Modeling & Design
  • Sonic Representation of Spacial Information
    - Seeing vs. Hearing
    - Stereo vs. Multi-Channel Audio
    - The Sweet Spot vs. Wandering Through Space
  • Architecture and Environmental Design
  • The Representation of Quantitative Information
  • The Limits of Comprehension
    - Very Large and Very Small Quantities
  • Numeric Representation
    - Numbers as Symbols
  • Graphical Representation
    - Statistical Representation
    - 2-D vs. 3-D Graphing
  • Non-Graphical Representation
    - Spaces
    - Objects
    - Audio
9. Time-based Presentation/Representation
  • Graphic Representation of Time-based Information
    - Schedules
    - Timelines
    - Time-Based Interfaces
  • Structural Issues
    - Sequencing
    - Simultaneity
    - Unfolding
    - Orchestration
  • Sonic Representation
    - Music
    - Speech
    - Poetry
    - Rhythm
  • Animation & Rich Media
10. Art Direction, Design and Development
  • Point-of-View, Tone, Atmosphere and Attitude
    - Look and Feel
    - Language and Attitude
    - Cohesive vs. Coherent
    - Harmony vs. Contrast
  • Technical Issues
    - Technology
    - Translations
  • Professional Development and Opportunities
11. The Psychology of Communication
  • Surrealism and Media-Saturated Culture
  • The Death of Advertising
  • The Future of Culture
  • Desire, Fantasy, Fulfillment
  • The Power of Design
  • The Power of Imagery
  • The Power of Imagination
12. Final Projects
  • Online Discussion

Copyright © 2012, The Montibon Company, LLC / Roy Montibon. All rights reserved.