Project 1: Data Mapping

For Project 1, we will explore how information is transmitted through visual representation. Data mapping or data visualization comprises a wide range of methods, but their focus is the same: to communicate something to a specific audience for a particular purpose.

Each student will produce a data map. The choice of what data to present, what audience to target, and what purpose to accomplish is up to the student. Examples of data maps include INA's Interactive Mapping, INA's Iconographics, the map of high school romantic relationships, Bungie's Halo 3 heat maps, the relationship chart among scientific paradigms, Worldmapper, The Shape of Song, Megan Jaegerman's iconographics, and Joseph Jacinto Mora's "Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciúncula." When students construct their data maps, they should not simply copy the methods of any of these examples and put in different data. These examples use strategies appropriate to their specific purposes.

To produce their maps, students will do critical research over visual rhetoric. Students also will analyze their work and the work of others.

A student's data map may be delivered in a print, digital, or other format, depending upon what is appropriate for a student's purpose. All projects must be organized, accessible, and professional.

Project Deliverables:

• thorough design plan
• data map
• postmortem

Due Dates:

• Design plan first drafts due by the beginning of class on Friday, Jan. 25
• Data map first drafts due by the beginning of class on Monday, Jan. 28
• Revised design plan due by the beginning of class on Wednesday, Jan. 30
• Revised data map due by the beginning of class on Friday, Feb. 1
• Project 1 final draft (design plan, data map, postmortem) due Wednesday, Feb. 6

Grading:
Breakdown

• Design Plan = 10%
• Data Map = 80%
• Postmortem = 10%

Rubrics
Excellent design plans will:

• account for all the design plan elements outlined in Compose, Design, Advocate
• proceed through a structure based on the sequence of design plan elements in Compose, Design, Advocate
• provide a coherent narrative rather than a collection of disconnected parts
• speak in third person about the data map and how it functions, not in first person about the designer's process of creation
• speak in present tense about how the data map works, not in the future tense about what it will or might do
• demonstrate thoroughly what rhetorical purpose the data map intends, who is targeted, and how the message is to be delivered
• demonstrate coherence between the design plan and the resulting data map
• be in a finished, polished format appropriate for an academic/professional reader, including appropriate grammar and mechanics

Excellent data maps will:

• communicate data in a clear and organized way through a primarily visual format
• reveal information not easily transmitted in another format
• accomplish a legitimate, specific rhetorical purpose not already accomplished by an existing text
• target a legitimate, specific audience other than the map creator
• have an appearance appropriate to the audience and situation, including appropriate grammar and visual style

Excellent postmortems will:

• account thoroughly for all the sections of the postmortem form
• focus on the designer's process of creating the data map
• provide valuable insight into project successes, difficulties, and what lessons have been learned going forward
• provide documentation that would be necessary in a professional setting
• be in a finished, polished format, including appropriate grammar and mechanics, such that the postmortem could be given as-is to a professional superior

Process
Grading is done holistically. This means that there is not a set point value corresponding to the severity and frequency of individual errors. Projects are evaluated upon their overall rhetorical effectiveness based upon the provided rubrics. I use the criteria in the rubrics as a checklist for each project. Projects are then assigned a letter score based upon this evaluation. These letter scores are translated to a percentage for the overall project grade.

Applicable Resources:

• Initial Project 1 questions
• Beyond Words excerpt 1
• Beyond Words excerpt 2
• Compose, Design, Advocate excerpt 1
• Compose, Design, Advocate excerpt 2
• This American Life "Mapping" episode
• Design plan tips
• Data Map first drafts
• Data Map revised drafts
• Last Project 1 questions
• Project 1 postmortem

Applicable Links:

• Drafts from previous students
• Google search for "data visualization"
• Del.icio.us links tagged with "mapping"

Project 2: Packaging and Promotion

For Project 2, we will work with a very familiar subject: commerce. More specifically, we will be dealing with pragmatic issues of product packaging and promotion. Like all acts of communication, particularly those that are explicitly persuasive, advertising is thoroughly rhetorical.

Each student will select five songs from our class song pool. These five songs will be used to create a compilation CD. Each student will produce an appropriate complete package for the CD (covers, jewel case liner, disk with label, etc.) and one promotional material that targets a specific, appropriate audience. Both the CD package and the promotional material should look as professional as possible; the goal is to make them indistinguishable from existing commercial work. Promotional materials include, but are not limited to, the following:

• animated .gif banner
• Flash banner
• radio spot
• video spot
• newspaper advertisement
• magazine advertisement
• flyer
• poster
• other

CD packages and promotional materials should be complete and of a professional, marketable caliber. Each CD package and promotional item should be accompanied by a thorough design plan. Neither the CD package nor any promotional materials may contain any copyrighted material.

To produce their packages and promotional materials, students will read practical texts over package and promotional material design. Students will also analyze existing professional examples and their own work.

• CD package (with design plan)
• promotional item (with design plan)
• postmortem

• CD package design plan draft due 2/15
• CD package draft 1 due 2/20
• Promotional material design plan draft due 2/25
• Promotional material draft 1 due 2/29
• CD package revised draft with revised design plan due 3/5
• Promotional material revised draft with revised design plan due 3/7
• Project 2 final draft (CD package and design plan, promotional material and design plan, postmortem) due 3/24

• CD package design plan = 5%
• promotional material design plan = 5%
• CD package = 40%
• promotional material = 40%
• postmortem = 10%

• account for all the design plan elements outlined in Compose, Design, Advocate
• proceed through a structure based on the sequence of design plan elements in Compose, Design, Advocate
• provide a coherent narrative rather than a collection of disconnected parts
• speak in third person about how the text (CD package or promotional material) functions, not in first person about the designer's process of creation
• speak in present tense about how the text (CD package or promotional material) works, not in the future tense about what it will or might do
• demonstrate thoroughly what rhetorical purpose the text (CD package or promotional material) intends, who is targeted, and how the message is to be delivered
• demonstrate coherence between the design plans and the resulting CD packages and promotional materials
• be in a finished, polished format appropriate for an academic/professional reader, including appropriate grammar and mechanics

• accomplish a legitimate, specific rhetorical purpose not already accomplished by existing texts
• target a legitimate, specific audience (other than just the designer)
• suit context appropriately
• share visual and textual themes between each other, so that the CD package and promotional material are connected together
• commit no intellectual property theft, including using copyrighted materials without explicit permission to do so
• exhibit grammar and visuals appropriate to the texts' audience, context, and purpose
• be in a professional, polished state befitting a commercial product

• account thoroughly for all the sections of the postmortem form
• focus on the designer's process of creating the data map
• provide valuable insight into project successes, difficulties, and what lessons have been learned going forward
• provide documentation that would be necessary in a professional setting
• be in a finished, polished format, including appropriate grammar and mechanics, such that the postmortem could be given as-is to a professional superior

• Photoshop CD templates
• MS Word CD templates
• Illustrator CD templates
• Freehand CD templates
• Design Plan Tips
• Drafts from previous students
• Song List
• Project 2 postmortem

• Copyright Navigator
• Amazon (for CD package analysis)
• Creative Commons search
• Copyright Free and Public Domain Media Sources
• Purdue Library search for Corel royalty-free images (you must be logged in to the library page if off campus)

Project 3: Client Service Learning

For Project 3, we will be working with a client organization to create its website. Class members will work in small groups each comprising four members. Each group will produce a revised website, but only one will be selected and used by the organization. Only the group whose website is selected by the client will receive full credit for the "final website" grade component. Each group will also produce a short document that covers basic information about how to make changes to the website. The selected group must provide assistance to get its design up and running on the client's server, but the group is not expected to provide continuing support.

The groups are as follows:

Each group has a wiki page for team communication. The members page contains a class email list

To produce their websites, groups will do rhetorical research through course readings and activities. Groups will also use specifications and feedback from the organization's contact.

At the end of the project, each group member will complete a postmortem that evaluates the contributions of the all group members, including himself or herself. The group's postmortems will be the basis for each student's "individual postmortem" grade component.

• design plan
• final website (with short document covering basic information about how to make changes)
• individual postmortem

• draft design plan 4/16
• draft website and short document 4/16
• final design plan 4/28
• final website and short document 4/28
• individual Project 3 postmortem 5/2

• design plan = 10% (group grade)
• final website and short document = 80% (group grade—only the group whose site is selected will receive full credit for this component)
• postmortem = 10% (individual grade—formed from a student's average numerical score on his or her group's postmortems)

• account for all the design plan elements outlined in Compose, Design, Advocate
• proceed through a structure based on the sequence of design plan elements in Compose, Design, Advocate
• provide a coherent narrative rather than a collection of disconnected parts
• speak in third person about how the website functions, not in first person about the designer's process of creation
• speak in present tense about how the website works, not in the future tense about what it will or might do
• demonstrate thoroughly what rhetorical purpose the website intends, who is targeted, and how the message is to be delivered
• demonstrate thoroughly how the website's medium, strategies, and arrangement accomplish its goals
• demonstrate coherence between the design plan and the resulting website
• be in a finished, polished format appropriate for an academic/professional reader, including appropriate grammar and mechanics

The website grade corresponds directly to the client organization's evaluation. For this reason, it is paramount that groups shape their website in accord with the client organization's specifications, and that groups respond to feedback provided by the client organization.

The postmortem grade is formed from the average of a person's evaluation scores.

• "Feuds in Student Groups"
• Project 3 postmortem
• 4/21 Client Files

• Open Source Web Design
• CSS Zen Garden
• Color Schemer
• Daily Color Scheme
• Webmonkey web design tutorials and resources
• Creative Commons search engine
• Purdue Library royalty-free images
• List of Content Management Systems (Keep in mind that our client may or may not be comfortable using a CMS. If you want to use a CMS, you will have to discuss with your client what doing so would entail.)