I’m working as a graduate teaching assistant this semester in ART 343 (Graphic Design II) with Christian Dunn. It’s a Monday / Wednesday class but I’m only able to attend on Mondays due to a class conflict. I feel a bit out of the loop but I’m still glad to have this opportunity.

Jan. 9th

  • Syllabus Overview
  • Project 1 assigned: Arbor Day Poster

Jan. 16th

  • MLK – No Class

Jan. 23rd

  • Final Arbor Day posters turned in
  • Assignment 2: Country Stamps

Jan. 30th

I led our class critique. I wasn’t as confident as I would of liked to of been, but I think it’s because I’m only half in the loop with what’s going on and haven’t gotten to know the class yet. I also haven’t gotten to watch Christian lead his critiques so I wasn’t sure if there was a certain way I needed to handle it so I went in with the goal of just getting everyone to participate and to do more than say they like or don’t like something (use their art words). It was a great experience. I was impressed with the Illustration skills of most of the class but also disappointed in the number of students that didn’t have their work.

Thinking back to my own Graphic Design II class I would say most of these students have stronger technical skills but their work ethic doesn’t match that of my  own class.

  • Stamp Roughs Due
  • Stamp Critique

Feb. 6th

  • Final stamp and postcard designs were turned in
  • Identity and Pattern Part 1 was assigned
    • looked at videos and logo examples
    • mood board research

Feb. 13th

Christian and I spent all three hours of class talking to everyone individually about their logo sketches. It was fun to see everyone’s ideas but it was also exhausting. By the last 2 or 3 students my brain had partially shutdown and tapped out of ideas. I was impressed with the creativity of most of the students but also surprised by the number of students that had slacked on their work. Do better people!

I enjoyed listening to Christian advise a student. He’s really good at explaining things and I feel like I’m learning a good bit just by listening and observing him.

  • Logo sketches due
  • I’m close to learning everyone’s names. Hooray!

Feb. 20th

Another day of reviewing work. This is probably my favorite activity. It’s fun to see what the students come up with. There are still quite a few that are slacking on their homework but everyone is creating good work, some are creating really good work. I am very impressed. Once again my brain starting shutting down towards the end. I need to figure out how to avoid brain fatigue.

  • Reviewed final b&w logo roughs

March 6th

Gave a demonstration on making patterns in Photoshop. It turned out that most of the students didn’t have much experience with Photoshop so I also went over a lot of basic stuff such as Image Sizing, Cropping, Retouching, blending modes, and adjustment layers. I really enjoyed doing the demonstration but it was challenging since I didn’t know how much experience with Photoshop the students had. Just another teaching challenge. Bring it on! 🙂

  • Photoshop Pattern-making Demo
  • Reviewed stationary concepts

*bring in PS handout next week
*develop some basic PS lesson plans