I really enjoyed our first two days of class this week. I can tell from our discussions that we’re going to have a lively and engaging semester. I can also tell that some of you are scared to death by the technology requirements in this class, but please don’t worry — we will go at a steady and reasonable pace, and I’m confident that you can do as well on these projects as you want to.

Next week we will cover some basic principles of design and get familiar with Adobe InDesign in order to complete the poster project. Here are the details for each class session:

• On Tuesday, we will review Chapter 1 (which we didn’t get to last time) and Chapter 2 in Document Design, then hold our first InDesign tutorial workshop. If you have never used InDesign before (or if you feel like you need a refresher), please watch the videos on the Adobe TV website. In particular, you should watch “Getting Started” and “GS-01” through “GS-07.” By the time you come to class on Tuesday, you should be familiar with the InDesign interface and ready to start using the program. If you feel like you need extra help, there are dozens of online video tutorials for InDesign, which you can find by searching Google Videos for “InDesign CS5 tutorial.” In addition, you should begin collecting examples of effective posters and flyers that might serve as inspiration for your posters.
• On Thursday, we will review Chapter 3 in Document Design, then hold an InDesign workshop that will give you time to work on your posters and get feedback from your classmates about potential poster designs. Before you come to class, please sketch out three different ideas for one of your posters. Each idea should occupy a different 8.5×11-inch page, and each idea should be significantly different from the others. (No, you don’t need to be an artist to do this. Yes, stick figures are fine.) Bring these sketches to class on Thursday.

Finally, you may have noticed a new addition to the homepage of the course website. I’ll be bookmarking articles and websites that are relevant to our class this semester, so if you read or watch something online that might be helpful or just interesting to your classmates, please send me a link.

I think that’s it for now, but don’t hesitate to email me if you have any questions before we meet on Tuesday. Otherwise, I’ll see you then. Have a great Labor Day weekend!