Syllabus
Information Design
ENGL 392A
General Information
Section Number: 002
Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 11:30 a.m. – 12:50 p.m.
Location: EV3 3412
Term: Winter 2021
Instructor: Bruce Dadey
Office: Hagey Hall 257
Email: badadey@uwaterloo.ca
Phone: x42416
Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 1:00-2:00 p.m., or by appointment
Course Description and Objectives
This course will examine how to structure and present information across a variety of media for specific audiences and purposes. It will also introduce you to the theory and practice of design for print and digital media, including the study of design concepts such as space, colour, typography, interactivity, immersion, motion, and presence.
At the end of the course you will be able to do the following:
- Use appropriate strategies to organize and present information in a variety of media for specific audiences and purposes.
- Revise and design informational artifacts so they are rhetorically effective and accommodate the ways in which users process and understand information.
- Analyze different types of artifacts to identify and critique their information design strategies.
- Effectively apply the basic elements of visual design to structure and present information.
Texts
Black, Alison, et al., eds. Information Design: Research and Practice. Routledge, 2017. (E-text available from UWaterloo library.)
Williams, Robin. The Non-Designer’s Design Book: Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Novice. 4th ed., Peachpit, 2015.
Online readings and resources accessible through the course LEARN site.
Assignments
| Activity | Weight |
|---|---|
|
Best Practices Report |
20% |
|
Artifact Portfolio |
20% |
|
Information Design Journal |
30% |
|
Group project |
25% |
|
Participation |
5% |
Course Policies
Assignments and Class Procedures
- Assignments are to be submitted to the appropriate LEARN drop box in PDF format.
- Assignments which are late without good reason will be penalized at a rate of two percentage points for every week day late (10% per week).
- Class discussion is a prominent part of the course, so students are expected to attend all classes and to come with the readings completed. In my lectures and in my questions to the class and individuals I will assume the assigned readings have been done. Students will lose 1% from the participation mark for each class missed, with the exception of a self-declared short-term absence.
- We will often be using email to communicate with one another. All email communication will occur through your Waterloo account, which you should check regularly.
Electronics
Please mute your phones and do not take them out in class unless you are asked to use them for class activities. If you have a genuine emergency for which your phone is needed during a particular class, contact me beforehand. Laptops and tablets are allowed for class-related purposes only. Use of devices for non-class-related purposes (surfing, email, chatting) or in a manner that is distracting to other students will lead to my requesting that you not bring your device to class.
Academic integrity
In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. See the Office of Academic Integrity webpage for more information.
Discipline
A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid committing an academic offence and to take responsibility for his/her actions. Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate associate dean. When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71 – Student Discipline. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71 - Student Discipline. For typical penalties check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.
Grievance
A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of their university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.
Appeals
A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72 - Student Appeals.
Note for students with disabilities:
AccessAbility Services, located in Needles Hall, Room 1401, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with AcessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term.
Cross-listed Course (if applicable)
Please note that a cross-listed course will count in all respective averages no matter under which rubric it has been taken. For example, a PHIL/PSCI cross-list will count in a Philosophy major average, even if the course was taken under the Political Science rubric.
Tentative Schedule
ID = Information Design Research and Practice
L = LEARN
ND = Non-Designer’s Design Book
|
Week |
Dates |
Readings and Assignments |
|---|---|---|
|
1 Definitions |
Jan. 9 |
Introduction to the Class |
|
Jan. 11 |
L: Ackoff; Wurman1; Visocky O’Grady; ID: Boag 619-33 |
|
|
2 ID Situation |
Jan. 16 |
ID: Linsky 635-41; L: Delin et al. Best Practices Proposal Due |
|
Jan. 18 |
L: Lipton |
|
|
3 Organization |
Jan. 23 |
L: Alred et al., Podis and Podis |
|
Jan. 25 |
L: Wurman2; ID: Pettersson 425-34 |
|
|
4 Type |
Jan. 30 |
ND: 150-220; L: Pettersson, Graphic Design 76-106, 118-22 |
|
Feb. 1 |
ID: Mangen 275-89, Luna 479-86, Dickinson and Gallina 685-700 Best Practices Report Due Feb. 3 |
|
|
5 Visual Design |
Feb. 6 |
ND: 11-112 |
|
Feb. 8 |
ID: Waller 177-203; L: Samara |
|
|
6 Tools and Symbols |
Feb. 13 |
ID: Moys 204-220; Kostelnick 257-73 |
|
Feb. 15 |
ID: Boersma and Adams 303-14, Black 315-29 ID Journal 1 due Feb. 17 |
|
|
7 Break |
Feb. 20 |
Reading Break |
|
Feb. 22 |
||
|
8 Warnings Graphics |
Feb. 27 |
ID: Wogater and Mayhorn 331-48 |
|
Mar. 1 |
ID: Richards 85-106; Tversky 349-60; Weber 243-56 |
|
|
9 Quantitative Info: Display and Collect |
Mar. 6 |
ID: Tominski et al. 23-42, Bigwood and Spore 503-07; L: Markel |
|
Mar. 8 |
ID: Schwesinger 607-18, Babich Group Project Proposal Due Mar. 10 |
|
|
10 Digital ID |
Mar. 13 |
L: Krug |
|
Mar. 15 |
L: Garrett; ID: Bateman 221-41 Artifact Portfolio Due Mar. 17 |
|
|
11 Wayfinding |
Mar. 20 |
ID: Jeffrey 509-26; L: Vozenilek |
|
Mar. 22 |
ID: Roefs and Mijksenaar 527-40; Zalacain 541-52 |
|
|
12 Exhibitions |
Mar. 27 |
ID: Piehl 577-90, González de Cossío 591-606 |
|
Mar. 29 |
Field trip to Earth Sciences Museum |
|
|
13 Review |
Apr. 3 |
Catch-up class |
|
Apr. 5 |
Group project user testing and feedback Group Project testing prototype due |
|
|
Apr. 10 |
ID Journal 2 due |
|
|
Apr. 14 |
Group Project due |