Art, Design, and visual Thinking

This is a course intended as an entry level course, an introduction to design concepts and the idea of visual language. Since it is intended to serve students with a wide range of experience, no background is needed, no special skills.This is a survey course that will emphasize the relationships between concepts across disciplines, and will therefore offer more breadth than depth in many areas. Students who have taken art history and design courses may find that much of the factual material in this course will repeat material presented in other classes, but the interdisciplinary approach will offer a different perspective on this material.

The course is divided into four segments. All of these segments are intended to show how we think and communicate in visual, non-verbal ways:

The language of design:
The language of design: Principles and elements of design. How to analyze design, and think critically about it in an objective way.
Media of design and the fine arts: How materials and techniques define what we can do in art and design
The evolution of visual language in the modern era: Recent history of design (Interior design and fashion) and fine arts; how they relate, and how they have affected how we see.
Non-western approaches to art and design: Since this course is primarily taught from the point of view of Western (Euro-American) design philosophy, in this multicultural era we need to be aware of other approaches to visual thinking.

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Table of Contents

Language of Design

Elements of Design
Point
Line
Form
2-Dimensional Form
2-Dimensional Illusion
3-Dimensional Form
Movement
Color
Color Psychology
Pattern
Texture

Principles of Design
Balance
Proportion
Rhythm
Emphasis
Unity

Creativity and the Design Process

Media of Design

Painting
Encaustic
Fresco Secco
Fresco
Egg Tempera
Mosaic
Oil Paint
Watercolor
Acrylic
Collage

Drawing

Printmaking
Relief Prints
Intaglio
Lithograph
Silkscreen

Textiles
Fibers and Yarns
Structural Design
Surface Design

Metal

Wood

Glass

Ceramics

Evaluation of Functional Objects

Evolution of the Fine Arts

Purposes of Art

Evolution of the Idea of Art

The Nature of Change
Change in Content
Photography
Colonialism
Psychoanalysis
Change in Form
Impressionism
Fauves
Cubist
DeStijl Dada
Expressionists
Change in Materials

The Development of Modern Art

Persuasion

Study Guide 1 

Decorative Arts 
Victorian 
Arts and Crafts 
Art Nouveau 
Art Deco 
Frank Lloyd Wright 
DeStijl 
Bauhaus/Modern 
Post-Modern 

Dress 
Construction 
Historic Dress 
Directoire/Empire 
Romantic 
Early Victorian 
Later Victorian 
Art Nouveau 
Early Art Deco 
Late Art Deco 
The New Look 
St. Laurent 
Youth and Change 
Mens' Fashion
Put it Together 

Non-EuroAmerican Modes of Thinking 

India 

China 

Japan 

Islamic Near East 

Africa 

Native Americans 
Woodlands 
Plains 
Mississippian 
Southwest 
Northwest Coast 

South and Central Americans 



Study Guide 2 

Conclusion