Syllabus

The course

Meets

Mon and Wed, 4:30 to 7:10 PM · GMU Art and Design Building 1023

Term

Jan 20 to May 2 · finals May 4 to May 11

Instructor

Abe Garcia

Credits

3 · prerequisite AVT 217, AVT 311 and AVT 313

Booksread in selections, never whole

• Memes in Digital CultureLimor Shifman, MIT Press, 2013required
• Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web UsabilitySteve Krug, New Riders, 2014required
• HTML & CSS: Design and Build WebsitesJon Duckett, Wiley, 2011required

How the grade is made100% in all

• 19%Project 1: Single Page Website, MVP75 of 400 points in the original scheme. A local startup's simple, responsive one-page marketing site, three weeks.all term
• 19%Project 2: Content Management Systems75 of 400 points. Version two of the startup site: a blog and several pages on a simple CMS.all term
• 31%Final: Portfolio Site125 of 400 points. A dynamic Bootstrap portfolio showcasing your voice as a designer.all term
• 12%Weekly assignments50 of 400 points. Due the first class day of the week after they are assigned.all term
• 14%Class participation55 of 400 points. Perfect attendance earned 10 credit points; critique attendance mandatory.all term
• 5%Exercises20 of 400 points, scored 0 to 3: a 2 is correct and complete, a 3 substantially exceeds the ask, the lowest score is dropped, never accepted late.all term
• Final critique: the portfolioThe portfolio presented; attendance at critique mandatoryMay 4 to May 11

What the work is marked onevery gate, the same four

• 25%Participation/ProcessContributing to class discussions and critiques; improving work as a result of research and iteration.
• 25%ConceptResponding to the problem statement innovatively; thinking critically about work based on critiques, readings, and discussions.
• 25%Formal ResolutionMaking work that is aesthetically sophisticated and effective and appropriate given concept and context.
• 25%CraftTaking care in manufacture of work; showing technical ability.

Policies

General format

The semester consists of workshops, seminars, exercises and projects. Workshops are in-class lessons about specific techniques with code or processes. Seminars present opportunities to discuss and debate critical issues regarding web culture. Projects happen largely outside of class and are thoughtful investigations based on a given problem statement. Class meetings are structured around workshops, seminars, work sessions, guest speakers, and project critiques.

Submission

Projects are due at the beginning of class without exception, presented in person on the due date. Late submissions lose a full letter grade for each class day of delay and are not accepted after one week.

Attendance

Fifteen minutes late is a tardy; thirty is an absence; three tardies equal an absence. Three absences of any kind reduce the final grade by a letter, and each beyond that another. There is no makeup for a project.

Archival record

Rebuilt from the class log the course actually ran on: the 28 posts of the 2016 course site, still live on GitHub Pages, one per meeting, snow days included. Every session links its own lecture post — the notes, exercises and slides as taught. Weights shown as percentages of the original 400-point scheme, rounded.