Digital Design Program
Gordon Brander
Phone: [REDACTED]
Email: [REDACTED]
Website: http://gordonbrander.com
When contacting me, email is the most reliable way if you need a response. I’m generally available by phone after 5:30pm on weekdays, or after class.
Prerequisites
Note: priority seating given to Digital Design and Transmedia majors.
- Digital Design majors:
- Passed portfolio review
- F A 2405 and 2415.
- Digital Design minors:
- Transmedia:
- Can be taken concurrently with 3414 and 3438 or permission of instructor.
Description
Interactive Media 1 will teach you the fundamentals of designing interactive experiences using the medium of the web. It’s a lecture/lab hybrid with a hands-on attitude toward learning. You’ll gain experience using the latest techniques and open web technologies. If you’ve ever wanted to create stunning websites and design cool applications, this is the class for you.
Course Objectives
This class is designed to teach you the following:
Development
- to become proficient with the languages used for developing web applications and understand how they fit together
- Describe data with semantic HTML
- Create loosely-coupled designs with CSS
- to introduce you to object-oriented programming concepts through Javascript and PHP
- to work with server-side technologies by learning to theme and customize the open source WordPress CMS
Design
- to further your practice of design methodologies and understand why they matter.
- to understand interaction design and its differences from design for static media.
- to appreciate the role of usability in interaction design
Knowledge
- to expose you to the wide-ranging use of of web applications
- to grasp the importance open web standards and their role in accessibility
- to learn to communicate design and development concepts by developing a language around them
- To document and share your knowledge and process by blogging and contributing to wikis
Strategy
Design and development are fulfilling artistic and career pursuits that demand excellence and a willingness to constantly grow. Do you love learning? Do you want to work with technologies that will be shape our lives in the future? Do you want to design things that matter? This is the class for you. If you’re not keen on learning or demanding excellence from yourself, you may want to look elsewhere. This class won’t be easy, but it will be satisfying, challenging and fun.
Expectations
We’re all here to learn and create things that matter. Learning is a team event. All of us will need to give our best to make the class successful. To respect your time and others you’ll be expected to:
- Come to class prepared. Assignments must be done before class.
- All creative work must be ready to go at deadlines, as if you are presenting to a client.
- Readings, papers and notes must be finished before class. You won’t be able to squeak by listening to me read from the book.
- If you need to print an assignment due at the beginning of class, print it before you come to class. Assignments printed during class will be considered late. “I had printer trouble” will is not an appropriate excuse.
- Be responsible for your own learning. If you miss a class, it’s your responsibility to collect notes, readings, assignments, etc. Not knowing about an assignment is not an appropriate excuse.
- Be engaged
- Turn off your cellphone.
- Don’t mess around on YouTube, Facebook, etc. We’re here to learn.
- Disengaged students may be asked to leave class.
- Be ready to learn and committed to excellent work.
- Ask for help if you don’t understand something or want to explore it further. This class might be challenging, but it’s not despotic. The goal is for us to learn, and I’m always willing to offer help if you want it.
- During critiques, be constructive. We’re here to help, challenge and encourage each other. Respect effort where you see it and push for greatness constantly.
- Challenge me. Ask questions. Explore possibilities. Assignments are open to interpretation as long as they fulfill project requirements and your decisions are justified through dialog and critique.
Issues?
Art History scholarship and Art Studio practice, along with art teaching and learning, are complex endeavors. They involve the critical exploration of ideas, theories, art-making practices, and art movements, and encompass such things as the human body, sexuality, race, gender, ethnicity, politics, strong languages, religions, and cultures. This course may cover one or more of the above categories and each student will be required to be an active participant in all course assignments, discussions, and tests. Given this information, it is the student’s obligation to determine whether the course content and requirements conflict with the student’s core beliefs. If a student determines that there is a conflict with his or her core beliefs, one of the following actions must be taken prior to the last day to drop a course without penalty: 1) drop the class; 2) meet with the instructor to determine if an accommodation can be made. Faculty will ascertain if an accommodation can be made; however, faculty are not required to grant content accommodations.
If critiques, discussions, or lectures are not being conducted in a way that is beneficial for you, please come by my office or email me so that we can discuss and make constructive changes.
Computer Lab Policies
Any student who willingly
- Alters, deletes or changes the configuration of the operating system of a campus computer without proper authorization;
- Who deletes any software application or files that are not their own without proper authorization;
- Who installs a software application onto campus computers without proper authorization, permission or who does not hold legal title to the legal serial numbers required for installation; or
- Who willfully causes structural harm to any campus computer equipment, peripherals or networking systems including cabling will be subject to immediate withdrawal from the University of Colorado and/or subject to legal action.
- A personal webhost with FTP (or SSH) access
- https://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/ is an inexpensive option that only charges you for the bandwidth you use.
- http://dreamhost.com/ also reasonable. About $9 a month.
- You’ll also need a web accessible domain. You can buy one for about $10 a year. Dreamhost should walk you through the registration process if you don’t have one. I don’t think Nearly Free Speech will register domains for you. Ask me via email or on the first day of class if you need to know more about registering a domain.
- USB Thumb Drive
- Make sure it’s large enough to keep your class work on! A couple of Gigs should be fine. You can purchase a 4 Gig drive for about $10-$20 at Best Buy, http://newegg.com.
Software
The school computer lab should provide these. You can also get copies for yourself if you want to work from home.
- Firefox browser (open source)
- Firebug plugin for Firefox (open source)
- A programming text editor
- Mac
- Windows
- Adobe Dreamweaver will not be allowed.
- Adobe Photoshop
Blackboard and Email
All communication through email will take place exclusively using the ucdenver.edu official email addresses that you are required to activate. The Blackboard system will be used to: make announcements, post syllabus, distribute readings. conduct class discussions, administer class Quizzes, etc. You must have access to Blackboard for this class.
Special Needs
If you have special needs please contact me during my office hours and be sure that you have registered with Disability Resources and Services (Arts Building, room 177, (303) 556-3450)
Textbooks
Required
Recommended
- DOM Scripting
by Jeremy Keith (Author)
Publisher: Friends of Ed (2005)
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-1-59059-533-6
Additional Costs
As events arise during the semester that are pertinent to the class, there may be additional costs associated with attending. This may include, but not limited to, art events, lectures, art openings and museums. There will also be costs through out the semester for the purchase of materials related to the production of your creative work.