DESIGN AND WRITING

Independent Study Proposal, Meghan Witzke, Spring 2010

“As designers we often refer to ourselves as

communicators; as communicators it is certainly
useful to be able to express ourselves in writing. So
I’ve wondered, how important is it for a designer to
be able to write?” —Marian Bantjes

OVERVIEW
As a double-major in writing and design, I’ve come to realize that there are
unrealized areas of opportunity in the combination of these complementary
disciplines. Reading is accepted as a vital part of the writing process, but what
about its importance to a designer? And what of visual literacy to a writer?
This independent study will provide an introduction into strategies of visual
and verbal communication through analysis of historical and contemporary
works in word and image, influential figures and pioneers in the field, and
personal experimentation.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
• To analyze the complementary studies of writing and design and under-
stand how and when they might support one another;
• To learn more about experiments in blending the two processes and the
history of these experiments;
• To employ design strategies and visual literacy in my writing;
• To learn how to write for and about design;
• To develop a critical eye;
• To become more aware of design and writing theory;
• To learn how to effectively share my research and work with others. REQUIRED READING LIST
METHODS VAS: An Opera in Flatland: A Novel by Steve
Tomasula
The independent study is officially registered through the Graphic Design
department, however there will be a 50/50 focus on design and writing. To Alberto Angelo: A Novel by B.S. Johnson
that end, I have found a design advisor, Denise Gonzales Crisp, and an English Seeing and Writing by Donald McQuade
advisor, David Covington, to meet with regularly during the course of the and Christine McQuade
semester. The study will be heavily focused on research, reading, and writing.
Writing in a Visual Age by Lee Odell and
An ongoing blog will be instrumental in generating original essays and docu-
Susan M. Katz
menting my process.
Looking Closer 5 Edited by Michael Bierut,
Each of the following focus areas will require at least one short type/image
William Drenttel, & Steven Heller
essay and generation of illustrations. Content will then be curated as chapters
to be compiled in a book for final presentation. “Afternoon, A Story” by Michael Joyce
Witzke/Independent Study Proposal//page 2
SYLLABUS
WEEK 1: 1/11 Glossary
WEEK 2: 1/18 Designer as Author
WEEK 3: 1/25 Introduction to Process
WEEK 4: 2/1 History of Experiments
WEEK 5: 2/8 The Marriage of Text and Image
WEEK 6: 2/15 The Marriage of Text and Image
WEEK 7: 2/22 The Marriage of Text and Image
WEEK 8: 3/1 Visual Literacy and Writing
WEEK 9: 3/8 Visual Literacy and Writing
WEEK 10: 3/15 SPRING BREAK
WEEK 11: 3/22 Hypertext
WEEK 12: 3/29 Hypertext
WEEK 13: 4/5 Interface & “writing space”
WEEK 14: 4/12 Interface & “writing space”
WEEK 15: 4/19 Wrapping up: Book design
WEEK 15: 4/26 Wrapping up: Book design
WEEK 15: 5/3 Final Book Due
WEEK 15: 5/10 Exams
PROJECTS
Glossary
Can writing be design? Can design be
writing? What exactly is graphic design
and how does it relate to literature?
These terms and their relationships
will be defined, providing clarity and
driving research for the following
projects.
Chapter 1: Designer as Author
Analysis of what it means to be an
author. Special focus on Michael Rock’s
essay of the same name. Further
definition of what it means to be a
“designer as writer,” and vice-versa.
Chapter 2: Introduction to Process
Diagrammatic explanation of writing
process and design process. Emphasis
on revealing crossovers and relation-
ships between systems.
Chapter 3: Visual & Verbal Literacy
Exploration into the merge of visual
and verbal communication. Compari-
sons in different ways to privelage
graphics and text, through history and
in contemporary experiments.
• history of experiments
• the marriage of text/image
• visual literacy and writing
Chapter 4: The Digital Age
Examination of new opportunities
for the merge of design and writing in
electronic media. Focus on hypertext,
interface design, visual rhetoric, and
its usage on screen and off.
• hypertext
• interface & “writing space”
Chapter 5: In Conclusion
All semester work will be compiled as
a book. A 10-15 minute PDF presenta-
tion may also be required.
Witzke/Independent Study Proposal//page 3
RESOURCES
Process:
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
“Writing 101: Visual or Verbal?” by Ellen Lupton
“Design and the Written Word” by Marian Bantjes
“Design Without Designers” by Anne Burdick
“From Analysis to Design: Visual Communication in the
Teaching of Writing” by Diana George
Writing for Visual Thinkers: A Guide for Artists and Designers
by Andrea Marks
Design Writing Research: Writing on Graphic Design by Ellen
Lupton and J. Abbott Miller
Designer As Author:
“The Designer as Author” by Michael Rock
“The Designer as Producer” by Ellen Lupton
“Fuck Content” by Michael Rock
“Death of the Author” by Roland Barthes
“The Attack of the Designer Authorpreneur” by Steven Heller
Seventy-Nine Short Essays on Design by Michael Bierut
Chasing the Perfect, Thoughts on Modernist Design in Our Time
by Natalia Ilyin
Looking Closer Five and Looking Closer Four Edited by Michael
Bierut, et. al.
“Designers and Dilettantes” by Dmitri Siegel
“Authorship in the Digital Age:You’re Not Just a Designer
Anymore, or Are You?” by Steven Heller
“Designed Criticism or Critical Design: The Dilemmas of
Graphic Design and Authorship” by Elizabeth Glickfield
“The Producers” by Ellen Lupton
“The Designer as Producer: Working Outside Mainstream
Manufacturing” by V. Margolin
“Authorship, Entrepreneurialism and Experimental Design”
by Katherine Moline
Visual and Verbal Literacy:
“Great Excavations” by Ted Pelton
“Graphic or Verbal: A Dilemma” by J. Hillis Miller
“Intermediacy” by Ellen Lupton
BornMagazine: Art and Literature, Together
Writing in a Visual Age by Lee Odell and Susan M. Katz
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco
McSweeney’s
The Unfortunates and/or Alberto Angelo by B.S. Johnson
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by
Lawrence Sterne
The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen
Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Guilty Pleasures by Donald Barthelme
La disparition, and/or Les revenentes, and/or Life: A User’s
Manual and/or Cantatrix Sopranica L. by Georges Perec
The Digital Age:
Windows and Mirrors: Interaction Design, Digital Art, and the
Myth of Transparency by Jay David Bolter and Diane Gromala
“Reading Writing Space” by Anne Burdick
Writing Space: The Computer, Hypertext, and the Remedia-
tion of Print by Jay David Bolters
“The Design of The Interface as a Tool for Reading and
Writing” by Anne Burdick:
“The Shaping of Hypertextual Narrative” by Sergio Cicconi
“Afternoon, A Story” by Michael Joyce
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
Dotlinepixel: Thoughts on Cross-media Design by Richard Smith