Work with 2 or 3 partners on a multi-page color architectural brochure that demonstrates your digital media skills.  Feature your design studio projects or precedent buildings in a consistent format using original digital modeling and vector drawings supplemented by public domain images.  

Project scope should be commensurate with group size: at least 2 pages per person. Find partners on your own, at the Feb. 25 tutorial, or contact your GTF to be added to a group. 

Consider how elements such as lines, shapes, background colors and typography can unify the layout. Use Proximity, Alignment, Hierarchy, Repetition, Contrast and Balance to increase the impact of your poster.

1. Plan the collaboration
Define roles, assign tasks, and create a timeline for successful completion of the project.  Schedule deliverables with enough time for coordination.

2. Compose
Use thumbnail sketches to examine possible layouts and plan how the story unfolds.  Keep one idea to each page or double-page spread: i.e. urban context, spatial organization, structure, interior materials.  Default format is 8 ½” x 11” (i.e. double-sided  aka "duplex" 11 x 17 folded in half), you can propose an alternate format.   

3. Design a Template
Use Adobe Illustrator, InDesign or Sketchup Layout to create a standard graphic page and a matching high-impact cover.  Plan a color scheme, find fonts, create a logo and graphic elements (page numbers, title bars, colored rules, text boxes) that define the style of your company.  

4. Create components
Generate the components either by drawing them in 2D or by creating 3D models.  Rather than a complete detailed 3D model, it can be more efficient to model 1) a diagrammatic overall building, 2) a detailed interior and 3) a detailed facade.  Pay attention to lineweights, color, value and contrast for full legibility.

1. Design statement that introduces the document focus and 2D or 3D Diagrams showing the essential ideas in a concise graphical format. 
2. Orthogonal drawings. Plans, section, elevation.  Follow standard architectural graphics with particular attention to lineweight.  Experiment with eliminating borders.
3. 3D Analytical drawing. Show spatial relationships with color-coded 3D masses and bold circulation lines, OR Show construction systems with an exploded hidden-line axonometric view:  whole building (see Dennis Fukai’s Nest) or partial, i.e. a Window Bay.
4. Perspectives: Two or more views that communicate the experience of your project, including one interior. Choose views carefully to showcase the most important "events" of your building.  Include materials, shadows, site context, and entourage.
5. Title block
   1. Project Name – make it embody the spirit of your project
   2. Names of your team members
   3. Instructor & Class Name: Nancy Cheng's Arch 610 Intro to Architectural Computer Graphics
   4. GTF name
   5. Date

5. Discuss mockups
Create test prints to check the line weight, composition, and color balance; bring them to the required  conferences.

6. Revise, Reflect and Upload
Refine your project with input from your partners.  Save and optimize your final layout as an Adobe PDF file to print.

Write about how the project demonstrates what you learned this quarter (200 words).

Export images as JPGs at screen resolution:  overview layout images along with a selection of closeups of your own strongest pieces.  Resize and or crop in Photoshop (max image size 800 x 600), then upload to your ePortfolio site along with the description and link to the optimized PDF file.

7. Present
Each group present 1) the final color group brochure and 2) four pages each selected from individual ePortfolios.  The work should be pinned up for our  Final review on Tuesday, Mar. 17 in rooms 278 and 279 Lawrence.  Pinup at 10:00am, Review starts at 10:15am.

For the Ambitious:

• Develop a complete 3D model of your studio project and create your studio presentation completely digitally.
• Create coursework for another class using digital media, upload it onto your ePortfolio
• Revise your ePortfolio using a more sophisticated Web authoring tool
  Print alternative versions of your layout.  Bring them to both conferences and the final review for discussion.
  

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Concept

• Brochure and portfolio text reveal careful consideration of assignment objectives.
• Brochure tells a compelling story through careful scripting of information. 

Design Quality

• Pages have a consistent graphic identity through viewpoint, color, margins, fonts, columns, logo.
• Elements are logically aligned and ordered so that each page has an immediate focus and secondary areas of interest.
• Color, fonts, areas and borders contribute to a strong brochure personality.

Technical Competence

• Images show computer modeling with a level of detail.
• Evidence of using Sketchup, Photoshop and Illustrator software with control.

Completeness

• All required components are included in the brochure. 
• Students come to conferences prepared, and schedule conferences with time for revision.
• Printouts and web pages are completed on time. 

REFERENCES

Dennis Fukai’s Small House Construction illustrated with Sketchup
Margins & Columns  &  Best of Brochure Design show well designed graphics, not architectural
The Poster Connection shows a wide range of high-impact graphics
Portfolio Design by Harold Linton AAA REF NA1996 .L56 2003
Electronic Portfolios as personal learning environments by Helen Barrett