Welcome
👋 Welcome to Graphic Design 2! Together, you’re going to learn how to take your current skills and knowledge and apply them to the web.
Format
This class will be 💯 online and mainly asynchronous – which means you’ll work through the course content and exercises on your own schedule on a weekly basis. We’ll hold synchronous meetings to review your work, discuss readings, troubleshoot your code and anything else that feels valuable to do together synchronously.
To double down on what I wrote in the syllabus: This does not mean you’re on your own! You’ll be connected to your colleagues and me via Slack, and I will provide a variety of opportunities to connect via Zoom.
Your weekly course materials will include the following sections
- intro: my overview of what we’re covering this week, why it matters and how it can help you
- sync up: what we’ll plan to do during our synchronous meeting
- activities: what you should work on during the week (for example, readings, coding demos) and complete before the next class meeting
So, for example, the activities for this week – week one – should be completed before next Thursday and are not expected to be done before the first class meeting.
Even if the class does not meet in a given week, the activities should be completed on schedule unless we explicitly discuss otherwise.
🤔 I know this might be a bit confusing. If there’s a way to make it clearer, let me know!
Within the pages I’ve made in this course web site, I wanted to provide as much information as possible, but I realized sometimes it may confusing which instructions, links, readings, etc. are required and which are optional. I have tried to consistently use this Following and reading this link is optional.✳️ asterisk emoji to identify links or materials that are optional.
This, however, does rely on me remembering to add in the emoji, so if you’re ever in doubt, feel free to ask in Slack if I expect you to read a particular link!
Week one details
This week, we have two priorities:
- Have a shared understanding of the goals of this course, discuss the format of the course, and make sure you know what it takes to be successful in the course.
- Get you sorted with the tools we’ll use throughout the semester.
Week one is going to start off with some pretty solid technical challenges – but know that I’ve guided several classes through this in the past and we’ve always been able to troubleshoot any issues that have come up. Also, the tools you’re being introduced to are ones you’ll use for every project this semester – so, what might feel challenging or confusing in week one will be routine by week 16 (and even earlier).
