Above: The red team’s blog, “Red is the New Black.”

Divide into two groups and create a blog each. One blog supports the color red. The other supports the color blue. The two are competitive. Create 10 new postings per day, minimum. Information need not be accurate and will likely be propagandistic. When possible, use Alexander Theroux’s essays from The Primary Colors to construct your posts.

This assignment is from the class Graphic Design & Critical Thinking.

Above: Hoon Kim’s visceral response to the assignment. Pages from “This Is Not a Manifesto.”

1) Describe a FedEx slip through the eyes of a Modernist in 250 words.
2) Describe the same FedEx slip through the eyes of a Postmodernist in 250 words.

This assignment is from the class Graphic Design & Critical Thinking.

Above: Two of Elana Wetzner’s beautiful objects. Pages from “This Is Not a Manifesto.”

Bring in a box marked “Beautiful” and another marked “Ugly.” Place five graphic design artifacts in each. Come to class prepared to explain your rationale for the placement of the objects.

This assignment is from the class Graphic Design & Critical Thinking.

Above: Lauren Mackler and Philipp Rumpf’s response to the assignment. Lauren took an inventory of items in her schoolbag. Philipp returned the inventory to her with his own set of six modifier adjectives and asked her to make sense of his choices. Spread from “This Is Not a Manifesto.”

Find a partner. Over several days, generate a list of ordered items that are significant to you. Keep this list a secret from your partner. At the same time, generate a deck of cards where each card contains an item from your list. Give this deck to your partner, and take your partner’s deck for yourself. Make a new list using this deck. Come to class ready to compare your lists and your experiences.

This assignment is from the class Graphic Design & Critical Thinking.

Above: For his response, Philipp Rumpf offered a detailed Marxist reading of the Arm & Hammer box. Spread from “This Is Not a Manifesto.”

Select an object available at the supermarket and write a museum-style wall plaque to describe it. Include artist, nationality, life dates, official title, year of creation, materials, purchasing information, and a 250-word description of the object in an art historical context.

This assignment is from the class Graphic Design & Critical Thinking.

Above: Talon Gustafson’s response to the assignment involved picking books whose titles could be used for making a concrete or Dadaist poem. Spread from “This Is Not a Manifesto.”

Pick 12 books from the library by intuition and write an essay which relates them.

This assignment is from the class Graphic Design & Critical Thinking.

Above: Hoon Kim’s response to the assignment, in which he provides a tour of the studio based on specific textures from outside and in. Spread from “This Is Not a Manifesto.”

Write and photograph a simple tour guide to your studio for a stranger who is coming to meet you for the first time.

This assignment is from the class Graphic Design & Critical Thinking.

Above: Huy Vu’s response to the assignment, which includes the hamburger recipe he used to cook for his group and the decorative bags he designed to present the meal. Spread from “This Is Not a Manifesto.”

Form four small groups and spend time together this week. For next week’s class, give a gift that will evoke an emotional response when given.

This assignment is from the class Graphic Design & Critical Thinking.

Above: Jen Magathan’s response to the assignment, which re-examined a set of drawings made along a street in Assisi, Italy during the course of a single day. Spread from “This Is Not a Manifesto.”

Make a record about an event from your life that you have a particularly strong memory of. Gather visual evidence and secondary supporting information as well. The record should fit entirely in the manila file folder that I’ve provided for you.

This assignment is from the class Graphic Design & Critical Thinking.

Using the laws of modern handwriting analysis, modify an existing typeface to have the attributes of a liar’s script.

Using the Handbook of Regular Patterns, design at least five wallpaper samples for the home or HQ of a major historical person or group.

Make a map of your routes through the city during the next five days.

Curate a timeline that includes all major projects from Parsons as well as all of your major visual influences.

Design a mail-order catalog for the sale of everything in your bedroom.

Write, photograph, and design a travel guide to the Eighth Floor of 2 W 13th St.

Make a presentation that explains a well-known psychology experiment. Think of Milgram, Skinner, Rosenhan, Festinger, Harlow, Kandel, and many others.

Design a game for one player. Explain and document the process of playing it in book form.

Organize and photograph either all the books in your library, all the clothes in your closet, or all the items in your pantry, whichever is most numerous.

Create and install a public sign that alters typical communication patterns in its space. Document the installation.

Design and place three ads for a very close friend using typography found exclusively at the supermarket.

Design a complete alphabet out of things that were once alive.

Typeset 6 versions of your résumé per day over the next 5 days. Do not try to express yourself. Do not create a logo for yourself. Do not use more than 2 fonts per design.

Create posters for a film series with 11 films: M, FX, Big, Jaws, Psycho, Casino, Titanic, Clockers, Chinatown, Casablanca, and Citizen Kane.

Either eavesdrop or keep a diary for five days, and, on the sixth day, use this language to create a poster in A1 format.

Design a logo of your own name based on photographs you’ve taken in New York City.

Design a small book of around 16 pages that tells a joke.

Using the only the words from a TV commercial, design a type-only story-board or small book.

These assignments are from the class Antithesis.