Assignment 2 – Comparative analysis

Grade value: 15% for essay + 5% for peer review

Word count: approx. 1000-1200 words (4-5 double-spaced typed pages)

Deadlines:

• Submit draft of essay (as complete as possible) for peer review: Monday Feb. 8
• Submit peer review of your partner’s essay: Monday Feb. 15
• Submit final draft of your essay for grading: Monday Feb. 22

This assignment requires you to
undertake a comparative analysis of two works of graphic design: the image you described in your formal analysis assignment, and one other image, which MUST also be from our textbook. You will compare these two works in a formal essay.

The basis for the comparison between your two images is up to you to decide, and will form the basis for your analysis: there must be some link or kinship between the two images, however, that make your choice more than simply random:

• Do the images share formal similarities?
• Are they part of the same design ‘movement’ or ‘school’?
• Do they share a general theme/subject?
• Do they belong to the same category of design (album cover, book design, package design, motion graphic, etc.?)
• Are they works by the same designer?

Whatever the basis you identify for your comparison, you must take this as the starting -point for a deeper analysis of how these two images work: what can their similarities or differences tell us about these designs, their approach, the contexts for which they were created, the aims of their designers, etc.?

If they are from a shared design movement, what do the similarities (and indeed the differences) tell us about the ideas/aims of that movement?

If they are from different times and movements, how do they differ in their approach to the same formal/subject matter, or the same kind of task (propaganda, advertising, logo design, theatrical poster, etc.)? And what conclusions (about their historical context, purpose, audience, etc.) can we draw from the ways in which they differ?

You are not expected to do extensive outside research for this paper beyond what is given in our textbook, although any sources you do use (including the textbook) must be properly formatted and cited.

Wikipedia is not a legitimate source for academic papers. Do not use it as a research source for this paper.

• Please include your name and student number, as well as the names and figure numbers of the works you select, at the top of your first page.

You must submit a draft by Feb. 8 in order to be matched with a partner for peer review; you cannot do a peer review without having submitted a draft of your own.

Your peer-review of your partner’s paper must be submitted online by Monday Feb. 15. Your peer review should take the form of general comments and specific suggestions on your partner’s draft; you may suggest specific copy- edits, but the main point is to focus on the substantive content to help improve their argument.

Your own finished, revised comparative analysis must be submitted by the beginning of class on Monday, February 22.

* Because of the nature of the peer-review process, there will be no late assignments accepted for the draft submission or peer review aspects of the assignment. Late submissions (with appropriate penalties) will only be accepted for the comparative analysis itself (i.e., the one you submit to the instructor/TAs on Feb. 22).

“Knoll Herbert Matter Poster” by Eero Saarinen

Normandie/ A.M cassandre/1935.Poster. Color Lithpgraph