The Magnum
Opus Project
Magnum Opus is Latin for “great work” and is a term used to describe and artist’s crowning achievement.
With this in mind, for this project, you are given a lot of creative freedom - but also need to challenge yourself to create something that you will be truly proud of.
Projects in the past have included:
An original typeface
Trading cards
A card game
A style guide - complete with mockups
A “thank you” animated video.
A dream house designed in SketchUp projected in AR (SketchUp shortcuts here)
And there are hundreds of other possibilities. Just think BIG - and imagine a work of design you’d be really proud of adding to your portfolio.
The process for your Magnum Opus will also be slightly different. As a first step, you’ll need to submit a proposal to assure your project is both challenging and do-able within our timeframe.
This proposal should be submitted as a Word doc and it needs to answer 3 essential questions:
What more advanced design project do you want to create for your final Graphic Design 2 project?
What new skills will this advanced project require you to learn? Note: Please include at least 1 link to a video tutorial that will help with your workflow.
Provide a timeline of steps aligned with the check-in and due dates to assure you will work steadily complete this project on time.
Assessment
As with all Pro Projects, keep in mind that your work will be assessed by:
Professionalism - Project is done "to spec", follows directions, and fulfills all requirements.
Craftsmanship - Project exhibits an admirable application of design principles, an aesthetic style, and use of app workflows.
Challenge - There is producible evidence that the final design underwent the entire design process and was significant challenging.
Originality - Project content is unique (not copied, derivative, a template, AI generated in part or whole, or a reproduction of a tutorial).
*Note: Images depicting drug use, guns, violence, etc. are not permitted.
Process
1. Communicate
The Magnum Opus Project gives you an opportunity to “go big” and design something that will require you to learn something new and advance your design skill set. Ask yourself:
What more advanced aspect of design do you want to know more about?
What related resources for workflows can you find?
What steps would you need to break this project into? How much time would the entire project take?
2. Research
As with all design projects, you should spend a LOT of time researching examples related to your project. You should also create a moodboard of possible color schemes, fonts, layouts, etc. to assure you are working with the best possible assets and working toward the best possible solution.
3. Ideate
Whether it’s a custom font, an AR scene, a 1 minute animation, package design, . . . you name it, ask yourself:
What experience for the viewer are you trying to create?
What principles (of design, interactive design, or animation) apply here - and how can I best implement them?
How else might you solve this design challenge?
Based on you answers, sketch 4 possible solutions - get some feedback from your fellow designers and your audience - and pick your top solution.
4. Formalize
Armed with you pre-production research and ideations, time to hop into the appropriate app - and start designing.
Specs and
Standards
Given the wide range of solutions and creative apps that you might use for this project, there are only 2 essential guidelines:
Professionalism. Research and use the industry standard specs for your specific media (screen, print, video, etc).
Originality and Effort. Any illustration, logo work, etc. work needs to be completely original. All other types of media should be acquired in way that does not violate copyright (e.g. using a popular song), the terms and conditions of a site (e.g., ripping a video from youtube), or use AI to generate content that is not your work.