Specific Expectations

Following are five brief course descriptions that address design areas for which courses have been approved by UC to meet the "f" requirement: Animation, Architectural Design, Digital Video Design and Production, Fashion Design, and Furniture Design.

Animation
Animation courses that meet the VPA standards would center on the design artistry and skills necessary for students to create original animated films. The course allows students to gain through theory and personal experience design fundamentals, drawing and cartooning skills, animation basics, and introductory computer graphics imaging and editing. Students use their working knowledge of the elements of art and principles of design to demonstrate their ability to simplify human and animal images into cartoon characters — manipulating facial expressions and movement, for example -- as they develop personalities and settings for their characters. They learn to use storyboards to present their original story ideas. They study the development techniques used in cartooning and animation in the United States and other countries, including the work of outstanding animation artists. They learn that social, political, and cultural values are reflected through animated films and television segments. Students use their acquired vocabulary and their understandings of design principles to analyze their own work as well as that of their peers and professional animators. In addition to extensive drawing, they may learn to use the computer to achieve selected animation techniques. Software, if used in the course, functions as a tool available for students' creative expression of their ideas and a means to generate desired visual and auditory effects. Students also learn that animation is deeply connected to other arts disciplines as well to such disciplines as history, writing and literature, as well as advances in computer technology.

Architectural Design
An architectural design course that meets VPA standards would emphasize the artistry in the design of buildings rather than technical aspects, that is, the art in architecture. Students' work grows from learning about and understanding elements of art and principles of design to expressing their own creativity and ideas through architectural sketches and designs and the creation of models. They use appropriate vocabulary and techniques as their knowledge of architectural styles in history and across cultures increases and as they learn to discriminate among architects, historical styles, and periods. They learn that social, political, cultural, and religious values are reflected in architectural forms. They become able to translate ideas of others and to critique designs created by themselves, their peers, and professional architects. During the year students work with several visual arts mediums, for example, a variety of pencils, charcoal, pen and ink, watercolor, tempera, and clay as they replicate ancient and modern building aspects and design their own structures. Software, if used in the course, functions as a tool available for students' creative expression of their ideas. They also recognize and appreciate the connections between architecture and other art forms as well as the connections to other academic disciplines such as history, mathematics, science, and literature. Courses that focus primarily on the technical aspects of architecture such as building codes, materials, and costs will not meet the VPA requirement.

Digital Video Design and Production
Courses in video design and production that meet the VPA standards would engage students in artistic processes that culminate in films, videography, or television segments. Students' knowledge and experience grows from learning about and understanding elements and principles of design as they play out in visual forms, learning to use appropriate aesthetic and technical vocabulary, experiencing the progression of creating scripts and storyboards from ideas they have generated to directing, taping, and editing them, that is, producing a finished product. They analyze a variety of films and television programs as they learn about visual artistry, filmmaking, filmmakers, film genres and history, and as they come to understand the visual and emotional impacts of film and television on society from a social, economic, and political viewpoint. Their aesthetic judgment increases as they learn to critique their own work, that of their peers, and the achievements of master filmmakers throughout film and television history. They learn to use tools available to create and edit film/video such as video cameras, lights, sound equipment, and computer editing software. Software used in the course functions as a tool available for students' creative expression of their ideas, used to generate desired visual and auditory effects. Students come to recognize that film, video, and television are deeply connected to other disciplines, such as Theatre, history, writing and literature, as well as advances in technology.

Fashion Design
A fashion design course that meets the VPA standards would be about the art and design of fashion and the artistry of designing and creating clothing. The course engages students in the aesthetic aspects of two and three-dimensional design necessary to create sketches, designs, and actual articles of clothing. It includes ample study and full appreciation of fashion trends throughout history and across cultures, formal and casual, ceremonial and traditional, including an understanding that styles are affected by social, cultural, historical, political, and economic influences. Students become familiar with and use elements of art and principles of design as the essential building blocks necessary to solve design problems, and they learn to use appropriate vocabulary to critique designs created by themselves, their peers, and professional designers from the United States and abroad. They come to recognize and appreciate that fashion design is connected to and influenced by other art forms and other academic disciplines. Fashion design courses approved in the past have emphasized figure drawing, fashion sketching, and work with a variety of materials and techniques in students' creative projects.

Furniture Design
A course in furniture design that meets the UC Visual & Performing Arts eligibility requirement would be a study in three-dimensional design that emphasizes the aesthetic--rather than functional--expression of furniture design and creation throughout history and across cultures. Simply stated, that is the art and artistry of furniture design. The course requires substantial understanding of and practice with the elements of art and principles of design as the essential building blocks needed to solve design problems. Students use their understanding of design principles to critique furniture designs and objects created by themselves, their peers, and professional designers, past and present. They learn to consider the social, cultural, historical, economic, and political influences of furniture design. They come to recognize and appreciate that furniture design is connected to and influenced by other art forms and other academic disciplines. The course includes substantial practice in drawing that leads to effective furniture designs. Students work toward development of a personal style as well as technical mastery. The test of the students' mastery is the sketching, the illustrating, the integrity of design, and finally the constructing of original pieces of furniture that achieve the desired artistic effects.