This is a course for students who love to look into things. In it drawing is the means to communicate research, in the form of zines. We work closely with, in, and around the library to gather knowledge about a different topic each week. We then translate the research into handmade representations (words and images) that combined with empirical evidence and an organized design process results in a weekly zine for each student. The history of zines, from their beginning as underground publications and fanzines, will be the first topic of research. Wrapped into this pursuit, one might include comics as a means of production, but it is not a course in comics. To succeed in this course students should be curious, willing, and open to chance, change, abstraction, and difference. There will be reading, research and conversation, as well as drawing in class and homework weekly.
Course goals include: learning about the translation of knowledge and experience to visual representation, developing design priorities, strengthening research skills, learning about the history of zines, and becoming a contemporary practitioner.
