
practice and theory
In 2002, I was asked by Richard Wilde, chair of the Advertising
and Graphic Design Department at the School of Visual Arts in New York,
to develop a foundation course in two-dimensional design and
color theory, to prepare students for the rigors of the advertising design
program. He proposed that the course be called Principles of
Visual Language.
I was comfortable with the idea of teaching two-dimensional design.
The “principles of visual language” were, after all, essentially the
same design concepts I taught in my typography classes. Color theory
was another thing altogether.
Like many graphic designers, I had limited actual ...