The Magnum
Opus Project

Magnum Opus is Latin for “great work” and it is a term that has long been used to describe and artist’s crowning achievement.

For this final Graphic Design project, you are given a lot of creative freedom - but you need to challenge yourself to learn and create something that you will be truly proud of.

The process for your Magnum Opus will also be slightly different. You’ll need to submit a proposal to assure your project is both challenging and do-able within our timeframe.

Projects in the past have included:

  • A card game designed in Ai

  • A brand style guide in Ai - complete with mockups

  • A kinetic typography reading made with Ae

  • A “thank you” animated video made with Ch

  • A dream house designed in 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.

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.

Your proposal should be submitted as a Word doc and it needs to answer 3 essential questions:

  1. What more advanced design project do you want to create for your final Graphic Design 2 project?

  2. 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. 

  3. Provide a timeline of steps aligned with the check-in and due dates to assure you will work steadily complete this project on time.

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

 

With so many potential solutions and creative apps that you might use, be sure to research and use the industry standard specs for your specific media (screen, print, video, etc) to assure your project will be a success.

Note: Any illustration 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) or the terms and conditions of a site (e.g., ripping a video from youtube.)