Francesco
Mazzenga
Designer, illustrator and Art Director for national publishing companies and groups since 2000.
Since 2009, he has been a lecturer at the Academies of Fine Arts in Rome (2009–2024), Perugia (2010–2023), Frosinone (2022) and Macerata (2020–2024). Since 2015, he has been a visiting lecturer at the Radio and Television Journalism Training Centre in Perugia, teaching the Visual Journalism workshop, and he currently also oversees the graphic design coordination for the in-house magazine ‘Quattro Colonne’. Since 2015, he has been a Visiting Professor at the Hongyu School in Beijing. Since 2019, he has been a design consultant for the independent magazine ‘Frisson’. In 2022, he lectured at the IISS Italian Institute of Scientific Sexology. An international poster artist, he regularly exhibits at design and visual communication exhibitions, events, and biennial, triennial and quadrennial shows around the world.
Since 2023, he has been a full professor in the Artistic Discipline Sector of Graphic Design (ABPR19).
Full CV available at www.understudio.net
Objectives
The course provides the methodological tools needed to tackle complex visual projects. Aimed at students wishing to enter the world of visual communication, the course seeks to provide a broad range of experience, both theoretical and practical. The primary objective is to introduce students to the dynamics of layout in all its forms. The course aims to train interdisciplinary professionals in the field of visual communication. It will be important to train professionals capable of tackling design challenges in various areas of design itself. The course methodology is based on a theoretical, workshop-based approach, in which students undertake a series of weekly mini-briefs of increasing difficulty, culminating in a portfolio to be presented during the examination.
Content
Layout forms in relation to contemporary media in visual communication. How layout is expressed using analogue and digital tools. Type design: when typeface becomes (and interacts with) layout. Why and how to design flexible layouts for different media. Brand design: where layout becomes expertise. Freedom expressed within visual rules: social design. Shaping audience response through visualisation techniques. Liquid design: how to create flexible layouts that can be adapted to multiple contexts.
The course comprises approximately 8 theoretical/practical lectures, which will form part of the student’s background, in addition to the numerous sources and handouts recommended as the lectures progress. The remaining lectures will be useful for revising and refining the portfolio in order to pass the exam.
Assessment methods
Presentation of the exam project to the board, covering all its aspects. Possible presentation and discussion of critical points or areas for improvement. Discussion with the lecturer on the theoretical component, including in relation to the exam project presented, and a possible oral examination on the texts studied.
Ambrose, G./Harris, P., Il libro del layout. History, Principles, Applications, Zanichelli.
De Bono E., Il pensiero laterale. Come diventare creativi, BUR Rizzoli. Come diventare creativi, BUR Rizzoli.
Falcinelli R., Guardare, Pensare, Progettare. Neuroscienze per il design, Stampa Alternativa & Graffiti.
Frutiger, A., Segni & Simboli. Disegno, progetto e significato, Stampa Alternativa & Graffiti.
Munari, B., Verbale Scritto, Corraini Editore.
Norman, D. A., The Masochist’s Coffee Pot. Psychopathology of Everyday Objects, Giunti.
Spera M., Abecedario del grafico. La progettazione tra creatività e scienza, Gangemi.
Vignelli M., The Vignelli Canon, downloadable free at this link.
Objectives
The objective of the course is to provide students with an understanding of the basic aspects of editorial design and the elements that comprise it. To provide an understanding of editorial graphic design and its objectives. To learn about the anatomy of a printed product: classification of printed products; the operational aspects of a printed product; image processing and resolution; photographic reproduction of iconographic elements and four-colour printing; paper for printing; the role of text; what it is used for and the main applications of editorial design. Understanding the editorial print product: the publishing house and the graphics department; project planning; preparing page layouts; typesetting and imposition; the final layout and the final proof. To communicate through editorial visuals.
Content
This introductory course aims to familiarise students with the world of graphic and editorial design. Following an initial theoretical section, which is necessary to provide students with a background in layout, type design and visuals, the course will proceed to the design of an editorial and communication graphic design tool, such as a fanzine.
Assessment method
Presentation of the exam project to the board, covering all its aspects. Possible presentation and discussion of critical points or areas for improvement. Discussion with the lecturer on the theoretical component, including in relation to the exam project presented, and a possible oral examination on the texts read.
Arnheim, R., Arte e percezione visiva, Edizioni Feltrinelli.
Bandinelli-Lussu-Iacobelli, Farsi un libro, Biblioteca del Vascello/Stampa Alternativa.
Bann D., La stampa oggi. Tecniche, materiali, processi, Logos.
Ferrara, C.; Guida, F. E., On the Road. Bob Noorda il grafico del viaggio, AIAP Edizioni.
Frutiger, A., Segni & Simboli. Disegno, progetto e significato, Stampa Alternativa & Graffiti.
Objectives
The objective is to make students aware of the typeface as a communication tool. The course aims to provide theoretical and practical knowledge in the field of lettering and typography in general, knowledge that can become increasingly complex in terms of the dynamics of its application. Historical background, contemporary applications and methodologies will serve as the modus operandi for creating an original, prototyped typographic language for practical use.
Content
The course comprises lectures, workshop exercises and mini-briefs, which are tackled step by step in order to build up students’ knowledge on a weekly basis, culminating in a project involving the research, design and creation of an original typeface based on a predefined brief.
Assessment methods
Presentation of the examination project to the board, covering all its aspects. Possible presentation and discussion of critical points or areas for improvement. Discussion with the lecturer on the theoretical component, including in relation to the exam project presented, and a possible oral examination on the texts studied.
Garfield S., Just My Type, –
Gill, E., Sulla tipografia, Edizioni Sylvestre Bonnard.
Hoculi, J., Il dettaglio in tipografia, Lazy Dog Press.
Kinross, R., Tipografia moderna, Stampa Alternativa & Graffiti.
Lupton E., Caratteri testo gabbia, Zanichelli.
Tubaro A. and I., Lettering, Hoepli.
Unger, G., Il gioco della lettura, Stampa Alternativa & Graffiti.
Unger, G., Teoria del type design, Ronzani Editore.
‘Have you ever wondered how many students would raise their hands if we went into a university lecture theatre right now and asked how many of them regularly read a daily newspaper? I’ll tell you: we’d see very few hands raised, probably none. Believe me.”
Francesco Franchi, Art Director of La Repubblica. January 2020
Objectives
The design of a publishing product serves several purposes: to express the content and give it substance, to attract and retain readers, and to structure the material clearly. These roles must coexist and work together like a stimulating, constantly evolving laboratory. Design is content. Graphic design must be able to build a bridge between content and form; therefore, in addition to being familiar with the most appropriate expressive languages, graphic designers must also possess the ability to investigate and control the meaning of messages. At its core, editorial design serves the purpose of communicating a journalistic concept or a story through the targeted and combined use of images and words that organise and present information, transforming it into understanding. Designing a publishing product means rethinking an entire system.
Content
The specialist theoretical/workshop-based course in Design for Publishing is aimed at students with a relevant prior educational background and seeks to train professionals capable of creating editorial design projects tailored to the organisations they will be working for. Editorial design is therefore conceived as a constantly evolving research laboratory and, at the same time, a launching pad for stylistic innovations that will also drive other areas of visual communication. The aim is to develop students who are capable of tackling design challenges in various areas of editorial design, i.e., to develop a design mindset focused on products, services, interaction with objects, content organisation, production structure, knowledge management and business model.
‘Design is about kicking ass, not kissing ass.’
Jaap Biemans, Art Director of Volkskrant Magazine. November 2019
Product assessment method
Presentation of the theoretical/workshop project, printed and accompanied by a report, in all its forms. The requirement is a seamless, integrated online and offline editorial design project, spanning from print to digital. Discussion with the lecturer regarding the theoretical component of the examination project.
Bann, D., La stampa oggi. Tecniche, materiali, processi, Logos.
Bandinelli, Lussu, Iacobelli, Farsi un libro, Biblioteca del Vascello / Stampa Alternativa.
Baroni, M.; Vitta, D., Storia del design grafico, Longanesi & C.
Colin, G., No News Good News, Rizzoli.
De Bono E., Il pensiero laterale. Come diventare creativi, BUR Rizzoli. How to Be Creative, BUR Rizzoli.
Errea, J., Newspaper Design, Gestalten.
Falcinelli R., Guardare, Pensare, Progettare. Neuroscienze per il design, S.Alternativa & Graffiti.
Franchi, F., Designing News, Gestalten.
Leslie, J., The Modern Magazine, Laurence King Publishing.
Lews, A., So You Want to Publish a Magazine?, Laurence King Publishing.
Marzo Magno, A., L’inventore di libri, Editori Laterza.
Moser, H., The Art Director’s Handbook of Professional Magazine Design, Thames & Hudson.
Munari, B., Fantasia, Editori Laterza.
Munari, B., Da cosa nasce cosa, Editori Laterza.
Munari, B., Design e comunicazione visiva, Editori Laterza.
Norman, D. A., The Masochist’s Coffee Pot. A Psychopathology of Everyday Objects, Giunti.
Spera M., Abecedario del grafico. La progettazione tra creatività e scienza, Gangemi. La progettazione tra creatività e scienza, Gangemi.
Sansom, I., L’odore della carta, Tea.
Steiner A., Il mestiere di grafico, Einaudi.
Unger, G., Il gioco della lettura, Stampa Alternativa & Graffiti.