Yesterday would have been a lovely day to drive down to Athens (Ohio, that is), yet unfortunately I was stuck at home doing laundry, writing an exam and generally vegging out. Today is a gray day, and being at work in Zanesville would have prevented me from such a road trip anyway. I'm thinking about Athens because I was invited (with every other faculty and staff member, I'm nothing special), to a brown-bag meeting of sorts at Alden Library. The topic was "Using Principles of Design to Rethink Powerpoint," which I figured would be interesting, even if I don't teach long-term.
With today's lovely technology, I was able to watch the talk online. And inevitably, everything the speaker said made me think in my head, "Yes, but for an art history lecture..." The presenter is a professor of communications, and he extended his points to other subjects such as biology, business and chemistry, but nothing was mentioned about art history. If I were brave (and if my computer were equipped with a microphone) perhaps I would have chimed in.
Some things did make sense for all subjects; such as, using properties of narrative and compare/contrast to tie the information together. I do that all the time, naturally I think. Especially when I obliterate the order in which images are printed in the book. And one rule I go by every week: if your students could print out your Powerpoint and have all the information without your spoken words, you're doing something wrong.
However, a lot of things said and presented are the exact opposite of what I do, and I'm hesitant to make those changes. For example, he mocked the concept of black backgrounds, calling it his "Dark Period." Now I use black not to be "artsy" but to give a better view of the details and colors in each image. White just messes it all up. And I don't have a lot of graphics and charts and captions and text...that's just part and parcel of an art history lecture. It's all about the image. Period. I try to mix things up with video and real artist's tools and supplies, but really, it's all about those slides. I just don't have the luxury of turning off the projector like I'm sure some other professors do.
I'm not a graphic designer, and neither is the presenter. He did gave a line that cracked me up, though: "I'm not an expert in graphic design, but I know enough to be dangerous." If I were able, I'd be happy to use the Rule of Thirds, etc. But when my slides are paintings, sculpture and views of architecture, I see no harm in exact centering. Sometimes I'd like to use different fonts and effects, but that takes away from the art, which is not only a visual aid, but the topic of discussion itself...
I guess art history is really that unique.
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