100 Ideas

Derived from renowned design historian Ellen Lupton and director of the Maryland Institute College of Art Jennifer Cole Phillips in their book “Graphic Design the New Basics,” students push the limits of creative thinking in this project. The “100 Ideas: project gives each student 1 idea they must convey in 100 different ways. For example, a student will be given “Summer” and must provide 100 thumbnail images of that idea. Students can take appropriate pictures, take photographs, draw, digitally paint, and create vector illustrations; the methods of image creation are up to the student; the focus is to get them to generate ideas at a scale they haven’t had yet. Students learn to use popular ideation methods like brainstorming, mind mapping, and mental models to take one theme and push it 100 ways. Here, they expand an idea, and later in the semester, they learn how to condense ideas. Below are some examples of student work.