STAMPED!
From Archives to Print in Motion
Official Course Catalog Description
This studio is an introduction to research, analysis, and the interpretation of content, emphasizing how hierarchical and syntactic structures participate in the making of meaning. Students are oriented as shapers and interpreters within culture.
Course Theme, Mechanics and overall objectives
This course will follow one overarching theme: Archives. While the theme remains constant, the course will be divided into four distinct sections, each taught by a different professor. Every few weeks, students will rotate into a new section, ensuring that by the end of the semester they are exposed to all four professors, their teaching methods, and their unique perspectives on design. This structure allows students not only to learn varied approaches to the same theme but also to reflect on how their individual responses shift according to different methods of instruction.
Project Overview
In this project, students explore how stamps operate as compact visual archives, distilling history, politics, and culture into a single image. Through guided research, each student investigates a specific archive and identifies key icons, symbols, or visual motifs embedded within it. These elements are then reinterpreted and developed into an original illustrated stamp design.
Students translate their designs into physical form through laser engraving and printing, followed by a short motion-based experiment that animates the stamp’s imagery. This multi-step process encourages students to critically engage with archival material, consider the power of iconography, and reimagine how histories can be transmitted through graphic form and movement.
From Archives to Print in Motion
Fall 2025 - GDES 220 Design Practices
Official Course Catalog Description
This studio is an introduction to research, analysis, and the interpretation of content, emphasizing how hierarchical and syntactic structures participate in the making of meaning. Students are oriented as shapers and interpreters within culture.
Course Theme, Mechanics and overall objectives
This course will follow one overarching theme: Archives. While the theme remains constant, the course will be divided into four distinct sections, each taught by a different professor. Every few weeks, students will rotate into a new section, ensuring that by the end of the semester they are exposed to all four professors, their teaching methods, and their unique perspectives on design. This structure allows students not only to learn varied approaches to the same theme but also to reflect on how their individual responses shift according to different methods of instruction.
Project Overview
In this project, students explore how stamps operate as compact visual archives, distilling history, politics, and culture into a single image. Through guided research, each student investigates a specific archive and identifies key icons, symbols, or visual motifs embedded within it. These elements are then reinterpreted and developed into an original illustrated stamp design.
Students translate their designs into physical form through laser engraving and printing, followed by a short motion-based experiment that animates the stamp’s imagery. This multi-step process encourages students to critically engage with archival material, consider the power of iconography, and reimagine how histories can be transmitted through graphic form and movement.
Also taught by Maryam Al-Homaid, Mohammad Sharaf, and Engy Aly.