This is an exercise in design. It is taken from an online syllabus that I found while searching for pedagogical design assignments for an introductory course in typography, that I was formulating during that time. The assignment was developed by professor Andrew Lister, at the UIC School of Design, in Chicago Illinois.

The assignment asks the students to select a minimum of 4 of the assigned class readings – that were handed out throughout the semester – and by using these documents as their content, design, print and produce an “Annotated Reader” publication containing the chosen readings and the corresponding reading responses.

The students were asked to only use black + one other color, and they could use any of the typefaces available to them. Students may use images from the original readings, as well as introduce new illustrations or images from elsewhere, as long as they are related to the content of the readings. The dimensions, format, page count and binding of the publication was entirely up to the students.

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I found the assignment very interesting and challenging and decided to produce an annotated reader myself. I then used it as the foundation to create a similar exercise and experiment with a group of students at Illinois State University College of Fine Arts.

The students had to produce an annotated reader that included:

~ A cover design (front and back cover)
~ A table of contents design
~ 4 (or more) sections for the designated readings the students will choose to work with
~ A colophon page design

* here you can see a few pages of the annotated reader I designed