Workshop 1: Stop Sign

Complete by: Thu. 8 Apr.

Design a new sign that means “Stop”

As Reinfurt says, “The new Stop sign must not rely on existing symbolic conventions such as an octagon or a raised hand, graphic conventions such as a slash or an X, or literal conventions such as the word ‘stop.’ This will make your task difficult, perhaps even impossible. Can a single graphic ever be autonomous, not relying on a system of differences in which to register its meaning?”

You can create your Stop sign in whatever medium you desire. It could be a hand-drawn illustration, a photo of physical objects, or a digital image. It is more important to engage with the difficulty of the assignment than it is to produce a beautiful object. Which is to say, don’t spend more than a half hour or so creating your design.

Upload a picture of your Stop sign along with a brief reflection on this exercise to the Canvas discussion board by Wed. 8 Apr. In your reflection, you might discuss your affective response to the exercise and/or its relationship to Chiang’s The Story of Your Life. What did creating a Stop sign teach you about language with/as technology?

(Adapted from Reinfurt, David. A *New* Program for Graphic Design. Los Angeles: Inventory Press, 2019.)