Graphic Design Units
Design Tools & Basic Principles of Design
Key Projects/Concepts:
1. The Tools of the Trade and Design Workflow
You get to explore the basic tools used by professional graphic designers. You understand the hardware, software and physical tools used in the real world. You will learn to the Adobe Creative Suite, as well as free online programs like Canva. You also get to understand the different applications for different file types and how to manage and process different file types. You will also learn how to keep files organized for this class.
2. Emphasis and Alignment
You will learn about the principles of emphasis and alignment and their importance to graphic design. You will learn about using contrast, scale and color to draw attention to certain elements and you will learn how to use grids and guides to create hierarchies and interesting layouts in your designs.
3. Pattern, Repetition & Symmetry
You learn about the historical use of pattern, repetition and symmetry across cultures and its importance in graphic design. You will get to create your own original patterns and explore how symmetry is used on a wide variety of academic and practical fields, from mathematics, to engineering, to design.
Principles of Design Continued
Key Projects/Concepts:
1. Color Theory
You will understand and apply the principles of Color Theory to your designs. You will learn how to use the color wheel and how to apply complementary, analogous, tetradic and split complementary color schemes to you projects. You will also understand how to use colors in your design to achieve emotional or behavioral effects on your audience.
2. Layers and Transparency
You learn how to combine layers and transparent effects in order to create complexity and repurpose photographs and images into new designs. You also learn about fair use and copyright and how to prevent plagiarism in your designs.
3. Composition, Framing and Rule of Thirds
You explore the art of composition, meaning how to arrange elements on a page or frame in order to create specific visual and psychological effects on the viewer. You also learn how artists throughout history have used these ideas to create compelling, timeless works of art.
Designing Brands
Key Projects/Concepts:
1. Typography and Wordmarks
You will learn about the different categories of type, the history of typography and the technology that has been used to create the printed word. You will also explore how typography affects us in the modern world and why type is important for branding and communication.
2. Logo Design Process
You will learn how logos are developed and how systems of signs able to communicate complex ideas through simple shapes. You will learn about iconography, as well as literal and figurative signs. You also get to start your own business and create a logo for your business.
3. Brand Identity
Working in groups, will develop an entire brand identity and learn how to create a logo set, style guides that include visual variations and color schemes and how to apply your logos and wordmarks to different products for promotional purposes.
Product Development and the Design Process
Key Projects/Concepts:
1. Professional Sketching
You will learn some basic techniques for sketching, specifically focusing on product sketching. You will learn how to communicate 3 Dimensional objects through simple 2 Dimensional drawings. You will learn how to create volume, scale and distance using perspective and shadows. You will use simple tools like a pen and a pencil or more advanced tools like Procreate on iPads.
2. The Creative Design Process
You will learn the 6 steps of the Creative design process and how to apply it. The steps include posing a question or problem, research, brainstorming, prototyping, feedback and refinement cycles, and the final delivery. You will use the Adobe tools as well as Procreate in the iPads.
3. Product Development Project
You will get a chance to develop your own product from scratch. Your goal will be to find a current social, technical or scientific problem, research other products that may already address that problem, and develop and prototype your own idea. You won't exactly build a product, this is more a process of how to come up with an idea and refine it. Your final deliverable is a drawn prototype of a new device or invention that makes the world a better place.
Design Skills in Practice
Key Projects/Concepts:
1. Package Design
You will begin to apply the principles you have learned so far to create more realistic projects that are closer to what professional designers actually do on a day to day basis. To start with, you will learn how to create a package for a product and the different elements involved in making something other people may want to buy
2. Advertisement Campaign
You will learn about how rhetorical devices can be used in advertisement in order to convince people to buy your products. So you will apply the concepts of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, to develop advertisements for 3 different products.
3. Magazine and Website Layout
You will learn about the concept of layout, in which you combine pictures, design elements and text in order to create a clean, legible but compelling page. You will create both a mockup for a Magazine and a simple Website layout.
Portfolios and The Learning Profession
Key Projects/Concepts:
1. Tools of your Practice and Careers
You will learn about the basic process of running a successful business. In addition to your design challenge mentioned below, you will create a quote, a contract and an invoice for a mock client. You will learn about how to create timetables and how to work on complex projects by prioritizing tasks.
2. Design Challenge
In this design challenge, you will be assigned a mock client who has a specific need or project that they need you to design. You will be responsible for understanding the needs of the client, developing a plan to address their design need, gather the materials and research you need and create whatever they request, wether it is a logo, magazine layout, ad campaign or package design. You will be responsible for understanding any feedback and making changes according to the client's specifications. You will develop a professional product on time to make your client happy.
3. Design Portfolio
Your final project will involve creating a professional digital portfolio of the work you've created in this class. This portfolio will include an author page, a reflection and the best examples of your design skills. You will be able to use this portfolio to launch your design career, if that is something that interests you after this class is over.