Graphic Design

Explores how graphic representation can enhance or transform the meaning of a subject. Students will investigate observed and abstract subject matter; develop a visual vocabulary of mark, gesture, and spatial organization; examine the impact of these on figure and field for storytelling; and use drawing as a method of research and invention to control the conceptual content of an image.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: VIS1060

Students become familiar with hot-type technology and relief printing, together with their contemporary aesthetic possibilities in both the applied and fine arts. Hands-on experience with handset, moveable type is provided, and traditional and experimental techniques are explored. No previous typographic experience is required.

Credits: 3

Focuses on developing technical and practical skills in digital typesetting, image making, composition, and layout. Students are introduced to software applications (InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator), digital fonts, and techniques for creating print output. Topics include digital literacy and the influence of digital tools on contemporary graphic design. Required for graphic design majors.

Credits: 3

Students are introduced to the myriad of possibilities for work made in digitally delivered, time-based, and interactive media. Participants expand on basic skills in web development (via CSS and HTML, and Adobe XD) and are introduced to motion graphics (Adobe After Effects). DES2460 is a continuation of DES 2450 and is required for graphic design majors.

Credits: 3

COREQ: DES2600

PREREQ: DES2450

An introduction to the professional program in graphic design and visual communications. Emphasis is on skill development in controlling the performance of elements within a field; generation, refinement, and analysis of graphic forms and representations through a variety of drawing techniques; development of symbols and icons; and composition, variation, and discovery of word/image relationships through experimentation and play. Historical typographic distinctions are also explored. Required for graphic design majors.

Credits: 3

COREQ: DES2450

This continuation of DES 2500 examines the representation of ideas through typography and images, with intensive explorations of typographic and type/image hierarchy (through placement, scale, weight, juxtaposition), theme and variation, and problem-solving techniques. Students also explore a range of image-making techniques as a means of expressing ideas. Projects evolve from theory-based exercises to applied campaigns (brochures, posters, on-screen messaging). Required for graphic design majors.

Credits: 3

COREQ: DES2460

PREREQ: DES2500

As a counterpart to Word and Image I, Visual Storytelling delivers some related investigation in sign and symbol; but, as a continuation of Drawing as Narrative Process, this course begins focused training in illustration-specific concepts and considerations such as mise en scène, i.e. framing and staging and their relationship to storytelling. Investigates narrative and sequential structures as well as analog and digital media/processes.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: VIS1060

Directs understanding of conceptual approaches to depiction encountered in Visual Storytelling toward visualization of specific topics (e.g., fashion, medicine, finance, lifestyle) while cultivating individual formal and stylistic approaches to visualization. Students engage notions of stylistic convention, communicative considerations relevant to focused areas of practice, and advanced analog and digital (software-based) drawing techniques.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: DES2700

Approaches drawing as a language with which you'll learn to see and translate the visual world with greater clarity, insight, and intent. Focus lies in the thinking, seeing, and hand skills needed in design and graphic translation of subject matter, rather than realistic representation. Course includes observational studio and en plein air drawing using digital and analog tools, lectures, critiques, and readings.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: VIS1060

This hands-on intensive bookbinding workshop investigates the relationship between content and book structures. Students follow the development of the book from scrolls to case-bound sewn books from the perspective that the way a book is made structures what it communicates.

Credits: 3

A focused inquiry into the nature of interaction for entertainment, persuasion, recreation, or human enrichment. Discussions and readings include sociology, anthropology, game theory and urgent topics such as developments in artificial intelligence. Students gain an understanding their role as creator, participant, viewer, and user. Adafruit’s Circuit Playground Express and Python are introduced as the technological substrate for their investigative work.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: (DES2460 And DES3510 ) And DES3200

Builds on the principles and skills of time-based and interactive design introduced in DES 2460. Technique, theory, and practice are further explored through projects using time, on-screen spatiality, transition, kinetic typography, narrative, and sound. Projects address linear and nonlinear environments such as film and television titling, DVD menus, web splash pages, and graphics for mobile devices.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: DES2460

Students are encouraged to further explore and develop individualized approaches to typographic problems, with emphasis on experimentation, communication, and advanced application of typography. Projects focus on letterforms as image, typographic metaphor, and text typography. Areas of investigation include the shape, texture, and division of text; typographic grid, layout, and systems; book design and advanced problems of word/image relationships. Required for graphic design majors.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: DES2600

Current issues of theory, methodology, and practice confronting graphic designers are explored through readings, discussions, and designed responses. Topics include modernist and postmodernist manifestos; semiotics, deconstructionism, and feminism; the role of the graphic designer in society; branding and visualizing data; copyright law; sustainability; and designing for a digital world and local and global economies. Students produce a final research project. Open to students interested in design; highly recommended for graphic design majors.

Credits: 3

A combined lecture/studio course that examines ethical and social issues in contemporary artistic production and design. The goal is to develop active research about such urgent issues as ecology, body politics and gender, race and urban justice, and human rights, with respect to new futures. Projects incorporate art installations, visualizations, websites, performances, and public campaigns by focusing on creative public engagement.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: NME2100 Or (DES2600 And DES2460 )

Focuses on print communication, primarily graphic design, in the Western world from the late 19th century to the present. A brief summary of important historical precedents launches a chronological series of lectures on significant movements and individuals and the economic, political, and technological developments that have influenced modern and contemporary print communication.

Credits: 4

Students are introduced to considerations and practice of designing type. Techniques taught include emerging technologies like variable type, and perennial skills such as calligraphy. Participants learn critical decision-making skills and sensitivities inherent to developing typefaces for print and screen. Topics include legibility, critical theory, systems, and information design. Software includes Glyphs (Mac) and FontForge (PC). Materials include pen and ink.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: DES3200

Emphasizes the development and evaluation of word and image through advanced studies and pragmatic applications. Development of an identity system, applied printed and electronic matter, issues of imagery, relationship to audience, ethics, information theory, and research methods are explored. Students are encouraged to explore the balance between individualized approaches, vision, and appropriateness. Required for graphic design majors.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: DES2600

Explores the possibilities and realities of design practice. Students develop a portfolio and a personalized identity package, including a website, modular digital portfolio, letterhead, cover letter, and résumé. Discussions revolve around current issues in the field, professional options, the business of design, and freelancing. Includes guest speakers and field trips to design studios, museums, and related events. Required for graphic design majors.

Credits: 3

COREQ: DES3610

PREREQ: DES3510 And DES3200

Focusing on applications of 3-D visual communications (e.g., packaging, exhibition, signage design), students explore problems of human and environmental scale, display typography, interactivity, object containment and reflection, visual systems, and color through a variety of applied projects. Construction techniques, model making, and familiarity with materials are balanced with concerns for relationship of form, function, and idea. Required for graphic design majors.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: DES3510

An introduction to the considerations surrounding screen-mediated design spaces. This course includes industry standard research methodologies, as well as an introduction to the conceptual and technical issues involved in the design and production of dynamic documents and environments. This course focuses on how to research, map, visualize, share, and play with self-generated content, while investigating how current technology, software, and hardware can assist (and hinder) the way in which this self-generated content is communicated.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: DES2460 And DES3510 And DES3200

Students gain technical professional experience by helping provide a safe and well-functioning studio environment for their fellow students. Studio assistants are expected to have advanced standing in their media area and a thorough understanding of current professional practices. Duties include basic maintenance and demonstrations of equipment, independent or group tutorials and workshops, weekly meetings, and other responsibilities assigned by the sponsoring instructional technician. A maximum of 4 credits in DES 3950 (or a combined maximum of 6 credits in VIS 3998 and DES 3950) may be applied toward the BFA.

Credits: 2

Brings senior graphic design students together in a collaborative design studio, simulating a “real world” professional studio situation. Students work directly with on-campus and nonprofit off-campus clients. Under the supervision of the faculty member, the students assume complete responsibility for the concept and development of multiple design solutions, production, printing, scheduling, maintaining client relationships, billing, etc. Required for graphic design majors.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: DES3550 And DES3610

Students are encouraged to reconsider what a book is and expand the boundaries of the traditional codex book through workshops in experimental formats, integration of word and image, form and content, sequencing, and physical structure. This may include a variety of projects and the study of video and film structure, historical and contemporary artists’ books, and innovative trade books.

Credits: 3

The ideas and skills inherent in visual arts and literature are combined toward an integrated expression in this interdisciplinary course. Students confront issues of physical format, word and image relationships, sequence, storytelling, semiotics, visual/experimental literature and publishing as an artistic practice. Skills are developed through examining the workings of narrative and story, modes of writing (continuous, automatic, multiple points of view); titling objects; building a visual narrative; graphic and compositional story development; typographic settings of original and found text; and writing and designing for the visual book, performance, and other time-based media. Students choose the medium for their final projects; collaborations are encouraged.

Credits: 3

Information Aesthetics is a hands-on exploration of data visualization, information design, and visual storytelling. This course empowers students to develop visual narratives using publicly available data sets, addressing contemporary social, political, and economic issues. It focuses on creating meaningful and aesthetically engaging representations, fostering a deep understanding of how data plays an essential role in our society.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: NME1160 Or DES2500

Juxtaposes art and science as inquiring and creative pursuits. Exchanging knowledge of the materials and processes used in their creative endeavors, students collaborate on three innovative projects that focus on perceived relationships between science and art. Visiting professionals, at work in studios and labs, provide insight into thinking and doing through and across the disciplines of art and science.

Credits: 3

Juxtaposes art and science as inquiring and creative pursuits. Exchanging knowledge of the materials and processes used in their creative endeavors, students collaborate on three innovative projects that focus on perceived relationships between science and art. Visiting professionals, at work in studios and labs, provide insight into thinking and doing through and across the disciplines of art and science.

Credits: 3