Introduction to fundamental concepts, practices, and theories of digital art production. Topics include integration of traditional design, color, and compositional principles with contemporary digital tools.

Introduction to the essential visual elements of graphic design. Exploration of the principles, concepts, and protocols used for effective visual communication. Cultivation of the designer’s creative process and problem-solving skills. Emphasis on strong conceptual development and solid craftsmanship through design execution. Projects explore creative development of graphic design ideas from start to finish.

Introduction to the principles of illustration using digital tools. Through lectures, demos and assignments students are exposed to and practice digital illustration skills for design, editorial, and animation. Emphasis is placed on the use of vector-based tools for artistic drawing and graphic design. Students explore the relationship of digital illustration with the field of Graphic Design, Animation and Fine Art.

Typography explores the art, process, and technical approach to ideating and producing successful typography for visual communication and design. Students use vector based tools to create, modify, place and design compositions using typography as the main design element. Topics include the anatomy, classification, legibility, meaning, readability, history, and historical changes of typography.

Introduction to the use of Adobe Photoshop for retouching, editing, and compositing digital images. Students take their original photography and artistically adjust contrast, exposure, color balance, to create enhanced compositions. Students also take a number of images and composite images into an artistically balanced and well-designed composition.

Design and Layout focuses on digital and print layouts using design elements and principles. Students create layouts using Gestalt principles, creative concepts, color separation and typography. The course explores the history of layout in various media, digital vs print process, copyright issues, and working with various printers for final project output.

Graphic design studio focuses students on integrating principles of design, typography, art practice, and layout with digital tools to create design projects that are iteratively investigated, revised and artistically rendered. Students practice design creation using elements and principles of design. Students create, revise and present design projects using various digital tools and mediums.

Students are partnered with a volunteer client and work to ideate, create, revise and complete a graphic design project. Students experience the types of problems they would need to solve as professional graphic designers. Illustrates the needs that might be expressed by art directors, creative directors, and project leads, providing students with a process for meeting those needs.

The history and evolution of technical aspects of animation are examined. Students explore animation principles using analog media, including, phonotropes, stop motion animation, claymation and flip books. Digital aspects of animation are also explored to create short mini animated sequences.

Introduction to the art of digital video editing using industry standard software. Students explore the theory and practice of various editing styles in order to gain a better understanding of how stories are constructed in the editing room. Through demonstrations and hands-on experience, students learn advanced editing techniques with an in-depth examination of the art of the edit. Strong emphasis is placed on post-production techniques that improve the sound and image quality of the videos.

Motion Graphics is an introductory course to motion graphics for students who have a strong foundation in typography and design. This course introduces the theories, techniques, and practices of motion graphics. Students use design elements and principles to create motion graphics that communicate a message or story. Vector graphics, photography, sound, video and animation are integrated together to design compelling motion graphics.

2D Animation is a course that takes the student through the basic concepts and methods for creating 2D animations using 2D animation technology. Students explore the 12 principles of animation using 2D software tools to create short-form animations and tell visually compelling stories. Students will create a complete animated piece for their portfolio.

Students learn how to create and model 3D objects and characters using materials, textures, surfacing, and lighting. Students then create 3D scenes and animate objects and characters in these scenes using 3D industry-standard animation software.

Introduction to the basic design elements required to create a visually compelling website or user experience. Emphasis on design and layout, vector based graphics, and style consistency. Students learn to create a style guide to ensure continuity of design throughout the build process.

Students use various software technologies to create media-rich websites. Websites are built using HTML and CSS. Students use multimedia software programs to include vector graphics, photographs, fonts, and video and motion graphics. Website design aesthetics and usability are emphasized as a core component of building websites.

Introduction to JavaScript, a scripting language used to add interactivity to web pages. Covers the aspects of JavaScript most useful to web designers: basic object-oriented programming techniques; using the Document Object Model to control page elements such as windows, links, forms, and images; working with free JavaScript libraries such as jQuery.

Development of an artist's/ designer's portfolio and strategies for self-promotion in the art and design industries. Students will work to revise existing projects, create advanced projects and select and organize projects for promotion. Includes use of effective techniques of presentation. Includes creation and revision of resume, business card, and template based website.