GRA: Graphic Arts

HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN This course explores the contemporary, historical, cultural and technological trends and advances which influence graphic design industry practices of today.

GRAPHIC DESIGN ESSENTIALS An introduction to a variety of visual communication principles, methods and careers in today's computer age. Typography, design, layout, color, production, and introduction to an industry - standard personal computer and software for production of graphics and multimedia all are explored. This course includes learning activity designed to ensure competence in oral communication. (Special Fee: $117.00).

PORTFOLIO PREP Prerequisites: Minimum grades of C in GRA 2113C or GRA 2132C or department approval. This course is designed to get students prepared to do an internship and to help them prepare to be successful in their capstone course, Portfolio Review. Students will take a comprehensive exam, work on their personal brand, design their resumes, develop self-promotional items, and conduct an audit of their work. (Special Fee: $117.00).

LAYOUT, DESIGN AND COPY PREPARATION Prerequisites: Minimum grade of C in GRA 1142C or department approval. A practical course in utilizing industry-standard layout software to convert rough ideas into technically sound print-ready layouts. Students are encouraged to apply various design fundamentals, such as color, balance, hierarchy and the typographic grid. (Special Fee: $117.00).

FUNDAMENTALS OF TYPOGRAPHY Prerequisites: Minimum grade of C in both GRA 1142C and GRA 1413; or minimum grade of C in both DIG 2109C and either TPA 1380 or SLS 1122; or department approval. Includes the history, terminology, and anatomy of typography. Foundational applications of type in layout design, formatting, editing, grid design, and hierarchy are explored. This is a project-oriented course that requires proper application of production techniques using industry-standard software. (Special Fee: $117.00).

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR DESIGNERS Students will learn how to best prepare for a career in design. Activities include developing an educational plan, and learning about employer expectations such as how to prepare for an internship or employment, designing a résumé, how to develop a portfolio and the importance of networking.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE Provides instruction in user interaction and user experience to assist students in learning to research, plan, organize and develop an interactive solution. Logical thinking and creative problem solving processes used for planning interactive solutions, with a special emphasis on interactive design, will be provided. Special emphasis on visual communication fundamentals, problem solving, content strategy, sitemaps, wireframes, user interaction and user experience will be covered.

LETTERING WORKSHOP A hands-on, workshop-oriented exploration in learning and practicing various lettering techniques. Students will experiment with various traditional and untraditional materials to create custom typographic elements. This course meets the requirements of a Graphic's Elective. Students from any major are encouraged to enroll. No prior experience with lettering is expected. (Special Fee: $117.00).

FUNDAMENTALS OF CREATIVE THINKING A course designed to encourage creative thinking and problem solving through group and individual projects, activities and discussions. The course will include a study of characteristics of a creative mind, alternative design approaches, creative process, creative problem-solving, assessing and increasing growth of creative potential. (Special Fee: $117.00).

PORTFOLIO REVIEW Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C in GRA 1180C and minimum grade of C in either GRA 2182C or GRA 2143C or departmental approval.. This course is designed to help students prepare their portfolios, professionally produce their self-promotional items, and gain valuable interviewing skills. Students participate in an interview conducted by a panel of professionals as a portion of their grade. (Special Fee: $117.00).

PHOENIX DESIGN PROJECT Prerequisite: A minimum grade of C in GRA 1206C or department approval. Students will be charged with the tasks of working with the editorial staff of the Phoenix (the college's literary magazine) to design and produce a finished layout for print. Each spring term a small group of students will work alongside Phoenix’s editorial staff and faculty advisor to transform student submissions of literary work and visual artwork into a finished publication. This publication will be submitted for competition with other student literary publications. (Special Fee: $117.00).

DESIGN STUDIO Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C in either GRA 1206C or GRA 2133C This course provides students with practical graphic and interactive design projects for internal and external clients. Students will gain exposure to real-world design studio scenarios for solving design problems, while gaining valuable communication, workflow, and collaborative design workplace skills. Regular team meetings and collaborations are a key component to this course. This course meets the requirements of a Graphic's Elective. Graphics majors who have already taken their Graphic's Elective may request to use this course credit in place of their required internship. (Special Fee: $117.00).

ADVANCED GRAPHIC DESIGN I Prerequisites: Minimum grades of C in GRA 1203C and GRA 1206C or department approval. Addresses practical problems relevant to contemporary industry standards in graphic design. Emphasis is placed on producing concept-to-execution advertising design campaigns and developing work for portfolio. (Special Fee: $117.00).

PUBLICATION DESIGN Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C in both GRA 1203C and GRA 1206C. This course is designed to provide students with hands on usage of high-end publishing software and hardware for the production of quality publications. A focus on good graphic design skills will include: composition, layout, typography, pagination, style, balance, format and project planning. (Special Fee: $117.00).

ADVANCED INTERACTIVE DESIGN I Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C minimum grade of C in GRA 2133C or departmental approval. Students will learn advanced planning and design techniques to produce professional interactive design projects and prototypes for a variety of media, with an emphasis placed on development of advanced UI/UX concept and execution. Students will gain experience in a variety of current industry software to create graphics and media for interactive projects. (Special Fee: $117.00).

INTERMEDIATE INTERACTIVE DESIGN Prerequisites: Minimum grade C in both GRA 2585C and GRA 1206C; or department approval. Provides intermediate instruction in the current coding languages and prototype standards in the creation of interactive projects. Instruction on intermediate level interactive design principles with consideration of various media. Special emphasis placed on user experience/user interface principles through conceptual design techniques as well as advanced prototyping and HTML/CSS coding skills. (Special Fee: $117.00).

ADVANCED INTERACTIVE DESIGN II Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C in GRA 2132C or department approval. Provides instructions on advanced design, coding and prototyping techniques to produce sophisticated, portfolio quality interactive work. Special emphasis will be placed on designing for cohesive branding, personal and collaborative workflow and project management of schedule based projects. Understanding of web site maintenance and administration will be covered. (Special Fee: $117.00).

WEB DESIGN Prerequisite: Minimum grades of C in GRA 1142C and DIG 2100C or departmental approval. Provides instruction in the most current industry standard software and coding tools used to produce web pages. Current coding practices to create effective web pages will be provided. Special emphasis will be placed on current design trends, best practices and design principles for creating effective web page designs. (Special Fee: $117.00).

ADVANCED WEB DESIGN Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C in GRA 2723C or departmental approval. Students will apply current web design principles to create latest industry standard site solutions for their professional portfolios. Students will plan, design, and develop functional, visually attractive and user-centric web pages. Special emphasis will be placed on advanced HTML/CSS and other latest industry standard software, coding languages and UI/UX in relation to web design. (Special Fee: $117.00).

ILLUSTRATING Prerequisites: ART 1300C and a minimum grade of C in GRA 1142 or department approval. A basic course in the application of various traditional (non-computer) illustration styles, materials, and techniques used to visually communicate. (Special Fee: $117.00).

VECTOR ILLUSTRATION Prerequisites: Minimum grade of C in ART 1300C and a minimum grade of C in either DIG 2109C or GRA 1142C; or departmental approval. A course covering the concepts of electronic publishing and the ability to create and manipulate full color graphic illustrations. Students will receive training on Adobe Illustrator or the most current vector illustration program standard in the industry. Class lecture will be supported with handouts and demonstrations. (Special Fee: $117.00).

ADVANCED GRAPHIC DESIGN II Prerequisite: GRA 2113C with a minimum grade of C or departmental approval. Comprehensive course involving in-depth study of advanced design problem solving. Includes marketing strategies, exploring design solutions, dealing with clients, estimating costs, presentation and production techniques. (Special Fee: $117.00).

ELECTRONIC IMAGING Prerequisites: GRA 1142 or departmental approval Utilizing the most current industry standard image editing software, this course is designed for the intermediate to the experienced graphic designer black and white or color imagery into their page layout or web design projects. Program features will be utilized to create original bitmapped images, edit scanned images, design graphics for web pages and import images rendered in other applications. Emphasis will be placed on the application of good design principles through projects based on typical assignments within the industry. (Special Fee: $117.00).

ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING Prerequisite: GRA 2201C and GRA 2156C with a minimum grade of a C or departmental approval Exploration of advanced image processing techniques. Students will learn how to prepare images for various output venues, including print, web and multimedia publishing, animation and video. Projects focus on resolution, color management, image and texture creation, and special effects. Industry- standard hardware and software will be utilized. (Special Fee: $117.00).

ADVANCED TYPOGRAPHY Prerequisites: Minimum grades of C in GRA 1206C and GRA 1413 This course provides students with the opportunity to advance their typographic understanding and application beyond the fundamental level. Students will be given the opportunity to design advanced typographic solutions for their visual portfolio. (Special Fee: $117.00).

GRAPHIC REPRODUCTION PROCESSES Prerequisites: Minimum grade of C in GRA 1203C or department approval Fundamentals of single and multi-color layout and pre-press production will be introduced. Traditional production techniques and current usage of a personal computer, software, and peripherals will be studied. Course includes lecture and field trips to local graphic arts production and printing facilities. (Special Fee: $117.00).

BUSINESS & ETHICS OF GRAPHIC DESIGN Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C in GRA 1142C This course helps students understand fundamental business operations, procedures, contracts, copyright laws, etiquette, and ethical concerns specific to the graphic design industry.

USER INTERFACE DESIGN Prerequisites: Minimum grade of C in GRA 1751 and GRA 1142C or departmental approval. Provides instruction in user interface design to assist students in learning to research, plan, organize and develop interactive solutions for a variety of user interfaces and user experiences. Special emphasis on visual design fundamentals, problem solving, design process, emerging trends, user interaction and experience will be covered. (Special Fee: $117.00).

CSS DESIGN Prerequisites: Minimum grade of C in GRA 2141C or department approval. Students will apply the fundamentals of HTML and CSS acquired in prerequisite courses to advance their knowledge of planning, designing and developing standards-compliant, visually attractive web pages. Students will learn to separate style & content from structure to create effective, accessible web pages. Students will utilize current industry standard coding practices for responsive design across a variety of media. (Special Fee: $117.00).

ADVANCED CSS DESIGN Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C in GRA 2723C or departmental approval Students will apply visual communication, creative problem solving and typographic layout techniques to create advanced level web site solutions for their professional portfolios. Students will plan, design, and develop standards-compliant, visually attractive web pages utilizing advanced CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and other industry standard software and coding languages. (Special Fee: $117.00).

WEB DEVELOPMENT FOR DESIGNERS Prerequisites: Minimum grades of C in GRA 2143C and GRA 2132C or department approval. This course allows front-end web designers to further develop their skills and understanding in current industry-standard back-end web development. (Special Fee: $117.00).

SELECTED TOPICS IN GRAPHIC ARTS Prerequisite: Department approval In-depth study of various advanced concepts, methods and techniques currently employed in graphic arts field. Explores state-of-the-art applications through research, experimentation, discussion and demonstration. Multiple credit course. May be repeated for credit but grade forgiveness cannot be applied.

INTERNSHIP IN GRAPHICS Prerequisites: Satisfactory completion of all mandated courses in Reading, Mathematics, English, and English for Academic Purposes; a minimum 2.0 institutional or overall GPA; 12 credits, including a minimum grade of C in either GRA 2143C or GRA 2182C; and Program Director's approval. The Program Director/Program Chair/Program Coordinator or Internship Placement Office has the discretion to provide override approval as it relates to the waiver of required program/discipline-related courses. This course is a planned work-based experience that provides students with supervised career exploration activities and/ or practical experiences. Each earned credit of internship requires a minimum of 80 clock hours of work. Multiple credit course. May be repeated for credit, but grade forgiveness cannot be applied. (Internship Fee: $10.00).