Courses

The course offers a disciplined, systematic approach to concept development and problem-solving process with regard to graphic design. Use of the grid system, figure and ground relationships, typography, and symbolism are covered in depth. Throughout the course, students are directed to apply a systematic and conceptual approach to build multifaceted design projects which involve reviewing methods of analyzing and classifying solutions to communications problems. The projects dealt with are of a two- and three-dimensional nature and cover all elements and stages of industrial applications of graphic design.

This course covers a variety of environmental design projects that range from corporate exhibits to museum planning. The studio lectures are augmented with field trips and slide presentations. Students apply concepts in the development of their own exhibition design that may include floor plans, structural systems, and graphic design solutions. The class is open to environmental, industrial, and communications design students.

This course deals with management methods within large corporations, design consulting firms, advertising agencies, multimedia production companies, etc. Each student receives a broad perspective of her/himself as a manager and employee within the context of the professional world. Guest lecturers include management experts from the world of business and design.

Packaging design is an extremely viable field that combines marketing, graphics, and three-dimensional design. Emphasis is on the application of graphic design elements to various types of products. Packages are analyzed and positioned from a marketing point of view. Brand marks, visual graphics, and color schemes are developed for individual products and more sophisticated related product lines. Typical assignments include food, pharmaceutical, and mass marketed products.
concepts of graphic design. Each student is expected to develop a unique and creative approach to design/project solutions.

The course demonstrates to the student of the influential role that graphic design plays in the evolution of style and ritual within our society. The semester-long assignment will emphasizes on the realization of an idea involving publications design. The class will be broken down into teams of three students who will form a company and work collaboratively in the development of ideas, design, layout, scheduling and production while sharing the expense of the project. The role of the designer, art director, illustrator and production artist will be played out by each member of the team. Tours to industrial studios may be scheduled during class time.

This course provides students with exposure to advanced concepts and procedures preparing art and designs for professional printing. Topics will include advanced electronic layout, digital color separation, file preparation, color selection and matching, digital proofing and output,and advances in digital print technology. Students will create high quality print pieces for inclusion in their portfolio.

This course will explore the practical application of the Macintosh computer as a professional tool for the graphic arts process. Our focus will be on creative development, image manipulations, rendering and reproduction issues, typography, and a particular emphasis on the relationship between the “desires” of graphic design and the realities of print production.

A rational approach to the creative process in advertising design. Students develop concepts with “roughs,” explore the use of copy, typography, photography and illustration. Students carry assignments from concept to conclusion.

This course is designed to direct students engaged in research and planning for their thesis: a project involving production of a major Computer Graphic Design project and a complementary paper. Thesis Research is the prerequisite for the graduate thesis production courses (Masters Thesis I and II).

The class discussions of various topics in art theory and criticism, the course directs students to research and plan their own graduate thesis projects. Class discussions and individual meetings with the professor build student research skills for the initiation of the thesis paper and final animation project. Students must produce a term paper presenting their detailed, step-by-step plan for the developmental phases of their Computer Graphic art work. The paper’s goal is to anticipate technical challenges and solutions to be sought, resulting, effectively, in the blueprint for the graduate thesis Computer Graphic production. This preliminary paper also serves as the outline of the graduate thesis paper. Students build some foundation work for the thesis project, such as storyboards and theme outlines.

This course also offers an intensive investigation of the design of a portfolio including marketing techniques, format and binding, layout, and reproduction. Students design and layout their portfolios and begin final preparation.

This course covers marketing strategies across areas of packaging and graphic design, multi-media, industrial design and environmental planning. Lectures given deal with consumer need evaluation, media research, pre-testing and product development, advertising, product distribution methodology; and environment for product merchandising. Leaders in marketing, advertising, and media and their achievements will be studied.

Master Thesis I and Master Thesis II combined are the summation of graduate studies in computer Graphic Design. Master Thesis I focuses on the initial phase of the thesis project – Exhibition Design, Graphics Packaging Design or Advertising Design. Students are required to have completed ‘Thesis Research’ courses before taking this course or they may take them concurrently. In Masters Thesis I, students build on the planning paper developed from the Thesis Research course.

The class guides students through the first phases of thesis production to develop a state-of-the-art production and accompanying paper in a graduate thesis project that reflects the student's mastering of high-level Graphic Design techniques with softwares. The course helps students solve technical problems they encounter during their thesis project development. A formal written proposal is required, involving research, writing of an original script, production planning and detailing of technical issues. Successful completion of the course involves a positive full faculty review and a graduate committee review measured against defined benchmarks for the graduate program.

This course provides an overview of the development of computer graphics both as a design tool and a medium for artistic expression. The field’s evolution is examined in depth, from the dawn of the computer age in the 1950s until the most recent advances of the early twenty-first century. Topics covered include the computer’s role within the traditional fine arts, the development of stylistic groups among computer artists, the relationship of advances in hardware and software to artistic expression, and the impact of computer graphics on the evolution of contemporary design. Recent examples of computer graphics are analyzed in the context of contemporary art styles and movements, multi-media and design. Field trips to galleries and production houses complement the lecture classes.

Master Thesis I and Master Thesis II combined are the summation of graduate studies in Computer Graphic Design.

Master Thesis II focuses on the second phase of thesis project building – advanced computer Graphic Design production. Students must have successfully completed Master Thesis I before taking this course or take it concurrently.

this course covers various production issues, final product presentation and thesis defense strategies. The class constitutes a resource rich support to students as they work their way through the final phases of thesis computer Graphic Design production. Individual meetings with the professor and class demonstrations of projects in progress ensure that every final product constitutes a state-of-the-art computer Graphic Design piece that reflects the student's mastering of cutting-edge Graphics editing and composition techniques with QuarkXPress, Illustrator and Photoshop and other software. Students learn the optimal way to deliver and defend the final project in the professional arena.

Students should complete the thesis project with the approval of the directing professor, and must successfully pass faculty review at the course’s conclusion. The graduate committee members’ unanimous approval of the thesis project is also necessary for the completion of this course.

The history of the discipline known as “art” is explored extensively. Students will read numerous outstanding historical and critical writings exemplifying differing approaches to the field including: connoisseurship and criticism, iconography and contextual studies. Each student will develop a bibliography on a particular historical approach to the study of art. Class discussion will use historical examples to examine the standards for art historical writing and will address current issues in the field. Graduate level reading and writing skills are developed through the analysis of the historiography of art theory and methodology: skills that are of high demand in the leading animation companies as well as in academia.