Fleming College

This is a hands-on, fast-paced course where students gain an overview of the Adobe Creative Suite applications and achieve basic technical skills to create sophisticated graphics, layouts and photo techniques for design projects using Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop. Examples used by instructors will be drawn from overlapping projects in the curriculum.

Co-Requisites

• Visual Communication and Design in Context I (DESN 17)

Branching out from a foundation in figure drawing the course will move into a broad and fast-paced exploration of drawing for graphic design through imaginative in-class assignments. Sketching exercises that stimulate the creative process and encourage drawing as thinking and the relationship of drawing to writing and lettering. Students will keep a dedicated sketchbook for this course and will be encouraged to use it daily for the duration.

Co-Requisites

• Visual Communication and Design in Context I (DESN 17)

This course introduces students to the basic principles of photography with a special emphasis on its central role in contemporary graphic design. Through hands-on class explorations, such as capturing light with photograms and basic darkroom techniques, you will enhance your appreciation of the core qualities of the photographic image. The emphasis on applied photography will included inhabiting the complimentary roles of art director and photographer in class projects. The ethics of authorship and copyright will be investigated as you gain an appreciation for the integrity of the photographic image.

Co-Requisites

• Visual Communication and Design in Context I (DESN 17)

The graphic design profession emerged in the age of mechanical reproduction, and developed alongside the activities of printmaking and printing. Students will explore, hands-on, the fundamentals of printmaking starting with monoprints and continuing through other forms. They will learn about the importance of reproduction, impression, ink and transparency with special attention given to their relevance in exploring new approaches to digital media. Equal attention will be given to letter and image. Letterpress and silkscreen will be explored through the form of the poster.

Co-Requisites

• Visual Communication and Design in Context I (DESN 17)

This foundation course introduces the idea of the graphic designer as content creator and storyteller. Collecting, curating and presenting visual collections and stories is a key creative process for graphic designers. Students will establish several practices, including collecting visual ideas through observation, writing/drawing in journals, and establishing the routine of using scrapbooks, moodboards, blogs, digital sharing communities, and personal archives. Students will maintain personal collections of their work (both digital and analog) that will continue throughout the program culminating in a professional portfolio in the final year. Hands-on class projects will further immerse students in the process of research, collecting and the art of visual storytelling.

Co-Requisites

• Visual Communication and Design in Context I (DESN 17)

This is the first of two courses that provide a thematic thread for the program by focusing on presenting visual communication and design in a broader context. The history of visual communication begins with first known images created by humans, moving on to the origin of writing, marking and sign systems, pictographic forms, and the development of an alphabet and printmaking. Non-visual forms of communication will also be explored in relation to their impact on graphic design before moving on to the invention of moveable type, and the development of printed book and publishing the origins of advertising, the history of printed image, the emergence of modernism in the 1920's and the consolidation of an international style in mid-century Historical content is placed in context through lectures, video documentaries and discussions about important design practices. Classes include experimental in-class exercises using drawing, collage, and digital applications. While the majority of the course is focused on experimentation and exploration it includes applied assignments using the formal knowledge acquired through the course to create communication pieces dominated by logo forms, icons and symbols. This course will address the sustainability of printed ephemeral pieces such as brochures and posters. It will also address the importance of sustainable practices and ethics within the service industry of graphic design.

Co-Requisites

• Visual Language - Form (DESN 13)

This course provides an introduction to the basic principles of design and visual communication. If form can be understood as the visible shape of content this course explores the grammar of form and how through designing with even the most abstract and primary elements we begin to tell a story. This course will also address the sustainability of printed ephemeral pieces such as brochures and posters.

Co-Requisites

• Visual Communication and Design in Context I (DESN 17)

This course provides an introduction to the software required for web and mobile-first design. This is a hands-on, fast-paced course where students learn to design fluidly with content as it morphs across platforms. Students will start working on structure, architecture and design of a portfolio site. This includes an introduction to the basics of html and CSS.

Pre-Requisites

• Content Design I (COMP 548)

Co-Requisites

• Visual Communication and Design in Context II (DESN 22)

This course will provide students with the knowledge and skills to create images that function as a complement to the written word with an emphasis on conceptual thinking and developing a personal voice. Students will explore illustration from many perspectives, for example, within an editorial or advertising context, or in terms of the relationship of illustration to design and art direction. Students will also explore the illustrative language of graphic novels, infographics and pictograms.

Pre-Requisites

• Drawing (DESN 16)

Co-Requisites

• Visual Communication and Design in Context II (DESN 22)

As an introduction to typography, this course takes a broad integrated definition of the subject as a starting point and approaches typography as two-dimensional architecture that gives visual form to language through the art of presentation. The course starts with the anatomy of letterforms and moves through composition and layout for page and screen.

Pre-Requisites

• Visual Language - Form (DESN 13)

Co-Requisites

• Visual Communication and Design in Context II (DESN 22)

The history of visual communication continues tracking the formation of the graphic design profession as we know it today with a greater emphasis on individuals who have helped form the roles of graphic designer and art director. The course will examine the work of influential designers across the globe, and visit the most current ideas being explored in graphic design now. Contemporary Designers will be discussed with an emphasis on international community of influences made possible through the internet.

Pre-Requisites

• Visual Communication and Design in Context I (DESN 17)

Co-Requisites

• Typography I (DESN 21)

This course starts with the primary impulse to literally "make a mark" and branches out to cover complex contemporary branding strategies. Students will be introduced to the history of the trademark from its origins in heraldry, monograms, and owner's marks, then trace its development and relevance in today's world.

Pre-Requisites

• Visual Communication and Design in Context I (DESN 17)

Co-Requisites

• Typography I (DESN 21)

This course provides an introduction to the basic principles of representational images. Classes focus on experimental in-class exercises using drawing, collage, and digital applications exploring ways of image making, narrative sequencing and image text integration. This hands on learning is reinforced in a number of applied projects.

Pre-Requisites

• Visual Language - Form (DESN 13)

Co-Requisites

• Visual Communication and Design in Context II (DESN 22)

All graduates of diploma programs require general education credits. These courses allow you to explore issues of societal concern by looking at the history, theory and contemporary applications of those issues.

Your program has designated some required general education courses. In addition, you have the opportunity to choose from a list of electives each semester.

Many of these courses and some other general education courses are also available through evening classes, by distance education, or on-line. See our Part-Time Studies Calendar for these opportunities.

You may already possess general education equivalencies from other colleges or universities. Please see the General Education Co-ordinators at the Peterborough and Lindsay locations for possible exemptions.

This course provides an introduction to publication design. Books remain one of the most powerful devices for delivering integrated text and image content. Students will learn the rules of book design and then apply that knowledge in generating the exhibition catalogue.

Pre-Requisites

• Typography I (DESN 21)

Co-Requisites

• Classroom as Design Lab: Project I (DESN 24)

This course will provide students with the opportunity to work on a large program-wide cross-disciplinary project in a simulated design-studio environment over Semesters 3 & 4. The classroom becomes the hub for the exhibition-based project (a collaborative cross-platform project). Here, students will learn both creative and project management skills as they form teams to tackle different aspects of a large collaborative project. This course provides students with the framework for the 'design studio' approach. This course links the learning from all the courses into one large project, it incorporates material from Graphic Identity, Integrative Communication, Typography and Writing.

Pre-Requisites

• Visual Identity (DESN 23)

Co-Requisites

• Typography II (DESN 25)

Through the use of case studies, this course provides an overview of exhibition design using examples of recent and current design work for cultural clients, including galleries, museums and trade shows. Art galleries and museums are relying increasingly on graphic design to strengthen the brand identity of their exhibitions and their institutional profile as a whole. Designing in three dimensional space has immediate parallels in the growing field of hyper-designed retail spaces and these connections will be fully explored. Attention will be paid to gallery guides, advertising campaigns, exhibition catalogs, branded merchandise, websites, apps, signage systems and branded social media.

Pre-Requisites

• Visual Identity (DESN 23)

Co-Requisites

• Classroom as Design Lab: Project I (DESN 24)

Continuing from the introductory course, Typography II, digs deeper into the details of typesetting and the relationship of type to layout and composition. Issues of legibility and cross platform integration are explored, as is the character of typographic voice and its relationship to branding and graphic identity.

Pre-Requisites

• Typography I (DESN 21)

Co-Requisites

• Classroom as Design Lab: Project I (DESN 24)

Words can make or break a project or campaign whether students communicate through print, social media or email. Students will be introduced to the idea of storytelling through personal journals and journalism and to the tools and tricks of effective copywriting through a series of practical and creative exercises, including collective brainstorming. The interdependent relationship between slogan/headline writing and graphic design/typography are also explored.

Pre-Requisites

• Visual Communication and Design in Context II (DESN 22)

Co-Requisites

• Classroom as Design Lab: Project I (DESN 24)

This course is an introduction to dimensional graphic design. Students will explore how words and images have a new life when freed from the page or screen. The course looks at the related disciplines of packaging design, dimensional lettering and signage, and environmental or space design. Students will gain an understanding of how various forms of dimensional design are closely connected to branding and commercial product design package design for commercial products is a core focus to the course as is the increasingly sophisticated world of experiential retail design. Through this course students will also become aware of the interrelationship of retail and exhibition design and how dimensional graphics and lettering can be used in an architectural context, in landscape design and beyond. Students will be introduced to creative potential of 3-D printing technology for graphic design in this course.

Pre-Requisites

• Classroom as Design Lab: Project I (DESN 24)

Co-Requisites

• Classroom as Design Lab: Project II (DESN 29)

Picking up from the previous semester, this course will continue the collaborative cross-platform project. Students will continue to work in teams and individually on the execution of an installation and accompanying on-line archive. Students will learn project management skills as they form teams to tackle different aspects of a large collaborative project. This course provides students with the framework for the 'design studio' approach.

Pre-Requisites

• Classroom as Design Lab: Project I (DESN 24)

Co-Requisites

• Applied Dimensional Design and Packaging (DESN 30)

This course provides an intensive exploration of interactive design with a special focus on designing for devices. The course will give students the opportunity to become truly proficient in an area that is a fast expanding platform in digital media and interactive design. This course is a direct compliment to Editorial design and will focus on providing students with the technical knowledge required to express ideas in an interactive medium.

Pre-Requisites

• Content Design II (COMP 549)

Co-Requisites

• Classroom as Design Lab: Project II (DESN 29)

All graduates of diploma programs require general education credits. These courses allow you to explore issues of societal concern by looking at the history, theory and contemporary applications of those issues.

Your program has designated some required general education courses. In addition, you have the opportunity to choose from a list of electives each semester.

Many of these courses and some other general education courses are also available through evening classes, by distance education, or on-line. See our Part-Time Studies Calendar for these opportunities.

You may already possess general education equivalencies from other colleges or universities. Please see the General Education Co-ordinators at the Peterborough and Lindsay locations for possible exemptions.

This applied project course will give students the opportunity to partner with a community client on a design project and see it through the various stages of concept development, execution, approvals and production.

Pre-Requisites

• Classroom as Design Lab: Project II (DESN 29)

Co-Requisites

• Editorial Design (DESN 32)

This course provides students with an introduction to cross platform integration (digital/print) with an equal emphasis on software and content. News and editorial design (traditionally magazines and newspapers) will provide the content focus to this applied case-study approach. News design is one of the fields where the rapid shift from print to digital readership has challenged editors and designers to explore new forms for presenting content across multiple platforms. This course explores how to design for open flexible cross-platform applications. Students will learn how to leverage and adapt design concepts to responsive applications.

Pre-Requisites

• Visual Communication and Design in Context II (DESN 22)

Co-Requisites

• Community Client (APST 144)

This course provides students with the basic skills needed to meet the demands of owning, organizing and maintaining a successful design business, including project and resource management. Students will also learn practical skills about fee structures, how to estimate time, quote a job, respond to a RFP (request for proposal) and invoice clients. The course will also cover the details of preparing for an internship, including the writing of a CV, identifying prospective placements, writing cover letters, designing personal stationery and editing portfolios. This course will also address sustainability as part of good governance practices.

Pre-Requisites

• Classroom as Design Lab: Project II (DESN 29)
• Writing for Design (DESN 28)

Co-Requisites

• Community Client (APST 144)

All graduates of diploma programs require general education credits. These courses allow you to explore issues of societal concern by looking at the history, theory and contemporary applications of those issues.

Your program has designated some required general education courses. In addition, you have the opportunity to choose from a list of electives each semester.

Many of these courses and some other general education courses are also available through evening classes, by distance education, or on-line. See our Part-Time Studies Calendar for these opportunities.

You may already possess general education equivalencies from other colleges or universities. Please see the General Education Co-ordinators at the Peterborough and Lindsay locations for possible exemptions.

This independent project is launched with guided studio time for the students during the first two weeks of semester. This course provides students the opportunity to take what they have learned throughout their program and apply it to a personal project. Working with different materials and their own design concepts, students will be encouraged to create their own processes and methodologies.

Pre-Requisites

• Classroom as Design Lab: Project II (DESN 29)
• Community Client (APST 144)

Students will have a unique opportunity for a work placement in a design studio, agency or in-house design department for intensive hands on experience in a real-world working environment.

Pre-Requisites

• Visual Language - Form (DESN 13)
• Printed Matter (DESN 14)
• Visual Communication and Design in Context I (DESN 17)
• Photography for Graphic Design (DESN 18)
• Content Design I (COMP 548)
• Visual Language - Image (DESN 19)
• Illustration (DESN 20)
• Typography I (DESN 21)
• Visual Communication and Design in Context II (DESN 22)
• Visual Identity (DESN 23)
• Content Design II (COMP 549)
• Classroom as Design Lab: Project I (DESN 24)
• Typography II (DESN 25)
• Integrative Communication and Environmental Graphics (DESN 26)
• Book Design (DESN 27)
• Writing for Design (DESN 28)
• Classroom as Design Lab: Project II (DESN 29)
• Applied Dimensional Design and Packaging (DESN 30)
• Content Design III (COMP 550)
• Community Client (APST 144)
• Entrepreneurship and Internship (DESN 31)
• Editorial Design (DESN 32)
• Storytellng and Design (DESN 12)

Co-Requisites

• Independent Project (APST 145)