DS200 Communication Design I
Fundamentals of Communication Design are introduced to students with theoretical and applied studies in design emphasizing the process of problem solving, communication, and verbal and visual presentation.
Credits: 3.0
Prerequisites: None DS201 Communication Design II
Fundamentals of Communication Design are introduced to students with theoretical and applied studies in design emphasizing the process of problem solving, communication, and verbal and visual presentation.
Credits: 3.0
Prerequisites: None DS202 Typography I
These courses provide students with an understanding of the integral use of typography in the overall design concept. Type as a communicative and creative element is explored. Students become familiar with the organizational skills necessary for clear communication as well as the formative aspects of typographic symbols and arrangement.
Credits: 3.0
Prerequisites: None DS203 Typography II
These courses provide students with an understanding of the integral use of typography in the overall design concept. Type as a communicative and creative element is explored. Students become familiar with the organizational skills necessary for clear communication as well as the formative aspects of typographic symbols and arrangement.
Credits: 3.0
Prerequisites: None DS230 Computer Studio I
This course introduces students to the general structure of the Macintosh computing platform and engages them in an intensive tool-and-function-based experience with QuarkXpress and Adobe Illustrator. Digital pre-press fundamentals are also introduced.
Credits: 3.0
Prerequisites: None DS231 Computer Studio II
This course begins by introducing students to the fundamental workings of the tools and functions inherent in the current version of Adobe Photoshop during the first half of the semester. The second half of the course challenges students with projects that require them to interface between QuarkXpress, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop to create more complex documents. Advanced aspects of the digital pre-press process are covered over the duration of the semester.
Credits: 3.0
Prerequisites: DS230 DS300 Communication Design III
In this course, students reinforce skills introduced during Communication Design I and II. The visual language of design as expressed through the understanding of professional design techniques, mechanics, and practices will be examined through problems related to identity and environmental graphics.
Credits: 3.0
Prerequisites: DS201, DS203, and DS231 DS302 Informational Graphics/Professional Practice
The theories and skills introduced in Communication Design I and II are revisited and further developed in this course. The development of studentsŐ abilities to design and facilitate people-oriented communications by organizing and restructuring the flow of information will be emphasized, as will their abilities to relate their writing skills to the formulation and evolution of visual communication problems. The professional practice component introduces students to the subject of business as it relates to the professional practice of design. Key subject areas to be addressed are: project management, design and the law, starting your own business, team ethics, general client interaction and negotiation, and professional issues regarding the evolution of the field of Communication Design. Field trips and guest speakers will impart significant and varied perspectives on the day-to-day maintenance of the business of design.
Credits: 3.0
Prerequisites: DS201 DS303 Package Design
Students are introduced to packaging design fundamentals and the process of developing packages individually or as systems for the mutual benefit of the end-user and the manufacturer. Emphasis is placed on symbols, shape, color illustration, and typography and how they relate to three-dimensional forms.
Credits: 3.0
Prerequisites: DS201 DS305 Advertising Design
This course is designed to familiarize students with art direction in an advertising agency setting. Students are introduced to the fundamentals of advertising through lectures and assignments related to marketing, research, account service, copyrighting, and visualization.
Credits: 3.0
Prerequisites: DS201 and DS231 DS330 Computer Studio III
Students will begin the course by engaging in situations which require them to utilize advanced image manipulation and preparation techniques to configure their work for reproduction or transmission in a variety of pixel rendered, multimedia environments. Students will then be initiated into fundamental tool-and-function-based experiences with video editing software and multimedia authoring software such as Adobe Premiere and Macromedia Director.
Credits: 3.0
Prerequisites: DS231 DS331 Advanced Computer: Self-Directed
This course begins by familiarizing students with several digitally based methods to document, archive, and strategically manage the development and maintenance of complex visual communication systems for print media. These methods will then be further developed as students are challenged to conceptualize, organize, and execute projects that utilize authoring software or Internet programming languages to facilitate interactive communication for kinetic media environments such as the World Wide Web, CD-ROM, and other pixel-rendered information delivery systems.
Credits: 3.0
Prerequisites: DS330 DS400 Communication Design IV
Students enrolled in this course will be responsible for engaging in and completing two or three projects they choose from a prearranged group of project parameters (provided by the instructor) and one project that they will be responsible for proposing and defining. Students will analyze each other's work so that they may gain critical insight from the variety of projects that their peers will simultaneousl be working on.
Credits: 3.0
Prerequisites: DS330 DS401 Communication Design Thesis
In this course, students will be responsible for formulating a thesis question and then developing a communication design system or concept that provides a solution to the problem/s they've identified. This course will provide senior-level Communication Design majors with an opportunity to develop an idea through a marriage of communication design theory and the practical synthesis and application of visual principles.
Credits: 6.0
Prerequisites: DS400 DS405 Portfolio Preparation
This course gives each student an opportunity to assemble her/his work from both school and professional practice experiences into a professional presentation format for review by prospective employers, clients, or graduate school admissions committees.
Credits: 1.5
Prerequisites: DS400 DS407 Collaborative Project
This course allows students from a particular discipline to collaborate with other students and professionals who work outside of that discipline on either assigned or self-generated projects. This course will increase student awareness about the formulation of project criteria and parameters, and will afford them opportunities to interact with and be enlightened by people whose sensibilities about how design can bring about or affect change may be different from their own.
Credits: 1.5
Prerequisites: DS400 DS480 Communication Design Internship
This internship is an off-campus learning experience which provides junior-and senior-level students the opportunity to apply knowledge, theories, skills, and techniques learned in the classroom to the working environment.
Credits: 3.0
Prerequisites: Second-semester junior or senior standing with a 3.0 GPA. An internship may be substituted for Package Design and/or Advertising Design DS499 Visual Resources and Applications
In this course, students will encounter diverse opportunities to apply their theoretical and practical training as communication designers and illustrators to professional projects. The projects intended for actual publication (print and digital) are completed for a variety of non-profit "client" organizations. Students who wish to enroll in this course must apply to the Dean of Design.
Credits: 3.0
Prerequisites: Second-semester junior or senior standing. Visual Resources may be substituted for Package Design and/or Advertising Design. | 
