This course develops students' perceptual and descriptive skills through drawing media, techniques and subject matter by focusing on elements and organization principles of drawing. Students will learn contour lines, positive & negative space, perspective, sighting of angles and measurements of relationships. By mastering basic skills and experimenting with techniques and materials, students will begin to explore creative expression beyond preconceived boun...

Through this 'hands-on' course, the student will learn the fundamentals of design, advanced features and tips to prepare images for digital output and print. By the end of this course, the student will be able to create, modify, and enhance sophisticated images using raster editing tools and features; craft special effects; work in 3D space; and prepare files for export to various applications in web, mobile, print, and manufacturing.

Understanding colour and design principles through exploration and application across media, visual, and applied design genres. This course will introduce students to the fundamental principles of colour theory through design, such as layout, composition, balance, colour science as well as a diverse range of colour theories, and how to employ them creatively. These concepts will be reinforced through specific practical exercises, and activities that will serve to d...

This course introduces the students to vector image editing using Adobe Illustrator. By the end of this course, the student will be able to create, modify, and enhance vector artwork, craft special effects, work in 3D space, and prepare files for export to variations applications in web, mobile, print, and manufacturing.

This curriculum explores the various periods of art and design history to look closely at design initiatives and themes by taking students on a journey from the modern to contemporary period (1789 - now). This course breaks the history of design and communication solutions into five pillars: symbols, lettering, type, composition, and style via the production of living history and defines design thinking with the Three Cs: Concept, Creative and Context.

This course examines letterforms, fonts, type, and typography. Students will learn how typography evolved from basic symbols to the present-day's sophisticated fonts and letterforms. Students will discover the fundamentals of working with type, including the components, typographic measurement units, and typefaces for classical and modern fonts. Outcomes will demonstrate the potential of innovative typography, the functional foundation, and its place and import...

This course combines technical lessons in digital cameras and related technology with the direction needed to craft bespoke outcomes and beautiful imagery. Students will develop compositional, photo-illustrative skills to capture public narratives and editorial records. As students develop technical skills, creative approaches and applications for photography will be pursued and utilized in final advanced design solutions such as advertising, product photography, a...

This course will lay the foundation for a robust understanding of anatomy for applied illustration purposes. Topics emphasize a variety of figure drawing techniques applicable to both human, and animal morphology, helping to tie the subject matter into later 3D, and illustration expectations.

This course will apply human-centred design to frame learning and develop solutions to design problems, emphasizing the various techniques and tools used in design thinking, conceptualizing, ideating, and processes. Through projects exploring UI/UX and creative fluidity, students will learn to integrate research, problem-solving, project development, and critical thinking techniques to develop solutions to design challenges while focusing on the audience and user e...

This course explores the importance of workflow, technique, and technical construction methods in digital layout design by application of layout, grids, typography, and information design. Additionally, students will learn automation workflows, the design criteria for print, interactive, online, and mobile design applications, and their integration. This course balances a robust understanding of professional workflows, project, and file management, with information...

This course explores raster-design software where students learn photo editing techniques, mobile design, and video and 3D editing. This course addresses new technical skills while focusing on understanding and seeing the problems that hold digital artists back from creating beautiful and believable works. Assignments will explore the development processes, design thinking, briefs, presentations, and project reports.

Through wireframing, planning, style guidelines, single, and multi-page documents, master layout pages, colour palettes, libraries, style sheets, tables, and charts, this course focuses on the design of publications that combine grids, types, graphics, and colours through art direction processes while addressing commonplace printing and publication challenges, design conceptualization, ideation for various outputs, topics, and audiences.

This course explores the criteria for the print, interactive, online, and mobile design applications and their integration by balancing a robust understanding of professional workflows, project, and file management, with a variety of applied uses touching on information visualization, style guides, rule books, and other requirements for the development of professional quality and technique-focused projects.

This course introduces the fundamentals of package design including the typical package materials, processes, decisions, and production of a package — including current trends and concerns surrounding packaging. Through case studies, students will learn to combine creative design concepts and materials to develop packaging solutions that focus on user experience.

This studio-driven course explores the components of developing branding or corporate identity systems from the perspective of small local identities to large international brands. Students will learn the processes and considerations that impact the design of corporate logos, colour selection, type, symbols, branding elements, stationary, and other collateral elements through several case studies of prominent companies and brands and how graphic design influenced t...

This course focuses on branded storytelling and narratives for advertising and their integrability. Students will explore the relationship between graphic design and advertising through contemporary examples of promotion and marketing, target markets, consumerism, visual stimuli, advertising theories and strategies, product placement, and how they impact the design process. The course will explore some of the contemporary issues and challenges in design.

This course explores the production of interactive multimedia projects by designing animated prototypes. Students will prototype elements, components, and UI patterns within a graphical user interface, a combination of animation, audio, video, gesture control and navigation patterns and receive feedback using various input/output methods. Interface types will range from websites to native apps used in the game industry, education, simulators, computer-based trainin...

This course focuses on professional-level vector illustration development covering a range of styles as determined by each student’s professional aspirations. Students learn technical competencies, art direction, market research, and creative approaches to vector design software. Additionally, students will apply knowledge of integrated software design to work fluidly between vector, raster, layout, and moving media software.

This course introduces the fundamentals of web site development. The students will learn about the structure, and components of code-based languages, and website programming. Students will learn to work with text, tables, tags, images, forms, and hyperlinks to design, and create a fully functional website.

This course prepares students for the professional world by preparing them for job interviews and helping them compile and defend a first draft of their portfolio— demonstrating skills relative to a career in graphic design. Students are encouraged to identify a preferred skill set and style to polish and develop. Feedback will come in the form of industry, instructor and peer critique.

This course will explore the strategic role of graphic design in advertising. Students learn the relationship of context advertising through the current trends in promotion and marketing, establishing a target market, consumerism, visual stimuli, advertising theories and strategies, product placement, and how they impact the design process. Students will learn the importance of meeting deadlines, professional presentation, and attention to detail when designing adv...

In this course, students will build the skills to create interactive content in various outcomes, from animation to video production, projection mapping, application design, and augmented and virtual reality design. Students will continue to apply and learn the fundamentals of user interface design with applications and websites while understanding the functionality, standards, and patterns interface design requires within the context of experiential design.

This course will combine knowledge gained from earlier print, publication, web, and dynamic media courses to develop, manage, and produce a variety of electronic outputs with a focus on technical capacity and production management skills.

This course will prepare students for graduation and their final portfolio and be able to explain and defend their portfolio and pieces to a panel of their peers, faculty, and industry via presentations, written defences, portfolios, and portfolio events. All portfolio components should demonstrate the student's mastery of the program's core competencies while highlighting the uniqueness of their work.