Katherine Dillon / Nancy Nowacek

The goal of this course is to provide students who are new to the principles of visual design with the practical knowledge, critical skills and confidence to effectively express their ideas in a visually pleasing and effective way. Over the course of 7-weeks an overview of the many tools and techniques available to convey an idea, communicate a message and influence an experience will be presented, discussed and applied. Topics covered in the course include: typography, color, composition, branding, logo and information design. This class is intended for students who do not have formal graphic design or visual arts training but recognize the powerful impact of visual decisions in their work.

COURSE OUTLINE
Class 1 – Principles of Visual Communication
Class 2 – Signage and Information Systems
Class 3 – Typography/Composition
Class 4 – Logo and Brand Design
Class 5 – Color Theory
Class 6 – Information Design

Each meeting a new topic will be presented. The format will be a class discussion with a focus on examples of the theme for the week. Each topic will have a related assignment that will done by each student individually and presented and critiqued in the following class. For students new to or with limited skills in Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator there will be a series of informal weekly workshops led by residents to teach the basics and answer questions on use of the software. Completion of the assignments and participation in the class discussion is required. Students must maintain a blog where they post their assignments. This two-credit course will meet for the first seven weeks of the semester