MCJ312 Graphic Design Topics Lijie Zhou

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The Topics for MCJ 312-‐Graphic Design

There are topics for Graphic Design class listed in following tables. We have 13 weeks excluding “Thanksgiving” and “Final Exam” weeks. Each week, we have 2 classes (one on Tuesday and one on Thursday). I would like to teach design principle, ideation, history and a little bit aesthetics on Tuesday class and teach software (Adobe InDesign CC) step by step on Thursday. But I am completely open to change or revise this plan.

In these tables, there are 10 units for Tuesday, 11 units for Thursday. I also added three “bonus units” about visual aesthetics and eBook design. The books and articles I listed in the third column are for me to prepare classes but not the textbooks for students. They don’t have to buy textbooks.

Basically, the assignments will be the design works of 1. Business Card, 2. Poster, 3. Brochure, 4. News Letter, 5.Newspaper page, and 6. iBook page. I am planning to let students focus on one organization on campus (e.g., students organizations at our department) and do every assignment for the same organization. It could help students to gather information about client comprehensively and deep understand client's needs.

Thanks a lot,

Lijie Zhou

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MCJ 312 – Fall 2016 Class Schedule A (Tuesday: 11:00 a.m.-‐ 12:15a.m.): Principle, Theory, History, Ideation and Aesthetics

Unit Topics(s) Book(s)/Reading (s) for teaching

Unit 1: Introduction to Graphic Design

In Unit 1, students will learn about the three stages of graphic design (diagnosis, strategy, and application)

1. Syllabus

2. What is Graphic Design? Misunderstandings about Graphic Design Ideation in Graphic Design.

3. Ideation in Graphic Design a) Diagnosis b) Strategy c) Application

1. Amy E. Arntson, Graphic Design Basics, Sixth Edition. Wadsworth Publishing, 2011, Preface and Chapters 1-‐5

2. The National Public Radio article: Haiku Traffic Signs Bring Poetry To NYC Streets.

3. Michael Flarup’s blog post “How and When to Use Pictograms,” at Pixelresort.com

Unit 2: History of Graphic Design

In Unit 2, students will learn some of the history of graphic design, including its development as an art form and its reflection on society

1. Renaissance and Rococo Era Graphic Design 2. Typographic and Photographic Innovations and a New Color Printing Process 3. The Progression from the Arts & Crafts Movement to Art Nouveau 4. Modern Art’s Influence on Graphic Design 5. The True Birth of Graphic Design as a Profession 6. The International Typographic Style and The New York School 7. Contemporary Design and Digital Revolution

1. Philip B. Meggs, Megg’s History of Graphic Design, 4th Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2005.

Chapter 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10

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Unit Topic(s)

Book(s)/Reading (s) for teaching preparation

Unit 3: Visual Language

Colors, images, shapes, textures, and proportions work together to build a graphic environment that transmits both a message and the feelings connected with it.

In Unit 3, students will be more conscious of how visual language works and more aware of how they should use theses visual elements in typography and imagery design.

1. Visual Language

2. Visual Language and Musical Harmony

3. The Visual Role of Images

4. The Visual Role of Color

5. The Visual Role of Typography

6. The Visual Role of Texture

1. Amy E. Arntson, Graphic Design Basics, Sixth Edition. Wadsworth Publishing, 2011.

Chapters 5 and 6

Unit 4: Introduction to Typography

In graphic design, letters as the key element in the process of transmitting information. Text is the most used and most important medium for storing information.

Unit 4 will give students the basic knowledge of typography as a starting point to the development of composing with types.

1. Overview of Typography

2. Anatomy of Type

1. Kaj Johansson, Peter Lundberg, and Robert Ryberg, A Guide to Graphic Print Production. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, 2011.

Chapter 6

Unit 5: Impact of Layout on Design

By the end of Unit 5, students will understand the key elements of layout and how it impacts the effectiveness of graphic design solution.

1. What is Layout?

a) History of Layout Design

b) Illuminated Manuscripts

c) Layout Design Today


Chapter 7

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Unit Topic(s) Book(s)/Reading (s) for teaching preparation

Unit 6: Impact of Color in Design

By the end of Unit 6, students will understand the color theory and systems, and how it impacts the effectiveness of graphic design solution.

1. Color in Design

a) A Brief History of Color Theory

b) Color Systems

2. The Meanings of Color

a) The Cultural Significance of Color

b) Western Psychological Use of Color

3. The Power of Black and White, and Monochrome


Chapter 8

Unit 7: Advertising, Poster and Page Design

The main assignments in this class will be poster, advertisement, brochure and newspaper.

However, before letting students’ creativity fly, they must be grounded on the basics of page design: grids, paragraphs, and layout.

1. The Grid

2. Paragraph Alignment

3. Text Style

4. Poster Composition

1. Amy E. Arntson, Graphic Design Basics, Sixth Edition. Wadsworth Publishing, 2011. Chapter 10

2. First Things First 2000: A Design Manifesto

3. SpotNYC

4. Good 50x70

Unit 8: Corporate Identity Applications

In Unit 8, students will learn what corporate identity is, how it is developed, and how it is conveyed to the public.

1. Corporate Identity Systems

2. Tradmarks (very briefly)

3. Corporate Design Programs

a) Letterhead

b) Business Cards

c) Newsletter

1. Ari Suardiyanti, Logo Design Tips: How To Design a Logo in 2016

2. Jacob Case, Branding, Identity & Logo Design Explained

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Unit 9: Digital Printing and Graphic Design for the Web

In Unit 9, students will understand why digital printing is ideal for short runs of four-‐color pieces that require quick turnaround and flexibility.

In terms of graphic design for Web, this unit will introduce the production of Web-‐ready files.

1. The Graphic Print Production Flow

2.Planning Graphic Print Production

3. Color management (RGB, CMYK, Pantone, HKS…)

4. Adjusting image for Printing and the Web

5. Types of Paper, Ink and Printer

6. File Formats, Color, Optimization and File Storage for Web-‐based files

7. HTML Email Banner

1. Kaj Johansson, Peter Lundberg, and Robert Ryberg, A Guide to Graphic Print Production. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, 2011.

Chapter 1, 3, 8

Unit 10: Digital Image Manipulations (breaking the rules!!!)

In Unit 10, students will learn various image manipulation methods and technics, which are frequently used in modern graphic design.

The students will also learn how to shoot photos and set light sources with special post-‐production purposes. It is a very new and controversial topic. Traditional photographer and designer may not agree on these heavy post-‐production ideas. However, as the future graphic designer, students should at least know where the magic happens.

1. Photography without post-‐production

2. HDR Photography (Photomatix Pro, Aurora HDR Pro)

3. Panorama by Photoshop

4. Texture photography (Layer masks)

5. Good or Bad? Lens Distortion

6. Adjustment Brush & Graduated Filter: Adobe Lightroom

7. Having fun with your photos: Topaz, Nik Software

Personal Experiences (Presented at Dr. Xue’s advertising classes)

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MCJ 312 – Fall 2016 Class Schedule B (Thursday: 11:00 a.m.-‐ 12:15a.m.): Graphic Design Software Instruction-‐-‐-‐Adobe InDesign CC and Photoshop CC

Unit Topics(s) Book(s)/Reading (s) for teaching

Unit 1: Introducing the workspace

1. Looking at the workspace

2. Customizing the workspace

3.Using context menus

4. Using panel menus

5. Modifying Interface preferences

1. Kelly Kordes Anton, & John Cruise, Adobe InDesign CC Classroom in a Book (2015 release), First Edition. Adobe Press, 2015.

Chapter 1

Unit 2: Setting up a document and working with pages

1. Creating, adding, saving, rearranging, and deleting document pages… 2. Working with master pages 3. Applying master pages to document pages 4. Changing the size of pages 5. Adding sections to change page numbering 6.overriding master page item on document pages and placing text and graphics 7. Viewing the completed spread


Chapter 3

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Unit Topic(s)

Book(s)/Reading (s) for teaching preparation

Unit 3: Working with objects

1. Working with layers

2. Grating and modifying text and graphic frames

3. Adding metadata captions to graphics frames

4. Placing and linking graphics frames

5. Wrapping text around a graphic

6. Modifying the shape of frames

7.Transforming and aligning objects

8. Selecting and modifying grouped objects


Chapter 4

Unit 4: Flowing text

1. Flowing text into an existing frame

2. Flowing text manually and automatically

3. Creating text frames while flowing text

4. Creating threaded frames automatically

5.Applying paragraph styles to text

6. Adjusting columns

7. Adding a jump line page number


Chapter 5

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Unit 5: Editing text.

1. Finding and changing a missing font, text, spelling and Formatting

2. Entering and importing text

3. Editing text by dragging and dripping

4. Using the story editor

5. Tracking changes


Chapter 6

Unit 6: Working with typography

1. Adjusting vertical spacing

2.Working with fonts, type styles, and glyphs

3. Fine-‐tuning columns

4. Changing paragraph alignment

5. Creating a drop cap

6. Adjusting letter, word spacing and line breaks

7. Setting tabs

8. Working with paragraph shading


Chapter 7

Unit 7: Working with color

1. Managing color

2. Defining printing requirements

3.Working with swatches, gradients, and color groups


Chapter 8

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Unit 8: Working with styles

1. Creating and applying paragraph styles

2. Creating and applying character styles

3.Nesting character styles inside paragraph styles

4. Creating and applying object styles

5. Creating and applying table and cell styles

6. Loading styles from another document


Chapter 9

Unit 9: Graphics and Transparency

1. Adjusting display quality

2. Working with clipping paths and alpha channels

3. Importing and colorizing a gray-‐scale image

4. Applying transparency settings

5. Adding transparency effects to imported vector and bitmap graphics

6. Applying transparency setting to text


Chapter 10, 12

Unit 10: Creating tables 1. Creating a table

2. Converting text to a table

3. Changing rows and columns

4. Formatting a table

5. Adding graphics to tale cells

6. Creating a header row


Chapter 11

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Unit 11: Printing and exporting

1. Preflighting files 2. Packaging files 3. Creating Adobe PDF proof 4.Previewing separations, transparency effects, and pages 5. Printing a laser or inkjet proof 6 Using the ink manger


Chapter 13

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The following Aesthetics and EPUB (eBook) units are optional (Depends on the progress of the previous units).


Unit 1: Art as Pictorial Representation 1. Representational, Abstract, and Non-‐Objective Art

2. Anne Sheppard: Mimesis as Representation

3. Max Black: Concept of Representation

4. The Concept of Seeing-‐in

5. The Theories of Gombrich and Boodman

1. John M. Valentine, Beginning Aesthetics, 3rd edition. McGraw-‐Hill, 2007.

Chapter 5

Unit 2: Beauty 1. The Trend toward Subjectivizing Beauty

2. A Brief Survey of Beauty Theories

3.Prima Facie and Evidential Beauty

4. The Science of Beauty

1. John M. Valentine, Beginning Aesthetics, 3rd edition. McGraw-‐Hill, 2007.

Chapters 6

Unit 3: Creating a fixed-‐layout EPUB by using InDesign

1. Creating a new document for fixed-‐layout export

2. Adding multimedia and interactive elements

3. Exporting an EPUB file


Chapter 15, 16