| I look forward to meeting you Tuesday,
September 3, the first day of class.
This course is a crucial one in your development as a
professional communicator because you'll be communicating in an
increasingly visual marketplace.
As a communicator, you will be using these images to influence your intended audience.
And as a consumer of communication services, others will try to use images to influence you.
Balancing theory and practice, this course introduces you to the basic principles of
graphic design and visual communication, and shows you how to apply these principles in
the situations. Specifically, this course has three parts:
|
 |
- An introduction to visual communication and visual analysis, which introduces
the concept of
visual rhetoric -- that is, the use of typography, images, layout, color, and iconography to garner an intended response .
- An introductdion to the elements of visual communication, including typography, images, layout, color, and iconography.
- An exploration of the effects of visual communication: the role of "process" in shaping professional communication,
the effects of visual communication on our perceptions of gender, ethnicity, race, and similar issues, and ethical issues
in visual communication.
To learn more about
visual communication, read What Is Visual Communication?
Two of the projects in this course are critical: that is, they ask you to apply critical
methods when considering visual communication. Two of the projects in this course are
hands-on; that is, they ask you to apply visual communication techniques in a practical way.
And one project mixes both. Specifrically, the projects ask you to:
- Analyze the visual components of a published piece of professional communication intended
for practical purposes.
- Design pages and screens to help readers efficiently find and read information. In doing
so, you'll use typography, color, layout, and navigational elements, and learn how to fuse
design and content.
- Prepare a small job aid (quick reference) that communicates almost exclusively through
pictures. In doing so, you'll learn how to communicate ideas through words. (No previous
drawing experience required.)
- Report on a designer or design issue, using a combination of visual and verbal communication
techniques, and analysis methods.
- Prepare a critique of an assigned piece that represents a multi-faceted visual presentation.
For those who consider themselves graphically challenged, in-class exercises will help
you develop your confidence in creating simple graphics.
To help me best meet your learning needs, would you please complete the
Student
Information Form and return it to me by e-mail before the second class?
If you have questions before class begins, please contact me. (And if you'd like to
check me out, click here.)
Saul Carliner
Syllabus
| Assignments | Schedule
| Resources | Site Map | Home