The eLearning Center for the eLearning Centre

Establish a firm foundation for taking on professional design work. You’ll gain insights from industry veterans and explore the challenges of designing posters, logos, magazine covers, book layouts, 3D designs, and brand identities. Looking to establish a career as a freelance designer? The course provides you opportunities to hone your design process, as you research each project, develop concepts, work with iterative feedback, and begin to develop quality pieces for your portfolio.

LESSON 1 The Process of Design How does a designer approach a project and develop a killer visual concept? In Lesson One, you'll gain insights into the professional design process, learning the importance of research, concept development, and critique. A case study explores the evolution of an award-winning design concept, before you explore eight strategies for developing original visual ideas of your own. In the second part of the lesson, you'll learn about the tools and paste-up production methods used by many great designers of the 20th century. This will provide a historical context for how classic graphic design styles evolved into today's digital techniques. In the exercise, a retro layout project challenges your composition skills.

LESSON 2 Text and Typography Actions may speak louder than words, but typography screams design. Skillful handling of text—including choice of typeface, type size, and alignment—is critical for any designer working today, in print or online. In Lesson Two, you will review some typography fundamentals and evaluate how typography is used in composition. You'll examine important issues in selecting a typeface, including style, tone, and expression. Case studies explore the important role of visual identity for any publication. In the exercise, you'll design a logo for an Internet magazine.

LESSON 3 The Shape of Design Page layout skills are crucial for any graphic designer. Lesson Three addresses some essential concepts for magazine layout. You'll learn key issues in using a grid to plan layout and text treatment, looking at how to research and plan the structure of a page or spread. A case study analyzes how a famous designer created a magazine layout, teaching you important terms in text treatment. You'll pick up rules of thumb for effective layout design for magazine covers and spreads, looking at highly effective examples along the way. It's your turn in the exercise, where you create a magazine cover utilizing the "one message rule", as well as a two-page spread.

LESSON 4 Paper and Publishing The objective of Lesson Four is to give you an insight into the nature of the publishing industry, that exotic world of full-bleed images, embossed jacket designs, and pre-press checking. You'll begin with an overview of publishing for old media and new media and learn about book design through an in-depth case study. You will explore important paper terminology including embossing, die cutting, and more. In the exercise you will design a book cover and chapter pages for a coffee table book that blends imagery with strong typography.

LESSON 5 Products and Packaging Why do some products sell while others simply gather dust on the shelves? Once a product hits the market, packaging design can make or break it. Lesson Five explores how visual messages are used to shape consumer perceptions. You will learn how typography, color, and imagery work together to convey a message to consumers. In the exercise you'll use Illustrator and Photoshop to create a package for a trackball manufacturer, and then assemble the 3D artwork for display.

LESSON 6 Business and Production Lesson Six offers essential preparation in the business and production aspects of design. You'll begin by exploring some options for a graphic design career, whether you are freelance or in-house. You'll learn tips for promoting yourself, working with clients, and managing your design jobs professionally. In the second part of the lesson, you'll learn principles for working with printers and get an overview of the ten steps in the print production process. You'll also learn pointers for designing and developing your portfolio of work. In the final exercise, you'll attempt a portfolio-worthy project. From concept to production and presentation, you'll design a series of olive oil bottles for a client.