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ARTC 120  Graphic Design II

3 Units (Degree Applicable, CSU)

Prerequisite: ARTC 100
Corequisite: ARTD 20 (May be taken previously)


Graphic design concepts, theories, and strategies for the design and layout of printed commercial art. Covers typical printed products including advertisements, flyers, brochures, posters, newsletters, books, and catalogs. Focuses on using Adobe InDesign with additional exposure to Photoshop and Illustrator.

    • Lecture Topical Outline
      - Historical overview of print design
      - Industry overview, disciplines, and opportunities
      - Current and future technologies
      - Working with clients
      - Working in production teams
      - Research methods and techniques
      - Creativity and problem solving
      - Thumbnails, sketches, roughs, and comps
      - Project planning
      - Offset printing process
      - Cyan, magenta, yellow and key (CMYK) color and color separations
      - Spot color
      - Monotones and duotones
      - Paper
      - Digital printing
      - Print industry terminology
      - Asset preparation and management
      - Common print products
      - Primary and secondary messages
      - Typography in print
      - Mockups, dummies and fabrication
      - Grid methods
      - General print design principals and theories
      - Flyer design
      - Poster design
      - Ad design
      - Brochure design
      - Newsletter design
      - Catalog design
      - Print design critique
      - Final exam
    • Lab Topical Outline
      - Using InDesign interface overview: preferences, documents, menus, tools, options, windows, panels, workspaces, and modes
      - Organizing an InDesign document: setup, guides, folds, bleeds, and spreads
      - Using InDesign grids
      - Using InDesign tables and forms
      - Using InDesign objects: shapes, paths, arranging, positioning, transforming, aligning, and distributing
      - Using InDesign filters and effects
      - Using InDesign color: additive, subtractive, CMYK, RGB, spot color, Pantone, gradients, and transparency
      - Using InDesign text frames: importing text, overflow, links, and breaks
      - Using InDesign image frames: importing images, links, and transforming
      - Creating InDesign typography: paragraph formatting, character formatting, type on a path, and outlines
      - Creating thumbnails, sketches, roughs and comps
      - Using InDesign templates, master pages, and styles
      - Setting up InDesign files for pring: preflight, packaging, and exporting
      - Exporting InDesign files to PDF
    • Course Measurable Objectives
      Provide a minimum of five (5) course measurable objectives:
      1. Propose and justify creative solutions to common print design problems.
      2. Organize and prepare digital files for production.
      3. Develop original print design projects.
      4. Prepare digital files for print.
      5. Present original print design projects, explaining and defending the successful usage of learned skills and concepts.
      6. Critique student and professional print design products based on learned skills and concepts.