Description
Gatlin International offers a variet of graphic design courses, but none is as important to your thorough understanding of the field than our Design and Composition course.
What makes any image work, in graphic design or digital photography?
The answer is composition. Composition, literally the assembly or construction of elements, is the artful arrangement that guides the viewer's eye and unifies your work.
In this 3-lesson hands-on graphic design course, you'll develop your compositional skills by analyzing everything from Grand Masters to Madison Avenue ads to tubes of toothpaste.
Through a series of artistic workouts, you'll learn the principles of effective composition, building to a Final Project where you bring Mozart to the masses. Your designs may never be the same!
Unlike some other graphic design courses that focus on theory, ours focuses on hand-on training to ensure that you have the skills you need to create powerfull, compelling compositions.
Outline
LESSON 1 Shape and Form Through composition, a design can be playful, serious, humorous, or moving. In Lesson One, you'll explore the concept of two-dimensional shape, a foundation principle in graphic design. You'll look at the way leading artists and designers use positive and negative space, creating intriguing effects through open, closed, an
br/>LESSON 2 The Elements of Design Too big, too small, or just right? Lesson Two explores elements of design, looking at how unified compositions are created through proximity, repetition, continuation, and color. Balance and rhythm are explored as creative compositional strategies. Learn how to use the "Golden Section," discovered in 5th Century Greece, in contemporary compositions, then tackle exercises on unity, balance, rhythm, and proportion.
LESSON 3 Energy and Movement How do designers attract the eye? By creating compositions with energy and movement. In Lesson Three, you'll learn how to create a strong focal point and move the viewer's eye along a chosen route in your work. You'll look at how overlapping planes energizes a layout through push and pull. Finally, you'll apply these principles in a poster design project that brings Mozart to the masses.
Additional Info
- Languages
- English
- Course Length
- 30.00 hours
- Duration of Access
Enrolled students have access to the class for six months. During this period, questions or assignments may be submitted at any time to the instructor. Each course lesson requires an average of 10 hours of study time.
- Instructor
Our graphic design courses are taught by experienced profesisonals with real-world experience. Margaret Penney is a teacher, designer, writer and media artist. Margaret developed the digital media curriculum at The Masters School, an independent school outside New York City. As a Web and motion graphic designer, Margaret has worked with Simon & Schuster, TIAA-Cref, Nike, Delia's girls clothing, MTV, and Sol Lewittt. As a new media artist, she has exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London; the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City; and around NYC. Her artwork has been reviewed globally online, in print magazines, and included in the book Eye Candy from the Underground: Fresh Styles for Web Designers. She has lectured on new media art at Purchase College, the School of Visual Arts Annual Conference for Educators, and the Pratt Institute. As a writer, she has been published in New York Arts magazine, Rhizome.org, and the Baltimore City paper. Margaret has a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and M.F.A. from Columbia University.
- Prerequisites/Audience
Our graphic design courses are designed for adult learners interested in building skills and portfolio for a design career. To take the course, students simply require a computer (PC or Mac), an Internet connection (56 Kbps modem or faster), and any required software. For courses with software requirements, computers must meet software manufacturers' system requirements.
- Requirements/Materials Included
To take this course you'll need Adobe Illustrator (or equivalent vector-based illustration program) or Adobe Photoshop (or equivalent digital imaging program) and basic experience in the software packages needed for this course.
- Certification
1.5 CEU’s
Sessions College is accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). Certificate programs are accredited by the Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools.