Online Graphic Design Course

Module I - Introduction

• what is Graphic Design

  Kickstart your course with getting an overview of the graphic design space. Get familiar with the idea of concepts, ideas and thoughts, an understanding of visual relationships that can help you communicate a direct and coherent message. Work your way through the holy trinity of graphic design applications - Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign.

• Learning the Elements and Principles of Design

  In your second graphic design class, you will get the opportunity to get acquainted with developing a ‘Designer’s Eye’. The key is to understand the building blocks of design. You know more about the principles and elements of design including composition, organic and geometric form, colour, craft usage to create visual impact with clarity whilst adding structure to your designs.

• Logo designing and an introduction to Adobe Illustrator

  Adobe Illustrator, world leading digital illustration application is your starting point. Lesson 3 will investigate one of the first tasks a designer is faced with; logo creation. The process of concept to presentation is known as the design cycle and a thorough breakdown will be given as to how to approach a customer through the design cycle. The lesson will end off with an introduction to working in Adobe Illustrator.

• Newfound knowledge – getting creative in Adobe Illustrator

  In lesson 4, we will differentiate between the different type of images graphic designers deal with daily. You thought you knew all there is about images, but this course will blow your mind with some newfound knowledge. A bulletproof design technique that barely fails will be taught and applied in a practical exercise of Adobe Illustrator. This lesson is sure to get you hooked!.

• Photomanipulation in Adobe Photoshop

  There is a difference between a digital and printed image? This lesson will investigate the crucial component of working with pixels. Photoshop demos will make this lesson even more practical and the fundamentals of Photoshop including layers and blending modes will be focused on.

• Movie poster design in Adobe Photoshop

  The golden ratio, rule of thirds and principles of god design will be discussed in lesson 6. The amazing ability of Photoshop will be put to the test when you will be introduced to layer masks. These skills will be put to practice by designing a movie poster. Once you’ve finished lesson 6, you will eat, sleep and speak Photoshop.

• An introduction to Adobe InDesign

  Print is not dead. Getting your files print-ready is a critical part of any designer’s task. Bleeds, cropmarks, colour space and format are the principles that will be explained, and the student will be introduced to the amazing Adobe InDesign; the most powerful layout application.

• Summary of Print & Pre-Press Basics and InDesign

  About 70% of all designs consist of typography – the art of using type in your design. In our last lesson of module 1, you will realize that type is not only a mere communication instrument but will see the potential of using type as a design element. Your audience wants to read your message but with so many other messages screaming for attention, how to do you make your message stand out?.

Module II - Advanced Theory Module

• Advanced Colour Theory and print terminology

  Colour in design is very subjective. What evokes one reaction in a person may evoke a very different reaction in someone else. Colour theory is a science and learning concepts like Chroma, Value and Saturation is key to creating your own colour schemes, which we will be creating from scratch. This is essential for your personal design projects.

• Mood board creation

  Photoshop is one part of the ‘Holy Trinity’ of design, the others being Illustrator and InDesign. During this lesson you will discover the shear amount of power Photoshop contains. This tour of Photoshop will touch on the many tools of Photoshop and the sub-categories within each tool choice.

• Advanced anatomy of typography

  Filters are a great tool for any graphic designer. Photoshop has a large range of filters to fit every genre and to help create amazing pieces of work. During this lesson we will delve in these filters, to fully grasp the creative power they have.

• The basics of the pen tool

  During this lesson you will discover the best principles of logo design, and the “what not to do”, to make sure you avoid those easily made mistakes. This Lesson will then discuss what makes a logo work before moving on to the principals contained in Gestalt theory.

• Mastering the pen tool

• Magazine cover in Photoshop

• Advertisement in Photoshop

• Magazine creation in InDesign

Module III - Professional Creation Module

• Creative Thinking

• Corporate Identity & Mock ups

• Interactive pdf & e-publication

• Advanced Photo Manipulation

• 3D Rotation & Design in Illustrator

• Packaging Design

• Designing for web & social media

• Infographics

Module IV - Career Module

• Branding & Packaging - Part 1

  Branding and packaging is an important tool to any business. This lesson will teach all the knowledge you need to get ahead in the branding and packaging side of graphic design. Using the Adobe packages, we will create some stunning artwork to be used for a variety of different branding and packaging.

• Branding & Packaging - Part 2

  Branding and packaging is an important tool to any business. This lesson will teach all the knowledge you need to get ahead in the branding and packaging side of graphic design. Using the Adobe packages, we will create some stunning artwork to be used for a variety of different branding and packaging.

• Advanced Typography - Part 1

  Typography is an art form of its own. Understanding typography and its power is a great asset to any designer. Creating your own custom fonts is an advantage every graphic designer should possess. We will look at custom fonts and how to edit already existing fonts to help your designs pop.

• Advanced Typography - Part 2

  Typography is an art form of its own. Understanding typography and its power is a great asset to any designer. Creating your own custom fonts is an advantage every graphic designer should possess. We will look at custom fonts and how to edit already existing fonts to help your designs pop.

• Idea Generation & Development - Part 1

  This lesson will solely focus on the process of idea generation and how to go from a simple brief to a masterpiece of work. We will go through all the steps of idea generation in depth, allowing for creativity even in the non-creative parts of graphic design.

• Idea Generation & Development - Part 2

  This lesson will solely focus on the process of idea generation and how to go from a simple brief to a masterpiece of work. We will go through all the steps of idea generation in depth, allowing for creativity even in the non-creative parts of graphic design.

• Career Advice - Part 1

  These lessons will be based on career advice to help you ease into the possibility of designing for either a client or for yourself. We will discuss on a step by step basis what you need to know and what you need to do to become a freelance graphic designer.

• Career Advice - Part 2

  These lessons will be based on career advice to help you ease into the possibility of designing for either a client or for yourself. We will discuss on a step by step basis what you need to know and what you need to do to become a freelance graphic designer.