Syllabus

Fall 2007 Computer Graphics for Ad Majors (crn 068639), course #3000 )

Tuesday and Thursday 1:10- 2:30 Tuttleman Learning Center Rm. 4

Instructor:

Meriam Harvey

Phone: 215-820-2490; meriamh@temple.edu

Course Description: This course is an introduction to and survey of three of the most popular Adobe Creative Suite design applications. Throughout the semester you will become familiar with each program interface, and proficient in the use of its tools. You will use your newfound skills to create marketing materials that may help you land that internship or job you’re after. This is a hands-on class. Participation is not only encouraged, it’s required. Be creative and bring your ideas.

Objectives:

You will develop a basic to intermediate proficiency in:

Adobe Photoshop,

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe InDesign

Required Texts:

The NonDesigner’s Design Book, Robin Williams

Recommended Texts:

Photoshop for Windows & Macintosh (CS3), Elain Weinman  (Visual Quickstart Guide, Peachpit Press)

Adobe InDesign CS3: Hands-On Training, Brian Wood (Peachpit Press)

Adobe Creative Suite 3 Bible, Ted Padova (Wiley Publications Book)

Projects and Grading

Final Projects: Three projects are due at the end of the semester. The projects must be posted to the class blog. Possible projects include:

• Magazine cover
• Corporate logo and business card
• Ad campaign (poster or billboard)
• Company brochure
• Magazine spread
• Package design
• Other marketing materials

In Class Projects: Four in class projects will be due at the end of the classes specified on the syllabus schedule. These projects must be completed and posted to the blog before leaving class. These assignments and the practical midterm will be weighted as 1/5 of your grade.

Practical Midterm: Since this is a hands-on course, the midterm will require you to demonstrate the skills you have learned in a project or series of tasks to be completed by the end of class. The nature of the project or tasks will be announced in the class before the midterm. This, along with the in class projects will comprise 1/5 of your grade.

Grading Scale:

A: Excellent / Outstanding Work

B: Solid work and/or solid effort and work

C: Adequate / Average work or effort

D: Sub par work (class must be repeated to count toward major)

E: No grasp of the subject matter and no effort made

Project grade breakdown

Assignment/Exam                 Points

Class Policies

Attendance: This is a hands-on learning class, with exercises, activities, and demonstrations taking place in each class. Attendance is crucial to your learning and success in this course! No more than 3 unexcused absences. Your grade will drop by half a grade point for each additional unexcused absence. Excusable reasons include illness and family emergencies. Forgetting to set your alarm clock doesn’t count.

Lateness: Class is disrupted each time you are late. If you are more than 15 minutes late, it is counted as an absence. Please be on time.

Mandatory Student/Instructor Meetings: You will be required to meet with the instructor twice at scheduled times during the semester. Meetings will serve to assess your progress and address any difficulties/ concerns you may have.

Last Day to drop/withdraw:

Cheating Plagiarizing:

Temple University policy states:

“Cheating and plagiarism on any examination or assignment will result in automatic failure of the course and recommendation to the University Disciplinary Committee for further disciplinary action.”

Plagiarism includes:

Copying others work as your own

Copying others work without proper author recognition

Made up quotes and sources

Temple’s Policy on Student and Faculty Academic Rights and Responsibilities:

Freedom to teach and freedom to learn are iseparable facets of academic freedom. The University has adopted a policy on Student and Faculty Academic Rights and Responsibilities (Policy # 03.70.02) which can be accessed through the following link:

http://policies.temple.edu/getdoc.asp?policy no=03.70.02

Students with Disabilities:

“It is Temple University’s policy to provide reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities under the American Disabilities Act (ADA). At the beginning of each semester, any student with a disability should inform the course instructor if instructional accommodations or academic adjustments will be needed. For mor information about the ADA and academic accommodations or adjustments, contact the Office of Disability Resources and Services.

http://www.temple.edu/disability; 215-204-1280; hellodrs@astro.temple.edu

Wait! There’s More…

File Storage and transfer: Leaving a single copy of your work on the lab computer is risky. You are playing roulette with your work. It may be there when you return - it may not. Therefore, it is your responsibility to acquire, and bring with you to class, a storage device. A thumb drive is strongly recommended.

E-mail accounts and blogs: You must sign up for a Gmail account and Blogger account so you can post your work. We will take care of this when we meet for the first class.

The blog URL is http://adv3000.blogspot.com

Outside class time: You are responsible for completing your assignments on time. This will require you to work independently outside of class.  Temple University has computers equipped with Adobe applications in various labs on campus. The Tech Center Graphics Lab and the Tuttleman Scholars Information Center (the Macs) are two. For a more comprehensive list and hours of operation go to:

http://www.temple.edu/cs/labs/index.htm

Resources:

http://www.adobe.com

http://www.layersmagazine.com - Adobe suite tutorials and articles

http://www.journeyed.com - Student discounts on Adobe software

http://www.colourlovers.com - Color palette inspiration

More to come…

Schedule: