Company Name: Andrew Owen School of Art Telephone: Fax: Cell Phone: Email: joaosoa.co.za Website:
Course Title: Advanced Certificate Graphic Design
The Graphic Design Department educates students in the art and science of visual communication, stressing the professional practice of design. The programme develops the student aptitude for planning, analysing and creating visual solutions to communications problems. Students use a variety of print and electronic media and technologies to execute a design that meet assigned communication needs. They consider cognitive, cultural, physical, and social factors in planning and executing designs appropriate for a given context. The department makes extensive use of computer software in the second-year phase when it concentrates on theoretical design in form and structure through studies in colour perception, gradation, rhythm, juxtaposition, progression, proportion, symmetry, letterforms and typographic composition. At junior (second year) level students are encouraged to pursue drawing, painting and photography workroom courses for elective credit in the Department of Fine Art.
As juniors, students continue theoretical studies with emphasis on message and content, design methods and applications, along with more technical courses. During the senior year a thesis project that tests the student's proficiency in design vocabulary, process and skills is chosen. Visiting critics and faculty members review the project.
Throughout study in this department, students will learn that graphic designers, as agents in the communication process, contribute to the visual culture of society by stressing the primacy of information communication over mere visual cosmetics. You will also learn to master problem-solving methodologies and critical design thought while developing a design language.
The alphabetical list of courses below is indicative of courses offered at AOSOA. Please note that this list is not comprehensive. For more information on current course offerings, check with AOSOA on 021 855 4553.
Advertising
Successful advertising professionals have the ability to blend creative genius with business savvy, lending a depth to their work that sells products. Unbounded curiosity and imagination fuel their motivation. Figuring out how to persuade people energizes them. It is like a game - and it is lots of fun. It is also a multi-million-rand business called advertising.
The Advertising course uses concept development, storyboarding and art direction to show the student how to create the right visual message to elicit the desired reaction from the audience. Brand marketing, marketing research and consumer behaviour are covered and, as students progress through this course, they will find opportunities to test their creative ideas while learning the planning and strategy behind successful advertising campaigns.
Term: Third
Course level: Third year
Computer Training
A series of assignments designed to the development the student's understanding of design software. These may be tutorial-based, or a project designed to familiarize the student with a particular aspect of specific software. A series of exercises are done in which students' Macromedia Freehand, Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Flash skills are improved and expanded. Open to second-years admitted to the Undergraduate Fine Art Programme for elective credit.
Term: Third
Course level: Second year
Corporate Design
This section will involve the design and application of an identity system for organizations or products to be assigned.
Term: First
Course level: Third year
Design and Layout
Intended to further develop the student's proficiency in designing layouts of various kinds. It deals with all the design elements individually and eventually collectively, and culminates in the use of these elements in design solutions for increasingly complex design problems.
Term: First
Course level: Second year
Design Application
The core of this course is the pragmatic aspects of graphic design. The objective is to purposely apply acquired knowledge and skills (for example typography, colour, visual translation, photography and theory) to a set of fictional and real-life problems based on a theme. Necessary vehicles for information (corporate identity, stationery, print advertisement, newsletter, direct mail, brochure, poster, packaging, promotional material) will be developed from concept to production. The course is intended to closely duplicate the actual working context of professional workroom situation.
As an additional component of the course students are required to propose or select a topic for Independent Project I (IP I), which will be advised and supervised by a visiting or graphic design staff member. This requirement will give the student the opportunity to prepare for the third year of study IP II thesis.
Term: Third
Course level: Second year
Design History
A concise chronological overview of graphic design through printed notes and short lectures. Assignments which encourage individual research into the relevant topics discussed are given to consolidate the content of the course. Design history investigates the origin of the discipline as it is known today, taking the late 19th century as its beginning point and moving on to the influence of international, social, political and technological developments and movements, and the contemporary role of graphic design. This is done through reading, discussion, presentation as well as an assignment. There will be at least one field trip to an established design workroom or a visiting designer to give input on the subject. Open to second-years admitted to the Undergraduate Fine Art Programme for elective credit.
Term: Second
Course level: Second year
Digital Image-Rendering
This workshop focuses on digital drawing and painting. Freehand allows for digital extension of more traditional drawing and painting media, and Adobe Photoshop encourages the fusion of image-making and design. The course provides an essential ideological and practical link to the Fine Art Department's drawing and painting curriculum, while orienting students to digital image making media and is therefore open to second-year Fine Art students. Open to second-years admitted to the Undergraduate Fine Art Programme for elective credit.
Term: Second
Course level: Second year
Drawing
Drawing explores the essential relationship between drawing and design. Students are taught that drawing plays a vital and primary role in the life of an artist or designer. Students engage in rigorous observational drawing of natural and man-made forms towards an understanding of structure and dynamics. Clear structuring of space as well as formal compositional elements and their intrinsic relationship to non-objective and representational drawing are explored. The expressive character of lines, tones and marks are studied as inseparable from the information, concept and content of drawing. These need to be demonstrated in order for students to pass this subject. The subject runs throughout the academic year and students are required to present ten finished pieces (students are expected to spend a minimum of five hours on a drawing or to produce a drawing that meets the standard even though less time was spent upon it) done in the medium/media of their choice.
Term: Year long
Course level: Second year
Editorial Design
In this course, students conceptualise, edit, design and produce either a book or the first issue of an original publication. Possibilities include an artist's book, magazine, comic book, zine or e-zine on the web. Emphasis is on concept and design. We discuss editorial ideas and look at existing artists' books and publications, especially alternative forms. Using computers, we work on typography, layout and design. Collaborations both within and outside of the class are encouraged and a visiting professional from an existing magazine may be brought in for additional guidance and input.
Term: Third
Course level: Third year
Environmental Graphic Design
Environmental graphic design is defined as the planning, design and specifying of graphic elements in the built and natural environment, and the job of the environmental graphic designer is to shape messages that must appear in a three-dimensional context. Students in this section will investigate both poetic and pragmatic aspects of working with three-dimensional space, altering the tone and use of existing spaces, and building graphic/text elements in three dimensions. We will address practical issues such as signage and exhibition design. The course will include field trips, readings, model-making and spatial/installation projects.
Term: First
Course level: Third year
Figure Drawing
Study of the human form allows for powerful and nuanced expression of emotion and experience. Working from close study of the model, students explore a variety of drawing and painting media, including oil pastels, acrylic and oils. This class is designed to enhance students' understanding of the human form. Drawings and sketches of the human figure are made from direct observation and as a result, students can expect to gain insight into the profound art of seeing as it pertains to any subject in the visible world. Students need to present eight finished artworks at the end of this subject that show their ability to draw the figure in an expressive manner.
Term: Second
Course level: Second year
Illustration I
This course covers the fundamentals of illustration and serves as an introduction to the field of illustration. Illustration types, getting ideas and illustration assignments make up the course. In the best illustration, art is a delivery system for ideas and feelings. The skilled hand is there to serve the head and to articulate insight, wit and emotion. The purpose of the course is to elicit the best imaginative response and to provoke the most original and apt concepts for visual communication. The course also explores the differences between the illustration and photography. Students will be asked to collect examples of how the differences and similarities and combined relationship are currently seen in the media. Open to second-years admitted to the Undergraduate Fine Art Programme for elective credit.
Term: Second
Course level: Second year
Illustration II
Advertising Illustration, Editorial Illustration and Specialized Illustration are the features of this course. The types are explored in innovative fictional and where possible actual assignments. Open to second-years admitted to the Undergraduate Fine Art Programme for elective credit.
Term: Second
Course level: Second year
Illustration III
Students apply skills acquired in prerequisite courses to problems in designing and illustrating for the assigned instances (e.g. World Wide Web, editorials). Portfolio items will include an open-ended piece exploring the expressive possibilities of digital interaction. Open to third-years admitted to the Undergraduate Fine Art Programme for elective credit.
Term: Second
Course level: Third year
IP I
Independent Project I is the final requirement for the second-year phase of the Graphic Design Programme. It is essentially a project in a Graphic Design subject to the department's explicit approval. Visiting critics will be invited to review the completed project. Students are only eligible to take this subject if all credit requirements for the programme have been met in this final term and if these students are enrolled with full-time status. Students will be assisted in structuring their approach to the project and will be given guidelines as to what is required (amount of work required to meet credit value of project). The work will be overseen to determine whether the expected criteria and applicable details are being met by them.
Term: Fourth
Course level: Second year
IP II
This is the final requirement for the Graphic Design Programme. The project is an independent project in a Graphic Design subject to the department's explicit approval upon the proposal of the student. The project should exhibit the students' acquired skills and knowledge throughout their academic study. The thesis, as a major undertaking for advanced study and personal development, also assists the student to direct a programme of study for an experience that best serves that individual's interests and needs. The thesis is an inquiry into the process, expression and function of the visual in graphic design. Visual search is the primary means to develop original work which products become the examples by which a thesis argument, critique or point of view is developed and substantiated. The third-year student is encouraged to go beyond established models and to project his/her unique character in the thesis rather than to evidence vocational training, which is implicit. The productions can involve any medium suitable to need and content. Ultimately the thesis is submitted as a written document supported by visual examples that reveal ideas and insights. Two copies of the document remain with the department. Completion is required before graduation and within the normal one-year period of the programme as stipulated by AOSOA.
Term: Fourth
Course level: Third year
Package Graphics
This section involves designing and conceptualising packaging solutions for products to be assigned.
Term: First
Course level: Third year
Photography II
This course involves the study of creative experimentation with photography in graphic design. Technical information will support a concentration in creative visual aesthetics and communication. Master the basics of black-and-white and colour photography as you expand your range of visual expression. Our investigations begin with the photograph as image and proceeds through collage and controlled workroom lighting set-up. Design assignments will include working with the 35mm camera and with digital cameras in conjunction with Macs.
Term: Third
Course level: First year (Photography I required), second year, third year
Portfolio
To launch a professional career, fine artists and graphic designers have the dual challenge of presenting themselves and their work. This course will provide an overview of the types of jobs available to fine artists and graphic designers, the resources for finding and researching them, and the resume, cover letter and portfolio needed to apply for them. Ways to identify and research opportunities for exhibiting work, and innovative methods of self-promotion and marketing will also be covered. A selection of visiting professionals will be invited to address students to supplement the course. Open to second-years admitted to the Undergraduate Fine Art Programme for elective credit.
Term: Fourth
Course level: First year, second year, third year, optional
Professional Practice
Guests will visit to discuss their experience in getting and keeping clients and related issues, as well as the creation of business documents such as business cards and invoices. This course will help students choose a focus for their professional aspirations, and begin making contacts in the real world.
Term: Fourth
Course level: First year, second year, third year, optional
Type and Layout
Hosted by a visiting or in-house professional designer the workshop encourages students to experiment further with this subject through innovative projects.
Term: First
Course level: Second year, optional
Typography II
This course will take up advanced problems of typography, such as contrasts, structural and proportional systems, hierarchy and sequencing of text as an image, legibility, critical theory, and some elements of the history of typography in relation to technology and contemporary trends in design. Having done Typography I, students should be familiar with the typographical aspects of the letter, word and line of text, know about the visual arrangement of a printed page, in both single and sequential orders, and have a practical knowledge of computer typesetting. Typography II will build upon this knowledge by introducing guidelines with regard to the selection of type and the digital execution of hand-rendered solutions to assignments.
Term: First
Course level: Second year
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