Course Description 

This course introduces students to core concepts underlying all digital media that the COMD department offers in its associate and bachelor degree program:

  • Graphic Design
  • Illustration 
  • Web Design
  • Broadcast 
  • Animation and Motion Graphics
  • Game Design and Visual Effects

Weekly lectures explain technical concepts such as resolution, compression, and color space, concepts that allow students to produce creative work across media with more predictable results. 

Students work with a variety of graphic arts Apps to reveal how the tools incorporate the scientific principles discussed during lecture. 

Because this course is designed as an orientation to various forms of media, exercises and assignments require students to adventure on their own and explore industry platforms and accounts. 

A field trip is an integral part of the course for students to witness professional work in an artistic or commercial setting. 

Students produce one design project and one 60 seconds video. All the assigments will be posted on their ePortofolio in OpenLab, along with a text explaning their goals and concepts. Both projects incorporate the technical and aesthetic knowledge discussed in lectures and practiced in exercises. 

Online Teaching

Short lecture videos will be posted on the OpenLab periodically. I am planning to do it twice a week and will probably add more to adapt to the needs and demands. You will be able to view them at the time that works for you.

On Tuesday morning, we will have group discussions using OpenLab to prep for the quizzes and Blackboard for the tests.

I will have a one-on-one consultations and homework reviews preferably using the school Outlook email platform. 

Office Hours 

If you have questions or need help with your homework, don’t hesitate to contact me. I check my emails every mornings. 

My email: VNoriega@citytech.cuny.edu

Prerequisites:

proficiency in reading, writing and mathematics or concurrent enrollment in: 

  • ENG 092R, ESOL 022R or 032R
  • ENG 092W 
  • ESOL 021W or ESOL 031W
  • MAT 0630 or MAT 0650

Course Objectives 

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES 

For the successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

  • Gain an awareness of the media industry and the design community by exploring professional and cultural online platforms.
  • Demonstrate the ability to apply technical understanding of color space and color management to the production of their design project.
  • Understand the various digital imaging file formats for print and online. 
  • Have a better knowledge of digital audio and video.
  • Understand the differences between proprietary and open source.
  • Accomplish a video project to be uploaded on YouTube and OpenLab.
  • Take 3 quizzes to better integrate the technical knowledge discussed in lectures and practiced in exercises.
  • Attend one field trip in a museum or other cultural space.
  • Write a report on the field trip with a personal reflection of the experience.
  • Write a research paper on a cultural or commercial subject. 
  • Demonstrate descriptive and analytic verbal and writing skills.
  • Demonstrate an ability to use the resources to find articles related to topics discussed in class. 
  • Use of citation and documentation of supporting material, classroom presentation, article summaries and research report. 
  • Participate in classroom critiques and discussions.

General Education Outcomes

How the outcome is assessed through your Video Project, Research papers, Design Project, ePortfolio and Quizzes:

Critical thinking The student will demonstrate the ability to analyse the informations provided to determine supported conclusions.

Writing The student will demonstrate the ability to write clearly articulated thoughts in a professional, informed manner.

Reading and Research The student will demonstrate the ability to look for, read, and analyze, pertinent information using industry-specific sources.

Teaching and Learning Methods The lecture section of this class is one hour with a two-hour lab component. The lecture may be taught in segments interspersed with hands-on exercises designed to clarify the lecture. The required text contains a number of hands-on interactive tutorials that may be utilized during lab sessions or may be assigned as homework. A list of vocabulary terms is attached to this outline and will be used on quizzes and other assessments. The laboratory portion of this class should involve a mix of student exploration, research, project work, peer-to-peer interaction and software exercises. This class is not designed to focus on learning any one software program but to illuminate the ideas underlying digital media software. Therefore, the class will introduce a mix of software packages including high-end professional graphics software such as CS5 software, shareware, freeware and apps for students to work with during lab sessions. Students will also be visiting several of the college’s labs during laboratory period for hands-on demonstrations of principles discussed in lecture.  One field trip is also an integral part of this course for students to view the professional field beyond the college’s campus. 

OpenLab will be used for students to begin their own Eportfolio site but also to allow students to communicate across sections of CDMG 1111 creating, in effect, a learning community among all students enrolled in CDMG 11111 and the faculty teaching it. Although there will be flexibility in selecting the type of design and video project the students work on, all instructors of GDMG 1111 will expected to assess the same vocabulary and concepts in quizzes and exams to ensure that the ADGA department can assess learning across sections accurately. In addition, all instructors will be required to provide urls for student OpenLab sites to the ADGA department at the end of the semester so the department can evaluate student progress in this foundational course. 

Slack and Zoom Discussions and OpenLab comments

Information Literacy The student will demonstrate the ability to research subjects with enthusiasm, find proper resources and formulate relevant queries.

Required Text 

Digital Foundations: Introduction to Media Design with the Adobe Creative Cloud

Available online and free (click on the title above for link)

Attendance Policies

Attendance will be taken by having each students: 

  • responding to all my emails within 24 hours
  • being present during online Zoom lectures
  • participate with at least 2 comments during Slack conversations.

Academic Integrity Standards 

You are responsible for reading, understanding and abiding by 

The NYC College of Technology Student Handbook, 

“Student Rights & Responsibilities” 

Section “Academic Integrity Standards” 

Academic dishonesty of any type, including cheating and plagiarism is unacceptable. 

  • Cheating is misrepresenting another student’s efforts and work as your own.
  • Plagiarism is the representation of another person’s work, words or concepts as your own.

Grades distribution

  • Video Project 20%
  • Design Project 20%
  • Research paper 20%
  • Eportfolio Final Project 20%
  • Quizzes 10%
  • Punctuality and participation 10%
  • Projects Grading

I will be grading your projects with this in mind:

Originality of your choice  > 10 points

Your papers should incorporate a selection of relevent and interesting elements found during your research and your own thinking. 

Your visual projects should demonstrate a good knowledge of the App you used and of typography. They especially should show a strong style that reflects your personality. 

Writing > 20 points

Your writing should be clear and with perfect spelling.

Your papers should have an organized structure that makes sense, with clear paragraphs for each points. 

Critical Thinking > 20 points

Your thoughts and reflexions about what what you have learnt should be informative, personal and original. 

What did you find interesting? 

What did you discover? 

What surprised you?

Research > 20 points

Be inventive and smart with your research and find your personal angle. 

Do not just read material from Wikipedia or Pinterest. 

Use different ways to say something for your Google searches.

example: apple, mac, machintosh, imac, Steve Jobs, Jony Ive

Presentation and design > 20 points

This is a very important part, always remember that you are a visual person and a designer. Looks and esthetic define who you are. Not only your content has to be interesting and clear, but the way you will present it has to be impeccable. 

 save your artwork as RGB jpegs, 1500 pixels wide 

write all your papers directly as text on OpenLab 

do not attach files like Word or pdf

place all your projects on your eportolio

Punctuality and participation > 10 points

Deadlines are important.  It shows that you are organized and respect others people’s time. If you have issues and need adjustments, just contact me.

Participation is required and graded. You are expected to work on assignments during class time and to share your progress with your classmates and the instructor.

You should expect to spend at least four hours a week outside of class. You will realize that assignments will take a lot more than that to be successful.

TOTAL > 100 points

Courses Outline

  • Lecture Topic
  • Exercise
  • Homework Assignment

Projected Schedule

The schedule below is a projection, things can adjust a little depending on our discussions during the classes. 

Week 1: Tuesday, August 31st
Topics: Welcome To Digital Media Foundations

Objectives:

  • Familiarize students with the objectives of the course.
  • Establish working practices and clarify expected outcomes.
  • Introduce the basics of our working practices.
  • Class introduction: Ice breaker with “The Questionnaire” game.

Project presentation: Video Project introduction

Week 2: Tuesday, September 7th
NO CLASS

Week 3: Tuesday, September 14th
Topics: How To Tell A Story In A Few Seconds?

Homework by Sunday September 6th: write a paragraph of a pitch for your video.

Before the class watch my talks:

Inspiration videos to watch:

Lecture on Slack: Inspire students to approach their work presentation as a story telling. A series of short videos, commercials and music videos will be shown as examples to understand stylistic, narration, emotional impact.

Week 4: Tuesday, September 21st
Topics: Digital Video and Audio

Homework by Sunday September 13th, 1pm: write the updated pitch for your video. Make sure that you will be able to follow your pitch during the making of your video. Your pitch is the tool that will help you make the video.

Before class watch these videos:

Lecture: Introduction to the technical aspect of digital video and audio. Students will get familiarized with the terms and vocabulary of the movie industry and prep for the quiz 1. 

Demo: How to upload your video on YouTube.

Week 5: Tuesday, September 28th
Topics: Quiz 1 and Research Paper Presentation

Class Prep

  1. Quiz 1 Prep: Familiarize yourself with the audio and video vocabulary we talked about during class. Make sure you understand the benefit of story telling in writing a good pitch, using a storyboard, and why we need them.
  2. Everyone needs to read all the pitches on OpenLab and comment at the bottom of the post.
    As we saw on the video about The Art of Storytelling, giving feedback is part of the process. Your comments have to be constructive and develop ideas. Suggest adjustments if you see something that could be added or tweaked that could help make the story better. This is part of your participation grades. You need to write at least a comment on 2 different stories.
  3. Revise your pitch and start working on the video (30 to 45 seconds long).
    Make sure that you will be following your pitch during the making of your video. The pitch should help you during the filming and with the final editing. You will follow the sequences of the scenes that you wrote and place the elements (graphics, sounds, voiceover) the same way you described them in your pitch.
  4. Watch these videos:
    3 inspirational videos about The Art Of Film

Class Topics

Homework:
Your video (30 to 45 seconds long) uploaded on YouTube by Sunday September 27th, 1pm.

Upload your video on YouTube and email me the link. If you need help with it, watch the demo video on OpenLab.

Make sure that you will be following your pitch during the making of your video. The pitch should help you during the filming and with the final editing. You will follow the sequences of the scenes that you wrote and place the elements (graphics, sounds, voiceover) the same way you described them in your pitch.

Homework for next class, in 2 weeks, emailed by Sunday October 4th, 1pm:

Prepare a list with 3 artists who inspire you. Ask yourself these questions below and write a short paragraph for each artist you’ll pick:

  • what type of art this artist does?
    For example, if it is a photographer, what type of photos he or she does, portraits, fashion, journalistic ….
  • what era and style this artist has?
    For example, if it is a photographer is it B&W, digital or print, for advertising or magazines or galleries.
  • why I am inspired by their work?
    For example, if it is a portrait photographer, I love taking photographs with people, being able to connect with them. I am inspired by the intimate way this photographer is working with his or her models. I want to be able to create the same type of atmosphere when I take portraits.
  • highlight what will be your sources for your research.
  • Write a short paragraph for each artist with the idea of making me curious to want to know more about them. We will decide together which one will seem the most exciting to get to explore deeper.

If you haven’t done it yet, everyone needs to read all the pitches on OpenLab and comment at the bottom of the post.
As we saw on the video about The Art of Storytelling, giving feedback is part of the process. Your comments have to be constructive and develop ideas. Suggest adjustments if you see something that could be added or tweaked that could help make the story better. This is part of your participation grades. You need to write at least a comment on 2 different stories.

Week 6: Tuesday, October 5th
Topics: Web Design

Homework:

  1. Your video should be on YouTube and I should have received the link.
  2. If you haven’t done it yet, everyone needs to read all the screenplays, watch the uploaded videos on OpenLab and comment on at least 2 projects at the bottom of the post.
  3. For your research paper, prepare a list with 3 artists who inspire you.
    Send it by Sunday October 4th, 1pm
    Write a short paragraph for each artist.
    Your goal: I want to be intrigued by your choices. You really need to convince me about the high quality of their achievements and the impact of their work in the society. We will decide together which one seems the most exciting to pick.
    Ask yourself these questions below and write a short paragraph for each artist:
  • what type of art this artist does?
    For example, if it is a photographer, what type of photos he or she does, portraits, fashion, journalistic ….
  • what style this artist has?
    For example, if it is a photographer is it B&W, digital or print, for advertising or magazines or galleries.
  • why am I inspired by their work?
    For example, if it is a portrait photographer, I love taking photographs of people, being able to connect with them. I am inspired by the intimate way this photographer is working with his or her models. I want to be able to create the same type of connection when I take portraits.
  • highlight what will be your sources for your research.

Class Prep:

To inspire your research paper, watch videos on 3 artists of my choice:

Class Topics:

  • Lecture: Introduction to web design with presentation of the WordPress platform and templates used for OpenLab.
  • Demo: How to create pages on OpenLab and personalize your ePortfolio. 

Week 7: Tuesday, October 12th
Topics: Motion Graphics, Visual Effects and Animation

Homework:

If you haven’t done it yet. For your research paper, prepare a list with 3 artists who inspire you.
Write a short paragraph for each artist.
Your goal: I want to be intrigued by your choices. You really need to convince me about the high quality of their achievements and the impact of their work in the society. We will decide together which one seems the most exciting to pick.
Ask yourself these questions below and write a short paragraph for each artist:

  • what type of art this artist does?
    For example, if it is a photographer, what type of photos he or she does, portraits, fashion, journalistic ….
  • what style this artist has?
    For example, if it is a photographer is it B&W, digital or print, for advertising or magazines or galleries.
  • why am I inspired by their work?
    For example, if it is a portrait photographer, I love taking photographs of people, being able to connect with them. I am inspired by the intimate way this photographer is working with his or her models. I want to be able to create the same type of connection when I take portraits.
  • highlight what will be your sources for your research.

Inspiration:

For your research paper, watch videos on 3 artists of my choice:

By Sunday October 11th, 1pm.

  1. Send a written paragraph about the artist we decided to develop. Add a list of websites, videos, biographies that you are going to use to write your paper. You can also start to select portraits of the artist and reproduction of their work.
  2. Following the demo videos from last week delete all the dummy pages and navigation from your ePortfolio on OpenLab. Create an about page, and a folder called Digital Media Foundations with inside a page of your Video project.

Class Topics:

Lecture: Introduction to motion softwares with Adobe Creative Cloud After Effects, Premiere Pro, and Anime. Presentation to an other approach to animation and 3D with the software Cinema 4D.

Guest interview with a designer specialized in motion graphics.

 

Week 8: Tuesday, October 19th
Topic: Color Science

Homework

  1. By Sunday October 18th, 1pm, send a first draft of about 2 pages. And if you are late, send also a written paragraph about the artist you decided to develop. Add a list of websites, videos, biographies that you are going to use to write your paper. Include them as hyperlinks, not just links. You can also start to select portraits of the artist and reproduction of their work.
  2. Following the demo videos from how to build your ePortfolio, delete all the dummy pages and navigation from your ePortfolio on OpenLab. Create an about page, and a folder called Digital Media Foundations with inside a page of your Video project.

Class Prep

Watch the video series and complete activities

Class Topics

Lecture: This is a prep class for your next Quiz. Determining Color is not as simple as saying Red or Blue, there are endless shades of color in the visible spectrum. In this lesson, you will learn how color is determined partly by the physics of light and partly by how our brains perceive it.

Intro to the different color spaces for various supports and identification of colors in the visual spectrum. 

Week 9: Tuesday, October 26th
Topic: Classifications and psychology

Homework

  1. by Sunday October 25th, 1pm, final research paper with text, photos, links and a list of all your references.
  2. Make sure you watched the Color Science video series and complete all the activities for your next quiz.

Class Topics

Lecture: last week we learnt that colors are subjectives. Visual professionals have created a classification system to identify colors for specific supports. We will explore the specifications of process vs. spot colors and PANTONE library. Through examples, we will discover the reasons why graphic designers are most of the time disappointed with their color output.

Demo: identification of colors and how they interact with each other using watercolor. The goal is to understand how real paint and a brush relate to the ways colors work in Photoshop, illustrator and InDesign.

Week 10: Tuesday, November 2nd
Topic: Quiz 2 and Visual Quote Postcard Presentation

Homework:

  1. Revise the last 2 classes about The Science of Color and Color Classifications. Watch again the Color Science video series and complete all the activities.
  2. by Sunday November 1st, 1pm, make sure that your final Artist Research Paper is on your ePortfolio with photos and hyperlinks of your list of all your references.
  3. Make sure to read and comment on the other students artist research paper.

Class Topics

Students take Quiz 2 on color, motion graphics and web intro.

Artist Research Paper Review

Project presentation: Visual Quote postcard

Week 11: Tuesday, November 9th
Topic: Print Media & Digital Imaging

Homework

  1. by Sunday November 8th, 1pm, send your 2 quote selections and proposals in for of hand drawings or digital sketch for version with type only and the one including an image.
  2. Make sure to read and comment on the other students artist research paper.

Class Topics

Image file formats: when to use each type of file

When to Use Spot Colors Versus Process Colors (Or Both). How design and budget affect color printing.

Week 12: Tuesday, November 16th
Topic: Reflection on typography

Class Topic

An approach on the terminology of Serif and Sans Serif fonts and how they are used. What is the future of typography? An overview of how typography is constantly evolving to address todays parameters. Having control of fonts and typography is becoming complex and unsustainable. To work around the strict limitations of the online frame Google has created NOTO font.

Week 13: Tuesday, November 23rd
Topic: Intro to computer technology:
Analog Vs. Digital

Homework

Sunday November 22nd, 1pm, your 3 favorite variations on the quote you picked for the typography only postcard. See post for baby steps.

Class Topic

Analog and digital signals are used to transmit information, usually through electric signals. In both these technologies, the information, such as any audio or video, is transformed into electric signals. The difference between analog and digital technologies is that in analog technology, information is translated into electric pulses of varying amplitude. In digital technology, translation of information is into binary format (zero or one) where each bit is representative of two distinct amplitudes.

Raster and Vector Formats, how to choose the right file formats

Every graphic you see online is an image file. Most everything you see printed on paper, plastic or a t-shirt came from an image file. These files come in a variety of formats, and each is optimized for a specific use. Using the right type for the right job means your design will come out picture perfect and just how you intended.

Week 14: Tuesday, November 30th
Topic: Quiz 3 and Visual Quote Postcard Presentation

Class Topics

Students take Quiz 3 on computer technology and typography introduction

Visual Quote postcard Review

Week 15: Tuesday, December 7th
Topic: Virtual Museum Visit

Class Topics

We will take a walk into the native American village of Seneca which was at the location of Central Park.

Week 16: Tuesday, December 14th
Topic: ePortfolio