Graphic and UX/UI Design Academic Associate Degree

A course covering the information and skills needed to succeed in academic studies, including study skills, setting academic goals, managing time, and technology skills such as word processing, presentations, and using Excel.

Students will concentrate on utilizing design principles and theories in problem solving, focusing on the importance of layout composition. Emphasis will be on the process of design development from roughs to comprehensives, layout, and the use of grid systems for multi-component layouts. Critical analysis will be applied through the usage of type and layout to create clear, communicative design. Additionally, students will get an introduction to the principles of color and an exploration of color theory as it relates to print and digital media. Students will also receive an introduction to Adobe Creative Cloud.

This course will explore the use of Adobe Creative Cloud digital design tools. Students will gain a thorough understanding of design techniques by using tools to create compositions, digital illustrations,  web and print media, and photo manipulation. They will also learn about file types and exports for web and print media.  By the conclusion of this course, students will begin developing a capstone portfolio.

In this course, students explore the principles of photography and the utilization of photography as a means of documenting design projects and portfolio pieces. This course covers the basic principles for lighting, setup and shooting with digital cameras. Students will photograph both two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects, then students will become acquainted with the concepts, hardware, and software, related to digital image acquisition, image editing, manipulation, color management basics, masking, layering, retouching, and output. At the conclusion of this course, students will produce a portfolio artifact that can be added to their developing capstone portfolio.

This course will explore printed communication and the use of typography as an exclusive element of design. The course will focus on the development of marketable, original and creative problem-solving solutions with an emphasis on professional presentation techniques. This course includes three distinct areas of learning in the subject of typography: Traditional Typography is an introduction of lettering skills and the history and foundation of letterforms. The placement of display and text type in a formatted space, and the relationship between the appearance and readability of letterforms, are also studied. Students will work in a traditional context of hand-rendering type and will also be introduced to contemporary typesetting technology. Expressive & Experimental Typography is designed to further investigate the power and beauty of expressive typography and its applications. The use of computer software and non-traditional media are explored. Projects will include kinetic typography, unique typeface/font design, and creative title designs. Contemporary Typography will explore the current design trends in typography. The work of contemporary type designers will be analyzed. Emphasis will be placed on experimentation of creative, innovative and new-wave type designing. At the conclusion of this course, students will produce a portfolio artifact that can be added to their developing capstone portfolio.

This advanced course will concentrate on utilizing design principles and theories in problem solving, focusing on the importance of layout composition. Emphasis will be placed on the process of design development from thumbnails to comprehensives, layout, and the use of grid systems for multi-component layouts. Prior learnings in typography, illustration, image manipulation and photography will be combined to create a harmonious and aesthetically pleasing page layout system. At the conclusion of this course, students will produce a portfolio artifact that can be added to their developing capstone portfolio.

This course advances the students' understanding of the computer as an artist's tool. Building on previous courses in drawing, concept development and introductory computer aided design; students will be asked to generate a number of expressive solutions that address specific illustrative problems, both technical and creative. Emphasis will be placed on meeting deadlines, use of applicable rendering techniques, application of appropriate typography and professional presentation methods. As part of this course, students will be given the opportunity to develop their digital illustration skills by exploring numerous tools and techniques to obtain desired results, including:

Dynamic Digital Illustration will concentrate on advertising illustrations using vector-based applications and explore graphic designs for products and apparel. Editorial Illustration will explore various conceptual illustrators and their visions. Graphic Illustration will concentrate on the application of design elements in a stylized illustration. Attention to detail and rendering techniques will be emphasized and refined. Illustration for Multimedia & Web will help students produce vector-based computer-generated compositions for use in print, web sites, and multimedia products. Throughout the course, attention to detail and rendering techniques will be emphasized and refined. This suggests a focus on honing technical skills and craftsmanship to create polished, professional-grade illustrations.  At the conclusion of the course, students will produce a portfolio artifact that can be added to their capstone portfolio. They will also learn how to select existing projects or determine new ones for their portfolio, as well as how to organize and prepare their design process artifacts for display online.

In this course, students will learn foundational theories and principles of User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) design while gaining practical proficiency in industry standard design software programs. This course also covers user design process and research. Students will create intuitive digital experiences by applying human-centered design principles, wireframing techniques, and interactive prototypes. By the end of the course, students will have the skills to design compelling user interfaces and create engaging digital solutions, as well as understand user needs, behaviors and how they interact with services.

User experience (UX) design centers on the interaction between real human users and everyday products and services. In this course, students will learn key theories and processes to help them create usable, useful, and delightful products that answer users' needs. User Research involves qualitative and quantitative research practices aimed at empathizing with target users and discovering and defining their needs. Information Architecture is the process of establishing flow between a person and a product, service, or environment. Usability Testing engages the student in learning user-centered testing techniques to evaluate a product by testing it on real users. Students in this course will work with software tools such as: Adobe XD, Sketch, and or Figma and practice generating a UX case study asset to add to their capstone portfolio.

This course provides a practical overview of interaction and visual design practices and how they work together to build toward a strong product. Learn and practice techniques for developing products around user goals. Interaction Design - Students will learn how to take data distilled through research to sketch and develop wireframes and prototypes grounded in proven interaction patterns and usability principles and testing them using usability testing knowledge gained in UX Process & Theories. 

Students will learn how to translate ideas into interactions by developing prototypes and simulations; choose the appropriate fidelity of prototype for the phase of design; articulate the benefits of fast iteration; create paper prototypes; and properly explore the design space before deciding on a solution. Visual Design - Adapting design fundamentals in color, hierarchy, and typography learned in earlier courses, students will learn how to take their concepts from wireframe to pixel-perfect UI (user interface) design prototypes. Students in this course will work with software tools such as: Adobe XD, Sketch, and or Figma and practice generating a UX case study asset to add to their capstone portfolio.

In this course, students will build upon what they have learned in Interaction & Visual Design and UX Process & Theories to develop more advanced UI design techniques. This course introduces students to the role and development of design systems to manage UI design components for a product. Students will learn to leverage atomic design principles for creating and categorizing UI components that can be applied to high-fidelity design prototypes. Prototypes and design system elements developed in this course will be added to the student's expanding UX/UI portfolio. 

This course provides an introduction to motion design. Design in animation is becoming an increasingly vital tool for any designer as its impact on user experience continues to increase for marketing, brand story, understanding complex concepts, and creating emotionally captivating content. This area of study exposes students to the art of graphics that move in space and time, which can be applied to animated films, videos, animated text, and web-based apps. Students will explore how to: create storyboards that demonstrate the flow of the animation; use models to simulate the behavior of animated characters; draw images to be scanned into various computer programs; participate in the design of media campaigns; create 2D and 3D images using computer animation; and manipulation of designed assets in a studio environment. Students will gain a thorough understanding of advanced techniques as they continue to explore special effects, image compositing, and motion graphics.  Students will engage in interaction design and functionality using Adobe AfterEffects.

This course provides students with a working knowledge in the growing field of digital marketing. Students will learn about the evolution and purpose of digital marketing, the strategic uses of social media, and how these principles can transform the customer's journey. Students will also gain important industry skills for successful digital design in advertising such as copywriting, creating banner ads, producing promotional displays, and designing logos for products and businesses. At the conclusion of this course, students will produce a portfolio artifact of digital marketing design to enhance a company's product using effective digital media.

This course utilizes web page scripting techniques and software for website design and development to combine multi-media assets into a user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing website. Design solutions include the use of basic cascading style sheets (CSS) and JavaScript languages. Students will create websites utilizing CSS, the basic scripting language of web documents, in addition to many of the other effects and extension scripts available for that medium. The integration of aesthetics, design principles, layout, typography, and imagery into designs using a CSS and hypertext markup language (HTML) authoring tool will be covered along with JavaScript image galleries.

This course brings together the learned design and development concepts for Graphic Design for students to identify, interpret, and implement the roles and responsibilities of digital industry design team members. Web page scripting skills, aesthetic design principles such as page layout, type design, imaging and development of web pages will be used. Students will create mockups showcasing their design work and develop a unique project case study for formal presentation, engaging in a collaborative environment to practice accepting and implementing feedback, further enhancing their effective communication and collaboration skills in preparation for the workforce. As a final capstone, students will design and develop the overall identity for a self-promotional website and digital portfolio showcasing their learnings throughout their graphic design courses at Bryan University.

This course provides foundational topics related to logic and critical thinking including, informal logic, formal logic, and fallacies.

This course introduces the concepts and theories of interpersonal communication. Students will explore the process and functions of communication, developing relationships, communication strategies and skills, and interpersonal language skills, including conflict management.

This course covers written communication skills with an emphasis on understanding the writing process, analyzing readings, and practicing writing for personal and professional applications.

A course building on lessons learned in English Composition I. In addition to reviewing the writing process, topics include research techniques, citation techniques, documentation formats, and critical analysis of written topics.

This course begins with a review of real numbers and algebraic expressions before covering algebra topics including linear equations and inequalities, lines and functions, systems, exponents, polynomials, and factoring.