North Dakota State University, Fargo.
Instructor: Ross Collins, Ph.D.
Office: Minard 321A. Tel: 231-7295. E-mail: Ross.Collins@ndsu.edu
Office hours: 1-3 Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Required text: Lisa Graham, Basics of Design. Layout & Typography for Beginners. 2002

The Course Concisely
Is it “desktop publishing?” Bit of an old-fashioned term nowadays. The world of professional design for publication reaches so widely beyond one person’s desktop that what we do is perhaps better called digital publishing. This course is designed to offer an introduction to that world. You’ll learn some theory behind visual perception and design (and some rules seldom broken), publishing terminology, designer workflow, and software. Enough—we hope—to produce simple publications at a respectably professional level.

Course objectives:
• Understanding of basic design history, psychology and theory.
• Knowledge of design and printing terms and techniques.
• Ability to recognize and create high-quality page designs for a variety of publications.
• Ability to manipulate publications using computerized pagination tools.

Note that only the last of these objectives is primarily skill-based. Skill in “desktop publishing” is only part of what a designer needs to know to create publications reaching a presentable standard. Without knowledge of design fundamentals, and without the creative spark that goes beyond classroom learning, what you’ll get out of the machine won’t communicate very well.

What this course is not:
1. A course for artists using illustrator software. We may work a little with drawing software, but you are neither expected to know nor taught graphic illustration.
2. Exclusively software skills development. Buy a how-to book. (Hey! Buy one anyway!)

What you’ll need:
In addition to the required text, you’ll need these tools:
• One computer diskette to save your work, perferably a Zip disk.
• Pica rule, to measure photos, columns, etc.

Disabilities notice: If you need special accommodations for learning or have special needs, please let the instructor know as soon as possible.

Alternative forms: This syllabus, along with other material of interest to students, is available on line at the web address above.

Design for Print Q and A
Students often register for a new course with trepidation: what will I learn? How will I be graded? Will I do well? Instructor Ross Collins answers a few of our most common questions in the brief interview below.

Q. What is your attendance policy?
A. I believe students have the right to make their own decisions regarding class attendance. I don’t take roll. But I do have to warn students that my lectures are designed to supplement the text, and not to rephrase material they can read for themselves. Exams will be based on both lectures and text.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention: we also may have a number of in-class assignments. To give students the feeling of working under tight deadlines, these exercises will be due at the end of the class period. If you’re absent, you can’t make up the work!

Q. That sounds pretty tough.
A. Okay, I’ll cut some slack: students who have to skip class for a good reason will have a cushion of two free skip days. In-class work missed those days won’t be counted on the final grade. Think of it as a bank account of skip days for emergencies. All out-of-class assignments will still be due, however. Because profesional designers must keep deadlines, late assignments will suffer lower grades.

Q. How will you compute final grades?
A. Grading will be based on a standard point-count. Tentative highest possible point totals for this course:
Mid-semester exam, 200 pts.
Final exam, 300 pts.
Class exercises, 300 pts.
Swipe file, in-class assignments, 100 pts.
Total: 900 pts.

The total number may change slightly, depending on the eventual number of assignments completed during the semester. Standard grade percentages:
90-100=A
80-89=B
70-79=C
60-69=D
Below 60=F

Tentative Schedule
Week One
Introduction to design. Read chapter 1.

Week Two
Psychology of visual perception. Intro to computerized pagination software (InDesign). Read chapter 6.

Week Three
Psychology, InDesign cont. Begin typography. Read chapters 7 and 10.

Week Four
Typography. InDesign cont. Read chapter 11.

Week Five
Typography, grids, InDesign exercise. Read chapter 5.

Week Six
Grids, cont., file formats and page design, InDesign exercise. Read chapters 2 and 3.

Week Seven
Magazine design and planning. Read chapter 4.

Week Eight
Pre-flighting and linking. Visual communication “tools”; review for midterm. Midterm: Friday, March 1.

Week Nine
Working with photos. Begin Photoshop; self-guided tuitorial on class web site. Read chapter 8.

Week Ten
Working with photos, cont.; begin color theory.

Week Eleven
Printing and binding, color theory. Continue Photoshop.

Week Twelve
Judging design. Working with printers. Paper stock.

Week Thirteen
Working with signatures. Magazine exercise. Read chapters 12 and 13.

Week Fourteen
Magazine exercise cont., Photoshop cont.

Week Fifteen
Spot and process color; conclude “capstone” project.

Week Sixteen
Final exercise, wrap-up.

Final exam period.

We shouldn't have to remind you that...
Work in this course must adhere to the NDSU Code of Academic Responsibility and Conduct. This addresses cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, or facilitating dishonesty. Instructors have the right to respond to a student's dishonesty by failing the student for the particular assignment or test, or even the entire course, or recommend the student drop the course.

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