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Graphic Design: Graphic Design Graphic Design programs provide one with solid foundational skills in typography, color theory, photography, drawing, illustration, layout, and visual communication skills. The GD Model 1. Design Research 2. Concept Generation 3. Design 4. Production 5. Evaluation 6. Implementation Portfolio Pieces— California College of the Arts These were pieces that I designed, including doing prepress production and press checks, and pieces were printed in-house during my internships, not all of my Graphic Design portfolio pieces are displayed online. All of my Graphic Design Professors in all my programs stressed the importance of sketching, drawing, as well as having and developing ideation skills. These skills are all very relevant skills for an Information Architect to have for creating wire frame mockups, flow charts, and schematics. Graphic Design Studies A few graphic design pieces displayed online (see link below): Lyle Mays CD cover Illustration used for inside of CD cover Charcoal drawing Contour drawing—flowers study Mixing paint study illustration * * From the class taken with Ms. Judith Cornell, Ph.D., and photograph of my project included in her book Drawing the Light from Within on p. 8. Drawing—brown ink bottle study Experimental typography Contour drawings—flowers study Four-panel brochure Letterhead with illustration Envelope Business card Poster and illustration [ » need more info—see Graphic Design Portfolio  ] Many of my graphic design studies were completed at the California College of the Arts with my Graphic Design Professors. Other pieces were successfully completed from inception of designs, doing prepress production, to printing and finishing in my design internships. For each study, I would usually take at least 100 photographs and do about 100 sketches, seeking professional guidance from my Graphic Design Professors at the California College of the Arts. Creating duotones and other pieces, I spent a lot of time working in a darkroom to experiment with film for different effects on various projects. Many of my fine Professors at the California College of the Arts and SFSU were trained at The Basel School of Design, Cranbrook, and Harvard University—Graphic Design Departments. [ » need more info—see High Recommendations from CCA Professors  ] Pen & Ink Tools Creating artwork or illustrations should be crafted with pens, ink, charcoal, Pantone markers, or using photography. It is absolutely part of the process—because a graphic designer or Information Architect cannot only use software programs for designing and creating. I do believe in drawing out ideas or concepts before using a computer. I might use a schematic plastic-template (or do freehand sketching) to create IA and IXD concepts prior to working on my computer. I think that design is a process where using pen and ink tools are required prior to sitting down at a computer, without any plan of action developed. Adobe Creative Suite & Visio These computer software programs were used in a Mac environment throughout the duration of doing all my Graphic Design and Information Architecture programs: QuarkXPress, FreeHand InDesign, Photoshop, ImageReady, Illustrator Dreamweaver, BBEdit, Visio The graphic design emphasis was created to provide designers with a strong foundation in the fundamental aspects of the designer's art. This helps designers to develop creativity and ideation skills, learn the elements of communication design, and then apply this knowledge to a wide range of design problems. Communication in all forms—visual, verbal and written—is stressed. Hands-On Approach The Graphic Design Programs at City College, SFSU, and the CCA have a unique, hands-on, real-world approach for projects, integrating conceptual design studies with using traditional and digital tools, and production methods. This provides designers with experience working on real projects from doing prepress production, graphic design, printing, finishing, and binding. The City College of San Francisco Graphic Design program is certified by the State of California as a vocational training program in graphic design, prepress production, and printing. All of these design programs are highly regarded in the design community in San Francisco and the Bay Area because Professors work as professional graphic design practitioners, providing designers with high-quality training. Graphic Design Work Experience Designers have the opportunity to further develop their skills through an in-house internship program that provides high-quality communication's pieces to the community. An elective work experience course allows designers to broaden their design vocabulary through supervised work in local design firms or at the college. I successfully completed a hands-on and real-world graphic design internship at City College of San Francisco for about one year. I also did other Graphic Design internships at the University and many Information Architecture internships at the University—over a period of many years. top   |   back to portfolio Copyright ©—2007-2012. All rights reserved. Last updated: January 1, 2009 Steven Heitman, IA MAIA, IA MAEd Sr Information Architect Specialist Corporate Training Specialist IA Design & Usability