See how a Course Works: Intro to Online Learning
Description
Looking to launch your career in the exciting field of Web design? This Web Design Program focuses on the fundamental technical and aesthetic skills required for this challenging field.
As a student, you'll gain proficiency in the software programs that every Web designer needs to know: Adobe Photoshop, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, and Flash. You'll learn how to create digital images and animations and build standards-compliant Web sites using either HTML/CSS hand-coding or Web editing programs.
Hands-on projects will give you experience in professional Web design. Assignments include digital retouching and compositing, XHTML page markup, CSS-based layout and typography, home page and navigation design, Flash graphics and animations, mouseover effects, competitive analysis, site maps, wireframes, mood boards, color palettes, blog layout, and portfolio site design.
Upon successful completion of this program, you'll be able to:
- Prepare bitmap images for print or the Web using basic Photoshop retouching and correction techniques, collage, and compositing
- Create standards-compliant Web page layouts by hand-coding using HTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
- Publish Web pages to a Web server using Dreamweaver FTP
- Develop Web page and site layouts using Adobe Dreamweaver and CSS
- Use color, typography, and composition in developing page layouts
- Design Web layouts, graphics, navigation buttons, and banner ads using Adobe Fireworks
- Design basic Flash page graphics, animations, ads, and promotional sites
- Develop a systematic approach to Web design projects using site maps, wireframes, usability, and competitive analysis
- Develop a creative approach to Web design projects using mood boards and design comps Transform comp layouts into valid HTML/CSS Web pages using hand-coding
- Design Web page layouts for a range of business clients
Outline
The following course outline illustrates the major topics covered in our Website Design class.
Intro to Web Design: Learn how the Web evolved, cover the technical fundamentals, and learn the design principles that characterize the leading sites. Through exposure to best (and worst) practices on the Web, you'll learn how to intelligently critique a Website design, both from a functional and an aesthetic standpoint.
Photoshop Basics: Learn the basics of Photoshop in this thorough six-lesson beginner help course. You will learn how to select, enhance, distort, color, scale and manipulate scanned images and artwork — or create them from scratch. Even if you just took your software out of the box, the course will help you learn and tame this creative powerhouse of a program.
Dreamweaver I: Dreamweaver integrates a host of design tools in one easy-to-use application. Without any advanced HTML knowledge, you can design sophisticated sites, creating advanced layouts by using tables, colors, style sheets, frames, and more. This intensive 6-lesson training course guides you through Macromedia's leading-edge Web editor, taking you from absolute beginner to intermediate level. You'll be weaving dreams on the Web before you know it!
HTML Basics: Learn HTML basics with an experienced professional. Thanks to today's HTML editors, (programs such as Dreamweaver, HomeSite, and Frontpage) entire sites can be designed without "hand-coding" in HTML. Applications to help users find the right HTML codes have become more user friendly, but for any Web designer, a baseline knowledge of HTML is critical. In this practical 3-lesson course, you'll cover everything from basic tags and tables to using templates and troubleshooting.
Color Theory: Color is probably the most relative medium in art. Each color has a specific property, whether it's the particular wavelength in optical perception, the molecular construction of pigments or an RGB value for a monitor. Though each of those properties may be fixed, the expression and perception of a color may change within different contexts. Understanding color requires that you understand its systems, interaction — even a bit of physics! This course deals with the abstract language of color. We'll discuss basic color principles, terminology, and applications, with an emphasis on manipulating color.
Fundamentals of Typography: Typography is what sets designers apart from other artists. In visual communication, typography must be integrated (every last loop, bowl, and descender) into a total design. In this 3-lesson course, you'll explore the anatomy of the letterform. Through interactive lectures and hands-on exercises, you'll learn how to classify typefaces and use them creatively. Understanding the fundamentals of typography will give your work power, eloquence, and beauty
Design and Composition: Composition, literally the assembly or construction of elements, is the artful arrangement that guides the viewer's eye and unifies your work. In this 3-lesson hands-on course, you'll develop your compositional skills by analyzing everything from Grand Masters to Madison Avenue ads to tubes of toothpaste. Through a series of artistic workouts, you'll learn the principles of effective composition, building to a Final Project.
Information Design: Clearly organized, consistent, and functional sites reap big rewards from both a user and business perspective. A great Web site is one that has been specifically planned, designed, tested, and promoted to connect the right user with the right message. In this course, you'll learn the difference that information design can make. The information designer is someone who pre-plans information hierarchies and pathways, effectively "paving the roads" and putting up signage before the traffic arrives.
Web Design I: Course assignments focus on project planning, layout, usability, learning different design styles, adding popup windows, forms, and CSS. Develop your Web design skills by training with one of the leading experts on Web design and technology. You'll complete the online course with a clutch of projects and a fully functional site to add to your portfolio.
Flash Basics: In this 6-lesson course, you'll develop a deep understanding for basic drawing and animating tools in Flash, mastering such critical interface elements as layers, scenes, nested symbols, and movie clips. You'll create an animated logo, a cityscape, a splash screen, a basic Flash site interface, and more.
Flash Website Design: If you're familiar with basic Flash animation techniques, learning to create sites in Flash is the perfect next step. Flash Web sites don't just engage Web visitors with motion, sound, and visual intensity. They also provide strong functionality and interactivity, unprecedented browser and platform compatibility, and a higher level of usability than you might expect. In this challenging, project-based course, you'll learn to create compelling, well-designed Flash sites, avoiding common pitfalls and "Flash abuse." You'll build on the basic Flash skills you already possess to learn a step-by-step approach to Flash web design you can apply to your professional projects.
Dreamweaver II: Some powerful features lie just below the surface in Dreamweaver, including precision layouts through Cascading Style Sheets, templates and asset management, and even the ability to create high-end interactive features without wading through reams of code. Each hands-on lesson and exercise combines upper-level Dreamweaver technology with visual Web design know-how. In this rigorous 6-lesson course, you'll take your existing knowledge of Dreamweaver to the next level, putting your skills a cut above the rest.
E-Commerce: In this hands-on course, you'll learn how to build a well-conceived, fully functional e-commerce Web site for your own business or your small business clients. Studying with one of the leading voices in Web site design, will help you learn a systematic approach to e-commerce development. From initially validating your business plan, to building your shopping cart, to setting up quality customer service, and fulfillment after the launch, you will be address the skills required to tackle e-commerce Web projects. Class projects guide you step-by-step through the design and business decisions that are critical to success. By the end of the course, you'll have built a fully functional site and gained the confidence to build more.
Demo
Additional Info
- Languages
- English
- Course Length
- 225.00 hours
- Duration of Access
- When you register for the program, you're given 180 days weeks to complete it. Students who need additional time and are in good academic standing can obtain a six-month extension from the institution for an extension fee of $500.
- Instructor
Students will receive critique and feedback from a faculty of art and design professionals. Instructors for this program include:
Claire Boger is an interactive designer and founder of ImaginationAlley.com, a Web-based software training and design resource site. Claire has more than 15 years of professional design experience, including corporate identity and package design. Over the past 10 years, Claire has concentrated on interactive media and was rewarded as co-recipient of a patent for CD-based technology AudioVisionCD. Claire has played a variety of roles in the development of both large- and small-scale interactive projects for such notable corporations as Daimler Chrysler, Kodak, Merrill Lynch, Mutual of Omaha, and MasterCard.
Donald Gambino is a computer artist, consultant, educator, and trainer. Since 1983, he’s taught students of all levels and abilities. Formerly the chairperson of the computer art department at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, he has taught innovative computer art courses for over 12 years, and he created the BFA program in computer art.Yeesan Loh is an interior designer, photographer, painter, and graphic designer who has extensive experience in architecture. Yeesan's photography and painting has been exhibited in Artworks Gallery in Miami and The Las Olas Art Center in Fort Lauderdale, and her photo essays were published in Vida magazine in Asia. Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, she is currently an associate in Design Space Associates, a Florida-based interior design firm; co-owner and residential designer of StopDrop&Roll, a graphic tees company based in Buenos Aires; and a "New Malaysian," as featured by Harper's Bazaar, Malaysia.
Boris Margolin is a graphic designer with 10 years of experience. Boris has worked as an in-house designer for several major international corporations, including CIGNA, MetLife, and Nypro. While living in New Zealand, Boris worked at a brand development studio and at Victoria University. His design work has ranged from advertising design, to identity design, brand development, and Web design and administration, to Flash application development. In his spare time, Boris runs his own niche design company catering to unconventional companies and emerging markets.
Piper Nilsson is a graphic designer and information architect. In her four-year career for a leading Web design agency, she blueprinted sites for such global clients as MetLife, Pepsi, ETS, and Citibank. Her current projects include building an e-learning prototype for children with learning disabilities and teaching technology in New York City public schools. She received a degree in graphic design from Pratt Institute.Margaret Penney is a teacher, designer, writer, and media artist. Margaret teaches Web, print, and motion graphic design, as well as multimedia and JAVA programming at an independent school outside New York City, where she designs the computer science department curriculum. As a Web designer and developer, Margaret has created a multi-channel community portal for Hong Kong teenagers, e-commerce for Delias.com girls' clothing, and a flash promotional for Nike, and currently she’s working on a site for artist Sol Lewitt.
As a new media artist, Margaret has exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, and around NYC. Her artwork has been reviewed globally online, in print magazines, and included in the book Eye Candy from the Underground: Fresh Styles for Web Designers. She has lectured on new media art at Purchase College, the School of Visual Arts Annual Conference for Educators, and the Pratt Institute. As a writer, she’s been published in New York Arts magazine, Rhizome.org, and the Baltimore city paper. Margaret has a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and an M.F.A. from Columbia University.
Christopher Schmitt is the founder of Heatvision.com, Inc., a small new-media publishing and design firm, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. An award-winning Web designer who has been working with the Web since 1993, Christopher interned for both David Siegel and Lynda Weinman in the mid 90s while he was an undergraduate at Florida State University working on a fine arts degree with an emphasis on graphic design. Afterward, he earned a Masters in communication for interactive and new communication technologies while obtaining a graduate certificate in project management from FSU's College of Communication.
Christopher is the author of CSS Cookbook, which was named Best Web Design Book of 2006, and one of the first books that looked at CSS-enabled designs, Designing CSS Web Pages. He’s also the co-author of Professional CSS, Photoshop in 10 Steps or Less, and Dreamweaver Design Projects, and he contributed four chapters to XML, HTML, and XHTML Magic. Christopher has also written for New Architect magazine, A List Apart, Digital Web, and Web Reference.
Dr. Taz Tally is the president of Taz Tally Seminars, a computer publishing consulting and training company. Taz is the author of numerous graphics and print production books, including Photoshop Before and After Makeovers, Acrobat and PDF Solutions, Avoiding the Output Blues, and Avoiding the Scanning Blues, and he is a contributing author to The Photoshop World Dream Team Book. Taz has produced numerous instructional videos, CDs, and DVDs on scanning, prepress, Photoshop, color correction, and font management. Taz is a frequent presenter at seminars and trade shows throughout the U.S., and he’s a member of the Photoshop Dream Team at the biannual Photoshop World convention. Taz is a frequent contributor to Photoshop User magazine, for which he writes a regular prepress column.
- Prerequisites/Audience
To enroll in this certificate program, you must be at least 18 years old and able to provide documentation of attaining a high school diploma or equivalent or a higher level of education (such as a college degree).
You'll also need a computer with an Internet connection (a 56.6 kbps modem or faster is recommended). Basic computer skills are necessary, but no prior design knowledge is required
- Requirements/Materials Included
This program is compatible with the Windows Vista operating system.
The following software is required, but it is not included with the program:- Adobe Photoshop CS3 or CS4
- Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 or CS4
- Adobe Fireworks CS3 or CS4
- Adobe Flash CS3 or CS4
- An account with an ad-free Web hosting service (free services are available). An ad-free Web space allows students to upload assignments without interference from forced ads like pop-ups or banners.
When purchasing any software, especially bundled software such as the Adobe Web Collection, please check that your computer meets the manufacturer's listed system requirements.
No textbooks are required for this program.