CD Program of Study

In Digital 2D, students are introduced to image/content creation, manipulation, editing, and management through Adobe Suite programs. Students will learn proper file management and workflow techniques, along with proper digital documentation and presentation of work. Students will also employ digital terminology across a wide range of disciplines and practices while also recognizing the cultural implications of digital creation, appropriation, and distribution. By the end of the course, students will have built a solid foundation of digital knowledge and skills that will benefit them as visual creators and communicators.

Introduction to Advanced Study offers a unique and broad-based exposure in advanced-level art and design disciplines offered at MIAD. The philosophy behind Introduction to Advanced Study is to invite students to explore problem solving and ways of working within the majors. Students will be actively engaged in making as a mode of inquiry and will gain experience in both the conceptual basis for the disciplines as well as the practical processes of the disciplines studied. Faculty will offer a variety of course structures and themes.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): FYE100, FYE150, 6CR

This course is an introduction to composition and color theory. Students will learn and apply the elements and principles of art and design in a variety of assignments through a variety of traditional and digital tools and media. All assignments will focus on how ideation techniques are fundamental to creative problem solving. Students will gain a clear understanding of how 2D elements and compositional theory are employed to create clear and effective visual communication, aid personal expression, and help comprise a personal aesthetic. Students will learn to identify how 2D fundamentals are employed in contemporary, professional, and historical work.

Research, Process and Connection is a theme-based introductory course in which students conduct research and engage in a creative process that leads to a body of visual work. Each section of RPC is devoted to a particular idea, process, or approach. Students will develop concepts, translate ideas, and apply methods as they make their work. Students will explore their work and thinking within a historical, cultural, and personal context. This will be reinforced through critical dialogue during stages of ideation, production, completion, and evaluation.
At the end of the semester, students are required to present their final research in a digital presentation. These presentations should demonstrate visual evidence of work completed throughout the semester as well as the ability to analyze their progress and learning in a public format.

In Communication Design I, fundamentals of communication design are introduced to the student with theoretical and applied studies in graphic design, problem solving, communication and presentation.

This semester course is the development of procedures and techniques involved in the process of creative problem solving related to communication design. This course also introduces the relationship of typography and image and how this relationship solves communication problems through a visual means. Emphasis is on tools and their proper use, organization of elements, use of typography, and presentation.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): FYE100, FYE150, FYE130

The Typography courses provide students with an understanding of the integral use of typography in the overall design concept. Type as a communicative and creative element is explored. Students become familiar with the organizational skills necessary for clear communication as well as the formative aspects of typographic symbols and arrangement.

Typography I is an introductory course that deals with the history and practice of using typography in design. This course will familiarize students with several methods for structuring type so that they might gain an understanding of how typographic variables and the principles of legibility and readability affect visual communication. Each student will be encouraged to develop their own personal awareness of and appreciation for typography; so that they will become equipped with the terminology, theory and practice necessary for making design decisions that facilitate understanding among their intended audience.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): FYE100, FYE150, FYE130

This course furthers student understanding of essential software and hardware commonly used by designers and artists through intensive and thorough exploration. Students will expand existing skill-sets using programs largely from Adobe’s Creative Cloud applications. An understanding of the technical aspects within a design project’s life cycle, as well as the distinction between digital and print output requirements, will be covered.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): FYE150, FYE150, FYE130

Communication Design II is a continuation of study of the basic elements and principles of 2-D design and their application to the practice of communication design.

Coursework will enable the student to further develop critical thought and aesthetic response and explore further the tools of visual communication. The class will further explore typographic form and begin a review of historical influences and movements in the field of visual communication. These objectives will be achieved through a series of in-depth studio projects, short exercises, demonstrations, critiques and lectures. Studio projects and exercises will include assignments involving various typographic explorations and studies, a poster, and the development and implementation of an expansive short-term identity system.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): CD200

Typography II provides students with an understanding of the integral use of typography in the overall design concept. Type as a communicative and creative element is explored. Students become familiar with the organizational skills necessary for clear communication as well as the formative aspects of typographic symbols and arrangement.

Course work will enable the student to participate in an advanced study of typographic design, which focuses on the development of skills and sensibilities that allow designers to effectively communicate with type. Concentration will be placed on exercises in and the analysis of the perceptual aspects of communication, the ways in which we derive meaning from and contribute meaning to our cultural environment using type. In other words, to explore and clarify the relationships between the spoken word and mass-produced visual language-print and pixel-based words.

A continuum of Typography I, Typography II offers an advanced understanding of how typographic variables (placement, order of chronology, size, weight, leading, column width, alignment, style, orientation, and choice of typeface) and principles of legibility and readability affect visual communication. The logistical issues of planning and organizing paginated systems, information system and type in motion will also be presented. Each student will be encouraged to continue to develop the personal awareness necessary for making design decisions that facilitate understanding among their intended audience.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): CD202

Advanced Digital 4D furthers student understanding of UX/UI solutions through the creation of websites built to meet the needs of distinct audiences. Students draw upon existing technology skill sets and learn new tools and methods used by professional web designers to provide unique and memorable user experiences. Students are introduced to tools such as Adobe’s Animate, Greensock and GIT, and gain in-depth understanding of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and SVG. This course covers the complete process of site creation; from idea generation to finished product while adhering to human-centered design principles.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): FYE151, CD200, CD202

A studio elective is any studio course (art or design major course) within MIAD’s entire Program of Study, as long as it not a requirement of the student’s major, and as long as the student meets the prerequisite(s). In addition to required courses from all six majors, each semester MIAD offers various special electives with a range of topics.

WR200 is a course in which students use writing and research to engage in critical conversations about topics that matter. You will compose and communicate in a variety of forms as you hone your awareness of the relationship between audience, context, and purpose in a variety of rhetorical situations. This course emphasizes writing- in-process, and you will be challenged to take responsibility for all phases of the process: from journaling through drafting and revision to composing carefully crafted and polished texts. You will also conduct self-directed inquiry and develop proficiency evaluating and working with a variety of primary and secondary sources. Throughout, you will be required to demonstrate evolving critical judgement and self-reflection. Ultimately, students will develop the tools to shape informed opinions and engage thoughtfully and meaningfully in public dialogue about contemporary issues.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): WRTG120 & HUMT121

The Introduction to Natural Sciences is based upon first hand investigations and discoveries in the field of Natural Sciences. In this course students will deepen their understanding of the nature of the scientific method, its theoretical challenges, and pursue a series of empirical applications in the lab and in the field. This practical knowledge will be broadened through intensive reading, discussions, critiques, and oral assignments. This is an intensive, practical approach that uses the scientific method as a tool for investigation, problem solving and critical thinking. This course is challenging and demanding, but rewarding. Excellence in analytical and critical thinking skills are of utmost importance.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): none

In this in-depth course, students will explore key works of illustration and communication design from 1850 to the present, while using proper terminology and methodology for analyzing works within the study of these disciplines. Students will contextualize and interpret two-dimensional design recognizing that different interpretive and cultural frameworks can be used to analyze works of illustration and communication design. As a focused approach to the disciplines, the course encourages inquiry, critical evaluation, and curiosity about illustration and communication design history. Through selected readings and discussions, students will broaden their awareness of illustration and communication design history and demonstrate their understanding through critical writing, research, and presentation.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): WRTG120 & ARTH151

In this course students reinforce skills introduced during Communication Design I and II. The visual language of design as expressed through the understanding of professional design techniques, mechanics and practices will be examined through problems related to identity and environmental graphics.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): CD201, CD203

This course will teach students to effectively and efficiently find and assimilate information, and then to interpret and understand what they have gathered. Students in this course will be challenged to complete projects that have been designed to familiarize them with a specific type of information design. Individual students will gain process-based experience pertinent to the development of their own personal problem-solving methods, which they might then use to design diagrams, charts, interfaces, instructions, maps and schedules.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): CD201, CD203

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): CD201, CD203

This course gives students the opportunity to assemble their work into a professional presentation format for review by prospective employers, clients, and graduate school admissions committees. Students create an engaging and professional portfolio design and system to best display their work in both physical and digital formats. A study of anticipated career paths, and the transition from student to working professional are also explored. The course will help students to finesse presentation skills, as well as address employment opportunities and search methods.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): CD300, CD302

Advertising Design is designed to familiarize the student with the profession of Art Direction within and advertising agency or design firm environment. Students learn the fundamentals of advertising, from a historical perspective as well as lectures on marketing, media options, research, account service, copy writing, illustration, photography and self promotion.

Course work will enable the student to participate in an advanced study of the advertising design process focusing on the development of skills that allow designers to effectively brainstorm concepts while visualizing and verbalizing appropriate strategies for both print and broadcast executions. The course will focus on the skill set needed to be an art director. Advertising trends in print advertising, web, outdoor, transit, broadcast, internet and new media will be covered within this course, as well as partnerships in the creative process. Measuring the effectiveness of advertising will also be an important component.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): CD300, CD302

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): CD201, CD203

In The Creative Professional in Context, students explore the process of constructing a professional, public identity through written and verbal communication about their work in Fine Art and/or Design. They refine their skills in writing, speaking, and listening, and use writing as a means to examine the conceptual, critical, philosophical, and historical foundations of their emerging creative work within the broader contexts of their chosen fields and of visual culture broadly conceived.

In this course students learn to use writing as a means of effectively communicating ideas and information about their emerging professional identities. To these ends, students will write, edit and revise often; engage in self-directed research; analyze different rhetorical situations within the professional sphere; and refine their professional selves through both oral and written assignments. Instructors in WRTG300 employ frequent use of writing workshops and writing groups as well as individual writing assignments. Because the course is conducted in seminar fashion, students are expected to assume considerable responsibility for course materials and processes.

WRTG300 emphasizes the composition of polished, substantive written work, including description of studio work and processes, critical analysis of art/design texts, reflective writing, and communication with colleagues and peers. Assignments foster the development of a professional identity by engaging students in critical reading and discussion of key texts in visual culture and their major field, and identifying personal, cultural, and professional influences and connections that impact the student’s work. The course work will culminate in the creation of a substantive document representing a professional self, conceived in relation to these critical contexts.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): Junior standing & WRTG200

ARTH318 provides students the opportunity to give in-depth focus to a wide range of elective topics in Art History. Experience in the disciplines is broadened through intensive reading, writing, research and oral assignments. Among the topics which students may choose to study are courses such as: 19th Century American Masters; Early Chinese Art; Women, Art, and Society; The Bauhaus; The History of Industrial Design; and others.

ARTH318 is an advanced-level elective course in Art History. In ARTH318 students will undertake an in-depth and systematic investigation of one area of study in Art History. This topic may focus on the art of a geographic area or culture, a particular movement in the history of art, or on the life and work of one artist or group of artists. In each case, the course of study will include an extensive analysis of individual works of art, the cultures from which these emerged, and the critical discourse that helps us understand this art more clearly.

As an advanced-level course, ARTH318 is designed with the understanding that the coursework will feature interpretation, analysis and critical method rather than the mere assimilation and recall of factual material. Students will be presented with readings and lecture material from a variety of sources – and from a range of historic and critical literature on the topic under consideration. Each student will be expected to engage actively with course materials and methods.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): WRTG200 & ARTH214

NASC320 Topics in Natural Sciences description should be updated to reflect our current course offering:

NASC320 is an advanced-level course that examines one of the many fields of Natural Sciences. Topics in Natural Science will rotate on a semester basis. Students will study the nature of scientific inquiry, the methods, theories, discoveries, technology, and language important to the specific field of science of their choosing. As part of the course, students will also conduct an independent inquiry utilizing the basis of scientific inquiry and research.

As an advanced course, NASC320 builds upon skills and knowledge acquired in NASC220. It is designed with the understanding that the coursework will focus on interpretation, analysis and critical method rather than on mere assimilation and recall of factual material. Students will examine a field of natural science through readings and lecture material from a variety of sources and from a range of scientific and critical opinion. The material and assignments will vary depending upon the field of natural sciences taught. This course can be retaken with change in topic for a 6 credits maximum.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): NASC220

NASC321: Topics in Natural Sciences – Field Experiences

As an advanced course, NASC321 builds upon skills and knowledge acquired in NASC220. It is designed with the understanding that the coursework will focus on interpretation, analysis and critical method rather than on mere assimilation and recall of factual material. Students will first examine the field of natural science through readings and lecture material from a variety of sources and from a range of scientific and critical opinion. Students will apply in the field the theoretical knowledge gained by a literature review, with direct inquiry and hands-on activities and investigations. This course relies heavily on field work, direct inquiry and self-directed independent research culminating with a peer-reviewed oral examination. Note: The field component of this course is 9 days, located offsite from MIAD.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): NASC220

Service Learning is an interdisciplinary course with a service-learning component and is designed as the synthesis of a student’s four-year humanities and social science experience. In HUMT380 students will study a topic in-depth (i.e., cities, families, borders, aging, food) and be presented with many opportunities for interdisciplinary investigation. Through intensive reading, writing, research and oral assignments, students will analyze an issue in order to evaluate how social groups function and work towards resolution. Topics will be dealt with through scholarly and community investigations that may include sociology, psychology, anthropology, economics, political science, and history.

In HUMT380 students will have the opportunity to examine a social issue in depth, from a variety of perspectives. The coursework will focus on the historical and philosophical background of a given topic, as well as helping students to learn how to assess a variety of approaches to social systems through an examination of the nature of service in the community.

In the study of the social sciences, we examine patterns in our personal lives, the communities we live in, and a larger global context in order to see how they are connected. Through the in-depth study of a particular topic (i.e., food, cities, family, rivers, borders, aging), students will be able to analyze an issue in order to evaluate how social groups understand and work towards resolution. HUMT380 includes a service- learning component that is connected to the topic being studied. This will take place in the larger community, and it will allow students to examine the information they are learning through thinking and acting in a multicultural context.

Credits: 3
Prerequisite(s): Junior standing & WRTG200

In Communication Design Thesis students will develop a major, self-defined, design investigation based in either the theory or practice of communication design. They will be challenged to independently guide their projects through a process that leads to results in which the message for the intended audience is clear. That process will require research, an understanding of professional practice, independent thinking, collaboration and risk taking. Students will take responsibility for their learning by identifying their own problem solving methodology. The discovery process will be documented and assessed in a final project/process document.

The Communication Design Senior Project is approached through a continuous, year-long experience with the fall semester focused on research, sketching and preliminary design and the spring semester focused on final designs, exhibit design and presentation.

Thesis is a self-defined project framed as an investigation. Students formulate a question and complete research that encompasses a substantive understanding of related topics, competitor analysis solutions, and target audience. Students identify a unique, innovative, research-based, theoretical or applied solution to the investigation. Solutions emerge from the design process rather than a preconceived result. Outside input plays a vital role through brainstorming sessions, questions posed, collaboration, and evaluation. Students present their work at pivotal points throughout the year which concludes with final presentations of their final project that is on review at the collaborative senior show.

Spring Semester (DS402) Students will revise and complete their investigation solution and then design an exhibit space that engages gallery viewers and reveals the results of their investigation. The space will be assigned by a college committee and the ways it can be used will be determined by the committee. There will be limits on the use of college equipment, sound, and installation space. Students will document and reflect upon their design process in
a process book that illuminates the path from topic of investigation to concept and realization.
It will include a written explanation of the exploration and assess its success.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): CD303, 305

In Communication Design Thesis students will develop a major, self-defined, design investigation based in either the theory or practice of communication design. They will be challenged to independently guide their projects through a process that leads to results in which the message for the intended audience is clear. That process will require research, an understanding of professional practice, independent thinking, collaboration and risk taking. Students will take responsibility for their learning by identifying their own problem solving methodology. The discovery process will be documented and assessed in a final project/process document.

The Communication Design Senior Project is approached through a continuous, year-long experience with the fall semester focused on research, sketching and preliminary design and the spring semester focused on final designs, exhibit design and presentation.

Thesis is a self-defined project framed as an investigation. Students formulate a question and complete research that encompasses a substantive understanding of related topics, competitor analysis solutions, and target audience. Students identify a unique, innovative, research-based, theoretical or applied solution to the investigation. Solutions emerge from the design process rather than a preconceived result. Outside input plays a vital role through brainstorming sessions, questions posed, collaboration, and evaluation. Students present their work at pivotal points throughout the year which concludes with final presentations of their final project that is on review at the collaborative senior show.

Fall Semester (CD401) Students begin with discovery of a thesis topic of investigation through directed writing. Once a topic is established, students will collect primary and secondary research on the problem, competitors and target audience, and present their findings to the class. Once research has been exhausted, students develop appropriate design solutions through identifying the design components and continuing the design process through the creation of concepts, sketches, and drafts.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): CD402

A studio elective is any studio course (art or design major course) within MIAD’s entire Program of Study, as long as it not a requirement of the student’s major, and as long as the student meets the prerequisite(s). In addition to required courses from all six majors, each semester MIAD offers various special electives with a range of topics.

A studio elective is any studio course (art or design major course) within MIAD’s entire Program of Study, as long as it not a requirement of the student’s major, and as long as the student meets the prerequisite(s). In addition to required courses from all six majors, each semester MIAD offers various special electives with a range of topics.

A studio elective is any studio course (art or design major course) within MIAD’s entire Program of Study, as long as it not a requirement of the student’s major, and as long as the student meets the prerequisite(s). In addition to required courses from all six majors, each semester MIAD offers various special electives with a range of topics.

A studio elective is any studio course (art or design major course) within MIAD’s entire Program of Study, as long as it not a requirement of the student’s major, and as long as the student meets the prerequisite(s). In addition to required courses from all six majors, each semester MIAD offers various special electives with a range of topics.

Senior Writing Seminar is an intensive capstone writing course run as a seminar examining the making of meaning through narrative; specifically, exploring forms of Life Writing. Students will study the various forms of “life writing” including: autobiography, memoir, new journalism and creative nonfiction. Through weekly written explorations, students will explore and practice the different forms that the genre of “life writing” may take. Within the context of a growing public popularity of autobiographical writing and memoirs, students will explore possible social, political and rhetorical purposes for writing from life and will compose a final, capstone life writing project individually as means for practicing this form of writing.

WR 400 is a capstone writing course that introduces students to emerging hybrid and intermodal forms of personal writing and causes them to analyze the contexts within which it is occurring. Through formal and informal written exercises, students will explore the capacity of language to help shape and give meaning and form to personal experiences, influences, individuals, achievements or landscapes. This writing should provide a reflective springboard for looking backward or for facing the future and determining larger contexts and meanings for experiences. It should also cause students to continue to develop more sophisticated skills as writers.

The nature and form of the writing that students produce will be various –individual writers will complete intensely reflective responses to readings and to one another’s writing. In an effort to identify past memories and influences, material choices and intentions, important events and people, composing short and long pieces about those issues and individuals.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): WRTG300 & Senior standing

ARTH318 provides students the opportunity to give in-depth focus to a wide range of elective topics in Art History. Experience in the disciplines is broadened through intensive reading, writing, research and oral assignments. Among the topics which students may choose to study are courses such as: 19th Century American Masters; Early Chinese Art; Women, Art, and Society; The Bauhaus; The History of Industrial Design; and others.

ARTH318 is an advanced-level elective course in Art History. In ARTH318 students will undertake an in-depth and systematic investigation of one area of study in Art History. This topic may focus on the art of a geographic area or culture, a particular movement in the history of art, or on the life and work of one artist or group of artists. In each case, the course of study will include an extensive analysis of individual works of art, the cultures from which these emerged, and the critical discourse that helps us understand this art more clearly.

As an advanced-level course, ARTH318 is designed with the understanding that the coursework will feature interpretation, analysis and critical method rather than the mere assimilation and recall of factual material. Students will be presented with readings and lecture material from a variety of sources – and from a range of historic and critical literature on the topic under consideration. Each student will be expected to engage actively with course materials and methods.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): WRTG200 & ARTH214

Topic in Cultural Studies offers students a range of topics in the interdisciplinary study of cultural phenomena in various societies. Courses may draw on or combine the methods and perspectives of an array of disciplines, including literary theory, media theory, film/video studies, cultural anthropology, history, philosophy, political economy, communication, sociology, social theory, psychology, museum studies, art history, and the history, philosophy or sociology of science. Experience in the topic is broadened through intensive reading, writing, research and oral assignments. As an advanced-level course, HUMT360 is designed with the understanding that the coursework will feature interpretation, analysis, and critical method rather than mere assimilation and recall of factual material. Each student will be expected to engage actively with course materials and methods and contribute regularly to class discussions and/or oral collaborative efforts—such as focus groups and panel discussions—that relate to course material.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): WRTG200

Topic in Cultural Studies offers students a range of topics in the interdisciplinary study of cultural phenomena in various societies. Courses may draw on or combine the methods and perspectives of an array of disciplines, including literary theory, media theory, film/video studies, cultural anthropology, history, philosophy, political economy, communication, sociology, social theory, psychology, museum studies, art history, and the history, philosophy or sociology of science. Experience in the topic is broadened through intensive reading, writing, research and oral assignments. As an advanced-level course, HUMT360 is designed with the understanding that the coursework will feature interpretation, analysis, and critical method rather than mere assimilation and recall of factual material. Each student will be expected to engage actively with course materials and methods and contribute regularly to class discussions and/or oral collaborative efforts—such as focus groups and panel discussions—that relate to course material.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): WRTG200