Course

Document Design and Production I

Important Notice

This course is not active. Please contact Department Chair for more information.

Faculty
Language, Literature & Performing Arts
Department
Print Futures
Course Code
PRFU 1350
Credits
3.00
Semester Length
15 weeks
Max Class Size
30
Method(s) Of Instruction
Lecture
Lab
Typically Offered
To be determined

Overview

Course Description
This course introduces the basic principles of two-dimensional design, including balance and visual dynamics, layout, publication design, and typography. Students will develop skill with an industry-standard page-layout software program and familiarity with both raster and vector drawing applications. They will apply these skills in producing small documents.
Course Content
  1. Document Design
    Successful students will:
    • produce a variety of simple one- and two-colour projects, including stationery, invitations, and specialized form letters, using industry-standard software programs
    • learn basic print design theory, including page structure, column formatting, typeface relationships, and the use of white space and colour (process and spot), and become familiar with common design errors
    • become familiar with print terminology
    • become familiar with traditional assembly procedures
  2. Hardware and Software
    Successful students will:
    • examine and use the various hardware configurations necessary to operate a desktop publishing service effectively (including computers, monitors, printers, scanners)
    • examine and use the file-management software necessary to transfer files, copy disks and convert text for word-processing and page-layout purposes
    • examine and use page-layout and image-manipulation software for use in preparing published documents
  3. Page Makeup
    Successful students will:
    • prepare text in a word-processing program for import into page-makeup software
    • examine basic structure of page-makeup software, including
      • opening, closing and saving documents
      • using the mouse
      • using the toolbox
      • importing and flowing text files
      • manipulating text
    • examine techniques for producing a simple publication in page-makeup software, including
      • establishing style palettes
      • using templates
      • using menus
      • designing master pages
      • creating vertical and horizontal alignment of text
      • using box, line draw, and fill functions
      • creating headlines, subheads, and captions
      • creating screens
      • rotating text
      • printing landscape and portrait documents
      • using scalable fonts
      • importing and sizing graphic images
      • scanning, importing, and sizing photos and drawings
      • creating drop caps
      • placing pull quotes
      • determining justified and unjustified text spacing
      • kerning
      • using non-standard leading
      • spacing headlines
      • wrapping text around even and uneven shapes
Learning Activities

The course will use a combination of lecture, discussion, and hands-on experience. In preparing documents, students will work with materials provided by the instructor and with other material at the discretion of the instructor.

Means of Assessment

Students are expected to be self-motivated and to demonstrate professionalism, which includes active participation, good attendance, punctuality, effective collaboration, ability to meet deadlines, presentation skills, and accurate self-evaluation.

Evaluation will be based on this general format:

Assignments (2 to 4) 45%
Lab exercises (3 to 5) 20%
Midterm exam 25%
Professionalism (as defined) 10%
  100%
Learning Outcomes

Students will understand the basic principles of two-dimensional design. They will develop skill with an industry-standard page-layout software program and familiarity with both raster and vector drawing applications. They will work with material supplied by the instructor to produce small documents.

Textbook Materials

Texts may include:

  • Against the Clock: QuarkXPress. Prentice Hall, 1998.

Software may include:

  • QuarkXPress
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe Freehand

Requisites

Prerequisites

Acceptance into program or permission of the coordinator

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see

Institution Transfer Details for PRFU 1350
There are no applicable transfer credits for this course.

Course Offerings

Winter 2025