THE GRAPHIC DESIGN AND VISUAL PUBLICATIONS PROGRAMS ARE SCHEDULED TO MERGE EFFECTIVE JANUARY 2013. The new program, titled Graphic Design/Media Arts, will be taught at SCC’s Energy Square location in downtown Lincoln. No additional full-time students are being accepted into either program. The new curriculum will be posted when the 2012-2013 College Catalog is completed in March. Graphic design involves the process of combining words and pictures to communicate a message. Everywhere you look you see the work of graphic designers. Graphic designers are visual communication problem solvers. A graphic designer conceives, plans and executes a design that communicates a direct message to a specific audience. Designers develop images that represent the ideas their clients use to communicate.
Location Offered: Lincoln only
Overview
In SCC’s program, students learn the technical skills and fundamental conceptual theories and techniques needed to produce compelling visual communication messages. Assignments simulate typical job-related projects. Students work in the graphic design lab at individual cubicles. Each cubicle has a Macintosh work station. Students will become proficient at using all the standard software common to the graphic design industry. For page layout, students will use InDesign and QuarkXPress. For photo and image manipulation, students will use Photoshop. For drawing, students will use Illustrator. For Web design, students will use Flash, Dreamweaver and Final Cut Express. Note: Designers make creative decisions based on research, reflection and insight. Computers do not provide creative solutions. They are only a tool. As a graphic design student, you will use a computer, but it will not make compelling creative decisions for you. Graphic design software will not be any more helpful in making you a designer than Microsoft Word will make you a writer. Most design work is executed with a computer; however, the thinking/visualization process is still accomplished by drawing. Designers begin each new project by drawing rough sketches. The roughs are later translated into computer designs. As a result, students will draw, research, study and make oral and written presentations. They will work individually and in teams just as they would in a real-world business environment. Students will apply their design skill and knowledge in a wide variety of applications. They will use typography, illustrations, photography, copywriting and other processes to create designs from newsletters to catalogs to brochures to billboards to logos to packages to Web sites. Finished assignments become part of student’s professional portfolio.
Mission
The mission of the Graphic Design program is to prepare competent graphic design students for employment in the field of graphic communications. The program will continue to meet the technical and aesthetic requirements of the graphics communication industry.
Job Outlook
Employment of graphic designers is expected to grow about as fast as average. Keen competition for jobs is expected. Students are prepared for careers as designers and art directors in advertising agencies, as Web designers, layout designers at magazines and newspapers, publication designers, designers for printers, billboard/sign designers, catalog designers, package designers, and virtually any other business that has a need to create visual communication. Recent graduates report an average starting hourly wage of $12.40, with a high of $14.40 per hour.