Saturday, July 5, 2008

Fall Classes Are Filling Up – Sign Up Now!!

Fall 08 registration is in full swing so if you haven't signed up for your GCOM classes yet, you better get on it soon. The most popular classes Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and InDesign, but there are some other great classes you may not know much about:

GCOM316, Intro to Page Layout using QuarkXPress 7
Quark is an excellent graphics layout program for both print design and web sites and has been an industry standard for nearly 20 years. It's not as well known as InDesign these days, but it is still used by many design professionals and SCC is the only school teaching it in Northern California.

GCOM319, Newspaper Design
This class works directly with journalism and photography students to learn about news media design for both printed newspapers and web sites. But it is also one of our most important  "real-world" experience classes because the students design and produce the campus newspaper The Express and the E-press web site every 2 weeks. It's a great chance to put your page layout skills to the test, work in a team atmosphere, and produce some excellent portfolio work—not to mention the boost a class like this gives your resume. (Note: this class includes both lecture and lab and is scheduled for Mon/ Wed, 1:30-4pm, but there is some flexibility and the time required can vary depending on the production schedule)

GCOM363, Advanced Creative Web Page Design using Adobe Flash
GCOM383, Interactive and Motion Design using Adobe Flash
If you've learned Dreamweaver and have an interest in more advanced Web sites and motion, Flash is the way to go. And if you've already taken 363, this Fall will be the first chance to take 383 in over 2 years. We don't offer this advanced course every year, so you don't want to miss it! Plus, both classes are taught by Flash Guru, Phuong Nguyen, considered by many local design firms to be the top Flash designer in all of Sacramento. (Note: regardless of the what the SCC catalog says, we are teaching Adobe Flash CS3, not Macromedia Flash)

GCOM420: Intro to Video Game Design
Our long awaited Game Design courses finally begin this Fall with the first class of the program. This will be an exciting and dynamic theory and concepting class that will lead to an intermediate and advanced class to be offer in later semesters. And it's already filling up, so get in quick.

GCOM490: Graphic Communication Studio
This is another one of our very unique and exciting "real-world" experience classes. This class doubles as the GC Club and operates like a working design studio where students work in teams on actual design projects for actual paying clients. This is one of the best opportunities in our curriculum for you to put your skill to the test and develop actual work for your portfolio. It will also look great on your resume! This class includes lecture and lab and meets 2 days a week—Tues/Thurs, 3-5pm.

If you have any questions about these, or any other GCOM classes, feel free to contact Don Button at buttond@scc.losrios.edu.


Monday, June 9, 2008

Summer's Here And The Time Is Right...


For Dancing in the ...  no, wait... the time is right for DESIGNING in the streets! 

Welcome to GCOM@SCC — The Summer Sessions. It's a great place to cool off at the end of a long, hot summer day in Sac. We've got beginning classes in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and InDesign. We've got the best Mac Lab in NorCal. And we've got the best instructors in Sac to teach you what's up: Heather Hogan, Jodi Adkins, Angela Jackson, and your's truly, Don Button.

Welcome to where it's at for the next 8 weeks!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Report From The Animators Ball...



We had a Big Orange Ball last night!

They were shiny, bouncy, funny and creepy... the animations, not the balls. We nearly filled the Student Center to capacity with college and high school students, friends and family, and creative professionals.

We ate some great food and watched some truly entertaining student animation reels. 

And we saw and heard an excellent keynote speech from Pixar animator Austin Madison—that's him in the photo hugging his own big orange ball and holding court with a bunch of very excited animation groupies.

We'd like to express our deep gratitude to all the students who participated, as well as ADAC, and Elara Systems and Wirestone, who donated the bucks for the free grub!

Tom has created a quicky photo gallery of shots he took at the event. CLICK HERE TO SEE.

Until next year....

Monday, May 12, 2008

COME TO THE (big orange) BALL!


The Animators Ball 2008 is this Tuesday, May 13th!

TOP 6 REASONS TO ATTEND:
6. It's free!
5. It's right here on campus at the Student Center!
4. It features the 2D and 3D work of SCC, ARC and area high school students!
3. There will be professional members from ADAC there that you can shmooze with!
2. The keynote speaker is Pixar animator Austin Madison!
1. FREE FOOD, FREE FOOD, FREE FOOD! (and beverages!)

6:30 - 9:00... don't miss it, bring your friends, don't be late!

Friday, May 9, 2008

Meet Our New Prof!


GGOM and the SCC are proud to announce that Tom Cappelletti has been hired as our new full-time, tenure-track Graphic Design and Web Design Assistant Professor. 

Tom has been teaching as an adjunct here for several years and spent the 07-08 school year as a temporary full-time instructor, and has made a great impact on the students and program.

So, beginning in the Fall, we'll be looking forward to seeing a lot more of his smiling face around here. Congrats Tommy-Boy!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

GCOM Student Design Award Winners Announced


Last night's Graphic-Con event was a truly fun and inspiring event. The talent on display, both in print and on over 20 Mac screens was amazing. The GC Club team deserves a big round of applause for their tireless effort to promote the GCOM department and all of it's talented and creative students.

The winners of the 2008 GCOM Student Design Awards were also announced. I don't have the names of the many silver award winners in the Print and Multimedia categories, but here are the names of the Gold winners and Best of Show winners:

Best of Show Award for Print: Taras Garcia
Best of Show Award for Multimedia: Daniel Moore
Best of Show People's Choice: Vitaliy Zavorotny

Gold Award Winners: Pricilla Garcia, Taras Garcia, Seth McComber, Daniel Moore, Vitaliy Zavorotny

Also, there was a very entertaining live design competition among faculty and students. Four designers were given a random set of images and two words, then pitted against each other in a 30 minute design death match. In the faculty bout, Robyn Waxman, Missy Anapolsky, Tom Cappelletti, and Don Button competed. Yours truly (Don) was voted the victor by the audience. Quite a comeback from my totally awful attempt last semester, if I do say so. In the student competition, Pricilla Garcia was voted the winner for her inspired take on political posters and "inflated" politicians.

Congrats to all the winners and participants, and thank you to all the sponsors and volunteers!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Graphic-Con is this Tuesday!!


GRAPHIC-CON: The Graphic Communicatikon Student Show 2008
TUESDAY, MAY 6
4:00pm - 7:00pm
SCC Student Center

This promises to be the best ever year-end event. Presented by the GC Club, Graphic-Con will celebrate graphic artforms from accross the design spectrum.

Check out the best of this year's student work and be there when the 2008 GCOM Student Design Awards are presented.

Watch four student designers and four instructors go head-to-head in a live design competition, create your own SuperHero short, get an original design from nationally renowned comic illustrator David Wong, and test drive Apple's latest products.