Sunday, April 10, 2011

Many new changes for GCOM in the Fall

The Fall 11 schedule is now available on line, so you should start planning you classes and be ready to register as soon as you day and time arrive.

But the Graphic Communication department will be going through some important changes in the Fall, so please read this message to be prepared.

COURSE NAME CHANGES
In an effort to better represent our department philosophy and align our course names with many of the 4-year institutions our students transfer to, beginning Fall 2011, our core GCOM classes will be undergoing a name change.

course # / old name                                     new name
313 Beg. Page Layout using InDesign        Digital Layout I
314 Adv. Page Layout using InDesign        Digital Layout 2

330 Beg. Photoshop                                 Digital Imaging I
331 Adv. Digital Imaging for Print              Digital Imaging 2
332 Adv. Digital Imaging for Web/Multi.     Digital Imaging 3

340 Beginning Illustrator           Digital Illustration for Graphic Design I
341 Adv. Digital Illustration      Digital Illustration for Graphic Design 2

380 Beg. Interactive Design                       Interactive Design 1
383 Intermediate Interactive Design           Interactive Design 2
390 Beg. Motion Design                            Motion Design 1

(note: similar name changes are likely to take place for these courses in the following school year: 343, 345, 360, 361, 362)


NEW LECTURE / LAB CHANGES
For many years nearly all of GCOM’s graphic design and web design courses have been offered as a scheduled Lecture with the Lab portion listed as TBA — allowing students to complete their lab work on their own schedule at home or in our Design Lab.

Due to changing administration directives and state regulations, beginning in the Fall 2011 semester many of our core classes will be scheduled with a required scheduled Lab section with the instructor.

As an example, our current Beginning Photoshop class is scheduled as a weekly 2 hour Lecture class, for which the student is expected to complete approximately 3 hours of assigned Lab work per week on their own.

In the Fall, the 2 hour Lecture will be immediately followed by a 1.25 hour in-class Lab. The students will be expected to attend and use that time to produce class work, along with an additional 1.75 hours of TBA Lab time.

Some of these classes may be scheduled in a “hybrid” modality, which means the instructor may be choose to make some Lab time flexible or online.

However, not all GCOM courses will change to the scheduled Lab. Some of our advanced, principles, and distance ed courses will continue to only have unscheduled TBA lab.

The GCOM faculty believes that offering scheduled Lab classes with the instructor, especially for our core introductory courses, will provide a more engaging and enriching educational experience for our students.

NEW DEGREE / CERTIFICATE INFO
The Fall 2011 semester will also bring changes to the requirements of our GCOM A.S. Degree and our Career Certificates. If you began taking GCOM classes before Fall 11, these changes may not directly effect you. 

More information about the degree and certificates will be coming soon, as soon as they are fully approved.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Engineering vs. Design (Liberal Arts) degree - who gets hired?

Bill or Steve, who's right?

Read this interesting article from TechCrunch for an interesting and surprising perspective from an engineering professor.

http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/21/engineering-vs-liberal-arts-who’s-right—bill-or-steve/

And visit this New York Times "Room for Debate" section for a variety of other perspectives.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Design Articles for your e-readers


Smashing Magazine has just released a new collection of graphic design articles for e-readers. Check them out HERE.

Monday, January 31, 2011

The Modernism of Mac


Here's nice little essay on the Apple design aesthetic — Is it retro? Is it modern? Is it even there?
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

GCOM 490 Studio Class moved for Spring


IMPORTANT NEWS: If you were enrolled in, or planning to sign up for, our capstone real-world design class, there has been a change to how we're offering it.

It had to be cancelled due to low enrollment, but our GCOM students will still be able to take the class by signing up for the PHOTO 490 class. The time is the same and our instructors, Sean Brainerd and Dre Diaz-Vaughn will still be co-teaching. We will also be able to credit the Photo class units toward your GCOM degree or certificate.

This is a great class that will be working with Photo students on some excellent, high-profile design projects. Teamwork, portfolio pieces, and great for the resume... how could you miss out on that?

For more info, contact Sean at volume11creative@gmail.com

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Monday, December 13, 2010

GCOM 490: From Theory to Practice

Looking to expand your portfolio and experience? These former students speak about the amazing benefits they received from GCOM 490 which will be offered this Spring Mondays and Wednesdays from 1-3pm.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

ADAC Holiday Mixer


This Art Directors and Artists Club event is a great way to meet and network with creative professionals.

December 13, 2010
6-8 p.m.
AIA Central Valley Building
1400 S Street, Sacramento

Free to members, $5 non members, $3 students.
Featuring a silent auction to benefit the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services.
Attendees are welcome to bring donations for the Food Bank to the event.