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Course Details



SAE Glasgow is now taking enrollments for the June and December 2008 intakes of the intensive and creative 6-month Graphic Design Certificate course.

Courses start on June 2nd 2008.
3pm Afternoon or 6.30pm evening classes.

Please note:
Spaces are limited and are offered on a first come first served basis, please enroll early to avoid disappointment.


SAE Glasgow’s Graphic Design Certificate course is designed and aimed at the student who wishes to get straight down to business and learn exactly what’s required to function in the exciting, fast paced, and ever-evolving world of design. With this in mind, this course compresses the equivalent of a typical 2-year HND Graphic Design course down into 6 intense and creative months. With emphasis on realistic client/designer relationships and timeframes, students will be taken through every important aspect of the industry, design techniques and concepts, and modern creative projects, which will not only develop the students skills as a designer, but will form the basis of an industry-standard portfolio.


Project Methods
The creative projects in the course use real client briefs from design agencies, to show you exactly what to expect in the ‘real world’. Students will complete several interesting and diverse creative challenges, using information from real clients and design agencies to guide them through their production. This unique way of working puts emphasis on designer/client relationships, and helps build up interpersonal skills while giving the students real challenges to sink their teeth into.


Visual Communication and Theory
Each module in the curriculum focuses on specific aspects of the industry, including design concepts and theory. These classes expand students’ understanding of the ‘science behind art’ and help them understand what makes design ‘work’. With examples from leading design agencies, students will be shown what design decisions were made and why, a vital part of learning to create professional and attractive imagery.


Software Skills
There is a plethora of design tools available today, and with each comes a specific application for them. With each module on the course, comes emphasis on specific aspects of the design software tools available. Focusing on Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, In Design, After Effects, Flash and Quark, students will be walked through the basic and more advanced functions of these programs; how to use them, and more importantly, when.


Print Production
With more and more printing options available to designers, this is where a piece of work can succeed or fail. Great care has to be taken over the production of an image for print or web, and there are many pitfalls to beware of. The students will be taken through these, and shown how to avoid problems, prepare work for print accurately, and what to do if it all goes wrong! On the plus side, there are many exciting visual applications of ‘clever’ print work, metallic inks, embossing, die cut, and even holograph inks! The methods used by the professionals will be covered in detail, and training given on how to achieve these interesting and sometimes awe-inspiring visual effects.


Branding
One of the most important parts of design and marketing is brand identity. The course covers this topic in great detail, illustrating some of the famous brands, and what makes them memorable. Using typography skills and illustration techniques, students will learn the fundamental concepts behind market-ready branding, and develop these skills to a professional standard.


Motion Graphics
So you’ve made a great piece of artwork for a client, but just one more thing… He needs a TV advert to go with it! The course features an introduction on how to take your existing art, and make it move. Covering After Effects and Flash animation, students will be taken through the basics of motion graphics, illustrating how to work with video clips, import vector and bitmap graphics, and animate along a timeline to create visually stunning animations. This is an important and more and more required skill of a designer, and the module can also pave the way to more advanced learning in After Effects, Cinema 4D, Premiere Pro and Final Cut HD via the Digital Film Diploma course at SAE Glasgow.


Photography & Video
80% of what you see in print is photography. The majority of great print or web campaigns have a strong element of photography, even if modified later on. Having a good understanding of composition, framing, lighting and mood is paramount in creating dynamic and exciting imagery. Students will be introduced to 35mm and Digital Photography, with guest lectures from local professional photographers. Not only that, but knowing what to do with the photos once you have brought them into the software is even more important. From colour correction to image healing, compositing to experimental manipulation, the course runs the gamut of creative photography techniques. With equipment readily available in the college, students are welcome to develop their skills further in their own time, and utilise original photography in their compositions.


Web Design
A vital part of creative design, is to transfer print designs and marketing material into an interactive, user-friendly and attractive website. Focusing more on visual aspects rather than hard-coding, the course covers interactive web design theory in detail, as well as demonstrating web-friendly design techniques, print-to-web transferral, and flash animation. Using popular and impressive sites as example, students will learn the value of print/web coherency, marketing value and innovative techniques used by leading design agencies to create exciting and memorable web sites and campaigns.


HND Level Learning (and beyond)
To be clear, this is NOT an HND course. This six month course covers the equivalent of a typical 2-year HND course, with elements of a Visual Communication degree compressed down into 6 intensive, creative months. Rather than spending (at least) 2 years in education, taking extended time over projects, students will be thrust into a realistic, and sometimes pressured atmosphere in order to train their time-management and workflow skills to be ready for the commercial world upon leaving the course.

The curriculum is comprised of the important elements of a typical HND course, as well as some more advanced learning normally restricted to 3rd year entry degree courses. While this is a certificated course, the level of education and industry-realism far outranks typical HND courses found in other colleges. Why wait 2 years to learn, spending a month per project, when you know you can do it quicker, and be more ready for work than most?

Benefits of study at SAE