Lebanese American University

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B.S. in Graphic Design

Mission

Graphic design communicates visually. It has the power to persuade, to inform, and to educate. The Mission of the Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design is to empower students to become effective visual communicators, through a liberal arts education. Through research, analysis, organization, and presentation skills students will inform audiences using various forms of visual media.

Educational Objectives

  1. The profession of Graphic Design is one that is in constant flux. Our aim is to maintain a discipline, which is up-to-date in both technological and artistic innovations within the profession.
  2. To encourage the creation of aesthetic, and effective, design solutions. Students may choose to work not only in print based media, but also on screen-based designs, which incorporate motion and sound. Emphasis is placed on communication skills, work ethics, and motivation.
  3. To create works that are both ethically sound, and culturally aware, in turn, having a positive impact on their society and community. From record labels to road signs, film titles to beer bottles, textbooks to website, students are capable of creating a diversity of professional-level designed materials.
  4. Upon Graduation, to be competitive in numerous career opportunity options: design firms, advertising agencies, web-site developers, publishing companies, print houses, television studios, or the pursuit of independent design work.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Promote specialist studies relevant to progression pathways for employment.
  2. Provide knowledge and relevant skills as the toolkit for career progression.
  3. Nurture students’ ability in a specialist art and design discipline.
  4. Enable students to develop personal qualities, linked to generic skills, for successful performance in the working life.
  5. Promote a stimulating, supportive, and creative, learning environment in which students can maximize their potential as individuals.
  6. Involve professional bodies and employers in the delivery of the programs, in order to maintain currency.
  7. Offer learning experiences which foster independence of thought, and which encourage analytical and imaginative enquiry.
  8. Nurture the designers’ obligation to their social and moral responsibilities.

The Graphic Design Program prepares accomplished graphic designers with critical minds to evaluate their own work.

The curriculum provides a comprehensive education in offering a range of theoretical, and practical, courses tackling various design experiences.

After having explored the visual principles of form, image, color, and typography, the students choose to either specialize in print or digital media.

The use of multilingual typography in layouts is studied, in depth, throughout the Program. Students develop custom Arabic typefaces for various applications in class.

During the Senior Year, emphasis is placed on the design approaches in the final project, a challenging, self-defined experience that will help students define their professional interests. Conceptual thinking in creating visual systems, and information design, is the main focus of the final project. Students are required to complete an internship class which allows them to work for credits in a design studio of their choice, depending on their specific area of interest.

Graphic Design, a multi-facetted discipline, offers wide opportunities in working for advertising agencies, design studios, publishing houses, television production houses, or as freelancers designing web-sites, typefaces, animated sequences, interface systems, packaging, identities, posters and exhibitions.

The Program curriculum consists of 34 credits for the Liberal Arts Curriculum Requirement, 30 credits for the Core, 32 credits for the Foundation Year requirements, and 19 credits for the Other Major requirements.

Graphic Design Core Requirements (30 credits)

Number Course Cr
ART222Drawing II3
ART332/431History of Art or Modern Art3
GRA301Intermediate Computer Graphics3
GRA302Advanced Computer Graphics3
GRA342Art of Illustration3
GRA351Graphic Design I3
GRA352Graphic Design II3
GRA432Visual Perception3
MKT201Introduction to Marketing3
GRA —GRA Elective3

Foundation Year Requirements (32 credits)

Number Course Cr
GRA231Design Studio I-A3
GRA232Design Studio I-B3
GRA233Design Studio II-A3
GRA234Design Studio II-B3
GRA240Sketching2
GRA241Technical Graphics I2
ART251Introduction to Computer Graphics2
MKT261Introduction to Design2
GRA271History of Design2
ART221Drawing I3
PHO211Photography3
ART —Art Elective3

Other Requirements (19 credits)

Choose one from the following emphases:

I. Print Design

Number Course Cr
GRA312Printing Variables3
GRA411Advanced Typography3
GRA451Graphic Design III3
GRA452Graphic Design IV3
GRA455Advertising Design3
GRA462Graphic Design Seminar3
GRA490Graphic Design Internship1

II. Digital Design

Number Course Cr
GRA481Degital Media Seminar3
GRA482Motion Design3
GRA484Web Design3
GRA486Advanced Interactive Design3
GRA4873D Animation Techniques3
GRA490Graphic Design Internship1
GRA499Digital Media/Senior Study3

MINOR IN GRAPHIC DESIGN

The Minor in Graphic Design is open to students in the Bachelor of Interior Architecture Program, to give them the additional skills that would allow them to deal with design tasks related to their profession and those that involve new media and computer related graphics.

Mission

The Minor in Graphic Design exposes the students to a basic overview of the graphic design profession; a graphic designer translates ideas and information to a specific audience, through words, images, and graphics in printed and digital presentations. It will allow the students enrolled to broaden their general understanding of the different skills required to practice Graphic Design.

Educational Objectives

The purpose of the Minor in Graphic Design is to:

  1. Expose the students to dealing with graphic design tasks.
  2. Use the design education, and exposure they previously acquired from their core Major.
  3. Provide an interdisciplinary platform for students coming from an alternative design Major.
  4. Expose the students to the latest technology used in the field of graphic design.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Understanding the professional printing process.
  2. Learning animation skills.
  3. Dealing with Arabic and Latin typography.
  4. Expanding critical thinking theories for designers.
  5. The art of Arabic calligraphy.
  6. Illustration skills, schools and techniques.
  7. Explore the history of graphic design.
  8. More about the new media and computer related graphics.

Graphic Design Core Requirements (30 credits)

General University Requirements33
Graphic Design Core Requirements30
Foundation Year Requirements32

Required Courses

Number Course Cr
GRA302Advanced Computer Graphics3
GRA312Printing Variables3
GRA411Advanced Typography3

Nine credits to be selected from the following courses

Number Course Cr
GRA341Art of Calligraphy3
GRA342Art of Illustration3
GRA431History of Graphic Design3
GRA462Graphic Design Seminar3
GRA484Web Design3
2008/8/7
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