Books for the Course
Click image links below to purchase new or used books online. (Be sure to turn your browser ad blocker off to see the book links.)
Course Description
This course explores principles, techniques, and procedures of electronic and print-based document production. Topics include: the relationship between written and visual material; traditional copy preparation and design; desktop publishing; traditional printing techniques for books, brochures, pamphlets, and newsletters; and introduction to electronic document design and production. Students will study key layout and design concepts and analyze examples; then, students will produce their own documents, including newsletters, small and large advertisements, brochures, flyers, and a website entry page.
Course Objectives
Technical and Professional Document Design is an upper level writing course required for all of the writing concentrations. During the first part of the course, we will be studying the basics of print and electronic publication, including planning and process, typography, layout design, photography, and illustration. These elements of document design will be analyzed from the context of real-world professional print and online examples. The second part of the course will involve hands-on application of these theories: we will be creating our own print and electronic professional documents. By the end of the course, you should have a nice portfolio of documents that could potentially be presented to prospective employers.
Course Outcomes
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
- Apply an understanding of writing process to planning, designing, and producing various types of professional documents.
- Identify and analyze the effectiveness of design principles, including page layout, typography, and illustration and photography placement.
- Create traditional print documents such as advertisement, brochures, and newsletters using effective design principles.
- Create electronic versions of traditional print documents such as newspapers blogs and product catalogs using effective design principles.
- Work collaboratively in design groups.
