Introduction to Computer Graphics

The days of drawing boards and magic markers, galleys of type and paste up are long gone. Everyone working in the design industry needs a working knowledge of computers and the dominant software that is run in almost every studio in the western world. Even if you do not see yourself as a 'creative' and plan to use your advertising qualification to work as an account executive, it is still important that you understand what the computer can do and have a sense for how long something will take, so that you can budget the cost and work to press deadlines.

In this module we will introduce you to the software and set you tasks so that you can acquire the necessary skills. In addition to the actual 'computer graphics' module, you will find the skills help you to present your work for the other modules as well.

We will begin with the image manipulation program Adobe Photoshop. This is the world industry standard for professional photographic enhancement. We will subject various pictures to cruel treatment as we experiment with its powerful features.

Before Christmas we will also take at look at QuarkXPress, the Desk Top Publishing layout tool used for the production of almost all magazines. It gives superb control over columns of text and the placement of pictures and other graphic elements.

The third major programme we look at is Macromedia's Freehand, a 'vector drawing' package which may bring out the designer in you. With a host of powerful features, it can seem a bit difficult at first but I hope you will find it well worth your effort. It is very similar to Adobe Illustrator, and skills learned with one package can be easily transferred to the other and to the web animation solutions Flash and Live Motion.

Recommended booklists will follow when Photoshop 6 books are available (end Oct 2000).