Communication Design
Bachelor of Fine Arts
in Communication Design
The digital revolution has opened up communication design to new disciplines that require students to excel not only in traditional design skills, but in design research methodology, human-centered concept development and system design processes.
Making the things that the world sees, reads, touches, and experiences every day is powerful creative role. Communication designers give form to information in advertising, publishing and editorial design, corporate and exhibition design, websites, multimedia, environmental graphics, signs and maps, service design, interaction design, film and video. How these fields must clearly and succinctly inform, entertain and persuade society remains a critical concern.
Being located in an internationally renowned hub for artists and designers, PCA offers Communication Design degree seekers a unique opportunity to broaden their cultural and creative perspectives. Not only is the metropolitan landscape an ideal setting to experience graphic design in action, but the city’s vibrant community of design professionals is a rich resource as you develop your own visual language.
The comprehensive curriculum at PCA establishes a solid foundation in visual form and design principles, as well as addressing the methodologies and issues behind contemporary graphic design. Visits to Parisian art and design institutions like the Pompidou Center, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, La Gaité Lyrique, and the Palais de Tokyo provide a wealth of opportunities to view the trajectory of European communication design from its historical roots through to its latest trends.
Faculty
Curriculum
Foundation Year
fall
Ways of Seeing: Drawing or Photography
In the fall semester, In-person Foundation students choose between Drawing I and Black & White Photography, and in the Spring semester, between Drawing II & Color Photography. Students in Pathways to Paris take two semesters of Drawing.
Materials and Dimensions I
This course is an introduction to dimensions in art and design (2D, 3D, and Photography) through material processes. Over the course of the semester students rotate for one month through three discipline areas. A common theme links the three courses and projects overlap and develop progressively. All first years take part in a joint critique of their work. Students are taught how to use practical tools and shown methods for handling materials that provide concrete starting points for creative practice. These include, but are not limited to: book-making, basic printmaking, black and white printing, sewing inductions, and the operation of woodwork machinery.
City as Studio
Students explore their immediate neighbourhood and the city at large as a site of inspiration. The city and its spaces become an extended classroom. Students respond to a theme designed to encourage interaction and integration with their surroundings and new, unexpected ways of looking at their environment. Site visits, walks, lectures, readings, and practical exercises guide students through different approaches to the creative process with the aim that they develop their own methodologies and engage with the city as potential artists and/or designers. In the final project, students respond to the brief using the medium of their choice.
Introduction to Digital Media I
This course aims to equip all first year students with the necessary skills and confidence to be able to use digital tools. The curriculum is project-led and structured so that students can apply their growing skill-set to realize their ideas. All projects are contextualized with examples of work by contemporary artists and designers who are working with digital media. Students are introduced to the possibilities for digital tools as part of their creative work.
Introduction to Art & Design
This course aims to develop skills in perception, comprehension, and appreciation of various visual art forms. It fosters the ability to closely analyze visual materials and explore the range of questions and methods used to examine and interpret artworks. Moreover, the course emphasizes understanding art as a visual language and encourages students to express their understanding verbally, both orally and in writing. The course is structured around four thematic modules that correspond to specific geographical locations and major art historical periods. These modules do not provide comprehensive surveys of the art of each culture or era. Instead, they concentrate on specific themes and objects to enhance our understanding and appreciation of visual art forms.
Critical Thinking & Writing I
This year-long course is designed to improve critical thinking, reading, and writing skills. Students learn to understand the inherent argument and logic of a text, to think more systematically and critically, and to write more effectively by developing skills in the structure, grammar, and mechanics of writing. Students also work toward the more focused goal of situating design and art practices within larger intellectual, historical and philosophical frameworks by exploring the indissoluble connection between ideas and the products of human culture. This is achieved by introducing students to texts representing and describing various methodologies applicable to art and design, which can then be used to critique and analyze visual and material artifacts.
spring
Ways of Seeing: Drawing or Photography
In the fall semester, In-person Foundation students choose between Drawing I and Black & White Photography, and in the Spring semester, between Drawing II & Color Photography. Students in Pathways to Paris take two semesters of Drawing.
Introduction To Digital Media II
Students develop projects with a growing complexity, employing the computer less as a tool and more as a medium to be manipulated with greater confidence and control. The aim of the course is to create an awareness of the potential for digital techniques to solve visual and communication problems. Advanced skills are taught during the Semester that support and encourage an ambitious approach to the digital field. Students integrate digital and non-digital practice and explore mixing different softwares and media. All projects are contextualized with examples of work by contemporary artists and designers who are working with digital media. By the end of the course all students are confident to use digital tools as part of their creative work.
Materials & Dimensions II
Depending on the individual student’s interests they will enroll in either the 2D or 3D focus of Materials and Dimensions II:
Materials and Dimensions II: Printmaking
Building on the practical knowledge acquired in ‘Materials and Dimensions I’, students develop their ideas with more autonomy, through more personal projects, whilst being supported by the technical expertise of their instructor.
The course focuses on the relationship between design, process and final outcome in two dimensions through color. Students are taught to search for the most effective and pertinent way to communicate their ideas.
Through printmaking explorations students investigate image-making as a multi-layered creative process that enables them to transform and push their work forward in all areas of 2-dimensional image-making.
Materials and Dimensions II: Photography
Building on the practical knowledge acquired in ‘Materials and Dimensions I’, students develop their ideas with more autonomy, through more personal projects, whilst being supported by the technical expertise of their instructors.
The course focuses on the relationship between design, process and final outcome in two dimensions in photography. Students are taught to search for the most effective and pertinent way to communicate their ideas.
Explorations of analog and digital techniques encourage students to investigate image-making as a multi-layered creative process which will enable them to transform and push their work forward in all areas of 2-dimensional image-making.
Materials and Dimensions II: 3D
Building on the practical knowledge acquired in ‘Materials and Dimensions I’, develop their ideas with more autonomy whilst being supported by the technical expertise of their instructors.
With a specific focus on ‘The Body’ students are introduced to the many ways that the human form is central to art and design practices, whether it is in the design of clothes, products, buildings, or furniture. Students gain an understanding of the different possibilities for 3D Design (architecture, fashion, product design, furniture, fine art sculpture).
Projects are based on investigations into how the physical structure, dimensions, and the functions of the human body inspire and direct the design of forms. The influence of context and environment on the generation and development of ideas will be essential to the work. Students experiment with the potential and limitations of materials and different material combinations through a study of color.
Paris Yesterday and Tomorrow: history, art and urban culture
This course acquaints students with the neighborhoods, cultures, people, customs, institutions and organizations in Paris through a thematic approach based on three main modules: the city and its history; the literary and artistic representations of the city; the city, its citizens, and its future. Students will learn about key moments in French history, from the Romans on, via the Middle Ages, the Revolution, Haussmannization, and May 1968; they will be introduced to such themes as political migrations and colonialism, and will explore the city from a variety of points of views including literary and artistic exchanges, urban history, architecture, and ecology. Active exploration of the environment is strongly encouraged and learning is accomplished through a variety of means: site visits, the examination of texts and images, and first-hand encounters with museums, galleries, and libraries, as well as other art and design-related resources in the city.
Critical Thinking & Writing II
This year-long course is designed to improve critical thinking, reading, and writing skills. Students learn to understand the inherent argument and logic of a text, to think more systematically and critically, and to write more effectively by developing skills in the structure, grammar, and mechanics of writing. Students also work toward the more focused goal of situating design and art practices within larger intellectual, historical and philosophical frameworks by exploring the indissoluble connection between ideas and the products of human culture. This is achieved by introducing students to texts representing and describing various methodologies applicable to art and design, which can then be used to critique and analyze visual and material artifacts.
Sophomore Year
fall
Typography I
For decades, typography has been everywhere. As the art of visual language, typography is inherently communicative. Spoken language is ephemeral and intangible. When written, language is captured in a visual and spatial form, permanent and concrete. Students discover the domain of typography, gain familiarity with typographical language and terms, and learn to work with typefaces for printed matters and digital use. The course will recall the history of typography, from the tradition to contemporary uses and students are introduced to digital typesetting and page layout software.
Graphic Design I
This year-long course provides the fundamental skills of graphic design. Students will become familiar with the visual vocabulary that builds graphic design practice through practical projects. Exploring the basic elements (form, colour, type, image and their interconnections) and experimenting on different media and at different scales, the students will become familiar to the graphic design process and visual problem solving.
Editorial Design
This course will focus on different multi-page documents design, with a particular emphasis on magazines and books (in printed and digital form). Students will acquire the skills to create continuity and variety across a range of pages, present different kind of information in context or appropriate formats, and develop an identity through the pages.
Motion Graphics
This course develops the design methodology and technical skills to produce time-based linear narratives, animations, television graphics, opening credits, music videos, etc. The integration of sound and image is central to the development of motion graphics projects. After Effects and Final Cut are the principal programs taught in this class, along with the language and tools of motion graphics. Students learn to develop concepts and storyboards before commencing their final drafts.
Introduction To Visual Culture
This interdisciplinary course explores the rise of visual media, communication and information, within the context of a broad cultural shift away from the verbal and textual toward the visual, which has taken place since the advent of photography and cinema in the late 19th century, through the birth of television, to the present proliferation of digital media worldwide. We will consider the critical practices of looking, historicizing and interpreting that have accompanied this ‘visual turn’. Our readings will primarily address the theoretical foundations of the study of visual culture, which is understood to incorporate a variety of visual media and visual technologies: painting and sculpture, scientific imagery, material culture, the internet. If everything can be visual culture, what remains of traditional notions of medium specificity? What critical tools must be invented to analyze visual events from a visual cultural perspective? The relationship between the visual arts and visual media, especially with respect to the ‘global’ contemporary visual landscape, will be a focus of this course.
Liberal Studies Electives
You may select an elective from the many liberal studies course offerings. Go to the Liberal Studies department page for more information.
spring
Typography II
The second part of this yearlong course builds on the fundamental typographical forms and functions acquired during Typography 1. The course extends the vocabulary and approaches more complex problems related to typographic hierarchy, context, sequence and scale. A deeper exploration of typography behaves across media will be the opportunity for students to experiment on complex typographical systems, implementing applications in private or public space, environment, or digital time-based projects.
Graphic Design II
This year-long course provides the fundamental skills of graphic design. Students will become familiar with the visual vocabulary that builds graphic design practice through practical projects. Exploring the basic elements (form, colour, type, image and their interconnections) and experimenting on different media and at different scales, the students will become familiar to the graphic design process and visual problem solving.
Branding and Identity
The course study how brands establish their territory, how they grow, prosper, adapt, evolve, stumble and bounce back. Topics we will explore include: naming, logo design, corporate identity, advertising, marketing, merchandising. During the course, students will approach and discuss how to support the online presence of a brand. At the end of the course students will be able to analyse existing brands, evaluate their performance, and propose repositioning strategies that take into account the latest trends. PREREQUISITES: TYPE: CORE CONCEPT AND DESIGN OR EQUIVALENT |
UX Design
This studio course requires a basic knowledge of computer graphics and is centered on multimedia authoring software. The focus is authorship, in that more so than a formgiver, the designer acts as a content creator familiar with advanced concepts in interactive multimedia. Students are encouraged to conceptualise, design, prepare and program a multimedia project for eventual publication on the internet.
Introduction to Design Studies
Design pervades every aspect of the world around us, from how we communicate information and identity, to the tools and systems that help us navigate through physical and digital environments. As design has such a broad reach, it is important that we learn to think about its implications, and the way it is influenced by—and influences—our society. Design Studies is the academic discipline that examines design’s role in our culture, and in our experience of life. By looking at the processes and products of, as well as the discourse on design, we can better understand how the objects and systems we create can solve problems—or, in some cases, create them. The approach for this course will be multidisciplinary and thematic: each week, we will investigate a new topic, considering how design relates to broader issues such as the ethics of consumption, gender, identity, and sustainability, to name just a few. By looking at theoretical essays, historical and contemporary case studies and key texts about design, students will learn to be more critical about how design gets assimilated into our society, our visual culture and our daily experiences, ultimately bringing that understanding into their presentations of their studio practice and their own creativity.
Studio Elective
You may select an elective from the many course offerings in your department or in other departments with the approval of your department chair.
Liberal Studies Electives
You may select an elective from the many liberal studies course offerings. Go to the Liberal Studies department page for more information.
Junior Year
fall
Junior Studio I
Junior Studio 1 introduces Design Thinking and reinforces the Human Centred Design focus introduced in the Interactive Media Design course. A five week introduction to Design Thinking theories and methodology is then applied to preparatory exercises. In the second part of the course (10 weeks) students apply the acquired methodology to different fields of the Communication Design practice (from the design of interfaces and web design, to publications and editorial productions) approaching more complex and global projects. The aim of the course is to stress the importance of creating connections between fields that are traditionally considered separate or in opposition (i.e. interfaces versus publications), and train the ability of adapting a narrative, remaining faithful to the message conveyed, in spite of the medium change.
Prerequisites: Sophomore Core studios. Semester 1 or equivalent are prerequisite for semester 2.
Web Design
This junior laboratory/technology studio course focuses on the design process and technical background required for designing effective interactive experiences, with an emphasis on design methodology for evolving systems. HTML, JavaScript, CSS, Flash, and Web 2.0 CMS will be introduced along with specialized web design, imaging and animation tools. Students will design and mock up websites. The second semester delves further into notions of interface design, information architecture and web infrastructure.
Prerequisites: 2D Integrated Studio 1 + 2 or equivalent. Semester 1 or equivalent are prerequisite for semester 2.
Art History Elective
You may select an elective from the many liberal studies course offerings. Go to the Liberal Studies department page for more information.
Studio Electives
You may select an elective from the many course offerings in your department or in other departments with the approval of your department chair.
spring
Junior Studio II
The second part of the year long Junior Studio class (Junior Studio 2) focuses on scale and scale change. The students have acquired a new autonomy in handling complexity in Fall semester. During Spring semester they expand their abilities working on projects related to space: from private, through semi-public to public. They work from the very small to the very big (from business cards to wayfinding systems), studying global identities for museums, galleries or shops, integrating installations in the public space.
Prerequisites: Sophomore Core studios. Semester 1 or equivalent are prerequisite for semester 2.
Advanced Typography
The course provides a better understanding of typography anatomy through the design of typefaces. Students will work, during the first half of the course on preparatory exercises aimed to understand how a type-designer approaches the design of type families. During the second part of the course they will develop in autonomy a personal project and design a typeface that could be applied to magazine titles, graphics for exhibitions or visual identity.
Prerequisites: Type: Core Concept and Design or Equivalent; 2 credits (2.5 hours)
Art History Elective
You may select an elective from the many liberal studies course offerings. Go to the Liberal Studies department page for more information.
Studio Electives
You may select an elective from the many course offerings in your department or in other departments with the approval of your department chair.
Liberal Studies Electives
You may select an elective from the many liberal studies course offerings. Go to the Liberal Studies department page for more information.
Senior Year
fall
Senior Thesis I
Communication Design Seniors are expected to work on a self‐defined research paper in their particular area of interest. When choosing a topic, students should consider this project to be a stepping-stone toward their future endeavours. The course is divided in two main components: 3 weeks of introduction to research and methodology, followed by a 12 week seminar which comprises weekly presentations, discussions, and in-class activities.
Prerequisites: Advanced Studio – Semester 1 or equivalent are prerequisite for semester 2
Senior Studio I
This year long senior studio is aimed to develop strong professional skills and prepare students to enter the work market. The class is divided in two or three components per semester, taught by highly qualified professionals who teach shorter workshops on their areas of specialisation. The course focuses particularly on the portfolio development (digital and printed) and the self-identity project, in order to prepare students to present themselves to future potential employers.
Prerequisites: Collab 1 + 2. Semester 1 or equivalent are prerequisite for semester 2.
Studio Electives
You may select an elective from the many course offerings in your department or in other departments with the approval of your department chair.
Liberal Studies Electives
You may select an elective from the many liberal studies course offerings. Go to the Liberal Studies department page for more information.
spring
Senior Thesis II
Seniors work on a year long self-defined research and design project, culminating in a Senior Thesis Exhibition in the Spring. The senior thesis project demonstrates the student’s intellectual, technical and critical maturity through both a visual component and a written component. Senior thesis advisers – outside experts in the students’ chosen subjects – provide guidance and critical feedback.
Prerequisites: Advanced Studio – Semester 1 or equivalent are prerequisite for semester 2
Senior Studio II
This year long senior studio is aimed to develop strong professional skills and prepare students to enter the work market. The class is divided in two or three components per semester, taught by highly qualified professionals who teach shorter workshops on their areas of specialisation. The course focuses particularly on the portfolio development (digital and printed) and the self-identity project, in order to prepare students to present themselves to future potential employers.
Prerequisites: Collab 1 + 2 (FCMD 0300, FCMD 0301). Semester 1 or equivalent are prerequisite for semester 2.
Studio Electives
You may select an elective from the many course offerings in your department or in other departments with the approval of your department chair.
Liberal Studies Electives
You may select an elective from the many liberal studies course offerings. Go to the Liberal Studies department page for more information.
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