Two-dimensional design foundation courses guide students to work with abstraction and non-representational imagery. The Alphabet City exercise pushes them beyond typefaces on screen to notice engaging forms in everyday surroundings while reinforcing standard workflows in Adobe CC applications.

Students redesign the cover of a book from a genre that interests them. This could be a book they’ve read or one they plan to read in the future.

In a portfolio preparation course like this one, students revisit projects from previous classes that may already be portfolio-ready or need further refinement. Through critique, discussion, and multiple iterations, they strengthen both concept and execution. These before-and-after film poster examples show how the work evolves through this iterative process.

As a first-generation family member, I learned to navigate foreign transportation hubs at a young age. We relied on visual communication through signs and symbols to understand spoken and unspoken messages. I have always been fascinated by how people can move through an unfamiliar airport, locate food, restrooms, and luggage with minimal guidance and limited knowledge of the destination’s language.

Students select one design visionary from a supplied list and develop an informational booklet. The printed “highlight reel” they produce analyzes their chosen designer’s thinking and aesthetic, and translates their creative sensibility into clear visual and typographic communication.

Micro Typography explores the details of individual letterforms. Students study how letters are designed and how words are formed through optical spacing. They learn about type anatomy, spacing, line length, line height, legibility, typeface selection, and historical context.