Business Marketing Design (240 hours)

Course Overview/Description

The Business Marketing Design program focuses on developing the visual identity, advertising, and marketing design skills required for a corporate or small business environment.

Students learn professional applications for Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator or equivalent digital imaging and vector drawing tools. Course projects include marketing concept development, critique, retouching, compositing, illustration, print and Web advertising, identity design, direct mail, marketing communication, company branding, and business startup scenarios.

This program is instructor-led, project-based, and completed at your own pace. Expert Faculty members provide critique and feedback on projects within 1-2 business days, helping you build a design portfolio for prospective employers.

Course Outline

This program consists of ten courses:

• Intro to Marketing: This is a three-lesson introductory course for designers who want to understand basic marketing principles and strategies. In each lesson, you'll learn tried-and-true marketing concepts and explore how they affect the design process. You'll gain a solid grasp of the marketing process, learn key terms and concepts that every marketer uses, and pick up smart questions to ask in client meetings.
  
  
• Photoshop basics: Get a thorough grounding in Adobe Photoshop, the premiere digital imaging program for graphic designers. Hands-on projects show how to select, enhance, distort, color, scale, and manipulate scanned images and artworks-or create them from scratch. Every designer must tame this creative powerhouse of a program.
  
  
• Illustrator basics: Build a working knowledge of Adobe Illustrator, the graphic designer's vector program of choice. Course projects explore selection tools, drawing tools, layers, the pen tool, transformations/ distortions, type tools, and modifying paths and shapes. Tapping the power of vector software allows you to produce detailed and scalable art for almost any application.
  
  
• Color theory: Focus on developing appropriate color systems for graphic design projects. Course projects explore the principles, terminology, and applications of color theory, with an emphasis on manipulating color. A working knowledge of the expression and perception of color, and color interaction, lends credibility and sophistication to a designer's work.
  
  
• Fundamentals of Typography: Typography is what sets designers apart from other artists. In visual communication, typography must be integrated (every last loop, bowl, and descender) into a total design. In this 3-lesson course, you'll explore the anatomy of the letterform. Through interactive lectures and hands-on exercises, you'll learn how to classify typefaces and use them creatively. Understanding the fundamentals of typography will give your work power, eloquence, and beauty.
  
  
• Design and Composition: Composition, literally the assembly or construction of elements, is the artful arrangement that guides the viewer's eye and unifies your work. In this 3-lesson hands-on course, you'll develop your compositional skills by analyzing everything from Grand Masters to Madison Avenue ads to tubes of toothpaste. Through a series of artistic workouts, you'll learn the principles of effective composition, building to a Final Project where you bring Mozart to the masses. Your designs may never be the same!
  
  
• Advertising Design: In this 6-lesson course, you'll learn the principles of the advertising design from both a creative and a business perspective. Case studies from print, Web, and TV showcase advertising concepts at work: persuasion, color psychology and composition, copywriting and typography, and brand communication. Class projects include ads for newspapers, magazines, subways, and transit/outdoor applications, and a final project in which you create an entire ad campaign. Use this course to build your portfolio and address concepts that every ad designer should know.
  
  
• Branding and Identity: Did you ever wonder how giant corporations such as CBS, BMW, and Sony establish their corporate images? And how important these images are in promoting their respective franchises? You'll discover the answers in this course. Explore through case studies the essential skills required to design logos, marketing materials, and advertising programs to establish and promote a corporate identity. You'll be designing or redesigning corporate identities for both existing companies and newly established businesses.
  
  
• Internet Marketing: Taking a business online? Building a commercial Web site for yourself or a client is just the start. To grow any business on the Internet, you'll need to market strategically to your customers, using a range for tools from content sharing to email marketing, search engine optimization, co-branding, ad buys, and more, to reach your target audience. In this 6-lesson course, you'll learn practical skills for growing your business on the Web. Studying with a professional Internet marketing consultant, you'll learn how develop an entire marketing plan for your online business. Course projects will include target audience analysis, developing a site plan, creating a content development strategy, email marketing campaigns, search engine optimization, co-branding and community strategy, ad buys, sales/lead conversion, and using site metrics. Whether you're looking to build a new business online or simply get better results from your existing Web site, this course will give you systematic strategies you can use right away. Web designers and marketing professionals will both benefit from this intensive course.
  
  
• Graphic Design Business: You've spent years building a portfolio brimming with beautiful work; your graphics groove, your logos lift, and your posters pop. Now the bad news. All the talent in the world is worthless (or, worse, low paid) unless you know how to set up your business and position yourself for successful career. In Graphic Design Business, you'll learn the essentials of setting up and managing your graphic design business. We'll guide you through everything from how to present your portfolio, find work, and market yourself, to the more daunting tasks of registering a company name, establishing an accounting system, and setting up your own corporation (we're not kidding). Whether you're going freelance, setting up your own shop, or just starting out with a big company, this course will set your career on the right track. Course projects are hands-on: you'll create a business plan, respond to an RFP (request for proposal), test-drive accounting software, create a budget, and customize your own business forms. When your first customer walks through the door, you'll be ready!

Prerequisites/Audience

There are no specific prerequisite skills for this program. Each course builds on the skills and knowledge gained from the previous course. Students will begin with the Introduction course and work their way through the program.

The intended audience for this program is students seeking a thorough digital arts education.

PC Requirements/Materials Included

This course is compatible with Windows Vista Operating System.

This program can be accessed and completed using either PC or Macintosh computers. You'll need an Internet connection of 28Kpbs or higher, and a Web browser (Internet Explorer 4.0 or Netscape 4.0 or higher). We do not recommend AOL or Netscape 6 browsers.

Students will be required to provide their own software (Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator) for each of the courses. Photoshop and Illustrator CS3 are preferred, but CS2 and CS are also supported. There are no required textbooks.

Instructor Bio

These and other highly qualified instructors will provide one-on-one feedback and instruction via email to all enrollees.

Andrew Brenits is the principal of Brenits Graphic Design, a Jersey City-based design studio offering creative and strategic design solutions. Andy has over 10 years experience in graphic design, including corporate identity, branding, web design, print design, and even tee shirts and apparel graphics. He began his career working at small studios in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, and quickly moved on to such large corporations as the National Football League, Banana Republic, and The Gap. Andy holds a Masters degree in Design Management from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, and a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts and Graphic Design from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Donald Gambino is a computer artist, consultant, educator, and trainer, since 1983, teaching students of all levels and abilities. Formerly the Chairperson of the Computer Art Department at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, he has taught innovative computer art courses for over 12 years, and created the BFA program in Computer Art.

Marni Sandler is the co-founder of Kuma Digital, an Interactive Design Boutique in New York City. Prior to founding Kuma Digital, she honed her craft at organizations such as Xceed, i-traffic and Rhizome. She has worked with clients ranging from Kenneth Cole to Disney. Marni received her undergraduate degree in film from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and is currently finishing up her Master's Degree Thesis in 'Cognitive Development and Visual Design' at the New School University's Media Studies department.

Michael Hamm is a freelance designer and web developer with more than 8 years of experience in the field of interactive design. Based in Houston, Texas, Michael previously worked for JPMorgan Chase as an interactive designer.

Michael's work has been published in various Web design books and magazines. In addition, he has served as technical editor on severaldesign books published by Friends of Ed. Michael is an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) in Adobe Illustrator and he is the founder, designer, programmer, and writer of Ergodraw.com, a Web site that grew from his passion for the illustration software and all things vector.

Piper Nilsson is a graphic designer and information architect. In her four-year career for a leading Web design agency, she blueprinted sites for such global clients as MetLife, Pepsi, ETS, and Citibank. Her current projects include building an e-learning prototype for children with learning disabilities and teaching technology in New York City public schools. She received a degree in graphic design from Pratt Institute.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How do I register?
Click on the register button at the top of the page and follow the directions. It is important that you type all your information in the boxes, then print it out to sign.  Payment and sending instructions are in the bottom right corner of the form.

2. How much do the courses cost?
The fee is in the pink box at the top of the page.

3. Can I register for courses if I live outside the United States?
Yes you can!

4. Do I ever have go to the school I register with?
All of our courses are delivered entirely online, so you never have to go to a class or travel to the school.

5. How long does it take to complete a course?
All of our courses are self-paced and open enrollment. You can start and finish the course at your own pace. When you register for a course, you are given 180 days (6 months) to complete the course. If you need more time, extensions are available.

6. Do I have to buy additional materials?
All materials are included. The cost of materials is covered by your tuition. GES ships all materials via UPS ground service upon registration.

7. Can I get financial aid?
GES courses are non-credit courses, so they do not qualify for federal aid. In some states, vocational rehab or workforce development boards will pay for qualified students to take our courses.

• GES provides a loan opportunity for students. Simply go to www.collegeloanapplication.com to apply for an easier qualifying loan at a slightly higher rate. Click here for more information on this loan program.

8. What happens when I complete the course?
Upon successful completion of the course, you will be awarded a certificate of completion from the school with which you registered. You must obtain a final passing grade of 70% or greater to be awarded a certificate.

9. Am I guaranteed a job?
GES courses will provide you with the skills you need to obtain an entry-level position in most cases. We do not provide direct job placement services, but our instructors will help you build your resume and are available to give advice on finding your first job. Instructors will also be available to use as a professional reference upon completion of the course. Potential students should always do research on the job market in their area before registering.

10. Who will be my instructor?
Instant Mentoring enables 24x7 access to certified instructors and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). Instructors are Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs), all possessing instructional backgrounds. In addition to providing content expertise, our Mentors facilitate interaction and enhance the overall learning experience.

11. What do I have to have in order to take an online course, and what are the system requirements?
In order to take our online courses, you must have access to a computer and the Internet (a normal dial-up connection is fine). You can access the course contents from any Web-enabled computer. There are no necessary plug-ins. You do not have to use the same computer to log-in to the course every time. We recommend that you have a word-processing program (Microsoft Word is best) and the latest version of Internet Explorer.

12. Can I use a Mac or an iMac?
This program can be accessed and completed using either PC (IBM Compatible) or Apple (Macintosh) computers.

13. How can I get more information on the course?
All of the information we have is available online under our course catalog (www.gatlineducation.com). If you have questions that are not answered online, please feel free to email us at courseinfo@gatlineducation.com or call 817-870-2870. We will answer your questions promptly.

14. How many hours per week should I spend studying?

As a general rule, we suggest a minimum of between five and ten hours per week. However, this will vary from individual to individual. If you are just getting started and have little to no experience, certainly try to put in as much time as you can and try to maintain a persistent schedule. Ultimately each student will find a pace that is comfortable for them.