vcc.ca
VCDP 1111: Technical Foundation
Effective date
September 2027
Department
Visual Comm Design Diploma
School
Trades, Technology and Design
Description
Technical awareness and understanding is an essential foundation to being a responsible and astute graphic designer. This course focuses on the technical aspects of healthy and sustainable desktop digital production techniques. Students are introduced to the Adobe Creative Cloud environment, including libraries, font management systems, and collaborative professional tools. Emphasis is placed on ethical sourcing, organization, and management of digital assets for professional design use.
Through a series of hands-on projects, students will develop practical skills in Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator—creating, modifying, and transforming design elements for use across multiple media. In addition, students are encouraged to adopt a self-directed learning approach, developing strategies to keep pace with evolving design technologies and software updates.
Credits
3.0
Year of study
1st Year Post-secondary
Prerequisites
None
Corequisites
None
Course Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Apply industry standard software practices, project work-flows and self-directed learning strategies
- Identify the different colour systems of RGB and CMYK and their use
- Explain the impact of different image types on resolution, quality, and file size
- Create files for digital, press, and web output and practice ethical digital asset procurement and management
- Identify elements of the Illustrator user interface and demonstrate their functions
- Create, modify and transform objects through the use of drawing tools in Illustrator
Prior Learning Assessment & Recognition (PLAR)
1. Interview with department to discuss previous experience
2. A portfolio assessment of previously completed related work OR
3. The demonstration of skills via the successful completion of 1-4 related projects/assignments similar to those completed in the course, chosen at the discretion of the department
2. A portfolio assessment of previously completed related work OR
3. The demonstration of skills via the successful completion of 1-4 related projects/assignments similar to those completed in the course, chosen at the discretion of the department
Hours
Lecture, Online, Seminar, Tutorial: 42
Practicum, Self-Paced, Individual Learning: 12
Total Hours: 54
Practicum, Self-Paced, Individual Learning: 12
Total Hours: 54
Instructional Strategies
A combination of lecture, demonstration, production simulations, problem solving, practical labs and and reflective discussion will be used throughout this course.
Grading System
Letter Grade (A-F)
Passing grade
C
Evaluation Plan
|
Type |
Percentage |
Assessment activity |
|
Project |
30 |
Final project |
|
Assignments |
30 |
Assignments |
|
Lab Work |
30 |
May include in-class exercises, assignments, quizzes/tests, and work-in-progress |
|
Participation |
10 |
Participation and professionalism |
Course topics
- Industry standard softwares (Adobe CC & Mac OS), practices, and project workflows, engage in self-directed learning
- Colour systems
- Font file formats and font management systems
- Image types, resolution, and file size, ethical digital asset procurement and management
- Digital press and web output
- Introduction to Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Acrobat
- Introduction to AI-powered design tools and workflows
Notes:
- Course contents and descriptions, offerings and schedules are subject to change without notice.
- Students are required to follow all College policies including ones that govern their educational experience at VCC. Policies are available on the VCC website at:
https://www.vcc.ca/about/governance--policies/policies/. - To find out if there are existing transfer agreements for this course, visit the BC Transfer Guide at https://www.bctransferguide.ca.