Preamble
- Course Title: The Business of Web and Multimedia Design
- Professor: Roy Vanegas
- Location: 27 W 23rd St, Rm 505
- Dates: 31 January 2018 – 16 May 2018
- Days: Wednesdays
- Time: 6:15 PM – 9:15 PM
Description
The goal of this course is to prepare graduate students for a career in design, whether for print or web. This course’s emphasis is on clarifying, articulating, and identifying each student’s career goals through exercises, research, and discussion. These concepts will be elucidated through student activities, such as creating a business and audience profile, producing an identity, developing marketing materials, and planning your résumé and/or portfolio. You will acquire a basic understanding of the requirements for building a small design business, possibly including the completion of an application for registering your business name and/or registering a web domain.
You will participate in discussions and act as members of a design team, contributing to and learning from critiques of your work and the work of your peers. You will learn to articulate your interests, personal style, and design and technical skills. Basic job-hunting techniques will be covered — with an emphasis on locating design jobs — including interviewing, networking, approaching and working with clients, estimating projects, insurance, copyright protection and more.
Topics Covered
- Overview of the Industry
- Trends
- Companies at the Forefront
- The Business
- Copyright
- Traditional
- Creative Commons
- Tax Basics
- Insurance
- Marketing
- Copyright
- Marketing
- Your Business
- Yourself
- Generalist
- Specialist
- Networking
- Web Communities
- Meetups
- Listservs/Groups
- Design Organization Chapters
- Web Communities
- Freelancing
- Starting a Freelance Design Business
- Feast or Famine: Preparing for Unemployment
- Managing Clients, Employers, and Yourself
- Setting Up and Starting Your Own Studio
- Business and Client Profiles
- Résumés and Portfolios for Designers and Portfolios for Designers
- Generating Portfolio Projects
- Informational Interviews (group projects)
- Finding Work
- Showing Your Work
- In-House Design Departments
- Design Studios
- Project Management
- Branding
- Your Business Name and Identity
- Logo
- Invoice Creation
- Website Design to Showcase Your Work
- Portfolio
- Boosting it with Internships
- Boosting it with Volunteering
Prerequisite
None.
Objectives
- Understand the web and interactive design industry
- Understand the role of the designer within the community and the responsibility that lies therein
- Utilize the findings of the class to support and guide career goals, skills, strengths and weaknesses
- Develop an online portfolio
- Demonstrate excellence in presentation of a finished portfolio for use in obtaining a job
- Learn the art of creating a personal brand and online identity
- Understand how to present yourself to the industry and market your skills
Schedule
- Where: 27 W 23rd St, Rm 505
- Day: Wednesday
- Dates: 31 January 2018 – 16 May 2018
- Time: 6:15 PM – 9:15 PM
Important Dates
- No Class: Wednesday, 28 February 2018
- No Class: Wednesday, 28 March 2018
- No Class: Wednesday, 4 April 2018
- Class 4 (21 February 2018): Midterm project presentations
- Class 8 (11 April 2018): Quiz 1
- Class 10 (25 April 2018): Quiz 2
- Class 13 (16 May 2018): Final project presentations
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Textbooks
The Principles of Successful Freelancing
Author: Miles Burke
ISBN 13: 9780980455243
The first graphical web browser was released in 1993. Miles Burke began web-based freelancing a year later. He discusses his first hand experience in the freelance world with tips and advice on how to survive as a freelancer.
Download the templates from The Principles of Successful Freelancing.
Grading Guidelines
Your grade for this course will be computed on the basis of two quizzes and two presentations. Each quiz is worth 20 points of your grade (20 × 2 = 40) and each presentation will be worth 30 points (30 × 2 = 60). Grades will not be curved. Your final letter grade is converted from a numerical grade based on the following table.
Numerical Range | Grade |
---|---|
97 – 100 | A+ |
93 – 96 | A |
90 – 92 | A- |
87 – 89 | B+ |
83 – 86 | B |
80 – 82 | B- |
77 – 79 | C+ |
73 – 76 | C |
70 – 72 | C- |
68 – 69 | D+ |
66 – 67 | D |
65 | D- |
Below 65 | F |
The following is quoted verbatim from the college’s policy on grading.
Grades will be based primarily on exams, exercises and assignments, review of independent projects, attendance and class participation.
Completed projects will be graded using the following criteria: comprehension of the material, technical proficiency in using tools and techniques, project planning, design concept, executions, quality control, and a demonstration of aeasthetic development. Each project deadline must be respected.
All projects will be turned in through Blackboard unless otherwise notified by the instructor. At the end of the course, all assignments will be assembled and turned into the instructor on a CD.
Attendance Policy
Students are expected to maintain good attendance throughout the course. Three absences will automatically lower the student grade by one point and each additional absence will lower the grade by an additional point. Lack of attendance may result in a failing grade. The professor will contact students who miss more than two classes. (Special arrangements must be requested in writing and signed by the professor.)
Make-Up Policy
Projects and homework must be turned in through Blackboard on time, otherwise the grade will be lowered or no credit will be given for the assignments. Class exercises must be done during class.
Missed Classes
You are responsible for the acitvities of each class period. If you anticipate a scheduling conflict, feel free to submit projects early. If you cannot take an exam on the scheduled day, contact the professor ahead of time to schedule a makeup exam. Students who miss classes must get necessary material from the instructor.
Academic Dishonesy
Plagiarism and cheating are serious offenses and may be punished by failure on exam, paper, or project; or failure in the course. For more information, refer to the “Academic Dishonesty” policy in the university handout.
Resources
School-related Links
- Current Students
- http://gst.touro.edu/thriving-at-gst/current-students.php
- The Master of Arts in Web & Multimedia Design Program
- http://gst.touro.edu/academics/web-and-multimedia-design.php
Trade Organizations
- Graphics Artists Guild
- http://www.graphicartistsguild.org/
- American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA)
- http://www.aiga.org
- Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH) and Interactive Techniques
- http://www.siggraph.org/
- Society of Illustrators
- http://www.societyillustrators.org/
- Leonardo: Art, Science, and Technology
- http://www.leonardo.info/
- International Association of Printing House Craftsmen (IAPHC)
- http://www.iaphc.org/
- The Society of Publication Designers
- http://www.spd.org/
- International Institute for Information Design
- http://www.iiid.net
Small Business Resources
- Department of State, New York, Filing for a Certificate of Assumed Name
- http://www.dos.ny.gov/corps/buscorp.html#assume
- Empire State Development’s Division for Small Business
- http://www.esd.ny.gov/SmallBusiness.html
- LegalZoom: Online Legal Document Services
- http://www.legalzoom.com/
Printers
- Modern Postcard
- http://www.modernpostcard.com/
- Overnight Prints
- http://www.overnightprints.com/
- Bargain Printing
- http://www.bargainprinting.com/
- 48 Hour Print
- www.48hourprint.com/
Jobs
- Aquent (worldwide freelance and permanent employment agency)
- http://www.aquent.com
- Printjobs.com (placement and recruiting firm)
- http://www.printjobs.com
- Simply Hired
- http://www.simplyhired.com/
Sellers of Portfolios and Presentation Cases
- AI Friedman
- http://www.aifriedman.com/
- Dick Blick Art Materials (in NOHO)
- http://www.dickblick.com/stores/newyork/newyork/
- Get Smart Products
- http://www.pfile.com
- Master Graphics
- http://www.mastergraphics.com/
- Pearl Paint
- http://www.pearlpaint.com/shop-Portfolios_0_3999.html
- Portfolios and Art Cases
- http://www.portfolios-and-art-cases.com
- Sam FLAX New York
- http://www.samflaxny.com/
- Utrecht Art & Drafting Supply
- http://www.utrechtart.com/
Contact
Unless it’s an emergency, I don’t use email to interact with students. If you have questions, see me in person, before or after class. If you must do email and have patience waiting for a response, I may be contacted on roy period vanegas at touro period edu.