IIS University - International College for Girls - ICG Courses

Post Graduate Diploma in Communication Design

Course  Structure

Course Syllabus

Semester - I

VDC 151 Fundamentals of Communication Design

Unit I:

 Elements & Principles of Design

• Meaning of Design & Communication Design
• Elements of Design (Line, Shape, Size, Space, Colour, Texture, Value)
• Design Principles (Optical Centre, Balance, Eye Movement, Harmony, Proportion, Emphasis, Contrast etc.)

Unit II:

Typography and Page Layout

• Movable type, Type Body, Anatomy of Type,
• Type Terminology - Type Font, Type Series, Type family,
• Type Measurement,
• Classification of Type
• Basic principles of typography and its importance in design
• Layout, Pre layout planning.
• Layout procedure: Thumbnail sketches, Rough layout, Comprehensive layout, Page layout and Dummy layout.
• Components of layout (Border, Space, Text, Illustration, Logo etc.),

Unit III:

Introduction to advertising

• Definition and Characteristics of advertising
• Advertising as a powerful tool of communication.
• Roles and functions of advertising (Communication, Persuasion, Education, Expansion of market, Employment, Economic growth, Stimulation of competition, Raises standard of living, freedom to press etc.
• Elements of Advertising Communication
• Advertising as a marketing tool.
• The Marketing Communication Process
• Active participants in advertising(The advertiser, the advertising agency, audience, media and vendor)

Unit IV:

Tools of promotional mix

• Advertising, Publicity, Sales promotion, Personal Selling and Public Relation
• Differences between Advertising & Personal Selling,
• Advertising & Sales Promotion,
• Advertising & Publicity,
• Advertising & Public Relation.

Unit V:

The Economic, Social & Ethical aspects of advertising

• The economic aspects of advertising(Effects on consumer choices, on competition, on Distribution cost, on Production cost
• The social and ethical aspects of advertising (Advertising and cultural/Moral values, Advertising as untruthful or deceptive, Advertising and children, Advertising encourages materialism, Advertisement and women etc.

Practical

VDC 152 Basic Design & Techniques

• Study of interrelation of negative-positive space, line and exercises with basic shaps and texture in relation to space.
• Object Rendering in different colour techniques: Pencil colour, Charcoal, Water Colour, Oil Pastels, Pen & Ink, Dry Pastels, Poster colour.
• Photo Evaluation (conversion by dots, lines) in B/W

Submission: Minimum 7 exercises

VDC 153  Communication skills

• Introduction to Typography & Graphic Design elements & their use in communication process.
• Students will create signs, symbols, logo, logotype etc. & Use them in stationery, Stickers, Tags,
• Shopping Bags, and Posters etc. Students first prepare Comprehensive layouts on paper in colour and then create the selected ideas through computer graphics by using Corel Draw.

Exercise:

• Pictorial Symbols (For Hotels, Schools, Export Houses etc.)
• Logo & Logotype
• Tags
• Stationery
• Packaging (Boxes or Shopping Bags)
• Posters (Social)

Submission: Minimum 10 exercises

VDC 154  Advertising Design

Redesigning of existing press and magazine ads to understand the elements of an ad and experiment with layout. Students will learn to communicate messages through print media.

• Press ads : 2
• Magazine ads : 2

Submission: Min. 3 assignments

Semester - II

VDC 251  Advertising Theory

Unit I

Types of advertising

To study the various kinds of advertising depending upon –

• Area Coverage: Local, Regional, National and International.
• Audience: Consumer, Industrial, Trade and Professional.
• Functions: Direct and Indirect advertising, Action advertising, primary and Selective advertising.
• Advertising stages: Pioneering, Competitive and Retentive.

Unit II

Advertising Campaign Planning

• Advertising campaign & it’s planning
• Factors influencing the planning of an ad campaign.
• Objectives, Principles and Major decisions in campaign planning.
• Importance of unity and continuity
• Significance of Colour in design
• Importance of Pictures / Illustration

Unit III

Advertising Creative Strategy

• Situation analysis
• Key planning decisions :
  •  Advertising Objectives,
  • Target Audience,
  • Competitive Product Advertising,
  • Product Image And Personality, Product Positioning
• Selling Premises, Sales Logic
• Creativity, USP
• The Big Idea
• Budgeting

Unit IV: Advertising Message Strategy

• Copy,
• Main steps in copy development,
• Essentials of good copy,
• Functions of copy and
• Types of copy

Unit V: Media Planning and Strategy

• The Target audience
• Media Objectives (Reach, frequency, continuity etc.)
• Media categories and vehicles
  • Print Media : Newspaper and Magazine
  • Support media : Out of home media
  • Broadcast media : Television and Radio
  • Other media: POP, Direct Marketing, Trade Shows etc.
• Media scheduling
• Advertising Agency

Practical

VDC 252  Illustration

• Typographical Illustration
• Editorial Illustration: (Illustrations for Article/ Story/ Poem/ Catalog/ Menu Card etc.)
• Advertising Illustration (Product Advertising & Social Advertising)

Submission: Minimum 4 exercises

VDC 253 Campaign Design

Introduction to Campaign & its various elements for communication process. Students will create campaigns on innovative themes in relevant media. Students should work on different ideas & approaches. Selected idea will execute in the complete campaign with the help of computer graphics.

Exercise:

• One major Product Campaign with brief report

Submission: 1 Campaign

VDC 254   Project & Practical Training

This paper is divided in to two parts. Each part carries 50 marks.

• Project work which shall be given by the faculty to be completed and submitted by the student within 15 days.
• Students shall be required to undergo two weeks practical training with a reputed Ad Agency, Graphic Designer, media or marketing organizations. The training is an opportunity to gain work experience in an area of concentration or interest and it is mandatory for which certificate signed by the owner/CEO of the ad agency shall have to be produced by the student at the end of second semester.