Introduction to visual presentation principles, theory and application. Introduction to layout principles and application of grids, visual hierarchy, colour theory and modes, colour wheel, colour psychology, material colour, environmental colour, digital colour etc., visual organisation, focus and balance. Introduction to type, font, paragraphs and page layout. Introduction to graphic presentation styles and suitability for print and digital media. Introduction to file types and suitability for different applications including image size and file size reduction for ‘packaging design work’ for sharing across digital and creative platforms.

Introduction to digital scanning equipment and software. Introduce image / scan resolution and colour mode. Introduce scanning procedures and set up work flows for consistent capture across documents. Introduce export file formats and their suitability for print and digital applications. Skills will be developed through ongoing practice and exercises

Introduction to digital photography and equipment. Introduce studio photography procedures, set up and workflows. Introduce lighting theory, depth of field, staging, shooting and composition. Introduce backdrops and finding solutions to working with the different approaches and getting the best results to document design reference, process, and models. Skills will be developed through ongoing practice and exercises

Introduction to Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator software for image manipulation and graphical layout and production. Adobe Photoshop: Introduction to the work environment, workflow, navigation and layers. Introduction of basic Photoshop manipulation processes including selecting, cutting / clipping / cropping, copying, scaling, skewing and distorting. Introduction to document layout setup and alignment of content using grids, guides and rulers. Introduction of post digital capture enhancement and presentation of generated images using filters, masks and adjustment levels for non-destructive image manipulation. Adobe Illustrator: Introduction to the environment, workflow, navigation and layers. Introduction to basic Illustrator graphic building processes including using shape, line drawing, construction and trace tools and understanding stroke, object and paths. Introduction to manipulation tools such as anchor points and selection tools. Introduction to colour pallet / swatches and modes, gradients and blends. Introduction to type and type effects and manipulations including text size and format line spacing and kerning type fill and path. Introduction to importing and working with images from Photoshop for presentation development. Skills will be developed through ongoing practice and exercises

Design Studio – a dedicated space designed to allow for studio based learning. This space is specific to a particular learning group. While used to deliver studio based education the space is available to be used outside the time frame of the working day. It provides a safe learner driven, peer-reviewed environment, supported on a one-to-one basis. It supports the synthesis of parallel concurrent modular knowledge, skills and competency with prior learning & personal aesthetic judgement, to resolve specific design research question/s.

Learner requires access to studio and dedicated lab computers facilities. There should be access to printing and plotting facilities in order to complete projects. The studio must also be fitted with good quality projector, document visualiser and sound equipment for delivery of hybrid approaches. The computers should be a high specification capable of running creative design software.

Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, including Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign etc.