Course

Document Design and Production II

Important Notice

This course is not active. Please contact Department Chair for more information.

Faculty
Language, Literature & Performing Arts
Department
Print Futures
Course Code
PRFU 2450
Credits
3.00
Semester Length
15 weeks
Max Class Size
30
Method(s) Of Instruction
Lecture
Lab
Typically Offered
To be determined

Overview

Course Description
This course provides an opportunity to produce a series of publications suitable for portfolio inclusion. Students will use industry-standard page-layout and graphics software. They will gain a thorough grounding in print production technology and procedures, including how to communicate with other print professionals, estimate costs, and deal with digital output.
Course Content
  1. Print Coordination
    Successful students will:
    • examine the stages of preparing a publication for digital output to service bureaus and learn how to coordinate a project through print production, including full-colour separation, spot-colour separation, halftone screens, bleeds, overlays and complex registration, digital and printers’ proofs
    • analyze various paper weights, styles and sizes
    • examine spot and process colour systems
    • analyze the process of printing documents on a variety of presses, including web and four-colour presses
    • obtain estimates on costs involved in a variety of print jobs
    • assess publications at the blueline (or comparable) stage for errors, additions, omissions, etc.
    • assess print proofs for colour, errors, omissions, corrections
    • go to a professional print shop to view specific production issues, including colour balance, registration, plate imperfections, etc.
  2. Design
    Successful students will:
    • assess the suitability of design techniques for a variety of publications
    • investigate rates of and accessibility to professional designers
    • analyze design needs of various clients and organizations
    • assess the functionality of software for drawing, graphics and presentation
    • prepare design elements, text specifications, and graphics in a graphics software program for import into page-makeup software
  3. Page Makeup
    Successful students will:
    • examine and use design techniques for page balance and presentation effectiveness
    • examine and use advanced techniques in page-makeup software, including
      • graphics integration and manipulation
      • creating large initial letters
      • placing pull quotes
      • determining justified and unjustified text spacing
      • kerning
      • using non-standard line spacing
      • spacing headlines
      • wrapping text around even and uneven shapes
      • downloading fonts to a printer
      • print to file
      • print thumbnails, crop marks, and reductions
      • produce forms
      • design templates
Learning Activities

The course will use a combination of lecture, discussion, hands-on, and field-trip experiences.

Means of Assessment

Students are expected to be self-motivated and to demonstrate professionalism, which includes active participation, good attendance, punctuality, effective collaboration, ability to meet deadlines, presentation skills, and accurate self-evaluation.

Evaluation will be based on this general format:

Assignments (4 to 6) 70%
Lab exercises 5%
Midterm exam 15%
Professionalism (as defined) 10%
  100%
Learning Outcomes

Students prepare a series of assignments suitable for inclusion in a portfolio. They will develop advanced skills with industry-standard page-layout and graphics software programs, working with material supplied by the instructor, from external sources, or from other Print Futures courses. They will gain a thorough grounding in print production technology and procedures, including how to communicate with other print professionals, estimate costs, and deal with digital output.

Textbook Materials

Texts may include:

  • Weinmann, Elaine. QuarkXPress 4 for Windows: Visual QuickStart Guide. Peachpit Press, 1998.

Software may include:

  • QuarkXPress
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe Freehand

Requisites

Prerequisites

PRFU 1350 or permission of the coordinator

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer Details for PRFU 2450
There are no applicable transfer credits for this course.

Course Offerings

Winter 2025