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Graphic Design

Coordinator: Chung Chak

The BFA program in Graphic Design approaches the profession as an interdisciplinary, cross-media field that is rooted in the fine arts. Students learn to give form and expression to the content of our culture and become creators and interpreters of the environment in which we live. They must be able to perceive and adapt to changing cultural demands and to the changing design field. As the design field continues to expand into new media and new environments, designers are confronted with exciting intellectual and technological challenges. Students must be prepared to meet these new challenges, possess the educational background to develop original ideas and solve a wide range of design problems.

After completing the Graphic Design Major, students will be able to demonstrate knowledge and skills in the following areas: creative problem solving, use of technology and relevant traditional Graphic Design skills, understanding of history and contemporary issues in design, visual and critical research, writing and communication skills, and design practice. During the students' capstone experience, Senior Research and Seminar, students will focus on advancing their personal vision through Design Research, writing, and innovative design projects. They will develop an original body of work that will culminate in a Portfolio and Portfolio Review, a presentation of students' Portfolios to the public and the Graphic Design Community.

Download a comprehensive undergraduate bulletin.

Fine Arts Recommended Program of Study

Fall Freshman

• AFA 111 Drawing I
  The purpose of the course is to cultivate the student's ability to express ideas visually and to develop confidence in drawing a variety of subjects with diverse materials. Exercises cultivate skill in determining composition, rendering geometric shapes, depicting perspective and three dimensional illusion, fashioning light, shade, proportion, scale, surface and textures as well as arranging still life composition. Field trip(s) required.
• AFA 113 Color Theory/2D Design
  TThis course provides essential concepts and skills necessary to function as a visual artist (graphic designer, digital artist or traditional fine artist). Strong emphasis is placed on the visual component of art; how to apply the elements of art (line, shape, color, texture and space) in order to accomplish one's subjective goal. Color, as a visual element, is singled out in this course because of its complexity, importance in our visual environment, and the limited knowledge entering students have regarding the subject.
• AFA 118 3D Design
  This course focuses on projects that explore the fundamentals of form and space and investigates the proper materials, structure, mass, scale, light and motion. Class discussions introduce a variety of conceptual and material processes that generate production. Intention, form, materiality and context are the subject of general class discussion. Techniques and approaches may include the creation of objects informed by abstract ideas, performance involving 3D objects, and an introduction to 3D installations.
• FSP Freshman Seminar
  It is recommended that Art Majors not select FSPs with 101, 102, 103, or 104 numbers. Please review instructions for selecting a FSP at http://fsp.pages.tcnj.edu/.

Spring Freshman

• AFA 112 Conceptual Art
  Conceptual Studio initiates investigation into current forms of artistic production. At the heart of Conceptual Art lies the question "What is Art?" Conceptual Art challenges the traditional status of the art object as product and refocuses artistic creativity in the process of art making, the ideas invoked and the meaning of cultural production. Among the approaches to art making that will be researched and put into practice will be the readymade, public intervention, performance and ephemeral works, language and the use of signifiers.
• ADA 180 Digital Arts: Imaging I
  This course is a guided studio experience in digital art with emphasis on 2D digital imaging. Investigations include the creative possibilities of graphics and contemporary background of computers and digital arts. Students will use computer imaging and illustration to convey artistic concepts and personal observations pertaining to defined themes. Prior experience with the computer is not required. Extra lab hours outside of class meeting times will be required to complete assignments.
AGD 160 Intro to Graphic Design
This course is an introduction to the discipline of graphic communication, including conceptual thinking, letterform design, layout and design techniques. Students will be introduced to design history and critical issues.
• WRI 102 Academic Writing (if required) or Liberal Learning

Fall Sophomore

• AGD 276 Computers for Designers
This course builds on the skills learned in ADA 180 Digital Arts I and AGD 160 GD1-Introduction to Graphic Design. Students will become proficient in computer skills used in the Graphic Design field including illustration, photographic manipulation, and page layout. They will continue to develop creative problem solving skills and increase knowledge in the area of Graphic Design history. Through field trips, students will gain an understanding of the commercial printing process.
• AGD 261 Typography I
  This course is an introduction to the discipline, function, history, and impact of typography in graphic design. Assignments and discussion will address the use of typography as a primary tool in conveying ideas and the impact of letterform manipulation on context and legibility.
• AAH 105/106 Art History I or II
  An introduction to the history of art through the examination of major monuments of western architecture, painting, sculpture, and minor arts from prehistoric times to the beginning of the Renaissance. Emphasis is placed on art created for or by the dominant cultural centers of civilizations falling within this timeframe.
• Liberal Learning

Spring Sophomore

• Studio Art elective (2D)
• AGD 264 Words & Image
This course is an intermediate studio course that strives to expand the student's conceptual, theoretical, and technical skills in two basic elements of graphic design, word and image. The class will work with creative media such as illustration, photography, collage, use of found objects, digital and hand-generated techniques. Graphic design issues, historical, cultural and technical, will be addressed.
• AAH 252 20TH CENTURY ART
Twentieth Century Art is an introductory art history course, combining slide lectures and class discussions. This course is organized chronologically and will focus on artistic production in the twentieth century in Europe and the United States, including Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, Dada and Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Post-Painterly Abstraction, Pop, Surrealism, Neo-Expressionism, Post Modernism, and Deconstructivism. The approach is historical and contextual and all mediums are covered, including architecture, photography, and new media. Developments such as feminist art, socio-political art, conceptual art, and performance art will also be discussed. The visual Aspects of looking art will be emphasized; throughout the course, students will be continuously learning and refining skills that will allow them to analyze and appreciate works of art in their proper context.
• Liberal Learning
• AFA 200 Sophomore Review
The Sophomore Review is a mandatory portfolio review for all sophomores and will be held yearly at the end of spring sophomore semester. Transfer students are qualified to take the review after the completion of four Art Department courses. The review provides students with the opportunity to present and discuss their completed TCNJ studio projects. Faculty will assess student's achievement of primary goals of the major and its curriculum. Faculty will identify student work strengths and areas for concern for junior-level advancement. The review is pass or unsatisfactory. If a student's work is unsuccessful, he/she must apply to retake the sophomore review before the mid-term of the following semester. Students are permitted only one failed assessment. Transfer students are qualified for the review after the completion of four Art Department courses.

Fall Junior

• AGD 361 Adv. Typography
• This course integrates theoretical typography with students' personal unique visions. The class will explore alternative typographic forms that highlight content and audience response. Historical and contemporary typography, print production and digital and traditional skills will be emphasized.
  AGD 420 GD History/Issues
This course is a survey of the history of graphic design in the 20th and into the 21st centuries graphic design. The course allows students to research individual areas of interest to broaden their knowledge of contemporary issues in design. Classes are a combination of lectures, discussions, student presentations, guest lectures, and class trips to current design studios and exhibits.
• Liberal Learning
• Studio Art Elective

Spring Junior

• AGD 360 Identity or AGD 365 Book Arts
IDENTITY:
This course will focus on the design of identities and identity programs including client research, development of a strategy, creative exploration, design refinements, and implementation. Students will design logos and complete identity systems. An examination of historical and contemporary identity systems will be researched and discussed.
BOOKMAKING:
This course is an introduction to Artist books designed to bring together students with differing backgrounds who approach this art in their own unique ways. This is a projects-oriented course that involves students in the discussion, critique, planning, and design of books in a range of book-production media. The course introduces terms, formats, book genres, design concepts, and production practices. Examples of projects include wearable books, alternative book structures, Japanese bindings and Japanese design, Coptic binding, tunnel books, and creating books with foldouts. In addition, the final project gives each student the opportunity to plan and execute a book design project that reflects his or her particular interests.
AGD 364 3D Graphic Design
This course is a theoretical and studio investigation of three-dimensional structural principals as they relate to the area of packaging and environmental design. An investigation of materials, production techniques, resources, audience relationship to 3-D forms and packaging, and environmental design history will be addressed.
• AAH 215/216/217 Non Western Art History
AAH 215 - Arts of East Asia / AAH 216 - Arts of East Asia, AAH 217 - Arts of the Islamic World
• Liberal Learning

Fall Senior

• AGD 498 Senior Research
This course will focus on advancing students' personal vision through design research, writing, and innovative design projects. For their final project, students will conduct visual and critical research that will culminate in a research paper and creative personal project.
• Elective*
• Liberal Learning
• Liberal Learning or Elective

Spring Senior

• AGD 499 Senior Seminar
Students will develop an original body of work for graduate school application or employment. This will culminate in a portfolio, identity package, creative statement, visual and career research, and a portfolio review, a presentation of students' portfolios to the public and the graphic design community.
• Liberal Learning or Elective*
• Liberal Learning or Elective*
• Liberal Learning or Elective*

*Recommended Elective in Studio Art

Graphic Design Minor

• AGD 160 Intro to Graphic Design
• AGD 261 Typography I
• AGD 264 Words and Image

+ Electives, choose 2 from the following courses:

• AGD 360 Identity
• AGD 364 3D Graphic Design
• AGD 361 Advanced Typography
• ADA 288 Web Design I: Static
• AGD 420 GD History/Issues
• AGD 365 Book Arts

Exhibitions

• 2010 Graphic Design BFA Work
• 2007 Graphic Design BFA Work
• 2006 Graphic Design BFA Work