GuE'f,rH

HUMBER

Bachelor of Applied Arts (Media Studies)

Diploma in Media Communications
Winter 2021
Section(s): 01&02
MDST 3260: Production Design I

Instructional Support
Instructor Name: James Kuo
Instructor Email: james.kuo@guelphhumber.ca
Office Hours: Appointment
Program Head: Kathy Ullyott
Email and Extension: kathy.ullyott@guelphhumber.ca; ext. 6238
Academic Advisor: Nasreene Corpuz
Email and Extension: nasreene.corpuz@guelphhumber.ca; ext. 6078
Guelph Humber Website: www.guelphhumber.ca

Course Details
Pre-requisites: MDST*2070
Co-requisites: None
Restrictions: None
Credits: 0.50
Course Website (If applicable): http://www.onlineguelphhumber.ca/
Method of Delivery: 3-0 (Interactive Lecture and Discussion)

Calendar Description
This course provides an introduction to the creative aspect of production design in visual
communication. The creative process is traced from the creative brief to the finished artwork
in a variety of media platforms.

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 Course Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course the student will be able to:

1. Read, comprehend and write a creative brief through initial meetings, interviews,
readings and discussions between a client and designer.
2. Understand the objectives to be achieved by the design once completed.
3. Summarize different communication theory perspectives.
4. Demonstrate critical thinking skills by identifying the uniqueness of different
media platforms.
5. Understand the target audience to be reached and the platform to choose for that
purpose.
6. Describe the role of typography in design
7. Outline how different media will achieve the client’s objectives within the budget.
8. Identify which platform or platforms is preferable and why.
9. Working with a writer, create headlines, sound bites and body copy for
presentation.
10. Understand the client presentation process.

Learning Resources
Required Textbook(s)
Title: Guide to Graphic Design
Author: Scott W. Santoro
Edition: 2013
ISBN: 978-0132300704
Publisher: Pearson

Title: Production Design: Visual Design for Film and Television

Author: Peg McClellan
Edition: 2020
ISBN: 978-1138185425
Publisher: Routledge

Supplementary Text/Other
N\A

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 Course Schedule
Lesson/ Topic Readings/Activities
Week

January 11  Additional supplementary

Introduction and Course Objectives:
 Cross Platform Practical Methods
 Design Studio Team Communication Tools
 Understand Digital and Visual Communications
1
January 18
The Role of Design and Digital/Visual
2 Communications Designer Position in Society,
Research, Analysis, Process and Production:
 Chromatic Concepts and Relationship
January 25
Digital/Visual Communications Aesthetics, Research
and Integration:
 Principles of Strategic Visual Communication.
3
February 1
Digital/Visual Communications Design Decisions and
4 Development
February 8
Working with Clients and Analyzing Target
5 Audiences
WINTER BREAK
February 22
Introduction, Understand and Analyze Design
Business Proposal:
6
 Element of Design Creative Brief
 How to Draft Successful Design Proposals
and Contracts
learning materials will be posted
on CourseLink in
Announcement section.
 Assignment files submission
rules.
 Overview of Course Outline,
Assignments, Learning
Outcomes, skills self-
assessment, goals, expectation.
 Review any related courses
connection.
 Digital/Visual Communications
Designer’s objective,
methodology and development.
 Assignment 1 Due, upload
assignment file(s) on
CourseLink.
 Guest Lecture: Practical
Production Design, Designer,
Clients and Production.
 Understanding client needs,
development and relationships
 Design team role play and
conduct briefing session.
 Understand the target audience
and design platform to choose
for the purpose.
 Design team role play and
conduct briefing session.
 Understand the target audience
and design platform to choose
for the purpose.
WINTER BREAK
 An all-in-one platform to create
and manage freelance and
design media business, from
creative brief, proposals to
contracts to payments structure
and reporting.

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 Lesson/ Topic Readings/Activities
Week

 Theory and practical design production proposal and  Assignment 2 Due, upload
creative brief development. assignment file(s) on
CourseLink.
March 1  Explore corporate identity
Visual Identity Brand Guidelines: system guidelines and develop
 Building Powerful Brand Experiences and maintain own system.
7 Brand Consistency.
 Design Corporate Identity System.
 Introduction Corporate Visual Identity.

March 8  Assignment 3 due, upload

The Role of Typography and Information Design in assignment file(s) on
Print and Digital Media: CourseLink.
 Digital/Visual Communications and Typography  Comprehensive glossary sets out
 Experimental Typography the fundamental concepts and
 Creating Visual Hierarchy Communication with terminology of print [paper] and
Typography digital [screen] media
8
typography.
 Discuss, research, analyze
contrasting typefaces and
typography in cross-platform
print and digital design media.
 The art and technique of
arranging type.
March 15  Identify preferable design media
Cross Platform Digital/Visual Communications platform.
9
Design Media and Designing Value  Research design media types
and analyze.
March 22  Demonstrate and examine
Digital/Visual Communications Business for Design market success design
Entrepreneurs entrepreneur methodically and
 Designer as Entrepreneur in detail.
10
 How to gain clients’ approvals
through a series of interaction
research and strategy
development.
March 29  Presentation of final assignment,
11 Final Assignment Presentation meet the comprehensive list of
Course Learning Outcomes.
April 5  Presentation of final assignment,
12 Final Assignment Presentation meet the comprehensive list of
Course Learning Outcomes.
Final Exam – (to be scheduled within final exam period)

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 Evaluation and Due Dates

Evaluation Weighted Total (of final Due Date

grade)
Assignment 1 15% January 25
Assignment 2 15% February 22
Assignment 3 15% March 8
Final Assignment and Presentation 30% April 5
Participation, Discussion and Communication 5% + 5% + 5% = 15% Ongoing
Group Review 10% Ongoing
Total: 100%

NOTE: All final exams are 2 hours in length and will be scheduled by Registrarial Services.
All final exam schedules are available on the University of Guelph-Humber website.

Assignment Details
All assignments/projects instructions and rubrics are available from the first week of classes
within the CourseLink website under Announcement/Dropbox Assignment Folder(s). Please
review them early in the semester and contact/email instructor with any questions.

Late Assignment Policy

Late assignments/projects will be penalized 5% in the first due date and 5% daily afterwards, if
handed in late without a valid reason or permission from instructor by email message record.
After the period of seven (7) days no assignments/projects will be accepted.

Drop Box Policy

If late submissions are permitted by the late policy of this course outline, such assignments must
be electronically submitted after the due date through the Drop Box on the course website.

Plagiarism Detection Software

NOTE: The University of Guelph-Humber Undergraduate Calendar states: “Students need to
remain aware that instructors have access to and the right to use electronic and other means of
detection.” Accordingly, instructors may decide to use originality checking services, such as
Turnitin.com, and invigilation software to ensure that submitted work conforms to the
university’s Academic Misconduct policy. The instructor will notify students of such
requirements in advance. More information on Academic Misconduct is included below in this

Turnitin
In this course, your instructor may use Turnitin, integrated with the CourseLink Dropbox tool, to
detect possible plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration or copying as part of the ongoing efforts
to maintain academic integrity at the University of Guelph. All individual assignments submitted
to the Dropbox tool will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database
solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. Use of the Turnitin.com service is
subject to the Usage Policy posted on the Turnitin.com site.

A major benefit of using Turnitin is that you will be able to educate and empower yourself in
preventing academic misconduct. In this course, you may screen your own assignments through
Turnitin as many times as you wish before the due date. You will be able to see and print reports

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 that show you exactly where you have properly and improperly referenced the outside sources
and materials in your assignment.

The Turnitin tool is used in this course and is integrated with the Dropbox tool. To learn more
about Turnitin’s privacy pledge and Turnitin’s commitment to accessibility, please visit their
website. Turnitin Privacy and Security and Turnitin Accessibility Standards Compliance.

Recording of Materials
Presentations which are made in relation to course work—including lectures—should not be
recorded or copied without the permission of the presenter, whether the instructor, a classmate or
guest lecturer. Material recorded with permission is restricted to use for that course unless further
permission is granted.

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 Academic Policies
Important University of Guelph-Humber Academic Regulations

Academic Integrity / Academic Honesty

Academic misconduct is behaviour that erodes the basis of mutual trust on which scholarly
exchanges commonly rest, undermines the University’s exercise of its responsibility to evaluate
students’ academic achievements, or restricts the University's ability to accomplish its learning
objectives.

The University takes a serious view of academic misconduct and will severely penalize students,
faculty and staff who are found guilty of offences associated with misappropriation of others’
work, misrepresentation of personal performance and fraud, improper access to scholarly
resources, and obstructing others in pursuit of their academic endeavours. In addition to this
policy, the University has adopted a number of policies that govern such offences, including the
policies on Misconduct in Research and Scholarship and the Student Rights and Responsibilities
regulations. These policies will be strictly enforced.

It is the responsibility of the University, its faculty, students and staff to be aware of what
constitutes academic misconduct and to do as much as possible through establishment and use of
policies and preventive procedures to limit the likelihood of offences occurring. Furthermore,
individual members of the University community have the specific responsibility of initiating
appropriate action in all instances where academic misconduct is believed to have taken place.
This responsibility includes reporting such offences when they occur and making one's
disapproval of such behaviour obvious.

University of Guelph-Humber students have the responsibility of abiding by the University’s

policy on academic misconduct regardless of their location of study; faculty, staff and students
have the responsibility of supporting an environment that discourages misconduct. Students
should also be aware that if they find their academic performance affected by medical,
psychological or compassionate circumstances, they should inform the appropriate individuals,
(instructors, Academic Advisor) and follow the available procedures for academic consideration
outlined in the University’s calendar.

Students are encouraged to review the policy, as stated within the University of Guelph-
Humber Undergraduate Calendar.

Grading Procedures
Feedback to students on work completed or in progress is an integral part of teaching and
learning in that it allows students to measure their understanding of material and their progress
on learning objectives. Feedback often goes beyond grading-an indication of the standard
achieved-to include comments on the particular strengths and weaknesses of a student’s
performance. While the nature and frequency of such feedback will vary with the course, the
University of Guelph is committed to providing students with appropriate and timely feedback
on their work. Instructors must provide meaningful and constructive feedback, reflecting a
minimum of 20% of the final grade, prior to the 40th class day. This may include but is not
exclusive to returning papers, assignments, in-class or laboratory quizzes, laboratory reports, or
mid-term examinations prior to the 40th class day. In research and independent study courses,

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 instructors must provide students with a realistic idea of their performance by discussing
progress directly with the student and, if necessary, identify specific areas for improvement. This
may include the assessment of a research plan, literature review, annotated bibliography, oral
presentation or other assessment tools.

Missed Final Exams / Deferred Privileges

When students do not write a required final examination, complete a final assignment, or
complete a work term report prior to the last class date, they must request Academic
Consideration to be considered for a deferred privilege. When granted, a deferred privilege
allows a student the opportunity to complete the final course requirements after the end of the
semester, but during established timelines.

Please note that faculty members do not grant deferred privileges. Faculty can only grant
academic consideration for work that is due during the semester and cannot grant extensions
beyond their deadline for submission of final grades.

The nature of the deferred privilege may take the form of either a deferred condition or a
deferred examination. The Admissions and Academic Review Sub-Committee grants deferred
privileges on the basis of medical, psychological or compassionate consideration. Please see your
Admission and Program advisor for details.

It is the student’s responsibility to be familiar with the University’s policies and Academic
Regulations. These policies can be found on the University of Guelph-Humber website.

Disclaimer
Please note that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic may necessitate a revision of the format of
course offerings and academic schedules. Any such changes will be announced via CourseLink
and/or class email. All University-wide decisions will be posted on the COVID-19 website and
circulated by email.

Illness
The University will not require verification of illness (doctor’s notes) for the Fall 2020 or Winter
2021 semesters.

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 Appendix A

Assignment 1
Corporate Visual Identity Logo Design from Pencil Sketch to Computer Digital Screen.
To be done individually

Project Brief
The project assigned to the students promotes understanding and allows exploration of the
precision of professional digital design techniques in all respects from different perspectives—
print and digital media [printed books and video]—to meet the development of professional
production design codes. This teaching and assignment concept are conceived as an ongoing
practical advanced enterprise advanced digital design II level. It asks the students for cross
platform media thinking which is to be a comprehensive senior level digital-and-visual
communication designer or producer with comprehensive knowledge and technique. This
assignment is providing undergraduate students with both critical perspective and practical
hands-on techniques to meet all of today’s professional standards. Instructor will introduce and
demonstrate the assignment process from the beginning to the end.

Project Goal
This assignment includes: Comprehensive review and final check-up of digital production files
from the beginning when you received files from client end to final ready-to-go printer-proof
production files, all aspects of production review, produce ready-to-go prefight check files for
professional print media printer from a digital visual communication designer’s perspective.
Before students are working on this assignment, instructor will share professional experience and
review any potential errors that could occur during the production process.

Project Outcome
Through the development of this assignment, the students and instructor will generate thoughts,
techniques, concepts, and dialogues about the professional production design, provide a high and
professional level skill set to achieve a higher level of precision processing files and to avoid any
common errors that may hugely cost the budget of the design studio and client. The aim is to get
the production designer, associate, and director to think, to consider, and to question the
information that is presented to them, so they can produce better precision and accuracy in their
production design.

Tools: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Creative Cloud.

Creative fields: Graphic Design, Production Design, Print Design, Typography.
Create/Redesign/Production corporate visual identity logo from global industry

Assessment Rubric and Evaluation

Level 5: 90% to 100%
Level 4: 80% to 89%
Level 3: 70% to 79%
Level 2: 60% to 69%
Level 1: 0% to 59% [Miss deadline]

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 To promote student/designer and future manager/director, ongoing and feedback is given to these
talented group. A variety of assessment and evaluation strategies are used in this course. The
four categories of achievement are:
Knowledge
Understanding
Thinking
Inquiry
Creativity
Visual Communication
Application
Accurat

Knowledge
Your performance and presentation demonstrate the production knowledge of the professional
level files you are working on. Your files show precision and accuracy for professional
requirements.

Communication
You can interact with your instructor and ask any questions about your production work; your
instructor is acting as your client and senior director.

Application
You are clearly prepared for your assignment through production applications. You show
evidence of professional production as a designer, associate, and director.

Submission
Upload Adobe Illustrator source package folder in our CourseLink Dropbox folder before
assigned deadline time, in this packaged folder should include:
 Adobe Illustrator Source File [.ai] and B) Original student hand-sketch.
 The CourseLink system will send you a confirmation email message if you have submitted
file(s) into the Dropbox successfully.

Assessment and Evaluation:

 Original work file setup
 Concept and solutions
 Image output setup; convert source image from RGB to CMYK colour mode
 Instructor provided printed proof sheet as sample

Assignment 2
Creative Brief for Clients and Design Studio
To be done individually

Project Brief
The project assigned to the students understand and explore the digital-and-visual
communication designs of professional creative brief technique and presentation in print and
digital format for client and design studio/department in-house use. When a designer creates a
visual identity, the visual communication designer aimes to create a memorable design project(s)
for your business, team or client. A successful creative brief document tells the story, sequences,

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 sell power of a design project through its meaning, structure, and visual communication form.
Instructor will demonstrate professional case studies.

Project Goal
The assignment that the instructor has given in this class may turn into a visual communication
and production design aspect assignment in the future.

Project Outcome
This is a content-generating assignment.

Assessment Rubric
Each student’s assignment mark will be in the form of a percentage grade based on their
achievement in the following categories:
Level 5: 90% to 100%
Level 4: 80% to 89%
Level 3: 70% to 79%
Level 2: 60% to 69%
Level 1: 0% to 59% [Miss deadline]

Knowledge/Understanding
Your performance and presentation should show production knowledge of the professional level
files you are working on. Your files should show precision and accuracy that meet professional
requirements.

Visual Communication and Presentation

You use design writting development in creative brief document elements.

Application
You are clearly prepared for your assignment through production applications.

Submission; student is to hand in

 Creative brief document in Portable Document Format a.k.a. PDF.
 Upload on Courselink, the system will send you confirmation email message if you have
submitted file(s) onto the Dropbox successfully.

Assignment 3
Corporate Visual Identity and Typography
To be done individually

Project Brief
The project assigned to the students understand and explore the precision of professional
production design technique in all respects from different perspective—Corporate Visual Identity
and Typography—the production design codes. This teaching and assignment concepts are
conceived as an ongoing practical advanced enterprise production design level. It asks the
students for cross platform media thinking of a comprehensive senior level production designer
and producer. This assignment is providing undergraduate students with both critical perspective
and practical hands-on techniques to meet all of today’s professional standards. Instructor will
introduce and demonstrate assignment process from the beginning to the end.

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 Project Goal
This assignment that has recently been assigned to the students includes: Comprehensive review
and final corporate visual identity and typography of production files from beginning to the final
production files, all aspects of production review, produce ready-to-go prefight check files for
professional print media printer from a digital visual communication designer’s perspective.
Before students are working on this assignment, the instructor will share professional experience
and review any potential error on production.

Project Outcome
Through the development of the corporate visual identity and typography assignment, the
students and instructor will aim to generate thoughts, techniques, concepts, and dialogues about
the professional production design process, provide a high and professional skill level set in
which to achieve a higher level of precision processing files and to avoid any common error that
can hugely cost the production budget of the design studio and client. The goal is to get the
production designer, associate, and director to think, consider, and to question the information
that is presented to them, so that they can have better precision and accuracy in their production
design.

Assessment Rubric
Each student’s assignment mark will be in the form of a percentage grade based on their
achievement in the following categories:
Level 5: 90% to 100%
Level 4: 80% to 89%
Level 3: 70% to 79%
Level 2: 60% to 69%
Level 1: 0% to 59% [Miss deadline]

Knowledge
Your performance and presentation show the production knowledge of the professional level
files you are working on. Your files show precision and accuracy that meet professional
requirements.

Communication
You approach your instructor with any questions from your production work; your instructor is
acting as your client and senior director.

Application
You are clearly prepared for your assignment through production applications. You show the
qualities of a professional production designer, associate, and director.

Submission
 Student create or recreate a corporate visual identity system
 Upload file in PDF on CourseLink

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