Students will use page layout (desktop publishing) applications to design and produce pages and documents to given specifications. Skill development will include importing and placing text and graphic files, the application of style sheets, templates, snippets, libraries, and color specifications. The application of design and typographic principles, industry terminology, measurement systems, font management, and file management are also covered.

This course provides students with a general understanding of the graphic production industries, its techniques, tools, and standards. A range of production technologies and deliverables will be examined and experienced first-hand. Exemplar workflows will be analyzed based on reverse engineering from the desired product. Students will gain a basic understanding of the design process, develop a critical awareness of good design and its value in the workflow, and explore the variables impacting the quality and cost of the production process.

This course emphasizes the procedures and skill development required for the efficient and effective manipulation and compositing of digital images in a production environment building on the skills previously learned in Raster and Vector Graphics. This is a production-oriented course with a focus on the non-destructive editing of (primarily raster) digital images. This course includes specialized image manipulation methods such as advanced selection and masking techniques for producing images that blend together into a single composite image. Additional topics include applying production planning techniques to image manipulation, production quality standards, advanced methods and quality criteria for image manipulation, and legal and ethical issues.

This course includes the study and management of color for design, printing, web, and photographic imaging systems and procedures. Students will use and apply correct technical vocabulary, and various concepts and procedures related to the perception, specification, evaluation, correction, and management of color in various graphic arts.

This course builds on topics presented in Page Layout I. Students will define and apply techniques and procedures for optimizing document design and production efficiency. Topics include defining paragraph, character, and object styles; making and using templates; saving and accessing object snippets and libraries; accessing and using database information to create documents, recognizing and applying proofreaders marks and notations; defining and applying advanced typographic techniques, advanced page layout procedures, object transparency and other image effects; building and editing tables; and, defining and applying color specifications and effects; and using document output procedures. Students will continue to develop knowledge and skills in the industry leading page layout software applications.

The students will study the Portable Document Format (PDF) file format including defining and applying specifications for color management, file optimization and file security; recognizing and editing PDF documents; and using PDF files in a variety of print and non-print media production workflows. Topics include procedures for making PDF files, and adding interactive features including bookmarks, action button, hyperlinks to internal anchors, and hyperlinks to other documents and Web content. Emphasis is given to file optimization for interactive display size formats, color, and resolution.