Module 0 · Getting Started
Course Information and Policies
Objectives
- 0.1 Set up and verify every account and piece of software the course uses, and record and share a short narrated screen recording. (Course Competency 3; Apply)
Overview
This page collects the course facts in one place: competencies, grading, deadlines and college policies. The official syllabus for your section is in Syllabus+ in Canvas; this page matches it. Print this page from your browser if you want a paper copy.
AVC 183 Graphic Design. 3 credits. Fully online and asynchronous, 15 weeks, January 16 to May 9, 2027. Prerequisite or corequisite: a grade of C or better in AVC100, or permission of the instructor.
Course description
Introduction to graphic design principles and digital design techniques. Emphasis on composition, typography, color theory, visual hierarchy, and the application of design principles using industry standard tools.
Course competencies
- Describe the graphic design process, including history, research, concept development, and production. (Understand)
- Apply elements and principles of design, including composition, grids, hierarchy, typography, and color. (Apply)
- Use digital design and page-layout software for document setup, text formatting, image placement, and layout. (Apply)
- Develop design concepts through research, sketches, and preliminary layouts. (Create)
- Produce a multipage layout incorporating typography, imagery, and appropriate layout techniques. (Create)
- Evaluate graphic design projects according to design principles, accessibility, technical quality, and communication effectiveness. (Evaluate)
Course objectives
Every objective is written with the revised Bloom’s taxonomy (Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001), sits at or below the level of its course competency, and is measured by a graded assignment. Each assessment was also checked for AI exposure using Oregon State University Ecampus, Bloom’s Taxonomy Revisited, so graded evidence is work only you can produce: hand sketches, your own photographs, construction files, recordings and verification logs.
| Competency | Modules | Process steps and exercises | Finals (Projects) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Module 0, Module 1, Module 7, Design History | Technology Setup; Helvetica Reflection; AI Primer; Course Review; Design History: Sign Up and Scope; Design History: Research and Verification Log | Design History: Recorded Presentation |
| 2 | Module 2, Module 3, Module 4, Module 5 | Reading: Letter and Type Anatomy; Reading: Hierarchy and the Grid; Recipe Step 1: Placement Only; Recipe Step 2: Weight and Case; Recipe Step 3: Scale; Milwaukee Step 1: Poster Sketches; Milwaukee Step 2: Poster and Instagram Ad; Milwaukee Step 3: Welcome-Kit Mockups; Your Brand Step 6: Press-Ready Business Card | Recipe Step 5: Final; Milwaukee Step 5: Final Revised Set; Your Brand Step 7: Three-Panel Instagram Campaign |
| 3 | Module 0, Module 1, Module 3, Module 4, Module 6 | Syllabus and Course Overview Quiz; Technology Setup; AI Primer; Recipe Step 1: Placement Only; Recipe Step 4: Image in Negative Space; Milwaukee Step 2: Poster and Instagram Ad; Milwaukee Step 4: Brand Styles in Figma; Figma: Your Brand Styles and Wireframe | Milwaukee Step 5: Final Revised Set |
| 4 | Module 2, Module 5, Design History | Word/Meaning Part 1: Fifty Verbs; Word/Meaning Part 2: Thumbnails; Word/Meaning Part 3: Vector Designs; Your Brand Step 1: Client and Name; Your Brand Step 2: Fifty Sketches; Your Brand Step 3: Refine the Top Four; Your Brand Step 4: Narrow, Type and Palette; Design History: Research and Verification Log; Design History: Requirements and Build | Word/Meaning Part 4: Final Designs; Your Brand Step 5: Final Logo; Design History: Recorded Presentation |
| 5 | Module 3, Module 6 | None | Recipe Step 5: Final; Figma: Three-Page Website |
| 6 | Module 2, Module 4, Module 7 | Milwaukee Step 1: Poster Sketches; Milwaukee Step 3: Welcome-Kit Mockups | Word/Meaning Part 4: Final Designs; Milwaukee Step 5: Final Revised Set; Behance Portfolio |
Grading
| Group | What is in it | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Process Work | Every project step, 10 points each, submitted with process evidence | 40% |
| Projects | Each project final, 30 points each | 35% |
| Exercises | Readings, quizzes and reflections, 5 to 10 points each | 25% |
Process outweighs the finished piece on purpose. Designers who show only final work cannot explain their decisions, and explaining decisions is the job.
Deadlines and late work
Everything is due at noon, Arizona time. Nothing is ever due at midnight.
There are two deadlines a week, Thursday and Sunday; Week 1 has one, on Thursday. Projects and project steps (Process Work and Projects) are posted to the class Discord by noon the day before they are due, and you leave three critique comments on classmates’ work by the due time. Exercises, readings, quizzes and reflections have no Discord step. Late work is accepted for 24 hours after a deadline with a 10 percent deduction. Nothing is accepted after noon the day after the due date. When a holiday falls on a deadline or its hard close, the deadline moves a day earlier, so nothing is due when campus is closed.
Comments on classmates who post during the 24-hour window are encouraged and ungraded. They are good community citizenship, not extra credit.
Process Work is graded within three days of the due date. Projects are graded with written feedback within one week.
AI in this course
The AI rule in this course. Use Gemini with your Maricopa account only, never a personal account. When you need a notebook built from your own sources, use Gemini Notebook, not Gems. Gemini writes, it never designs: it helps with research, writing, feedback and planning, and every mark, layout and visual decision is yours. The one exception is the Design History project, where Gemini also builds the presentation from requirements you write, and you verify every fact in library databases. Every use goes in your AI-use log.
If you are under 18, your Maricopa Google account blocks some Gemini features (for example Deep Research and image editing). No assignment requires a blocked feature. If Gemini refuses a step, post in Discord or send a Canvas Inbox message and you will receive an alternate step that meets the same objective.
The full statement, with sources, is on AI in This Course.
Computers and software
The district provides Adobe Creative Cloud and Gemini at no cost. Figma and Miro have free education plans. Students without a computer or reliable internet can borrow a laptop or hotspot through GCC’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) Student Technology Request.
Accommodations
Students with a disability who need an accommodation contact Disability Resources and Services as early as possible. Recording tasks always have an equivalent: if OBS does not work with your assistive technology, use the recorder you already use, and tell your instructor so an equivalent is approved.
College and district policies
- Academic misconduct, Administrative Regulation 2.3.11
- Student conduct code, Administrative Regulation 2.5.2
- GCC Student Handbook (student rights and responsibilities)
- Title IX policy and resources
- Non-discrimination statements
- Disability Resources and Services, district
- Academic calendar and withdrawal dates
- GCC common syllabus elements
- Maricopa privacy statements
Academic integrity: submit your own work, cite your sources, and disclose all AI use in your AI-use log. Undisclosed AI use, or AI-made design work outside the Design History exception, is treated as academic misconduct under Administrative Regulation 2.3.11.
Withdrawal: through the seventh week you may withdraw without your instructor’s signature; after that, an official withdrawal requires the instructor’s signature. Dates are on the GCC academic calendar.
Textbook and readings
Lupton, E. (2010). Thinking with type (2nd ed.). Princeton Architectural Press., on reserve at the GCC Library. Every reading also lists an open alternative, such as Typography Handbook (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) and Google Fonts Knowledge. The City of Milwaukee Brand Guidelines are free to view and download, all rights reserved; link to them, never repost them.
Your instructor and help
| For | Use | Response |
|---|---|---|
| Software and project questions | The #avc183-graphic-design-1 channel on the Digital Media Arts Discord, so everyone benefits from the answer | Within one business day; classmates often answer sooner |
| Grades, accommodations, anything private | Canvas Inbox (Inbox in the left Canvas menu) | Within one business day |
| Live help | Office hours on Discord are posted in the welcome announcement. | During the posted hours |
Your instructor is a practicing graphic designer and Digital Media Arts faculty member; the welcome video in Module 0 introduces their work and how critique runs. If software will not open or will not license, say so on Discord or in Canvas Inbox the day you find out, not the night before a deadline. Adobe licensing usually takes about a day to fix.
Process Work is graded within three days of the due date. Projects are graded with written feedback within one week.
Student support
- Tutoring: Free tutoring, including writing help for rationales and reflections.
- GCC Library: Research guides, library databases and course reserves.
- Ask a Librarian: A real librarian, by chat or email.
- IT Service Desk: Problems with your MEID (your Maricopa student ID and login), Canvas or other accounts.
- Adobe Creative Cloud for students: How to sign in to the district Adobe license.
- Disability Resources and Services: Accommodations, including for recording and media tasks.
- Counseling: Personal, career and academic counseling.
- GCC Cares, basic needs: Food, housing, emergency support and other basic needs.