DEA 2025

Impactful Graphics: Visual Communication for Social Impact

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2026-2027 Catalog.

This course provides a foundation in graphic design to communicate ideas and create impact. This course encourages students to engage with the visual language of design through experimentation, exploration and iteration, connecting action (making visual form) to reflection (looking and thinking). It will require students to reflect upon the relationship between form-making and meaning-making as well as to consider the ethics of graphic design and its impact on society. Students will work in two dimensions by hand and with the digital tools of the Adobe Suite (Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop).

Prerequisites minimum grade of B- in DEA 1101; DEA 1150; DEA 1140; DEA 1500.

Enrollment Information Enrollment limited to: Design and Environmental Analysis (DEA) majors; DEA minors and transfers with permission of instructor or as space permits.

Distribution Requirements (CA-AG, D-AG), (CA-HE, D-HE, LAD-HE)

Last 4 Terms Offered 2026SP, 2025SP, 2024SP, 2023SP

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the semester students will be able to use visual communications clearly and persuasively to reach audience and goals, recognizing its potential to influence society.
• Students will become familiar with the main principles, tools, techniques and issues of graphic design. Students will be able to make and manipulate form in two dimensions, using both hand and digital techniques and techniques, and improving their Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop skills.
• Students will develop an understanding of the social impact of graphic design, identifying ethical and moral issues.
• Become familiar with forms of visual communication from several cultures. Improve their capacity to listen carefully and respectfully to the cultural specificities of others.
• Students will be able to reflect upon the relationship between form-making and meaning-making.

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