Online Process and Skills is a great opportunity to dive into graphic design from any location in the world and in your own time! Jeanne Verdoux, Teaching online and on-site Process and Skills, Spring 2012

It might seems surprising at first but they are no critical difference between the online and the on-site Process and Skills classes. Both classes follow a similar syllabus and students work on the same projects.

Online Process and Skills class is an intensive hands on class where students learn essential graphic design skills through a series of assignments ranging from making photo collages, binding books to creating a promotional package for a museum exhibition. It is not a computer course, cameras, xerox, markers and scissors are some of the tools we use.

The main difference between this online and on-site class is the mode of communication. Online, the classroom is virtual and all communication happens through the internet. Each week, a lecture is posted to support the work in progress. It presents examples of work of important international designers and directly addresses the subject of the week: poster design, photography, book design, 3D design, museum identity, etc. Lectures are concise and illustrated with slide shows, sound tracks, magazine articles and films.

Critics and feedback are an important part of the class to help students develop their projects and learn about the design process. Using ‘VoiceThread’ as the online platform for exchange, each student presents their design projects weekly and discusses them with the group by writing or recording comments. Through this practice, students get to know each other and their professor, share questions and research.