Vlad’s Guide to third YearYour semi-complete and non-comprehensive guide to dawson college graphic design program Year three.providing helpful tips and hints that you must know in order to succeed and not fail.

Part 1: SemeSter 5

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table of Contents

Briefing

author’s notes

class schedule

communications and management

multimedia and software usage

technical production for print

packaging design

illustration applications

information design

teamwork in video production

promotional design applications

follow-up

4–8

9

10–11

12–13

14–15

16–17

18–19

20–21

22–23

24–25

26–27

28–29

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briefingthe fifth semester is undoubtedly the most difficult semester a student can face during their three years at Dawson, but don’t let that discourage you; we here just like to scare you and make horror stories out of classes that are a little bit more challenging than the rest. Once you get to third year, you’ll realize that it’s not so bad, everything is do-able if you manage your time. even if you don’t… and shit hits the fan… just remember that you can always catch up at the end of the semester. always consider murphy’s Law, something can and will go wrong, so be prepared for the worst… luckily it won’t be as bad if you’re already expecting it.

What is 4G17?It’s a room, more precisely: it is a lab just like any other lab, there’s nothing special about it other than it has a combination lock and looks real neat with all of its cubicles. there is a schedule on the wall and classes do take place in it, if you walk into the other group’s class be respectful of its working environment: don’t bring your gang of loud students in and talk as loudly as you did in the hallway, you’ll upset ronan, we all have to share this one room while the other labs are empty for most of the day.

CubiclesSpace is the one advantage 4G17 has to offer. Its ability to be used as a warehouse for all of your junk, you all have your own cubicle that’s assigned to you and your buddy, and you can fill it with as much crap as you want… unless it upsets your desk buddy, and if it does? all the better for the glory of Satan.

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desk buddies? sharing? is this kindergarten?It is communal living, well sort of, you get a small blue bin to store your personal possessions and the rest stays around the desk. rulers will be borrowed and never returned if they do not bear your name, so write your name on everything because you will start losing stuff while you’re away.

as for having a desk buddy, they can be your best friend or your worst enemy, just suck-in your pride and let them stay at their desks if they’re working or accept to let them take your spot if you’re not doing much work. the working environment in the room is pretty chaotic year round, but it can also be a hub for sharing ideas and critiques although it can get rather cluttered with people and junk.

Golly gee wiz, uncle Vladdy, 4G17 sure sounds neato! will i ever need a locker?Yes. although I cannot guarantee you that you’ll ever use it. You guys got the portfolio locker which can hold as much stuff as your cubicle, if you do not want to clutter up the desk too much, be a good guy Greg and use a locker. You now have to share a desk with someone like you’ve already shared your locker, so use your experience to your advantage.

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author’s notes: Before we go any further, I must remind you that this booklet is meant to be used as a guide… not a well-written or grammatically correct one (as you may have already noticed) but at this point I must warn you that this book might contain trace amounts of satire and ranting about teachers, I’ll do my best to tone it down and hopefully any teacher that would read this would get a laugh.

But if you ever show this book to any one of your teachers I will find out who you are, where you live, and I will come to your house and I will cut you.

Now that that’s been said, let’s move on.

food?Snacks are permitted in the room as long as they do not stink up the place; most teachers DO mind the smell of food, especially that egg salad which has been waiting for 2 weeks. I, personally, like to store up on ramen soups in my bin, despite being an incredibly unhealthy habit, it has saved me from starving to death on several occasions.

Conclusionthis is as much as I can say about room off the top of my head, if anything else, you’d have to discover it yourself and decorate your own working place and live in the marvelous room of fourgeeseventeen. also, don’t let outsiders in, you’ll get your combination code changed.

and everyone will hate you.

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Class schedule:Contrary to popular belief not all of your classes take place in 4G17, no, you have to share that room with the other group and the way the geniuses at Dawson figured it out is: separate the schedule in 2 parts, group 01 gets 4G17 for morning classes and group 02 gets it for the afternoon.

But what happens on Wednesday’s class? which is a 6 hour one. Well, it stays in one big six hour block. Group 01 gets 4G17 this week while group 02 gets this day off and has the class next Wednesday while group 01 then gets that day off. It’s not a difficult thing to understand, you basically get one day off once every two weeks and have a double class once every two weeks. Now quit bugging me about that.

4G17

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It’s called the “top ten” and Chantal advises you to work on during your own time since there’s not enough class time.

You’ll basically have two weeks to:

1. Write a short 500 word essay about yourselves

2. Pick your ten favourite designers or design-related people. One of which you’ll have to interview in the following semester.

3. Pick your ten favourite studios that you would like to apply to. Luckily you don’t have to apply to any of them unless you want to.

4. Pick your ten favourite suppliers. Printers, paper manufacturers: for when Vahan isn’t there to help.

Do not bitch about this project, most people got through it in 1 or 2 solid days of work. You just have to do your research ahead of time and put everything together at the last minute.

Communications and ManagementChantal Audet

Brace yourselves, tHIS IS NOt a SeXY CLaSS, at least, this is what you’ll be hearing for the first couple of weeks from Chantal. She’s right, you have to design your own personal logo, cover letter, time sheets, weekly and monthly calendars, plans for writing an invoice and a letter to employers in the first 13 weeks, all of which you’ll have to revise next semester and actually fill out.

But wait, what’s the catch? Well, this is a Chantal class, and I bet all of you remember semiotics. You will get the last two weeks to make this one booklet.

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You’ll most definitely need the help of one of your classmates since your teacher will have an aneurysm while trying to help everyone. Classmates most targeted as Flash-savants are male, not to sound sexist or anything but “code-monkeys” are mostly seen as guys capable of maths and complicated technical computer hoodoo.

I hope there would be exceptions in your year, for ours, Diana did break away from that gender-biased stereotype and actually helped me with some coding.

So props to you Diana!

also your two teachers for this class are female, so no reason to assume that the guys in your year know anything about Flash.

Multimedia and software usage Lise Charbonneau Tania Chiarotto

this is the Flash class where you’ll learn about .swf and .fla as well as some .mov.

You’ll learn how to use Flash, starting off with a tutorial on the projector that you’ll completely lose track of if you miss 1 second of it. First project is a simple type animation: you have to storyboard it, pick some words and a famous quote and finally just animate it.

It is pretty straightforward and simple.

the next project is quite the opposite of simple: the Quizz, you’ll have to choose a subject, make some plans for an interactive flash application and then code it. Yes, coding in flash is really tedious but achievable once everything is in the right place and the planets are aligned for the winter equinox. ?

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technical Production for PrintRock Anctil Luc Parent

most commonly known as the box class… no, not that box class that you had in first year, this is the DVD Box set with extra informational booklet class. Like everything, you’ll first have to pick a subject following a theme (inventions) and doodle, doodle and sketch. this class can either be vernissage table material or be your worst nightmare (or both). Don’t screw around in this class because it will bite you in the ass, you need to make your own schedule and follow it until you get stuff moving…

the best advice I can give you is to finish your DVD box as fast as you can, like, get started on it now! that’s the same advice that someone gave to me.

filler.

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Suzanne CotéNot much information is given for Suzanne’s class other than:

Packaging designOk… ok, ok, so… we have one class in which we build a box, now what do we do in the afternoon? We have another class in which we build yet another box. WHOOP Dee FUCKING DOO tUeSDaYS. Packaging design isn’t as bad as DVD box, it’s actually much, much worse: I’m not one to point fingers, but I guess it is safe to put all the blame on the teachers for this class.

Luc ParentYou will be handed a pamphlet in the first class that has nothing to do with packaging but encourages you to eat heart-healthy. Pretty much nothing will happen until mid terms. then, Luc will cleverly wait until the last minute of class thursday in ronan’s class to put a piece of paper on your desk describing that you have to do a .pdf presentation roughly worth 20% for next tuesday.

Yes for next tuesday, in 5 days… c u next tuesday.

Interpret it however you want.

E

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illustration applicationsRonan Kearney

that mysterious 6 hour class with no name is an art class! taught by ronan! It follows the same structure as ronan’s paper engineering class with a lot of pointless work in the beginning which will be scrapped, funneled and perfected over the course of the semester. You will have one project; to illustrate a book cover C1 all through C4.

You will be assigned a letter, for example “e”: Your task will be to find words, animals, verbs and adjectives starting with e, write minimum 20 sentences using mainly words starting with e, then ronan will pick the best sounding one.

this 6 hour poetry class later becomes a 6 hour art class encouraging different mediums all mixed in together. It is actually kind of fun, even if you don’t like ronan. Well, as long as you do whatever he says and see him with your work; you don’t want to wait until the last weeks for him to tell you that all your work is crap and you’re going to have to start over.

true story.

Happened to a friend of a friend.

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information design Ronan Kearney

Wait, another class taught by ronan? I’m not even one of his favourites, why do I need two classes with him? Well this is… pretty much infographics; you will be asked to present information on a current even as clearly as possible, it has to looks pleasing to the eye as well, that’s a 3 week project! the next big thing is the pamphlet project; you will have to choose a zone in montreal and find what interesting things are in that zone. Please do this project on cupcake stores in the Plateau because ronan LOVeS cupcakes.

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teamwork in Video ProductionNelly Dahan

Wait? No Didster teaching the photo class? Wait? this ISN’t a photo class? HUZZaH! No more taking pictures, adjusting aperture settings and no more auto-white-balancing! Now we can forget all that stuff and shoot a live action short movie!

But wait… we’re graphic designers

Not film students.

We have to be in a team for this? awesome!

We don’t get to choose the teams???

Oh....

You’re on your own for this class, with some help from your team and teacher, Nelly does not teach the class, she just helps you; there is no theory of any kind in this. It is best to storyboard, script and get filming right away before it starts to snow and spend the next months editing.

okay

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Promotional design applicationsGeorge VaitkunasLise Charbonneau

there is no promotional design applications, this is Web Design 101, you have to find the most hideous looking website out there.

*cough* cheese-rolling.co.uk *cough*

You’ll have to redesign it completely. First in InDesign, then you’ll have to bring it in Illustrator Photoshop so you can use slices and bring it into Dreamweaver to put it all together… confused yet?

this course helps to prepare you for multimedia II, next semester, the class where you have to make your own website!

Both groups have Lise for that one.

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follow-up

You’ve read it this far!? I’m surprised; I guess that I should congratulate you.

this is pretty much everything you need to know before you go into third Year... at least everything I bothered typing down, at the last minute, 1 day before you guys start class… because I’m lazy.

I hope this guide helps you.

Wait! What do you mean this guide didn’t help you at all? Oh, and now you’re saying that it’s my fault if you fail? I dare you to come say that to my face, motherfucker!

I’ll cut you.