The Graphic Design Intensive course is for students who wish to focus specifically on the typographic and information design aspects of graphic design. The course is concerned with the visual language of graphic design and its many applications. Students taking the course develop the intellectual and technical toolkit necessary for the practice of graphic design in the twenty first century. The course syllabus builds on the skills learned in Typography and Information Design, preparing students to become versatile graphic communication design practitioners in a wide range of media and contexts, from paper to screen, from digital environments to public spaces.

The Interaction Design Intensive course focuses on essential skills related to the design of digital experiences, including research, planning and production. Students will follow a user-centered design process to gain insights, empathize with target users and inform their designs. They will explore issues that deal with graphical user interfaces, user interaction, navigation, information architecture, grids and layout. Students will also be introduced to basic processes that exist in real world work scenarios such as creative briefs, wireframes and interactive prototypes, as well as to practical tools such as file transfer protocols, content management systems and online development frameworks.

This course is an in-depth exploration of interactive, experiential, and performative aspects of communications design. Readings, lectures, in-class workshop and research-based projects explore advanced topics and design principles surrounding interactivity, experience design and performance through a variety of media and platforms. Students will combine critical thinking and hands-on making using methods that include contextual research, prototyping, testing and developing proposals for complex visual systems and narrative strategies.

This course is an advanced investigation into expanded modes of practice, and explores authorship and the development of a personal approach to a body of work as much as it develops sensitivity to audience and context through illustration. Students are challenged to develop a nuanced understanding of social, cultural, political and environmental implications surrounds image-based creation and to develop a point of view in response. Through in-depth research and the application of advanced experimentation with form, media and technology, students identify an approach to inquiry through illustration that allows them to propose and investigate a set of topics and strategies in preparation for thesis.

The Senior Thesis course is the capstone of the Communications Design senior year. It provides students with the opportunity to apply the full range of skills and knowledge they have obtained and cultivated at Pratt in the execution of a single, self-initiated project tied to the student's Area of Emphasis. In collaboration with their professor, students write a design or research oriented project proposal which may involve revising or extending existing work or creating new work with an eye to the future. The emphasis is on communication the design process, documenting research and experimentation phases and articulation a critical, reflective analysis of a body of work. Senior Thesis projects are the culmination of a program of studies, and therefore allow students to reflect critically on their own work and clearly identify their interests in the larger context of the communications design profession.

This course is a practical introduction of computer programming for all designers, and anyone who wants to develop ideas using code. It provides way into computational thinking and how to use computers in creative generate 2D and 3D form, animation and interaction. It introduces computation as a process, as a tool and as a medium. The course emphasizes generative form to progressively introduce more complex computational structures, including repetition, transformation, parametrization, visualization and simulation.

This course focuses on essential design elements of user experiences, including research, planning, production and development skills. Students will explore issues that deal with graphical user interfaces, user interaction, user experience, information architecture, layout, navigation, behavior and motion. Students will also be introduced to basic processes that exist in real world work scenarios such as creative briefs, wireframes, component libraries and interactive prototypes, as well as to practical tools such as file transfer protocols, content management systems and online development frameworks.

Through a process of analysis, editing, and visualization, data becomes information. This course allows students to follow the process to extract and reveal meaning form data and to visualize and explain complex information.

This class introduces students to the field of independent publishing, focusing particularly on the ways in which a communication designer might use the short-run, self-published book to explore ideas, work collaboratively and disseminate information quickly and cheaply. Employing a mix of class discussion, field trips, studio work and independent study, students gain an understanding of the culture and history of self-publishing while also acquiring a range of information and technical skills that can be applied within their own practical work.

This course offers students an introduction to the basic principles of designing books beyond the traditional concept of the physical artifact. Students will be asked to research, design, produce and publish books in new formats and on technological platforms. The course takes an integrative approach to learning, combining content development, research and analysis and making. The emphasis is on the production of design prototypes rather than on executing technological functionality.

The Design Corps mission is to provide socially or environmentally conscious organizations with quality pro-bono design services, while exposing Communications Design students to professional experience and the rewards of using their skills in the service of a good cause. Operating as a design firm under the direction of experienced faculty, students present design options, provide finished files and monitor production of final pieces for these clients.