The Business Marketing Design online diploma program focuses on developing technical skill and creative artistry using applied marketing principles.

CERTIFICATION: Diploma
LENGTH OF COURSE: 4 to 5 months
ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS: Grade XII or equivalent
PROGRAM STARTS: Anytime you like!

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS:
Completion of all Program Components as listed below with a
minimum grade of 70%
Successful completion of all assignments
Recommendation from your instructor 

Students learn professional applications for Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator or equivalent digital imaging and vector drawing tools. Course projects include marketing concept development, critique, retouching, compositing, illustration, print and Web advertising, identity design, direct mail, marketing communication, company branding, and business startup scenarios.

This program is instructor-led, project-based, and completed at your own pace. Expert Faculty members provide critique and feedback on projects within 1-2 business days, helping you build a design portfolio for prospective employers.

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PROGRAM OUTLINE

Part 1: Workplace Fundamentals - 90 hours
(Exclusive to The Online College Diploma Programs)
The Online College includes workplace fundamentals courses in our Diploma Programs for two very
good reasons: To improve students’ success in the core program areas and to enhance employability upon graduation. Students must successfully complete or challenge 30 of 30 workplace fundamentals courses.

1. Keyboarding (30 wpm)
2. Communications (4 courses)
3. Computers and Internet (7 courses)
4. Customer Service (2 courses)
5. Digital Photography (3 courses)
6. Management and Leadership (4 courses)
7. PageMaker and Photoshop (5 courses)
8. Presentations (2 courses)
9. Team Skills (1 course)
10. Time Management (1 course)

Part 2: Core Program - 240 hours
(Offered in partnership with Gatlin Education)
The Business Marketing Design program focuses on developing the visual identity, advertising, and marketing design skills required for a corporate or small business environment.

The core program consists of ten courses:

Intro to Marketing: This is a three-lesson introductory course for designers who want to understand basic marketing principles and strategies. In each lesson, you'll learn tried-and-true marketing concepts and explore how they affect the design process. You'll gain a solid grasp of the marketing process, learn key terms and concepts that every marketer uses, and pick up smart questions to ask in client meetings.

Photoshop basics: Get a thorough grounding in Adobe Photoshop, the premiere digital imaging program for graphic designers. Hands-on projects show how to select, enhance, distort, color, scale, and manipulate scanned images and artworks-or create them from scratch. Every designer must tame this creative powerhouse of a program.

Illustrator basics: Build a working knowledge of Adobe Illustrator, the graphic designer's vector program of choice.
Course projects explore selection tools, drawing tools, layers, the pen tool, transformations/ distortions, type tools, and modifying paths and shapes. Tapping the power of vector software allows you to produce detailed and scalable art for almost any application.

Color theory: Focus on developing appropriate color systems for graphic design projects. Course projects explore the principles, terminology, and applications of color theory, with an emphasis on manipulating color. A working knowledge of the expression and perception of color, and color interaction, lends credibility and sophistication to a designer's work.

Fundamentals of Typography: Typography is what sets designers apart from other artists. In visual communication, typography must be integrated (every last loop, bowl, and descender) into a total design. In this 3-lesson course, you'll explore the anatomy of the letterform. Through interactive lectures and hands-on exercises, you'll learn how to classify typefaces and use them creatively. Understanding the fundamentals of typography will give your work power, eloquence, and beauty.

Design and Composition: Composition, literally the assembly or construction of elements, is the artful arrangement that guides the viewer's eye and unifies your work. In this 3-lesson hands-on course, you'll develop your compositional skills by analyzing everything from Grand Masters to Madison Avenue ads to tubes of toothpaste. Through a series of artistic workouts, you'll learn the principles of effective composition, building to a Final Project where you bring Mozart to the masses. Your designs may never be the same!

Advertising Design: In this 6-lesson course, you'll learn the principles of the advertising design from both a creative and a business perspective. Case studies from print, Web, and TV showcase advertising concepts at work: persuasion, color psychology and composition, copywriting and typography, and brand communication. Class projects include ads for newspapers, magazines, subways, and transit/outdoor applications, and a final project in which you create an entire ad campaign. Use this course to build your portfolio and address concepts that every ad designer should know.

Branding and Identity: Did you ever wonder how giant corporations such as CBS, BMW, and Sony establish their
corporate images? And how important these images are in promoting their respective franchises? You'll discover the answers in this course. Explore through case studies the essential skills required to design logos, marketing materials, and advertising programs to establish and promote a corporate identity. You'll be designing or redesigning corporate identities for both existing companies and newly established businesses.

Internet Marketing: Taking a business online? Building a commercial Web site for yourself or a client is just the start. To grow any business on the Internet, you'll need to market strategically to your customers, using a range for tools from content sharing to email marketing, search engine optimization, co-branding, ad buys, and more, to reach your target audience. In this 6-lesson course, you'll learn practical skills for growing your business on the Web. Studying with a professional Internet marketing consultant, you'll learn how develop an entire marketing plan for your online business. Course projects will include target audience analysis, developing a site plan, creating a content development strategy, email marketing campaigns, search engine optimization, co-branding and community strategy, ad buys, sales/lead conversion, and using site metrics. Whether you're looking to build a new business online or simply get better results from your existing Web site, this course will give you systematic strategies you can use right away. Web designers and marketing professionals will both benefit from this
intensive course.

Graphic Design Business: You've spent years building a portfolio brimming with beautiful work; your graphics groove, your logos lift, and your posters pop. Now the bad news. All the talent in the world is worthless (or, worse, low paid) unless you know how to set up your business and position yourself for successful career. In Graphic Design Business, you'll learn the essentials of setting up and managing your graphic design business. We'll guide you through everything from how to present your portfolio, find work, and market yourself, to the more daunting tasks of registering a company name, establishing an accounting system, and setting up your own corporation (we're not kidding). Whether you're going freelance, setting up your own shop, or just starting out with
a big company, this course will set your career on the right track. Course projects are hands-on: you'll create a business plan, respond to an RFP (request for proposal), test-drive accounting software, create a budget, and customize your own business forms. When your first customer walks through the door, you'll be ready!