Visual Communication: Print & Production

A design that looks perfect on screen can fail completely on paper.

About This Course

A design isn't finished when it looks right on a screen. This course covers the Adobe Suite basics and the production side of design that most beginners never see: CMYK versus RGB, resolution, bleed, and why a file that looks perfect on a laptop can come back from the printer wrong.

What You'll Create

  • A completed print brief, designed and prepared correctly for output.
  • A physical printed piece produced from the final file.
  • A written statement on the production decisions made, including colour and file setup.

Course Details

Age Range
15-18
Term
Term 1
Schedule
Fridays, 5:30pm
Duration
10 weeks
Price
$480
Spots Available
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What You'll Learn

  • • You'll get a working introduction to Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.
  • • You'll learn the difference between CMYK and RGB, and when each one matters.
  • • You'll learn why a file that looks perfect on screen can fail completely at the printer.
  • • You'll learn how screen design and print design ask for different decisions.
  • • You'll learn that print production has no undo button, so mistakes cost real money.

The Support You'll Get

You won't be handed the answer. You'll be shown how to find it.

Your practitioner has spent years making their own work, and their own mistakes. In the studio they work alongside you: asking the right questions, pointing out options you hadn't seen, helping you push through the moment you get stuck. The ideas stay yours. The decisions stay yours. They're there so you're never finding the way through alone.

Week by Week

Week 1: Screen versus print. Why the same file can look completely different in each.

Week 2: Adobe Illustrator basics. Vector shapes, type and layout tools.

Week 3: Adobe Photoshop basics. Image preparation and colour correction.

Week 4: Adobe InDesign basics. Multi-page layout and grid systems.

Week 5: CMYK versus RGB. What each stands for and why it changes your file.

Week 6: File preparation. Resolution, bleed and colour profiles that won't fail at the printer.

Week 7: A small print brief. Designing, producing and preparing the final file for output.

Week 8: Exhibition. Printed and finished work presented publicly.

Every course ends with an exhibition

Celebrate what you created with the people and our community. Every term concludes with a presentation or exhibition of your work: a chance to share your process, your ideas, and what you've made.

Your Instructor

Andrew Chew

Andrew Chew

Visual Communication & Photography

Andrew studied Visual Communication, majoring in Photography. Twenty years on, he's worked as a designer, photographer and gallery director, running No Vacancy Gallery and later directing YAVA. He built Assembly because the system around young people kept treating creativity as decoration instead of discipline. He teaches the way he's worked: try, fail, try again. Back your ideas. Test them. Push through when it's not working yet. He's spent years making his own work and his own mistakes, and in the studio he works alongside you, showing you how to look, how to frame, how to decide what matters, then make it.

Ready to start?