Madison Media Institute's Digital Media Design & Production teaches students to use software programs such as Adobe’s Creative Suite, including InDesign®, Photoshop®, and Illustrator®, which is the industry-standard application pack for web and print design projects. Teaching practical exercises in natural and studio lighting, Adobe Photoshop® and Adobe Bridge® help develop excellent professional practices.
Adobe Illustrator® is the industry-standard application for the production of vector graphics. Students learn how to design, create, and manipulate vector graphics for use in different media. They will also learn about and use fundamental workflows for media, such as print and video motion graphics, that use both bitmapped and vector resources.
Students develop skills in conceptualizing and layout design for printed material, with an emphasis on typography and its balance and weight on the page. Adobe InDesign® is used in conjunction with Adobe Photoshop® and Adobe Illustrator® to create a variety of print projects, including newsletters, page layouts, and brochures.
When learning Presentation Design, students experience both the design and the delivery of presentations. After comparing examples of visual information display, students will use both PowerPoint® and Keynote® to make the best possible delivery on a subject. Other topics covered include balanced design and sound integration, outlining, handouts, audiences, and public speaking.
Compositing is the practice of combining multiple layers of graphics, animation, and video into one scene. It is often used to create special effects for feature films and sophisticated television advertisements. Students will gain experience in the use of Adobe After Effects,® a popular compositing software application.
Adobe Flash® is a widely used 2D animation and interactive authoring tool. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to create a Flash MX® movie, embed a Flash movie in a web page, design a user interface with Flash, and incorporate interactivity into a Flash presentation.
Using XHTML to describe information and CSS to control its appearance, students build and test websites in the classroom before posting them to a web-accessible server. Adobe Dreamweaver® is used for web authoring tasks in conjunction with other Adobe software. Advanced projects introduce simple scripting techniques such as JavaScript and PHP. This class has a test-out option. Using the Apache/MySQL/PHP software combination, together with XHTML and CSS, students will design and build a complex site that uses relational databases to interact with users. Students will follow a core process incorporating design, development of timelines, schedules and benchmarks, and use of concept sketches and wireframes to arrive at
a functioning prototype.
