AD217 (2022)

Advertising & Digital Design: Principles, Processes, and Practices

Professors: C. J. Yeh
Company website: Cynda Media Lab
Email: chinjuz_yeh@fitnyc.edu
Office at FIT: D317
Office hours: Tuesday 5-6, Wed 2-3 and 5-6, Thursday 5-6 (email in advance to make an appointment)
Classroom: D510
Program Website: NewCraetives.info
Student Projects on Behance: CT Classes / AD Classes
Instagram: NewCreatives.info
FIT Help Desk: TechHelp

Course Description

This course introduces students to the disciplines, work environment, and creative workflow of advertising and digital design. Students are presented with brand communication challenges and learn to work in the new creative team of art directors, writers, and experience designers to apply narrative thinking and systematic thinking to deliver creative solutions for brand messaging as well as digital products such as mobile apps.

Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:
1. Identify the audience, problem, insight, and message and develop a creative strategy that solves a brand or a social problem.
2. Execute original and impactful visual, verbal, and interactive ideas.
3. Formulate cultural insight and/or user insight to develop a campaign and/or a digital product that brings value to the audience. 
4. Evaluate the idea, media choice, and execution that will persuade an audience to react, respond, and or participate.
6. Compare and choose the most appropriate communication strategy and execution for each unique media type.

Weekly Outline
* Weekly outline is subject to change according to the pedagogical needs.

Tue 08/30 | Wed 08/31 (w1)

  • Introduction of the course and syllabus
  • Lecture/Discussion: What is Advertising & Digital Design?
  • Lecture/Discussion: What is a Creative Brief?
  • Project #1: Brand Storytelling
  • Working in creative teams you will develop a narrative media campaign that includes an Out of Home Poster Campaign, Social Media, and TV and Online Video.
  • Deliverables:
  • – Static Media (billboard/transit/outdoor poster campaign)
  • – Long-form (TV or video)
  • – Branded Content (Digital Platforms and Social Media)
  • In-Class Workshop:
    – Team forming, decide a team name, and select a team captain
    – Each team will be given a brief randomly. Creative Brief Options
    – Collaborative learning framework: join Slack team channel, create Miro board, create one G drive team folder and team member subfolders
    – Start desk research and analyze the competitive landscape
  • Lecture/Discussion: Desk Research Fundamentals
  • In-Class Workshop/Homework:
    – Complete desk research
    – Complete competitive landscape analysis
    – Prepare a 5-minute mini-presentation: Cover, Team Intro (one thing that all team members have in common), Brand Fundamentals, Recent Brand Campaigns, Competitor Analysis (Point of Difference and Recent Campaigns). No more than 10 slides in total.
    – The best presentation will win the first team badge of the semester 🙂

Tue 09/06 | Wed 09/07 (w2)

  • 5-Minute Mini Presentation: Initial Research Findings
  • In-class Workshop:
    – Develop a creative brief for the chosen brand.
  • Lecture/Discussion: Emotional Branding
  • Lecture/Discussion: Pleasure With Products / Jobs-to-be-Done
  • In-class Workshop / Homework Assignment:
    – 100 MPH Creative Challenge
  • Homework Assignment
    – Discuss, review, and pick out three ideas to present next week
    – Prepare a 3-minute mini-presentation to share three big ideas, and one idea per team will be selected to move forward

Tue | Wed: 09/13 | 09/14 (w3)

  • 3-Minute Mini Presentation: The Big Idea Is…
  • Lecture/Discussion: Brand Archetypes
  • Lecture/Discussion: Writing the Idea
  • In-class Workshop / Homework Assignment:
    – Proposed taglines
    – Discuss with the professor and selected one to move forward as a team
    – Print campaign thumbnail sketches (minimum 3 per team member)

Tue 09/20 | Wed 09/21 (w4)

  • Team Review: Tagline and Print Campaign Sketches
  • Discussion: What is Art Direction?
    Lecture: Typography: The Voice of the Brand
  • Lecture: Color: The Feeling of the Brand
  • In-class Workshop
    – Moodboard development
    – Print campaign design starts
  • Homework Assignment:
    – Print campaign design digital first drafts

* Rosh Hashanah 09/26 and 09/27

Tue 10/04 | Wed 09/28 (w5)

  • A&DD BFA Curriculum Information
  • Team Review: Poster Designs (print out on 11×17 paper and post on pinup boards at the beginning of the session)
  • Lecture/Discussion: Communicating Your Brand Story (TV & Online Video Concept Boards)
  • In-class Workshop / Homework Assignment:
    – Time-based storytelling
    – Storyboard for time-based media (sketches, one per student)

Tue 10/11 | Wed 10/12 (w6)

  • Team Review: Time-based Storytelling
  • Guest Speaker (Art Director and Experience Designer)
  • In-class Workshop / Homework Assignment:
    – Storyboard for time-based media (digital, one per student)

Tue 10/18 | Wed 10/19 (w7)

  • Team Review: Final Designs and Presentation Preparations
  • In-class Workshop / Homework Assignment:
    – Refine poster designs
    – Refine storyboards for time-based media
    – Complete mid-term presentation

    Tue 10/25 | Wed 10/26 (w8)
  • Mid-term Presentation: Brand Storytelling
  • Lecture/Discussion: The Rise of Purpose-Driven Brands / Big IdeaL
  • Project #2: Branded Interaction
  • Each student team will develop one digital product concept to solve a consumer problem. Key screens and task flow will be developed to communicate the interaction and demonstrate its possible impact.
  • Deliverables:
  • – Product Description
  • – MVP Features
  • – Key Screens (minimum 6)
  • Homework:
    – Team forming and pick one purpose-driven brand for the team
    – Desk research for Project #2
    – Big IdeaL Statements (one per team member)

Tue 11/01 | Wed 11/02 (w9)

  • Lecture/Discussion: What Is Experience Design?
  • Lecture/Discussion: Empathy Interview Techniques
  • Design Thinking Exercise: The Wallet Project
  • Homework:
    – Empathy Interviews (minimum six per team)

Tue 11/08 | Wed 11/09 (w10)

  • Lecture/Discussion: Affinity Mapping
  • In-class Workshops: Affinity Map
  • Lecture/Discussion: Persona
  • In-class Workshops: Proto Persona First Draft + POV
  • Lecture/Discussion: HMW
  • In-class Workshops/Homework:
    – Ideation workshop

Tue 11/15 | Wed 11/16 (w11)

  • Lecture/Discussion: Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
  • In-class Workshop
    – Minimum Viable Product Worksheet
  • Lecture/Discussion: Wireframe
  • In-class Workshop
    – Wireframe sketches (at least 3 key screens per feature)
  • Lecture/Discussion: User Testing / Paper Prototyping
  • In-class Workshop / Homework:
    – Complete wireframe sketches
    – User feedback (minimum three per feature)
    – Revise wireframe sketches based on feedback

Tue 11/22 | Wed 11/23 (w12)

  • Lecture/Discussion: UI Design Fundamentals
  • Lecture/Discussion: Digital Wireframe
  • In-class Workshop:
    – Digital Wire First Drafts
    – User feedback (minimum three per feature)
    – Revise digital wireframe based on feedback

Tue 11/29 | Wed 11/30 (w13)

  • Team review
  • In-class Workshop/Homework:
    – Moodboard
    – UI Design

Tue 12/06 | Wed 12/07 (w14)

  • Team review
  • In-class Workshop/Homework:
    – UI Design

Tue 12/13 | Wed 12/14 (w15)

  • Final Presentation: Branded Interaction
  • All project files upload to Google Drive for final grading

Attendance Policy

Attendance is not optional. If you are going to miss a class, you must contact me via email ASAP. Due to the quantity of material covered in the course, I will not be able to spend class time explaining missed assignments or redo lectures. If a class is missed, it is your responsibility to get information regarding missed assignments and lectures from one of your classmates.

  1. Students are required to attend all classes, be on time, and remain for the entire class.
  2. Students who miss three classes will receive a grade of “F.”
  3. The student who arrives 10 minutes after the start of the class will be considered late
  4. 2 late occurrences = one absence
  5. A student who arrives over 30 minutes late or does not return from the break will be considered absent from the class
  6. Working on projects for another class or using digital devices for socializing (texting, social media…etc.) or gaming during class time will be recorded as an absence
  7. An excused absence is still recorded as an absence. The difference is an excused absence won’t impact your grade for professionalism and class participation.

Grading

  • Professionalism, Teamwork, and Class Participation: 40%
  • Project 1 / Poster Campaign: 15%
  • Project 1 / TV/Online Video: 15%
  • Project 2 / UX and Product Concept: 15%
  • Project 2 / UI and Visual Presentation 15%
  • (A: 91% or above, B: 90% – 71%, C: 70% – 61%, D: 60% – 51%, F: 50% or below)

Uploading Files for Final Grades

  • AD217 103
  • AD217 104
    * keep all project and process files and upload them before the semester is over for final grading.

Department Policy on Plagiarism

Plagiarism and other forms of academic deception are unacceptable. Each instance of plagiarism is distinct. A plagiarism violation is an automatic justification for an “F” on that assignment and/or an “F” for the course. A student found in violation of FIT’s Code of Conduct and deemed to receive an “F” for a course may not withdraw from the course prior to final grade assignments.

FIT Student Code of Conduct
Student Disability Services
Academic Honesty and Integrity Policy
FIT’s Course Withdrawal Policy 
Children on campus policy
FIT-ABLE 
Academic Advisement Center 
FIT Writing & Speaking Studio
FIT Counseling Services
Academic Skills Tutoring Center
Dean of Students Office
Technical Support for Blackboard with Open SUNY Help Desk

Additional Course Information:
Credits/Hours: 2/3
Grade appeal process: http://www.fitnyc.edu/registrar/grades/appeal.php for more information.
Library Resources: FIT Library Databases
Academic Advisement Center: http://www.fitnyc.edu/academic-advisement/index.php
Technical Requirements: High-speed internet and Adobe CC
Textbooks and Required Materials: Lecture slides will be provided every week after class,