Week 01 | Course Orientation / Intro to Print

Monday :: 09.29.2025

Welcome	Course Introduction and Welcome
Lecture	File Management, Naming & Archiving
Exercise	Print Specification Research
Resources	Class Notes: File Management, Naming & Archiving Exercise: 01 Print Specification Research

Wednesday :: 10.01.2025 | 4/225

Lecture	Introduction to Printing Machines: Types of printing, use, features & limitations. Defining Preflight and Responsibilities: The Designer, the Customer Service Representative, & the Prepress Operator.
Lab	Job Production Role Play
Video	Printing & Finishing (London College of Communication)
Resources	Class Notes: Printing Techniques & Processes Class Notes: Defining Preflight & Responsibilities Lab: Job Production Role Play

Week 02 | Page Geometry / Imposition

Monday :: 10.06.2025

Lecture	Page Geometry: Introduction, vocabulary, layout areas, important decimal values, and brochure folds.
Demo	Practice with Page Geometry & Precision Guides
Exercise	Creating Templates for Common Brochure Folds
Resources	Class Notes: Document Setup, Pages, & Imposition Class Notes: Page Geometry Terms Exercise: 02 Creating Templates for Common Brochure Folds

Wednesday :: 10.08.2025

Due	Creating Templates for Common Brochure Folds Exercise Print Specification Research Exercise (01)
Project	Introduction to Calendar Design & Production Project
Lecture	Imposition: Converting reader's spreads to printer's spreads, and setting up multiple-up pages for digital printing.
Lab Exercise	Creating Printer Spreads with PDF
Exercise	Layout Resizing for Multiple Publications
Resources	Project: Calendar Design & Production Project Exercise: 03 Creating Printer Spreads with PDF Exercise: 04 Layout Resizing for Multiple Publications

Week 03 | Vector Artwork

Monday :: 10.13.2025

Due	Layout Resizing for Multiple Publications Exercise
Lecture	Troubleshooting Vector Art: Transparency, points, working with type, auto-trace & formats.
Lab Exercise	Illustrator Raster Effects Stress Test
Video	The Adobe Illustrator Story
Resources	Class Notes: Troubleshooting Vector Artwork Exercise: 05 Illustrator Raster Effects Stress Test

Wednesday :: 10.15.2025

Due	Initial Version of Calendar Design & Production Project Print Specification Research Exercise (02)
Critique	Calendar Design & Production Project
Lecture	Preparing Vector Logos for Print Production
Lab Exercise	Preparing Vector Artwork
Resources	Slides: Preparing Logos for Print Production Slides Exercise: 06 Preparing Vector Artwork

Week 04 | Raster artwork / Document Preflight

Monday :: 10.20.2025

Lecture	Troubleshooting Raster Art: Transparency, effective resolution, color space, up-sampling artwork, rich blacks, & file formats.
Lab Exercise	Preparing Raster Artwork
Resources	Class Notes: Troubleshooting Raster Artwork Exercise: 07 Preparing Raster Artwork

Wednesday :: 10.22.2025

Due	Print Specification Research Exercise (03) Final Version of Calendar Design & Production Project
Demo	Creating Mock-ups in Photoshop
Lab Exercise	Document Preflight
Resources	Exercise: 08 Document Preflight

Week 05 | Exam / field Trip

Monday :: 10.27.2025

Due	Print Specification Research Exercise (04)
Exam	Over all course class demonstrations, projects, labs, and exercise assignments.
Preflight	Preflight of Calendar Design & Production
Project	Introduction to Brand Guide Project
Resources	Project: Introduction & Personality for Brand Guide Project

Wednesday :: 10.29.2025

Field Trip	To Select Impressions (North Salem)
Print Production	Calendar Design & Production at Select Impressions

Week 06 | Color

Monday :: 11.03.2025

Lecture	Color for Offset Printing Understanding color separations, overprinting, & knockouts.
Lab Exercise	CMYK Color Matching
Resources	Class Notes: Color for Offset Printing Exercise: 09 CMYK Color Matching

Wednesday :: 11.05.2025

Due	Introduction & Personality Component of Brand Guide Project
Project	Logo Component of Brand Guide Project
Lecture	Introduction to Color Management and LAB
Demo	Working with ICC Profiles & Color Calibration of Monitors
Lab Exercise	Working with Color Space Profile Conversion
Resources	Class Notes: Introduction to Color Management and LAB Project: Logo Component for Brand Guides Project Exercise: 10 Working with Color Space Profile Conversion

Week 07 | Color Correction

Monday :: 11.10.2025

Discussion	Winter Term Group Advising
Lecture	Introduction to Color Correction Working with Curves in Photoshop
Lab Exercise	Basic Color Correction with Curves
Resources	Class Notes: Color Correction for Photography Exercise: 11 Basic Color Correction with Curves

Wednesday :: 11.12.2025

Demo	Preparing a Logo Package
Lecture	Numeric RGB Color Correction
Exercise	Color Correction by the Numbers
Resources	Exercise: 12 Color Correction by the Numbers

Week 08 | Adobe Camera Raw / Adobe PDF

Monday :: 11.17.2025

Due	Logo Component of Brand Guide Project Color Correction by the Numbers Exercise
Project	Typography Component of Brand Guide Project
Demo	Processing Photos with Adobe Camera Raw
Lecture	An in-depth look at PDFs: History, versions, current use, features, & applications.
Resources	Class Notes: Portable Document Format (PDF) Project: Typography Component of Brand Guide Project

Wednesday :: 11.19.2025 | No Class — VC225 Field Trip

Field Trip

VC225 Layout 2 Field Trip to the Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC)

Week 09 | Adobe PDF

Monday :: 11.24.2025

Due	Typography Component of Brand Guide Project
Lecture	Creating PDFs: Types, Methods, Presets & Options. Introduction to the PDF/X Specification
Demo	Advanced PDF Creation with Acrobat Distiller Creating Fillable PDF Forms in InDesign Using Adobe Acrobat Pro: Proofing, preflight and document properties.
Project	Color & Production Component of Brand Guide Project
Resources	Project: Color & Production Component of Brand Guide Project

Wednesday :: 11.26.2025

Lab	Open lab time to work on Brand Guide Project

Week 10 | Preflight & Packaging

Monday :: 12.01.2025

Lecture	Working with the Preflight Panel & Packaging in InDesign Creating Preflight Profiles in InDesign
Lab Exercise	Document Preflight Revisited
Lab	Open lab time to work on Brand Guide Project

Wednesday :: 12.03.2025

Due	Draft Version of Brand Guide Booklet
Critique	Draft Version of Brand Guide Booklet
Exam	Over all course class demonstrations, projects, labs, and homework assignments.

Week 11 | Finals Week

Wednesday :: 12.10.2025

Due	Color & Production Component of Brand Guide Project (by 2:00 PM)