The core of the Digital Media Design program is rooted in design, and there are several design classes every week for the entire two years. Students also study traditional and digital illustration. Below are examples of a second year design/illustration assignment where students had to make a poster of their favourite movie, TV show, band, or video game.
Ever wonder who designs and builds the graphics for video games? It could be you. Below are samples of some recent work from students in the 3DCG program who had previously taken Digital Media Design.
The Digital Media Design program teaches motion graphic design, which nicely complements many of the other skill sets taught in the program: graphic design, 3D animation, DSLR video, photography, and web design. Below an example of a motion graphic assignment, which tasked the students to illustrate and animate a simple fact.
Here is another student motion graphic sample. The assignment was to create a 10 second motion graphic that starts and ends with a square. What they did in the middle was up to them. Students were told to focus on using simple shapes, great design, and audio/video synergy to create a compelling motion graphic.
In DMD, we teach DSLR cinematography: you’ll learn camera settings, composition, lighting and audio. Here are some samples of students integrating motion graphics into their video production. The goal here was to focus on composition, movement, natural light, colour correction, and designing motion tracked graphics. Once students have mastered basic camera and lighting, we move on to advanced digital filmmaking techniques with a focus on storytelling.
User experience, or UX for short, refers to how a person interacts with a company or brand. This includes interactions with websites, mobile apps, social media, as well as actual face-to-face interaction.
In DMD, we teach the key principles of designing a great user experience. We also teach about responsive web design, or designing for an equally great user experience across a wide range of devices (mobile, tablets, desktops, etc).
Here are two terrific demo reels from two Digital Media Design students. The first one is from a 3D major, and the second is from a Video and Motion Graphics major. Which one appeals to you?
The goal of this assignment was to learn how to create realistic lighting and materials in 3D. Students used their camera and composition skills to try to replicate prime lens photography with plenty of depth of field. This was accomplished with Maya and Mental Ray.
Web design and development is one of the most sought after skill sets right now. In DMD, you’ll learn how to design and build a website from scratch using Photoshop and Sketch (to design) and HTML and CSS (to build). You’ll also learn how build websites using WordPress, the world’s most popular content management system. There is a shortage of people in the industry with great design skills AND great technical skills. Our goal in DMD is to teach you both.
Here is a 3D commercial product rendering from one of the second year 3D Computer Graphics majors. The objective was to go beyond the typical turntable and show off the highly detailed modeling, texturing, and lighting through closeups, multiple camera moves, and cross fades.
There is more and more demand for video production as seemingly everyone wants a video produced for their website or social media feed. Often these videos are story-based documentary-style profiles. In the video and motion graphics major, you will learn the art of storytelling as well as the technical aspects of filmmaking: shooting, lighting, audio, editing, and colour correction. Here are some sample videos produced by DMD students: