Desktop and web publishing degree overview

Desktop and web publishers use specialized computer software to lay out material for print and web publication. They are the architects of newspapers, magazines, books, directories, brochures, newsletters, and other media. Their tasks lie in the areas of design, setup, text, images, file preparation, and printing.

Students of desktop and web publishing – often referred to as ‘DTP’– take courses that prepare them for this role. They learn the processes of reviewing, editing, and arranging text, graphics, and other material created by writers and designers. They become skilled in importing text and graphics into publishing software and integrating them into cohesive pages. They come to understand the important nuances of font style, font size, spacing, and background color. Like students of architecture, they learn that form can follow function and also be pleasing to the eye.

Diploma in Desktop and Web Publishing – Four to Six Month Duration
Diploma programs in desktop and web publishing provide students with the fundamental creative and technical knowledge and skills required to produce digital files for their own purposes, or to qualify for some entry-level positions in the field. Due to their relatively short duration, these programs are very focused. They normally do not incorporate courses in general education or other fields of art and design.

Here is a snapshot of the typical diploma program in desktop and web publishing:

• General Concepts of Desktop and Web Publishing – desktop and web publishing terminology, the difference between designing for print and designing for the web, DTP supplies and equipment, types of DTP software
• Fonts and How to Use Them – font terminology: open type, true type, and postscript fonts, web-safe fonts, choosing fonts and composing text, web design typography
• Design and Images – the art and science of graphics, working with TIFF (tagged image file format) files, which are significantly larger than JPEGs, choosing the best image formats for different purposes, adding images to web pages, HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language – a computer language devised to allow website creation)
• Prepress (also known as File Preparation) and Printing – concepts and procedures related to preparing a file for print, the type of printing used in desktop and web publishing, the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, key/black) color model, color separations in commercial printing, types of printing proofs, commercial printers
• Rules of Desktop Publishing – the standardized processes of DTP for print and the web, limiting the font types used, the less-is-more principle in typographic design, justified text (spacing text so the left and right sides of the text block have a clean edge), choosing the right fonts when using all caps
• How a Desktop Publishing Document is Created – the graphic design process, optimizing the user experience, file preparation, text compositions for print and the web, preparing digital files for print, sheet-fed presses (feed individual sheets of paper) versus web presses (feed off a large roll of paper)

Advertising
Degree programs in advertising are made up of courses that demonstrate how to develop a brand and communicate it through the various advertising channels of print, television, radio, and online media.

Animation
Animators are artists. Their art is producing images or ‘frames’ that when combined in sequence create an illusion of movement called ‘animation.’ Degree programs in the field teach students how to use animation software and hardware to create characters and stories for the motion picture, television, and video game industries. Typical components of the curriculum include two-dimensional and three-dimensional art and animation, storyboarding, life/human and background drawing, layout, and digital painting.

Commercial Art
Degree programs in the commercial art prepare students to work as commercial artists – artists who appreciate business as much as art, who use their talents to create art for branding, marketing, advertising, and selling. Components of the curriculum include drawing, photography, color theory, design composition and layout, and typography.

Computer Graphics
This degree field teaches students how to develop graphics software. Coursework includes drawing, graphic design, digital modeling, multimedia applications, and software engineering.

Graphic Design
The goal of graphic design is to produce visual concepts to communicate messages. The discipline uses layout, color, and other creative concepts to design logos and branding packages that inspire and captivate consumers.

While earning their degree, students of desktop and web publishing gain skills that are valued in the world at large. They learn to:

• be creative and to appreciate creativity, art, and design
• develop spatial reasoning
• look at the world through many different lenses
• develop and express their own style
• understand that everyone has a different viewpoint
• observe and pay attention to details
• look for ways to improve their work
• accept and use criticism
• be courageous in proposing sometimes bold and daring ideas
• collaborate and work in teams
• interpret data concerning consumer psychology and behavior
• use and learn creative and publishing software
• be organized project managers, able to work to deadlines
• be entrepreneurial and effective negotiators
• use computers, printers, scanners, and other technologies

Here is a snapshot of the fields in which desktop and web publishers primarily work, either as salaried employees or freelancers.

About a third of all desktop and web publishers in the US work for or with companies that publish and print:

• Newspapers
• Periodicals / Magazines
• Books / E-Books
• Directories
• Calendars
• Catalogs
• Greeting cards
• Maps
• Other works