Southern Utah University

Course Syllabus

Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Fall Semester 2025

Digital Design (Online)

COMM 3080-30I

Course: COMM 3080-30I
Credits: 3
Term: Fall Semester 2025
Department: COMM
CRN: 32034

Course Description

What is a good layout design? How do people actually use these designs? How do you (as a marketing professional or graphic designer) make a design to be marketable rather than only beautiful? This course will answer these questions and teach you how to design, test, and promote different types of layout design. This course develops knowledge and skills related to creating, testing, and evaluating different types of layout design for real clients.  The course takes a hands-on approach to learn basic visual design principles and the use of certain Adobe software(s). (Fall) [Graded (Standard Letter)] Prerequisite(s): COMM 1450 - Prerequisite Min. Grade: D- 

Required Texts

In order to access the Adobe suite, navigate to the following link: https://my.suu.edu/it/adobe-opt-in  (https://my.suu.edu/it/adobe-opt-in) and select the option that is most applicable to you. You must opt-in every semester.

The license will grant you access to download the selected products on two computers of your choice.

When signing in to labs and classrooms, these sign-ins will not count against your licensing.

Learning Outcomes

Student who successfully complete this course will:
  • Be able to make various visual design works for practical use.
  • Understand graphic design principles.
  • Create webpages by using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Dreamweaver.
  • Create visual content by using Adobe Indesign.
  • Post editing multiple pictures by using Adobe Photoshop 

Course Requirements

Please do not publish any of your assignments from this class on Internet and other public media platform(s) without all of the necessary permission(s).

Visual Communication Research Lab at Southern Utah University wants to create certain design works for promoting this lab to the students, faculty members, and local business know our Visual Communication Research Lab.
If you want to do the following design works for the other organizations, please let me know. I need to review your design project plan. If I approve your design project plan, you can do your design assignment(s) for the other organizations.

1. Logo & Sticker Design (15% of final grade): Logo & Sticker design is a small size design work. People may put stickers on their water bottle, car, laptop, cellphone...For this type of design, it may not be a good idea to use complicated visual elements and add too many colors. Please think about how to make your Logo & sticker design as simple as possible, but it still can catch people's attention and represent the organization. 
Also, if people want to make multiple copies, you should consider the cost for making your design to be a real product. There is no format requirement and limitation for this design assignment, please be creative.

2. Recruitment Poster Design (15% of final grade): On our campus, you always can find some posters are placed in front or inside of library or other buildings with different purposes such as promoting an activity, selling a product, and voting for a person. For this design assignment, please think about how to
Catch people's visual attention immediately
Show the activities and highlight important information 
Include contact information
 
3. Tri-fold Brochure Design (15% of final grade):This design assignment  involves designing and creating a trifold brochure for organization. The purpose of this brochure is to give viewers detailed introductions about the organization and coming events by using photos, text and illustrations.

4. Website Design Project (can be a team work) (20% of final grade):For this website design project is more like a basic website design practices by only using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Dreamweaver. Please do not use the online server such as Wordpress, Wix, Canva...to complete this assignment. Your website design by using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Dreamweaver may not look as "Fancy" as using the online server. However, to me, it is a necessary training for website designer and allows you to have more flexibilities to create your own design work.

5. Online Discussions (5% of final grade): Our Online Discussions are mainly used to introduce our class members and conduct peer-review the design assignments. Please join. 

6. Class Practices (15% of final grade): We will have some practices to make sure you understand the class content.

7. Image post production (5% of final grade): You will be asked to use Adobe Camera Raw or Adobe Lightroom Classic to edit different pictures for the graphic design purpose.

8. Re-design Visual Communication Research Lab information sheet (10% of final grade): Visual Communication Research Lab currently has a very basic written introduction about its location, sections, and functions. Our class will work on the visual design part of this introduction a class assignment.

Course Outline

Week 1 (08/27/2025-08/31/2025): Get access to Adobe software(s); Visual elements part 1
Week2 (09/01/2025-09/07/2025): Visual elements part 2; Software Learning: Set up different types of size
Week 3 (09/08/2025-09/14/2025): Brand Associations; Virtual Tour for the Visual Communication Research Lab at Southern Utah University; Software Learning: Insert texts and images
Week 4 (09/15/2025-09/21/2025): Color theory; Software Learning: Layer and layer mask in Photoshop
Week 5 (09/22/2025-09/28/2025): Visual Noise
Week 6 (09/29/2025-10/05/2025): Introduction to Typography
Week 7 (10/06/2025-10/12/2025): Art Movements in Graphic Design
Week 8 (10/13/2025-10/19/2025): First Law of Web usability, Website design assignment requirement
Week 9 (10/20/2025-10/26/2025): Web design part 1
Week 10 (10/27/2025-11/02/2025): Web design part 2
Week 11 (11/03/2025-11/09/2025): Software Learning: Tutorial video for using Adobe Dreamweaver
Week 12 (11/10/2025-11/16/2025): Introduction of Website Usability 
Week 13 (11/17/2025-11/23/2025): Fit to print
Week 14 (11/24/2025-11/30/2025): Enjoy your Thanksgiving Break!
Week 15 (12/01/2025-12/07/2025): Use of eye tracking in research and business, Some readings about eye behaviors of website users
Week 16 (12/08/2025-12/11/2025): Q & A

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

For each assignment, please submit it before deadline as your first submission. You will get an initial grade and detailed feedbacks based on your first submission. By using my feedbacks, you can modify your assignment and re-submit it until the last day of the semester (12/11/2025). Your latest version of this assignment will be graded by the end of this semester (12/11/2025) as the final grade for this assignment.

Attendance Policy

For our class, attendance is measured by your class participation on Canvas. If you are ill or instructed to isolate or quarantine, the evidence of your illness or other status may be required. Please vigilantly monitor your health. If you wake up felling sick, please notify me by email (lijiezhou@suu.edu). I will figure out a way to help you for understanding our class content on a case-by-case basis.

Class assignments

For letting students understand the practical use of design and analysis skills in the real world business, the class may work with organization(s) to create some class assignments. These class assignments can not be used or/and published outside of this class without all of the necessary permission(s) from both student(s) and the organization(s).

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.