All design courses are taught in English language
Graphic Design I - 6 CREDITS -
The class will focus on basic graphic design principles and projects will be implemented through Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. Students will work on basic design studies, layout organization and proportions. Together with the practical lessons there will be a focus on basic design principles and analysis of design project that can be taken as references. Each assignment will be followed by group critiques that will help to evaluate the projects.
Sketching - 6 CREDITS -
The course will introduce students to the fundaments of drawing, by exploring different approaches and techniques. Included activities will be outdoor sketching on several locations in Florence and practicing at the museums. Each lesson will have a theoretic part with examples slides and demos, as well as a practical part with exercises. The focus will be on interior, industrial and on graphic design. The goal of this course is to provide the students the appropriated tools in order to be able to express their own ideas and concepts on paper. The teaching consists on a learning-by-doing method with increasing difficulty to cover different tasks and different levels of accomplishment. . The instructor will always be at hand for further advices, coaching and guiding students through their projects. A Projector with camera is also available for Video tutorials and live-sketching demonstrations. For the evaluation of each single student a mid-term project and an end-of-the term project will be requested to presented in class with individual and group critiques. the course heavily focuses on developing fundamental skills. No previous drawing experience is demanded, classes are held in English. The main tasks are learning how “to see” better by practicing observational drawing,getting to know the importance of perspective and how to apply it to your design.
Advertising and visual communication - 6 CREDITS -
The class will focus on the analysis of communication and advertising through different media. The students will first understand what advertising is and is meant for, then a working method will be defined and suggested, starting from simple questions in order to sort out creative ideas and find a way to transform them into advertising concepts that works. Each assignment will be followed by group critiques that will help to evaluate the projects.
Art History I - 6 CREDITS -
The course wants to provide the basic tools to understand the meanings of design, in order to create in the students a critical skill and a sensibility necessary to assess the role of design today. The study of design, its development and change thorough the centuries, is a useful way both to explore the past and to make sense of the visual communication of modern life. The course will cover the history of design from its origin during the second half of the 19th century, with the analysis of art movements such as Art Nouveau, the Vienna Secession, Catalan Modernism (and its main protagonists, Alfonse Mucha, Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser, Antoni Gaudi), passing through the revolutions brought by the school of Bauhaus and the Modern Movement during the the first half of the 20th century, and will then reach the contemporary age and personalities that are “moulding" the 21st century design: Philip Stark, Ross Lovegrove, Thomas Heatherwick, Zaha Hadid and others. The students will be able to understand the past in order to shape the present, in graphic, industrial and interior design.
3D Graphic Design - 6 CREDITS -
The course will provide students with no starting knowledge enough skills to use Autodesk 3d Studio Max as a professional user, to add photorealistic rendering as tool to express their projects. Students will learn how to navigate through the interface of the software and how to use all different file manager options. Course will be subdivided then in three main areas, which are modeling, materials and rendering. Modeling techniques will include use of standard and extended primitives as well as other parametric objects. Then we will study how to use splines and how to integrate cad drawings inside this 3d software. Modeling includes also very specific tools like modifiers and Boolean operations. Last area to explore into modeling will be how to use editable poly in a designer workflow. Materials is the topic that will give the student the ability to give 3d models the look he has imagined, exploring several parameters and techniques like UVW mapping to reach a photorealistic aspect. In the rendering part of the course we will explore everything related to “take a picture” of previously created 3d models. Students will learn how to set lights in a virtual environment, to simulate both artificial and natural conditions. They will learn how to properly set cameras inside a project and all those complex parameters that will involve final creation a rendered image ready for a professional presentation. During the course, exercises will be given to the students according to their design field. After seven weeks there will be a mid-term exam to check overall level of each class. This course will also have a final project to be developed individually related to the student design field.
Web Design - 6 CREDITS -
Today having an online presence is mandatory for any company or professional. Being able to create portfolio websites/blogs/e-commerce websites is a very handy skill for any designer whether self-employed or part of a bigger team. Web Publishing course is designed to provide students with a basic set of tools required to create and independently hosted website of low/medium complexity with the help of world’s most popular web platform - WordPress. 2. CONTENT INTRODUCTION After a brief introduction to basic concepts and terminology of World Wide Web, student will start the hands-on class exercises. WordPress platform will be covered gradually in all of its aspects: content types and thier management, appearance customization, website navigation and internal linking etc. Students will be introduced to some of the most powerful WordPress plugins that will help to create more complex page layouts, improve website security, optimize performance, integrate Social Media, improve SEO and more. While working on independent and team projects students will be able to implement their newly acquired skills, share ideas and create ready-to-publish websites.
Exhibitions I - 6 CREDITS -
Teachers and students will organize exhibitions of student's projects at the end of every semester
Italian Language I- 6 CREDITS -
The course is designed for absolute beginner students and is aimed at developing basic communication skills. A communicative approach will be used. The course will be in Italian. Students will improve the four skills of language learning: reading, writing, listening and speaking. At the end of the course students should be able to understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type; introduce themselves and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where they live, people they know and things they have; interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help. Grammatical content such as the present tense, the definite and indefinite articles, singular/plural, the demonstrative and possessive adjectives and the prepositions are studied.
Graphic Design II - 6 CREDITS -
At this level, the student should be familiar with the basics of the softwares and design. This class will introduce him/her to professional issues about graphic design and orient him/her in the work field. The student will be trained to work professionally from the ideation of a project to the final execution and printing. As well as the tips about software, this class will help the students to develop a solid awareness of the most important aspects of visual design. Each assignment will be followed by group critiques that will help to evaluate the projects.
Art History II - 6 CREDITS -
The course wants to provide the basic tools to understand the meanings of design, in order to create in the students a critical skill and a sensibility necessary to assess the role of design today. The study of design, its development and change thorough the centuries, is a useful way both to explore the past and to make sense of the visual communication of modern life. The course will cover the history of design from its origin during the second half of the 19th century, with the analysis of art movements such as Art Nouveau, the Vienna Secession, Catalan Modernism (and its main protagonists, Alfonse Mucha, Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser, Antoni Gaudi), passing through the revolutions brought by the school of Bauhaus and the Modern Movement during the the first half of the 20th century, and will then reach the contemporary age and personalities that are “moulding" the 21st century design: Philip Stark, Ross Lovegrove, Thomas Heatherwick, Zaha Hadid and others. The students will be able to understand the past in order to shape the present, in graphic, industrial and interior design.
CAD - 6 CREDITS -
The course will provide students with no starting knowledge enough skills to use Autodesk Autocad as a professional user, to add technical drawing as tool to express their projects. Students will learn how to navigate through the interface of the software and how to use all different file manager options as well as mouse and keyboard shortcuts. Two-dimensional drawing is the foundation of this course. Students will start learning how to use simple tools like LINE, POLYLINE, CIRCLE, RECTANGLE. Then tools and techniques will become more complex and deeper adding operators like COPY, MIRROR, TRIM, EXTEND, MOVE ROTATE and many others. After developing good technical skills this course will drive students to use such commands to create layouts . As a professional way to present a project, students will also learn how to properly set and use all printing options to create drawings that will result: detailed, readable and in scale. During the course, exercises will be given to the students according to their design field. After seven weeks there will be a mid-term exam to check overall level of each class. This course will also have a final project to be developed individually related to the student design field.
Italian Language II - 6 CREDITS -
The course is designed for waystage or elementary students and is aimed at improving basic communicative skills. A communicative approach will be used. The course will be in Italian. Students will improve the four skills of language learning: reading, writing, listening and speaking. At the end of the course the student should start being able to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment); communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters; describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need. Grammatical content such as the present continuous, the “passato prossimo” tense, the future tense and the pronouns are studied.
Portfolio Projects - 6 CREDITS -
The Portfolio is a professional tool indispensable for career advancement of any designer. It is required to get clients or jobs, to attend special workshops, internships and residencies. In this course, students will acquire all necessary skills necessary to create an efficient, professional and attractive portfolio. This course combines explanations and discussion with hands-on exercises and projects both in classroom and home. The theoretical part consists of learning how process of hiring works, what companies are looking for in applicant’s resume and portfolio. Students will learn best practices of resume writing and portfolio design; multiple examples of student and professional resumes and portfolios will be discussed in class. Graphic design and print production processes will be explained and put in practice. Projects and examples will come in such an order that will permit students to gradually learn the most important
Exhibitions II - 6 CREDITS -
Teachers and students will organize exhibitions of student's projects at the end of every semester
*Program may be subject to change in any moment (updated on the 17/09/2019)
Typography - 6 CREDITS -
The lessons of typography are based on the study of visual identity and on how typography and letterform contribute to the formation of the graphic language. Typography is the art of designing with types and includes the design of typeface, size, composition, and page layout. This course teaches the principles of typography and its important and fundamental importance in graphics design.
Advertising and Visual Communication II - 6 CREDITS -
The class will focus on the analysis of communication and advertising through different media. The students will first understand what advertising is and is meant for, then a working method will be defined and suggested, starting from simple questions in order to sort out creative ideas and find a way to transform them into advertising concepts that works. Each assignment will be followed by group critiques that will help to evaluate the projects.
3D Graphic II - 6 CREDITS -
The course will provide students with previous knowledge enough skills to use Autodesk 3d Studio Max as a professional user, to add photorealistic rendering as tool to express their projects. Course can be considered both a natural continuation of 3D 1 as well a course that students with their 3d previous background can easily follow. Course will still explore three main areas, which are modeling, materials and rendering. Modeling techniques studied will include high end tools like GRAPHITE TOOLS, COMPOUND OBJECTS, complex interpolation of modifiers, sculpting tool, cloth simulation. Materials will be studied in depth, understanding several additional parameters and complex operations inside the slate material editor. As additional material examples students will explore Corona Render materials. Rendering will be explored, first as comprehensive review of all light parameters and also students will start exploring infinite possibilities of animation and dynamic simulations. During the course, exercises will be given to the students according to their design field. After seven weeks there will be a mid-term exam to check overall level of each class. This course will also have a final project to be developed individually related to the student design field.
Industrial Design- 6 CREDITS -
This course will be composed of two parts which are theoretical part and its practical application. In the first part the students will get the knowledge of basic design concepts that will help them to pass from 2D sketched ideas to a 3D product thus making their designs functional, user friendly and aesthetically appealing using the main principles of composition such as harmony or contrast, dominance or recessiveness, repetition and transparency. In the practical part of the course the students will be asked to develop their own products and will learn the basics of market research, idea and concept generation, usage of scenarios and presentation and basic model making.
Italiano III - 6 CREDITS -
The course is designed for waystage students and is aimed at developing more complex communication skills. A communicative approach will be used. The course will be in Italian. Students will improve the four skills of language learning: reading, writing, listening and speaking. At the end of the course the student should be able to understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure; deal with most situations likely to arise while traveling in an area where the language is spoken; produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest; describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans. Grammatical content such as the “imperfetto” tense, the conditional and the pronouns are studied.
Exhibitions III - 6 CREDITS -
Teachers and students will organize exhibitions of student's projects at the end of every semester
Photography - 6 CREDITS -
The course will provide students with no starting knowledge enough skills to use Photography from the perspective of a designer. Students will go to through a path that will include both theoretical and practical aspects of photography. After a brief historical introduction, students will start learning principles of the physic behind a photographic image. We will explore then all camera aspects that will give each image a certain look. Main topics will be EXPOSURE, APERTURE, SHUTTER SPEED, ISO LEVEL with all their values and effects on final creation of the image. During this course there will be several practice sessions in order to fix concepts explained during each lecture. After developing a deep feeling with the camera as tool to take pictures students will explore language of photography so that they will better understand how to properly use the camera when shooting a portrait, a landscape or a still life subject. During the course, exercises will be given to the students to be developed during each week. This course will also have a final project where each student, individually, will show how deep is his knowledge on all topics discussed during the semester.
Decoration - 6 CREDITS -
This foundation course introduces the fundamentals of design and decorating necessary to create a decorating project. The course introduces the student to color theory, design styles, textiles and basic industry terminology. With the aid of a course project, students follow the order of a real life project, necessary to reinforce the skills taught throughout the course. Students learn how to communicate their design ideas thru different design boards. They then learn to space plan and to create an effective furniture layout, a basic tool of interior decorating. Finally they learn how to select the appropriate furniture, colors and materials needed to finish their projects. At the end students present their projects by using effective presentation skills
Italiano IV - 6 CREDITS -
The course is designed for waystage students and is aimed at developing more complex communication skills. A communicative approach will be used. The course will be in Italian. Students will improve the four skills of language learning: reading, writing, listening and speaking. At the end of the course the student should be able to understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure; deal with most situations likely to arise while traveling in an area where the language is spoken; produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest; describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans. Grammatical content such as the “imperfetto” tense, the conditional and the pronouns are studied.
Management and Business Administration - 6 CREDITS -
The course is designed for students who have never studied economic topics before and offers an introduction to the field of Management with particular attention to the start-up phases of a professional company operating in the Design sector. This then acts as a general basis and foundation on which more focused and concentrated studies can be developed. We want to bring to the students an awareness of what managers do and why their activities are critical to the success of their business. The course will include lectures, class discussions and case studies. We will start introducing the definitions of Business, Needs and Resources. We will describe the Capital Structure and the most common forms of Business Organization used by Design Studios, trying to understand the advantages and disadvantages for each form. The next topic will be Cost Classification: we will study the definition of Cost and the elements of cost for a Business. We will then focus on Taxation, studying its principles and introducing Income, Payroll and Local Taxes, and the most important tax deductions for a Designer. An important part of the semester will be dedicated to Value Added, VAT and VAT registration. At the end of the semester the students should be able use their awareness, overview and understanding of the basic principles of management to evaluate concrete organizational scenarios, management dilemmas and decisions.
Eco Design/Sustainable design - 6 CREDITS -
This course explains how materials and building components impact the planet and suggests solutions to limit urban pollution and energy consumption through the correct use of materials, the implementation of renewable energy systems, and a “0” miles approach. The course will analyze specific case studies and go deeper into two particular areas: sustainable products and sustainable architectural spaces. Students will first study product sustainability, learning how to use the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool and becoming familiar with the Leader in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and Cradle to Cradle certification systems. They will realize an individual project that requires them to test the performance and durability of a specific material in certain given conditions. Students will then further develop their understanding of sustainability in architectural space by realizing a group project that requires them to develop a residential unit from the concept stage through the executive design illustrating the structure, materials selection process, light layout, and rendering the visualization simulating both daylight and artificial light scenarios. The aim of this course is to raise the environmental awareness of each student and to develop their sensitivity towards preserving quality of life and the
Exhibitions IV - 6 CREDITS -
Teachers and students will organize exhibitions of student's projects at the end of every semester
*Program may be subject to change in any moment (updated on the 17/09/2019)
Graphic Design III - 6 CREDITS -
The class will focus on graphic design principles and will guide the students thru workshops to improve their skills about visual design. After an analysis by the teacher, every assignment will challenge the students to develop their own design language thru the most important stages of a project, from brainstorming to final details. Each assignment will be followed by group critiques that will help to evaluate the projects.
3D Graphics and Rendering III - 6 CREDITS -
The course will provide students with previous knowledge enough skills to use Autodesk 3d Studio Max at its best. Course can be considered a way to integrate all 3d studio max tools into specific projects Course will be based mainly on exercises to be developed both in class and at home. All exercises will explore specific 3d studio topics. Students will learn how to use dynamic objects, to create complex relationships between objects. An important part of this class is to give the student the possibility to easily integrate several softwares into the 3d studio workflow, like Adobe Photoshop integration. It will be explored a particular technique called “rigging” to create movable objects or characters. It will be lastly explained how to use GPU based rendering as active shade or real time production. During the course, exercises will be given to the students according to their design field. After seven weeks there will be a mid-term exam to check overall level of each class. This course will also have a final project to be developed individually related to the student design field.
Advertising II - 6 CREDITS -
The class will focus on the analysis of communication and advertising thru different media. The students will first understand what advertising is and is meant for, then a working method will be defined and suggested, starting from simple questions in order to sort out creative ideas and find a way to transform them into advertising concepts that works. Each assignment will be followed by group critiques that will help to evaluate the projects.
Italiano V - 6 CREDITS -
The course is designed for waystage students and is aimed at developing more complex communication skills. A communicative approach will be used. The course will be in Italian. Students will improve the four skills of language learning: reading, writing, listening and speaking. At the end of the course the student should be able to understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure; deal with most situations likely to arise while traveling in an area where the language is spoken; produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest; describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans. Grammatical content such as the “imperfetto” tense, the conditional and the pronouns are studied.
Photography II - 6 CREDITS -
The course will provide students with previous knowledge enough skills to use Photography as tool to improve the workflow of a designer. Students will go to through a path that will include mainly practical exercises of photography. Students will discover several styles of photography as language by studying contemporary and classical photographers. We will explore basics of how to deliver a certain content or message through a picture. In this class students will also explore tools to modify images like Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom Classic. During this course there will be several practice sessions in order to fix concepts explained during each lecture. Inside this course an important part will be to also study videography. Students will start understanding what a video is, theory behind it and how to make it in practice. As video editing software they will learn Adobe Premiere Pro. During the course, exercises will be given to the students to be developed during each week. This course will also have a final project where each student, individually, will create a small portfolio of pictures based on one specific topic that follows student interest and a short video.
Exhibitions V- 6 CREDITS -
Teachers and students will organize exhibitions of student's projects at the end of every semester
Materials Theory and Manufacturing- 6 CREDITS -
The student will learn about different production methods that are used in traditional and modern factories in order to manufacture small and large scale products. The course also shows that the behavior of materials is directly linked to their usage in design, and how structures and hence functionality of and object may be altered through material choice. Moreover every third lecture the student will be asked to work with a particular material during the lecture hour and provide a work report after the completion of the project.
Art History of Florence - 6 CREDITS -
The Aim of the course is to study and visit the major art-works of Florence through theory lessons and field trips. And to discover the treasures present in one of the most important cities of the history of Western Art.
Graphic Design IV - 6 CREDITS -
The class will focus on advanced graphic design rules ad principles. The students will research great examples of graphic design to learn how to take inspirations for new projects. During the lessons we will analyze the most important printing techniques and type of binding and folding papers. Visual book and paper samples will be analyzed to learn how to choose the best support for every design concept. Each assignment will be followed by group critiques that will help to evaluate the project.
Italiano VI- - 6 CREDITS -
The course is designed for waystage students and is aimed at developing more complex communication skills. A communicative approach will be used. The course will be in Italian. Students will improve the four skills of language learning: reading, writing, listening and speaking. At the end of the course the student should be able to understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure; deal with most situations likely to arise while traveling in an area where the language is spoken; produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest; describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans. Grammatical content such as the “imperfetto” tense, the conditional and the pronouns are studied.
Elements of interior design - 6 CREDITS -
The course provides a general and complete overview over the processes and design thinking that determine an interior design project. Particular emphasis will be put on the language of design and how to translate a concept to a product (which could be an interior space) and also technical drawings through a simple domestic interior architecture project; the final project will be the design of a small flat and the student will have to develop preliminary sketches, graphic layout (zoning), plans and sections with measurements. We will have 3 projects; fist one is representing a concept. This exercise is the beginning of design thinking process. Student begin to embody a concept to a 3 dimensional object using appropriate materials to then obviate and forget these usual readings of the object to focus attention and explore the many possibilities to express a design using all instruments that a designer can have, such as material, shape and form, color and texture... 2: An information desk. The Interior Design history begins with the first pieces of furniture, especially chairs and tables. Through this project you learn how to deal with a real project of interior with the needs and the issues that you can know deeply. The desk has to respond to the functional, ergonomic and social needs. It is a great project to deepen the themes mentioned above particularly, ergonomics and technical drawing. 3: Transform a classroom to a loft for a couple; Student must study the city of Florence and the downtown area and the building itself. After analysing this raw information and surveying completely the room, they design a small loft with a bathroom and a kitchen.
Portfolio Projects II - 6 CREDITS -
The Portfolio is a professional tool indispensable for career advancement of any designer. It is required to get clients or jobs, to attend special workshops, internships and residencies. In this course, students will acquire all necessary skills necessary to create an efficient, professional and attractive portfolio. This course combines explanations and discussion with hands-on exercises and projects both in classroom and home. The theoretical part consists of learning how process of hiring works, what companies are looking for in applicant’s resume and portfolio. Students will learn best practices of resume writing and portfolio design; multiple examples of student and professional resumes and portfolios will be discussed in class. Graphic design and print production processes will be explained and put in practice. Projects and examples will come in such an order that will permit students to gradually learn the most important
Exhibitions VI - 6 CREDITS -
Teachers and students will organize exhibitions of student's projects at the end of every semester
*Program may be subject to change in any moment (updated on the 17/09/2019)