"I decided on the Graphic Technology Specialist diploma. During my practicum, I was able to put the skills I learned at CDI to use and gain valuable experience in the field that lead to a position with my employer." Bryan, B., Graphic Technology Specialist student, CDI College
The Graphic Technology Specialist program is designed for students wishing to pursue a career within the graphics and multimedia industries. Multimedia, graphics and image manipulation skills continue to be in very high demand across several fields in the Province.
The Graphic Technology Specialist program focuses on preparing students to develop skills using industry standard graphics and multimedia design and development applications.
The Graphic Technology Specialist program will help students develop the image creation, editing and processing skills required to meet employers' needs in these areas. They’ll learn Adobe Creative Suite, including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, Flash Catalyst, ActionScript, Dreamweaver, Premiere Pro, After Effects, and more.
In addition to learning career-oriented skills, students at CDI College also learn how to get a job in their chosen profession attending the Student Success Strategies and Career and Employment Strategies courses.
Our Employment Services Department will assist the graduate in resume writing, as well as preparing for job interviews. Our staff is sensitive to current job market trends and the needs of employers in each local market.
Job Opportunities
- Graphics Designer
- Digital illustrator
- Interactive Media Developer
- Multimedia Developer
Graphic Technology Specialist - Ontario
Also offered in Manitoba as Graphic Design - MB At:
WinnipegAlso offered in Quebec as Graphic Design - NTA.1U At:
Laval Longueuil Montreal Pointe-Claire Quebec CityProgram Courses
The program outline below is for Ontario . Click here to see the outlines for British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec.
Term 1
| Code | Course Name | Hours |
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- This course introduces students to the fundamentals of digital photography. Students will learn how to set up the camera and learn common program modes. Students will learn how to manage parameters such as composition, lighting and exposure. The course will cover different lenses and focal lengths. The course will discuss the download and transfer of photos and organizing photos. Students will learn how to fine-tune and edit photos with Photoshop Elements.
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This course presents Illustrator as an industry standard tool for the production of professional quality illustrations such as technical illustrations, mapping, illustrating from photographic reference, and colourizing bitmapped images. When completed students will be able to produce professional quality illustrations.
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This course explores the key tools features and techniques for working with Adobe InDesign CS5. Students will learn about the InDesign work area, its basic tools and features and how they are used to create powerful print and interactive layouts and designs. Students will learn to use the InDesign work area, its layout tools and features and work with simplified object selections, multiple page sizes, tracking text changes, creating new layers, enhance productions, and work with InDesign’s print and digital capabilities.
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- This course covers the key techniques for working with Photoshop. Students will learn the key elements of the Photoshop interface, and how the tools and features of this popular software can be used to edit images. Students will learn to use precise selection control to correct a wide range of lens-based errors, interactively transform their images with a variety of tools, effects and filters. With a focus on the key features and tools of Photoshop, students will work with layers, masks, channels, brushes and vector drawing techniques to prepare images for both web and print production.
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This course will introduce students to skills and concepts that will help them achieve personal, academic, and career success. Students will discover personality styles and learn essential skills in goal setting, time management, and stress Management. In addition to communication skills and conflict management techniques, the course will also present study skills to help students achieve academic success
Term 2
| Code | Course Name | Hours |
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- This course will teach students the key techniques for working with Fireworks CS5. They’ll learn how to design screen-based graphics, interfaces, and applications for any device. They’ll also learn to collaborate with other Adobe Creative Suite applications to design and mock up basic Web pages or interfaces for rich Internet applications; create demo designs and export the design as an interactive PDF. The course focuses on the fundamental workflow tools and how they are used in working with bitmapped and vector graphics. Students will learn about the Fireworks work area, the tools and features of Fireworks and how to create bitmapped and vector graphics for use in variety of applications. The course will also explore the fundamentals of prototyping.
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- This module continues to explore the more advanced features of the industry-standard illustration program with a series of advanced assignments. Students will gain an advanced understanding of the tool set, so that they may solve more difficult design problems. Painting and Effects will be explored in detail. Projects will require a more sophisticated use of Illustrator techniques with a greater focus on finished quality and pre-press.
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This course continues to explore the use of Adobe InDesign software with a dedicated focus on product packaging and publication design with an overall theme of type and typography. This course provides a comprehensive overview and review of all of InDesign’s capabilities and brings those together in a more controlled and thoughtful manner. The course will also introduce the creation of rich interactive documents and lead into a related course dealing more specifically with the related Acrobat course.
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This course continues with a more detailed advanced features of Photoshop including raster based painting for illustrations, 3-D, video and animation techniques, colour controls, etc. Students will also learn to use the techniques for designing with advanced layering and image compositing techniques, working with actions scripts, batch processes and other time saving options.
Term 3
| Code | Course Name | Hours |
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- In this course students will build upon the skills learned in the Flash course and create engaging interactive content with Actionscript . Students will learn the fundamentals of adding interactivity to Flash files using Actionscript via the Actions panel, as well as in external Actionscript files. The course covers the creation of simple navigation and timeline control and progresses through controlling animation with Action Script code; using Event Listeners and writing event-handling functions; and controlling loading of and interaction with data, text, video, sound, and images.
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- The course introduces students to the rapid prototype and web site authoring tool Dreamweaver, allowing them to quickly produce interactive web pages and sites. The emphasis of this course is to use the features and tools of the authoring software to build professional grade site architecture, structure, and content.
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- This course introduces students to the production of interactive digital media projects. Students will learn to use the features of Flash Professional to create digital animation and interactive Web sites. Students will learn to combine animation, audio, video, and the ability for the user to respond to the program using a variety of input methods to create engaging applications. This course will focus on the use of the various tools and features of Flash to import images and other vector based artwork, create animated buttons and graphics, control and manage movie clips, and import audio files.
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- Flash Catalyst is a development tool that allows users to create rich interactive content without resorting to the writing of code. In this course students will learn to use the features and tools of Adobe Flash Catalyst to create a variety of content including interactive ads, product guides and data-centric Rich Internet Applications (RIA’s) and interactive application prototypes using a collection of built-in wireframe components. The prototypes built with Catalyst can then be imported into Flash Builder and Adobe Flex to add additional functionality and integration with data services.
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- This course will continue to explore the use of Flash to create a variety of complex Web-based applications including shopping environments and fully interactive gaming experiences, This course will cover how to create dynamic characters for an immersive interactive experience and how to add stunning visual effects using ActionScript 3.0. and will focus on how to create a more interactive experience for the end user, including coverage of storyboarding and user directed storytelling, 2D character design and rigging, and creating visual FX with code. Students will also be introduced to avatar creations and publishing to the iPhone and the Web.
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- This course is the foundation of all studies for web based products and applications, introducing students to principal concepts used in web development. Emphasis is placed on mastering XHTML and CSS. Students will learn to produce well-formed, hand-coded web pages, using the features of XHTML and CSS.
Term 4
| Code | Course Name | Hours |
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This course will explore the key techniques for working in Adobe After Effects and how to work efficiently and deliver in the widest possible range of media types. In addition to learning the key elements of the After Effects interface, students will also a variety of other embedded tools and features such as Mocha, Color Finesse 3, and Digieffects FreeForm plug-ins; Roto Brush; AVC-Intra and expanded RED camera support; and more. Students will finish the course by exploring rendering and output of content. Topical coverage includes: workflow and work area, creating a basic animation using effects and presets, animating text, working with shape and other assets, working and animating layers, animating multimedia presentations, using masks, distorting objects, rotoscoping, performing color correction, using 3d features and working with 3D objects, rendering and output.
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- In this course students will learn the key features, tools and techniques for working in Premiere Pro CS5. I the first part of the course, students will learn the basics of using audio, creating transitions, producing titles, and adding effects. The course will then explore the more advanced features such as sweetening and mixing sound, compositing the footage, adjusting color and, authoring DVDs. The students will also learn to take projects from the script all the way to the screen using a variety Adobe tools such as Ultra, Adobe Story, OnLocation, Speech Search.
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- Apply All Previous Learning to a Practical, Hands-On Project
- Plan, Design, Develop, and Publish Multimedia Project in both Web format and physical media
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- This course provides an in-depth view of the various components in the Adobe Creative Suite utilized in professional motion graphics projects. This course is highly practical in nature and will explore intermediate to advanced techniques for creating professional quality animations and motion footage. In the first half of the course, students learn about design essentials as related to motion graphics, including typography, logo animation, repairing and retiming footage, stylizing footage, background design, 3D objects and cameras, audio design, and vector design. The second half of the course focuses on real-world design projects that include broadcast package design, title sequences, DVD menu design, motion control 3D, character animation techniques, and panoramic images.
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- This course continues to explore Adobe After Effects at a more advanced level to create seamless movie-quality visual effects. Students will learn core techniques for effects compositing including color matching, keying, rotoscoping, motion tracking, emulating the camera, and concluding with using expressions in After Effects. The final section of the course will allow students to explore several advanced composting effects projects that demonstrate professional techniques that the student will be able to practice.