Graphic Design - Focus on New media

Master Courses - Florence

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10th edition - The Master course in Graphic Design offers a high level of professional preparation which is based on the design method, the mastery of technical and technological skills and the continuous updating about the latest market demands.

Besides a strong cultural background on the roots and evolutions of design and visual communication, our students receive a constant training on the most used and advanced software thanks to the development of many projects. They work side by side with Italian and international companies involved in different fields in order to gain as much experience as possible on the graphic design's contemporary scenario.

A Graphic Designer graduated from this Master course is particularly involved in social issues and communication ethics, manages the creative process at its best and is ready to satify the needs of the brands he/she works for with a personal expressive touch. 

  • Start date
    February 2020
  • Duration
    10 months
  • Attendance
    full-time
  • Language
    English

Get an insight: find out more about Master's activities

Target - The Master is tailored for graduates or professionals in graphic, architecture, design, fine arts and advertising. Participants with a professional (two years minimum) experience in the fields of management, communication, marketing, public relations or visual communications (graphic, product, interior, advertising, photography, web or social) are also welcome.

Career opportunities - The Graphic Designer works in advertisement and communication companies, web agencies, publishing houses or as a freelancer in his own facility ; he is able to interact with multiple clients in different fields thanks to a developed versatility. This professional figure, in fact, has the necessary tools to keep updated and anticipate the times, offering innovative solutions to his clients.

Methodology and structure - The Master has a complete and articulate program thanks to a balanced didactic structure, organized in three main areas: cultural, tools and techniques and project.

The cultural area's main objectives include the acquisition of notions and an effective method of communication of several types of projects. This area includes lectures, classes, workshops and individual studies.
Tools and techniques area aims at the application of graphic design in diverse contexts with particular attention to developing areas (video, social communication, mobile UI/UX, interface design and digital publishing).
The project area is mainly practical and strategic and aims at the complete management of a communication project in all of its phases in collaboration with companies or other external partners.

Lessons and classes are all structured as working briefs and workshops. Participants work on the basis of real briefs which are inserted from the start in a context that reconstructs the dynamics of working companies and studio in multiple contexts such as communication studios, companies or visual departments within institutions. Professors are selected from experts and professionals in the respective fields of teaching.  

In the last editions the Master hosted some exceptional guest speakers such as:

David Moretti - Art Director WIRED Magazine
Marco Cendron - Creative Director with previous collaborations for Mondadori / ROLLING STONE Italy / GQ Italy
Riccardo Luna - Innovation Editor for the newspapaer La Repubblica

  • Cultural area

    • History of Design and Communication

      The course deals with the evolution of visual communication, from the invention of printing to nowadays.
      An overview of design history, underlying the connections among society, culture and technological developments.

    • Sociology and Ethics in Communication

    • Visual Communication

      The aim of this course is to explore, to experience and to deepen the essential themes of the visual communication, conceived as a universal language in the contemporary culture. Images are the new words of a collective language who connects all disciplines expressed by the variegated human community.

    • Marketing and Public Speaking

      The different market segments, analysis of the critical factors of success. Aspects of marketing: consumer behavior and needs, product values, consumer satisfaction. Analysis and use of internet as a communication. Communication and public speaking techniques: how to structure theoretical arguments to support a presentation for a communi­cation project.

    • Account Management & Professional Development

      Providing knowledge and skills on communication and strategy to generate ideas and to work addressing the objectives. Seminars on topics in development and understanding, client relationship management, time management, project presentation skills and laws related to communication.

  • Techniques and tools

    • Color & Print

      The course explores how work with colors and the technical challenges and creative opportunities of contemporary design production and how to prepare definitive proofs for production, in both high-end offset and digital printing. Proofreading. Budgeting – production costs. Working with colors, technical challenges and creative opportunities of contemporary design production. How to prepare definitive proofs for production, in both high-end offset and digital printing. Proofreading. budgeting – production costs.

    • Typography & Type Direction

      The course examines how typefaces work and interact, through the analysis of a single glyph and the creation of a complete set of characters. The final result is a complete typeface made with the correct tools (Font Lab Studio) and ready to use. Composition of text-only content, designing pages with balance between the various elements.

    • Adobe Creative Suite - Advanced

      Photoshop / Illustrator / InDesign

       

       

    • Media Design

      Elements of Digital Photography / Video Design / Viral & Guerrilla Marketing / UI/UX Interface & Responsive Design / Digital Publishing: eBook, iBook Author, Adobe .folio / New Media & Interaction Design: ID, Arduino, Kinect and Leap Motion sensors.

  • Project area

    • Creative Process

      Looking at problems or situations from a fresh perspective that suggests differents solutions, involving the discovery of new ideas and concepts.

    • Illustration

      The use of illustration to visually communicate information (drawing, painting, photograph).

       

       

    • Corporate Identity and Coordinate Image

      The study of all the elements that create the visual identity of a museum or art gallery (naming, logo and visual elements). The corporate image is designed to be appealing to the public, clear and functional, so that the final result can spark an interest among consumers. The visual identity project developed during the course represents the final project.
       

      Introduction to Corporate Design: elements of the corporate identity and the designer’s role in developing it.
       

      Analysis of Communication Problems: using brands, typography and color codes, project planning and execution.
       

      Logo Development and Application: coordinate image and its applications.

       

    • Copywriting

      Copy is content primarily used for the purpose of advertising or marketing. The Copywriter is the “content writer” and helps to create pay-off for identity, taglines, advertising and to edit online and off-line, content-based, communication projects.

    • Creative Advertising

      Introduction to business communication topics: communicating, informing, promoting. The creative team and the creative process. How the copy strategy turns into a creative idea. Managing creative presentations. Production hints.

       

    • Publishing Design

      Constructing text “stories” and images in the context of complex publications such as magazines, newspapers, corporate brochures, books etc.

    • Packaging and Merchandising

      Considering packaging as the consumer’s initial experience of the product and of brand corporate identity. Studying names, logos, roughs, mock-ups and final products.
      The methods, practices and operations used to promote and sustain the commercial activity. The variety of products available for sale and the display of those products in such a way that it stimulates customers interest.

    • Final Project

      The purpose of the final work is to direct the study path towards the field or area that the students are most interested in and allow them to start the professional career.
      The final project can be developed individually or within a small group and is generally connected to a company, recreating the relationship between commissioner and freelance studio.
      A team of professors and tutors carefully follow the students in the creation of the final work, maintaining high quality standards.
      The final work is necessary to enrich the student’s portfolio that will include, as well as the final work, many of the projects produced during the other subjects.

       

Remarkable is that teacher who accomplishes himself what he teaches to others.
(Italian proverb)

IED faculty are professionals that daily face the market. Here you can read their bios.

Isabella Ahmadzadeh - Course coordinator

Isabella Ahmadzadeh - Course coordinator
Art Director and Visual Designer, she collaborated with several studios and advertising agencies in Milan and Florence and worked for Gucci as a Graphic Designer, specialising in photography. Her work as Art Director in the field of type design for Zetafonts earned her the recognition of Aiap as part of the AWDA award for the Napo & Leon project and of Print Magazine for Kitten for the Typography & Lettering Award 2016.

Marzia Lodi

Marzia Lodi
After graduating with a Degree in Architecture at the University of Florence, Marzia Lodi founded the Cultural Association MKN. From event production to expressions of cultural creativity, MKN constantly challenges the concepts and instruments of communication that define and change the multiple elements of Contemporary culture. Marzia Lodi has organized many events including the MUV Music and Digital Arts Festival.From 2008 she is Academic Coordinator in IED Firenze.

Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini

Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini
Founder and Creative Director at Studio Kmzero and Type Designer for Zfonts. Designer and Creative Director for Motion, Print and Advertising. Background in illustration, comic art and gaming development and strong experience in design for multimedia and the web. Interested in mixing new technologies, user experience and visual storytelling. With his partners at Studio Kmzero he has written and directed short animation videos, developed experimental software and websites, and produced print projects, as well as providing a full range of design and consultancy services to clients.  

Francesco Canovaro

Francesco Canovaro
Designer and Creative Director for Web, Motion, Print and Advertising. Background in programming (C/C+++ / VisualBasic / PHP / Javascript / Actionscript) painting and illustration and strong experience in design for multimedia, web design, user experience and interaction design. With his partners at Studio Kmzero he has written and directed short animation videos, developed experimental software and websites, and produced book and print projects, as well as provided a full range of design and consultancy services to clients.

Marco Innocenti

Marco Innocenti
Owner and Founder of Kidstudio. Designer, Illustrator, Art Director and Photographer with experiences in copy, typography and text editing. Expert in magazine design and publishing, he is involved in cultural and tourist promotion.

Simone Massoni

Simone Massoni
A Visual Artist who lives and works in Florence. After starting his career as a children’s book Illustrator, he moved his interests to aligned more with visual design and arts. You can find his latest visual explorations in books, magazines, advertising commercials and shows, mainly in US and Europe.

Laura Ottina

Laura Ottina
Laura Ottina is a Graphic Designer with twenty years of experience in the publishing industry. She has worked as Project Coordinator, Art Director, Layout Artist, Calligrapher, Author and Iconographic researcher. Since 2005 she is part of Popdesign studio, which is specialized in digital art and visual communication.  

Ingrid Lamminpää

Ingrid Lamminpää
Ingrid Lamminpää received her Degree in Architecture in 2005 and continued her academic career in multimedia communication and design, completing her Master Degree a couple of years later. She currently teaches in several institutions in the city of Florence. Her interests are ethics in communication, visual design, digital storytelling and new media communication. Outside of the academy, she is a blogger and works as New Media Strategist for the social research company Sociolab (sociolab.it). She is the screenwriter and executive producer of the video blog leidissesi.net and the documentary “Just Say Yes”, a journey through the civil rights. The documentary won the jury and the audience award at the Biografilm Festival 2014.

Omar Rashid

Omar Rashid
Creative Director. Marketing director for Multiverso. He interned at Givenchy in Paris and became a designer at the Zoo York in NYC. He then returned to Florence where he launched his own brand, GOLD. His experiences and transversal figure allow him to be involved in several projects at once: co-founder of Logic (Florentine club), Viral Marketing professor at IED Firenze.

Alessandro Capellaro

Alessandro Capellaro
Architect (graduated in Firenze in 1997) and Doctorate (2000), in 1998 is in Barcelona in Pep Llinas office. In 2003 opens q-bic studio in Florence. From 2010 is associated with b-arch. Professor in Graphic Design and Visual Communication, Faculty of Architecture, Istituto Lorenzo de Medici and Auburn University of Alabama, since 2009 is a Visual Communications and Presentation Techniques at IED Firenze.  

Massimo Alvito

Massimo Alvito
After a long research path, in 1996 he founded the Communication Agency Almagreal with Giulia Reali, working mainly in retail, food, design and finance. The training, based on anthropology, brought him to develop integrated projects of communication, where the strategies of brand and product are focused not only to improve the business performance as in the development of projects focusing on content-mix dedicated.  

Paolo Fiorini

Paolo Fiorini
Gradueted in Economics with a thesis on international marketing, he is a Marketing Consultant and in 2006 founded Kaleidos Comunicazione, a communication, event planning and marketing consulting society. He has been teaching marketing and communication since 1997.

Paolo Servi

Paolo Servi
He studied Statistics, Bioenergetics and Creative writing at Scuola Holden at Torino. He worked in Ireland and Italy. Expert in Creative coding and Interactive, he is partner of Anughea Studios. Creator and Co-author of two European projects - IAM, on augmented reality, and Viset, Virtual Stage Design. He writes posts on blogs and online magazines and he teaches New Media at IED Firenze and Digital Applications and Multimedia at Academy of Fine Arts in Sanremo.

Giovanni Iozzi

Giovanni Iozzi
Since 1988 he has been working as System Administrator for communication systems in companies that deal with graphics, multimedia and interior design. He’s also specialised in research and development for strategic and operative marketing. Since 1996 he has been teaching at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Xenofon Ritsopoulos

Xenofon Ritsopoulos
He is a Design Maker in the field of packaging, paper, fair and sustainable eco furniture fittings. Senior Designer and display packaging in the design laboratory, prototyping and manufacturing Inthebox Lab. Structural Designer and Technical Operator CAD - CAM for cutting plotter.

Enrica Ficai Veltroni

Enrica Ficai Veltroni
She began to advertise in Milan in 1981, working for J. Walter Thompson, Leo Burnett, BBDO and J.W.T. as Associate Creative Director. She worked at national and international campaigns for Kodak, Heineken, Kellogg’s, Kraft Jacobs Suchard, Quaker, Alfa Romeo, Carlo Erba, Parmigiano Reggiano, UniLever, Henkel, De Beers, etc. Strategic Copywriter, she combines creative talent with a strong experience in TV and radio production.    

Laura Boninsegni

Laura Boninsegni
She worked for 15 years as an Account in advertising (Grey, BBDO, Eretici), reaching the position of Client Services Director. Two years experience in Yomo as Associate Marketing Director. Currently she owns and manages a concept store online: styletrigger.com.      

Lorenzo Masini, Silvia Agozzino, Elena Ronchi

Lorenzo Masini, Silvia Agozzino, Elena Ronchi
MUTTNIK  is a Florence-based collective composed by communication and product designers experts in different fields like: graphic design, Illustration, product and exhibit design, hardware repair and exotic food.  

Antonio Civita

Antonio Civita
He is Creative Director at Lift-D. He collaborates with several companies, dealing with web design, web development, web platforms, project management and content creation for creative multimedia communication projects, cross-platforms, interaction design, video production and animations. He graduated in Industrial Design and Visual Design.