Digital Design and Development

​Digital Design and Development professionals spend time each day communicating orally and in writing with their supervisors, colleagues, and clients through various communication channels. Working within a team to design, develop, maintain, and market web and online technologies requires professional communication and collaboration skills. Communicating quickly, clearly, and effectively will ensure that you can fulfill your tasks in various roles as Digital Design and Development professionals. In this course, you will learn how to be a professional and efficient communicator at work. You will write effective business correspondence and proposals and deliver a formal oral presentation to your set. The first term establishes the principles and basic patterns on which you will build more advanced applications in the second term. In the second term you will also prepare you job application packages as you begin to apply for various positions upon graduating from this program.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

In this course, students are introduced to the basics of frontend web development. Students learn to use modern HTML and CSS to create modern web pages. This course is the foundation for subsequent web development courses.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

​Students in this course will learn how to create crisp vector graphics and text with precise shape building tools, and advanced path controls for web, mobile devices and digital printing. Students will create vector artwork with an array of sophisticated drawing tools to create resolution independent graphics. Initial digital layout and prototyping technical skills will be introduced along with intermediate drawing and asset creation.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

This course teaches students the best practices for design fundamentals across media, producing results suitable for web, mobile applications, and other interactive environments. Students will learn how to present the client’s message or objective in a manner that resonates with the target audience and enhances overall communication, human interaction, and usability. The design fundamental course provides a solid foundation for delivering interactive and engaging content for web and mobile applications. This course also includes screen-design principles, digital colour theory; typography; web and mobile page layout and design; correct use of white space; web and mobile graphics, images, and interface design. Students will have hands-on practice developing a series of conceptual projects that demonstrate their work towards creating a website in collaboration with other courses in this program.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

Students in this course will receive an in-depth exploration of the current technological system operations and programming methodologies and scripts to operate, manage, and install application protocols and plugins effectively. Through a combination of lectures and hands-on exercises, students in this course will be provided with practical real-world experience. Students will follow the principles of programming design goals to help understand how to build efficient code. Student will learn basic programming foundation to operate and connect system communications and become an effective troubleshooting collaborator.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

In this course, students will learn how to create and edit images and utilize them as a design tool to express ideas. The differences between raster and vector editing techniques will be explained, as well as when it is best to use each of them. Students will learn how to isolate and colour correct parts of an image. They will also learn how to enhance images using retouching. To strengthen the final design, variant techniques will be introduced, such as masking, blending, and painting with brushes. Students will showcase their understanding of these topics by completing individual assignments, as well as working in teams in a final project.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

Good product design incorporates a number of timeless principles for human–computer interaction. This course is designed to explain how humans interact with technology interfaces. Human–computer interaction (HCI) is an interdisciplinary field concerned with people, computer technology, and the ways that these interact and influence one another. Software products and websites that are created without considering human factors are often more difficult and less efficient to use. In this course, students will study the basic elements of people-friendly interactive design. Students will develop interface designs from original concept creation through to fully functioning prototypes. Through collaboration with other courses in this program, students gain a clear understanding and practical application of the web and mobile application interface design process.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

Marketing 1102 is an introduction to the fundamentals of marketing. In addition to the "four Ps" of marketing—product, price, place, and promotion—students will be introduced to how marketers create customer-driven marketing strategies based on their research and understanding of the marketing environment and customers. Students will plan a strategy for and compete in an online marketing simulation. After the simulation, students will evaluate their performance and deliver a marketing plan for their simulation company, which will be assessed on students' application of marketing terminology and processes and in the professionalism of their work. Additionally, students will complete assignments, quizzes, and exams.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

​Students in this course will focus on agile project methodologies for software development. Web and mobile technologies require face paced development in an environment where requirements evolve and change frequently. Students in this course will be introduced to the history and rationale of agile project management, as well as the required roles and environment necessary for agile teams to be successful. Student in the course will learn how agile project operate, the impact of agile on project areas such as scope, schedule, cost, quality and risk, including the reporting and resources required to manage agile projects. Finally, students will develop an understanding of the benefits of agile project management when applied in an appropriate setting.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

​In this course you will build on the skills learned in COMM 1118. It will help you be an efficient and professional communicator at work on the web as a Digital Design and Development professional. You will learn how to conduct an effective job search, learn about employers, and prepare your job application packages to secure yourself a position as a technical expert in your industry. You will also write effective reports, deliver a persuasive oral presentation to your set, and participate effectively in meetings and group work. You will prepare a formal report and present it orally and in writing. In this course you will pay particular attention to best practices in writing via various communication channels to communicate professionally, clearly, and effectively.
Prerequisite(s):

• 50% in COMM 1118

​In this course, students are introduced to client-side programming with JavaScript. Students will learn how to write programs with JavaScript, using a full range of modern techniques. This will then be applied to traditional frontend development, including such topics as event handling, DOM manipulation, and AJAX students in this course build on skills learn in Fundamental Frontend Web Technologies, and prepares students for a future course in more sophisticated approaches to modern frontend development.
Prerequisite(s):

• 50% in COMP 1170

​Students in this course focus on content management system design and development. Students will develop either a Drupal or WordPress site that meets specific business requirements. Requirements of this project include site navigation (which must be well defined and usable), site theme (must be associated with the business needs), vertical or horizontal sidebars, and implementation of CSS style sheets to complete the project, students will focus on design and functionality. Students must incorporate all of their development skills to successfully complete this project.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

​Student in this course learn how to create quality layouts and assets for web, mobile devices and digital printing. Effective visual communication will be achieved through drawing and typographic theory and application. Advanced digital layout software and techniques will be learned finalizing vector software knowledge for the digital design industry. Portfolio based design assignments will prepare students for applying for practicums and employment.
Prerequisite(s):

• 50% in MDIA 1055 and 50% in MDIA 2190 and 50% in MDIA 1106

This course covers the creative design process, including UI design principles, researching and conceptualizing an idea, resourcing materials, creating graphic user interfaces (GUI), designing for UX through prototyping and testing, presenting a design to the client, creating the technical artwork, making revisions, and outputting a final design project for a collaborative desktop, web or mobile application. The course also examines the 2D and 3D art, typography, imagery, colours, objects, and signs in UI/UX design. With consideration for diverse audiences, we will introduce students to rules and theories about user perception and its influence on user experience.
Prerequisite(s):

• MDIA 1106

Through this course, students will learn how to express their creative vision as they design and develop pixel-perfect responsive interactive content with exceptional user experience, flexible layouts, and smooth animations. Students will develop cross-platform web applications and content in an integrated development environment that offers intelligent coding tools based on current industry standards. Students will use standard animation and scripting web-design tools for their interactive and dynamic projects. Students will streamline their workflow by testing, debugging, and publishing content in current web application using current industry front-end frameworks. The product will be compatible with multiple desktop and mobile platforms. By the end of this course, students will be able to produce visually rich interactive interface that contains expression, motion, animation, responsive assets, and interactive components.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

​In this course, students will learn how to use motion to visually present an idea or explain complex information. They will utilize text layers, vector artwork, and raster images into their projects, animating them across time and 2D or 3D space. The importance of proper pacing will be emphasized. Variant techniques, such as masking, effects, and color correction will be introduced as methods to enhance the animation. Students will work with Green Screens to add different backgrounds behind a commentator. They will showcase their understanding of the course's topics by completing individual assignments, as well as working in teams in a final project.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

​The digitization of our world has fundamentally changed the ways that marketers are creating value and connecting with consumers. One thing that hasn't changed is the understanding that consumers are at the heart of marketing that drives business results and that brands and branding are foundational to effective marketing in any medium. Students in this course will first examine the tenets of branding and then look at markets and the role of marketing, how to select a target market to create a strategic competitive advantage. Students will learn how to create user psonas and customer journey maps that are research and data-driven. From there, students will learn the importance of content creation and SEO in developing digital-first marketing campaigns.
Prerequisite(s):

• 50% in MKTG 1102

This practical course is for BCIT Computing and Business students who want to learn about laws and policies applicable to the Internet and information technology, as well as intellectual property rights. Topics covered in this course include the following: copyright, patents, trade secret, trademarks, domain names, cybercrime, privacy, e-commerce and online contracts, and online advertising.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

​In this course, students will learn the principles and practices of React, one of the most prominent modern full-featured frontend JavaScript frameworks. They will learn to build modular components, and compose modular components into rich and featureful user interfaces. In this course, students build on core JavaScript development skills of Frontend Web Development with JavaScript.
Prerequisite(s):

• 50% in COMP 2170

This course is based on the concept of designing and developing cross-platform solutions that solve problems identified in various communities, industries, or target users. In this course, students first research the community of their choice to find gaps and issues. Then, students will present their idea for a technology solution that could address that gap. While working in teams, they create, design and develop the cross-platform application that they will present to the rest of D3 students, faculty and industry partners. The project relies on defined market and users’ needs and requires efficient navigation, functionality, and user-friendly design and interaction. Key objectives of the project are presenting the initial idea, planning, resourcing, team management, progress tracking, troubleshooting. The project tasks include an initial proposal, strategy, concept, navigation workflow, prototype and final product. Students will create a user interface that provides for user-friendly interaction and workflow, imagery, optimized assets, vector graphics, and an online aspect. This project course also collaborates with students in the programming, design, and asset integration courses of the D3 program. .
Prerequisite(s):

• MDIA 2003

Students in this course are encouraged to use storytelling rather than facts or figures for personal or corporate branding & promotion. Students will explore how to craft and compose a compelling narrative that engages targeted demographics, connecting people to the brand and developing consumer loyalty by communicating personality, tribe & culture. There will be a focus on learning the entire video production process, including pre-production, asset capture (equipment & technique), assembly, editing & post-production, export & delivery. Students will bring together elements from other courses in a master project incorporating elements from other courses incorporating design, communications, graphics, animation, web & social, resulting in a holistic and consistent brand package. Live presentation and evaluations will challenge students to be organized & ready to deliver their pitches in a way that can excite and earn confidence from their audience. All these skills and challenges are meant to help students realize and be ready for the fact that they will be entering a competitive world in which they will be presenting their ideas on a daily basis from working in teams to leading employees, gaining new customers & winning their career.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

Students in this course will focus on the design of engaging page layouts for print and digital distribution. Students will develop a deeper understanding of previously gained design theory and skills by applying these in functional and aesthetically pleasing information-rich layout projects, and achieve precise control over layout, text, and media. The leading industry standard layout design tools are introduced and students will learn to integrate rich media and interactivity for cross-platform playback on mobile and desktop devices. Topics will include accessing these new tools, long text handling, preparing and importing graphic assets, embedding audio and video files, typographical principles for text layouts, combining text and imagery to present appealing narratives, and understanding the difference between publishing to digital platforms and publishing for print. Throughout the design process UX/UI design principles for functional understandable layouts are explained. Students in this course will also design and execute the design and execution of highly interactive narratives and applications with elements such as branching, animation, responsive graphical interface elements, audio, video, and 3D assets, through the use of visual authoring tools. At the end of the course students will be able to create interactive content-rich digital publications for viewing online and offline on multiple devices.
Prerequisite(s):

• MDIA 2106 and MDIA 2055

In this advanced course students will move beyond just developing cod- based tools and applications. In this course students will be developing advanced tools and application that use graphic, animation and dynamic user interface. These applications usually acquire data from outside sources. Some or most of the critical content for the application will be provided by an external service. Such application could be a simple image gallery or navigation menu or a pipeline that puts a Flickr photos onto a Google map. Students in this course study different third-party services and a significant portion of the programming effort revolves around managing the APIs of these services. The modern developer, no matter whether they are doing their work on the client-side or server-side, needs to develop this style of development. This course will allow students to develop mobile applications using current industry mobile front-end frameworks. In addition, students will be introduced to several techniques used in the industry for designing and creating graphic assets for this type of project. At the beginning students will be introduced to and start with client-side apps in Edge Animate, Flash or plain HTML5 and single server application, then move on to more complex, multi-service mashups while going through essentials and techniques for creating optimized graphic assets for the same projects.
Prerequisite(s):

• COMP 2170 and MDIA 2109

In this advanced course students will select intricate image elements, such as hair, eliminate background colours around selection edges, and automatically vary selection edges to create perfect masks using Photoshop’s different refinement tools. Students will learn advanced non-destructive raster procedures and techniques such as Smart Objects. Projects will engage the understanding of advanced compositing skills, color correction, asset creation, file management and graphic design.
Prerequisite(s):

• MDIA 2190

​Building on the marketing foundation established in MKTG 2020 Digital Brands and Consumers, students will learn advanced marketing tactics to achieve business results in the digitized world where the fight for consumer attention is paramount. Students will apply learning in marketing automation and analytic and gain an understanding of how to generate earned marketing opportunities and develop paid marketing campaigns on search engines and social media platforms. Throughout the course, students will become Google, Hootsuite and Hupspot certified.
Prerequisite(s):

• 50% in MKTG 2020

​In this course, students will learn to build and deploy a simple but complete full-stack web application, comprising a frontend, a backend, and database. Students in this course build on learning in previous courses of frontend development, supplementing that with the essentials of backend development. ​
Prerequisite(s):

• 50% in COMP 3170

In this advanced course, students go beyond designing and creating web and mobile interactive environment that run on a single client-facing platform. Students in this course enter the world of multiplatform applications that connect to an online resource to send and receive data and communicate with other applications. Students in this course are introduced to advanced design techniques as well as incorporating scripts so that students will understand the connection between the application and online component. While students create and design most of the dynamic contents discussed in this course, they will also integrate into their design materials and services provided by other sources to increase the usability of their application. Such application could be a simple immersive and interactive image gallery that receives its library from an online source, a mobile app capable of collecting data from multiple sources, a game that stores its data locally on a server, or a social media website.
Prerequisite(s):

• MDIA 2109

In this course, students choose the types of project they wish to develop as part of a high-end portfolio and based on industry standards. The student portfolio may contain graphic design work, web solutions, a computer or mobile app, or immersive and interactive elements (potentially a game) accompanied with business, marketing, and project plans. Throughout this course, students also work on creating concepts for each component of their portfolio and will be developing a cost-effective marketing campaign for a small- to medium-size business, with special focus on web-marketing tactics, tracking with Google web analytics, preparing and presenting a proposal, integrating new media technologies (including social media), designing an efficient user interface, connecting the application to online source (MySQL database, PHP), and integrating dynamic content capable of communicating with a variety of server and client-side APIs, including Facebook and Google Maps.
Prerequisite(s):

• MDIA 3003

This leadership series course will feature industry presentations with guest speakers and panels by an array of industry experts from the rapidly changing landscape of transmedia and content delivery. Possible guest speakers could include leading media content developers, social media experts, critical business thinkers, web designers, sound engineers, videographers, programmers, critical thinkers and web marketers. Students will be assigned a date by the instructor to introduce their presenter. The student teams will be responsible for contacting and helping the speakers to make their presentations. Concluding the course each student will be required to write a paper on their findings of each of the presenters.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

​Students in this course explore the concepts, tools, and techniques for the collection, analysis, optimization and visualization of marketing campaign and user data. Students will learn to organize, interpret, and analyze various data sets from multiple campaign channels, including websites, e-commerce, social media, video, and apps, to create reports, dashboards, and data visualizations. In addition, students will be introduced to key areas of customer analytics: descriptive analytics, predictive analytics, and prescriptive analytics. The goal is to provide students with the marketing data skills to generate customers insights, aid in campaign decision-making, and support data-driven marketing strategies.
Prerequisite(s):

• 50% in MKTG 2020

Being an entrepreneur is about more than just starting a business or two, it is about having attitude and the drive to succeed in business. All successful entrepreneurs have a similar way of thinking and possess several key personal qualities that make them so successful in business. This course will help students instill confidence in their ideas, develop presentation skills, develop a business and marketing plan, create a pitch on the fly for a new project, explore possible funding options and demystify venture capital opportunities.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

The practicum provides the student with hands-on practical experience in industry. It will be an eight-week (minus one day), non-paid work experience. While noting their skillset, students are responsible to find, apply and secure an approved, practicum opportunity in a relevant field such as, digital arts, marketing, advertising, or web and mobile development. Eligible practicum opportunities offered by industry will also be shared with the students for their consideration. The practicum will provide a real-life working environment for the BCIT student to expand his or her existing knowledge while gaining new skills, practical experience in becoming part of a team, and developing the experience and confidence necessary for employment in today’s workplace. Ideally, the student will be able to measurably contribute to the business by applying their skills. At the completion of the practicum, on Friday of the eighth week, students will return to BCIT to present a practicum report detailing their real-world experiences.
Prerequisite(s):

• Completion of all courses in Levels 1, 2, 3 and 4.