Courses

Trends in Graphic Design

FIU | VIC 5205

This course examines the practice of Graphic Design, in print and digital, throughout the years. In this course, you will discuss current issues in design as well as contemporary designers and design trends in the context of changing cultural, political and social environments.

Global Strategic Communications

FIU | MMC 5306

This course combines both theory and practice to understand the effect of culture on all aspects of marketing communications. It covers issues such as globalization, global branding strategies and classification models of culture. Students learn about the dynamics of consumer behavior, trends in marketing strategies, and shifts in global culture and strategic communication.

Research Strategy

FIU | MMC 5440

This course is a comprehensive survey of communication research methods, quantitative and qualitative. On the quantitative side, it covers survey methods, experimental research, and content analysis, as well as the basics of statistical analysis. On the qualitative side, research strategies covered are participant observation, in-depth interviewing, focus groups, and case study methodology. The course prepares students for more advanced research courses and undertaking original research projects, such as a thesis or professional project.

Law & Ethics in Mass Communication

FIU | MMC 6213

This course analyzes the communication laws governing traditional and digital media in the United States and around the world. The class offers basic but fundamental lessons about the world of media law, issues of national security, defamation, obscenity, and privacy at federal, state, or local levels. Intellectual property, access, administrative (licensing), major international regulatory principles, and legal principles governing the Internet, often known as Cyberlaw, are also covered.

Theories Of Mass Communication

FIU | MMC 6402

This course examines the theories and processes of mass communication with a special focus on innovation for media content creation. The overall approach of this course is designed to cover traditional theories of mass communication intertwined with the concepts that define the implementation of Innovation during the creative process of media content generation. Students familiarize through hands activities on the notions and process of creating innovative content, especially around advertising brands. The course emphasizes teamwork, brainstorming and idea generation to address specific communication and business goals.

Advertising Creative Strategy

FIU | ADV 6805

The course is designed to familiarize students with the creative process and problem-solving techniques in the development of advertising creative strategy. The course emphasizes TEAM work, brainstorming, and idea generation to address specific communication goals. Students are taught to formulate strategies using strategic communication tools and to stimulate collaboration between creative professionals involved in the development of the creative strategy and the big idea: the account planner or strategist, the copywriter, and the art director. This class is taught from an Account Planning perspective taking the creative professional through a deep understanding of the consumer audience, the business issues, the brand, and discovering insights through research methods in order to lay the foundation for effective creative work.

Professional Project

FIU | MMC 6950

The professional project is designed to demonstrate the student’s excellence in an area of communication study. Students in the Master’s program will be expected to combine their theoretical knowledge with their creative talent by researching, strategizing, and executing an innovative communication solution to a specific topic. Students have a choice of doing a formal research-based paper or thesis, or a professional project with research-based creative output.

Ideas First

MAS | POP 501

In today’s world, communication projects need to be media- agnostic. That is, they need to get across a consistent message in any and all media that can possibly be employed. Like no other time in our industry, a great idea must emerge before great work can be created. It’s not about creating a great print ad or tv spot or even a great Facebook page. It’s about solving a communication problem first and then finding the appropriate media to give the idea maximum impact.

Experiments in Digital Photography

MAS | POP 502

Sculpt light. Re-color the world. Magnify. Reduce. Blur. Sharpen. Capture. Release. Record a decisive moment or make one. This class explores techniques in using the digital camera as a tool in visual experimentation.

Video Storytelling

MAS | POP 504

The ubiquity of the video camera and the global stage of Youtube has given the power of the moving image to the masses. Tell a story with motion, sound and time. AD/CW/DD/DPV creative pods.

Video Storytelling

MAS | POP 504

The ubiquity of the video camera and the global stage of Youtube has given the power of the moving image to the masses. Tell a story with motion, sound and time. AD/CW/DD/DPV creative pods.

Story Writing

MAS | POP 506

The art of storytelling is a crucial skill. You will learn about plot development, story and character arcs, telling stories not only in multiple installments, but in multiple mediums (blogs, point of view, transitions, voice, persuasion).

Thinking Strategically

MAS | POP 508

Understanding the importance of strategic thinking and how it fuels the creative process. In this course, you’ll learn how to make all creative ideas smart and strategically sound. You’ll learn the process of a strategic creative. You’ll learn how to approach the creative research process. You’ll learn how to uncover “insights” that will lead to writing a creative strategy statement. You’ll learn to formulate an ideal communications strategy. You’ll learn about the creative brief. And ultimately, you’ll develop solutions as a creative team based on your own strategies.

Type Journey

MAS | POP 511

An introduction to the art of typography. You’ll get a solid foundation in the techniques of type design as well as the history behind the type faces and the times that created them.

Short & Sweet

Miami Ad School | POP 512

Headlines, web banners, outdoor boards, tag lines, and Twitter posts all require precision and a certain turn of phrase. You’ll learn to be a writer of few words that carry a big message.

Wordsmithing

MAS | POP 514

Mastering the craft of writing. Embrace the relevance of long copy in the online world as you tackle grammar and punctuation. Realize the “buck” stops with you.

Everything is Media

MAS | POP 515

You’ll learn how to integrate all media––old and new, offline and online, what’s coming down the line––into the ideal conduit for your branded message. You’ll explore applications of the next technological blockbusters: touchscreen, voice and face recognition, telepresence. What’s next? Teleportation?

User Experience

MAS | POP 517

The science of organization of information. You’ll learn how to organize the patterns inherent in data and how to make clarity out of chaos. Create the structure or road map that allows the user to find the information they are seeking. An exploration of user experience with every touch of the brand’s campaign.

Visual Impact

MAS | POP 519

Visual communication transcends language and cultural barriers like nothing else. Learn how to create symbols that interact powerfully with contradictory meanings. Create unforgettable visuals.

Interactive Concepting

MAS | POP 522

Students will get a crash course in digital wizardry. They’ll learn how to concept for interactive projects while learning about the medium on the way to the concept. Students will learn how to come up with interactive ideas, how to pitch those ideas to a client, and how to take the idea into production. The course will cover how to design for the web, how to think about animations, learn what makes up a digital campaign, and how to get your campaign into everyone’s inbox.

Script Writing (Radio, TV, Web)

MAS | POP 524

Writing for visual and audio media requires specific skills and fluency in the idiosyncrasies of each medium. Learn how to write scripts that exploit the narrative potential of these environments. Content strategy: Learning how to write scripts for different media and where it is most impactful.

Motion Graphics

MAS | POP 526

In this course, you will develop a broad understanding of motion graphics, production concepts, design tools and the enabling techniques while acquiring a working vocabulary through a series of structured problem-solving activities.

Digital Campaigns

MAS | POP 527

This course will show you how an idea can be expressed across multiple online platforms in a concerted effort to reach and connect with users, regardless of digital media.

Pop Culture Engineering

MAS | POP 530

This course will center on all the flotsam and jetsam of pop culture: tshirts and costume, graphic novels, matchbooks, pack- ages, posters, pimping cars, sports paraphernalia, and all the other ephemera imaginable.

Digital Campaigns

MAS | POP 527

This course will show you how an idea can be expressed across multiple online platforms in a concerted effort to reach and connect with users, regardless of digital media.

Social Media

MAS | POP 531

This course will introduce students to the use of social media for the purposes of brand communication and promotion. Beyond the buzzwords and the hype, the fact is that social media platforms are nothing but venues for communication. Some of these conversations take place between consumers and brands. How can marketers use social media to better serve their customers? How can brands achieve authentic relationships with consumers and leverage the power of these connections for the benefit of all participants?

The Brand called You

MAS | POP 534

You are a brand. But what makes “you”…you? It’s every bad trait you inherited from your forebears, your quirks, your likes, your dislikes, what you eat, what you drink, what you buy, what you save, what you throw away, your beliefs, your secrets, your first words to your last words. It’s what you are and what you want to be. It’s the most fun class you’ll ever have because it’s all about Y-O-U. You’ll also shed a few tears because… it’s all about you.

Product Creation

MAS | POP 535

As the media landscape has “morphed,” so has the role of the ad agency. Today’s leading shops not only promote products, but they also come up with product ideas and then develop them. This is a primer on the process. AD/CW/DD creative pods.

It’s a Mobile World

MAS | POP 537

You’ve seen the future and it’s in your pocket or your purse. It’s always on and always there as consumers move through their day and their night––instore, out-of-home, on-air, or in-print. You will explore ways to tap the enormous power of mobile marketing.

Heroes and Sidekicks

MAS | POP 546

Bringing students in contact with creative talent from various disciplines in an extended time frame format, developing work using a suggested “brief/internal presentation/final presentation” process.

Portfolio Development

MAS | POP 540

The purpose of this course is to develop the student’s final body of work and to teach them career-long skills for building and maintaining a strong portfolio. Students will use these final portfolio formats to hunt for jobs after they graduate.

Get A Job

MAS | POP 609

Using online publishing resources, you’ll design one or more books that showcase your work. You learn how to use templates as well as importing your own design. You’ll use a variety of media, including online, to promote you and your work. You’ll also produce a final website.

Quarter Away

MAS | POP 616

The object for this class is for students to work on their own portfolio and support materials in order to prepare their portfolio for submission to agencies for an 8th quarter internship or Agency Lab. They will aspire to make their portfolios deliverables professional.

The Pitch AP

MAS | POP 629

This class will as closely as possible replicate the agency environment. As in the real world, planning and creative students are teamed together to develop work to build a client’s brands. The students develop skills and techniques needed to build good working relationships. They will learn how to solve brand problems and present to clients.

Agency Lab

Students selected by an agency to intern will be expected to perform on the same level as the other creatives, pulling all nighters, meeting impossible deadlines while producing kick-ass work. You may even have ideas bought by the client, or perhaps be responsible for bringing business to the agency. Our interns have done it before. But more than anything, you’ll find out why you have to be nuts to be in this business. And why you would not miss it for anything.

Account Planning Boot Camp

The classes are taught by visiting account planners from all over the world, creative directors and by a variety of industry professionals. All classes are taught by an account planner/creative director team. Students are teamed with an art director/ copywriter team, just as they would in an ad agency. They concept fully integrated campaigns using all media. At the end students will have a book of case studies they developed.

Social Media Boot Camp

A program that includes engaging the social media landscape, explaining value and analytics to the client, and incorporating different platforms into an existing brand experience. You will spend each week exploring a different social media challenge with strategic and creative approaches. At the end students will have a book of case studies they developed.