Course Title: Graphics Design and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Integration

Duration: 2 Weeks (10 Days) Target Audience: Aspiring graphic designers, existing designers looking to upskill, marketing professionals, and content creators. This outline balances foundational design principles with practical AI applications relevant to the design field.

Overall Goal: Equip participants with core graphic design skills and knowledge of how to leverage AI tools to enhance creativity, streamline workflows, and generate innovative visual content.

Week 1: Foundations of Graphics Design & Introduction to AI

Day 1: Introduction to Graphic Design & the Creative Process

• Topics: What is graphic design? Roles and responsibilities. The design process (brief, research, ideation, execution, feedback). Elements of design (line, shape, form, texture, space). Principles of design (balance, contrast, emphasis, rhythm, unity). Introduction to industry-standard software (mention Adobe Creative Cloud – Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign; and free alternatives like GIMP, Inkscape, Canva).
• AI Intro: Brief overview of AI and its relevance to creative fields.
• Practical: Analyze existing designs based on principles. Simple exercises using basic shapes and lines in chosen software. Set up software.
• AI Tools: Mention AI assistants for brainstorming (e.g., ChatGPT for ideas).

Day 2: Typography & Color Theory

• Topics: Anatomy of type. Type classification (Serif, Sans Serif, Script, Display). Font pairing principles. Kerning, tracking, leading. Color wheel, color models (RGB, CMYK). Color psychology and harmony (complementary, analogous, triadic). Creating color palettes.
• AI Intro: How AI can assist in font pairing and color palette generation.
• Practical: Simple typographic layout exercises. Create color palettes manually and using online tools.
• AI Tools: Introduce AI color palette generators (e.g., Coolors AI, Khroma). AI font pairing tools (e.g., Fontjoy).

Day 3: Layout, Composition & Introduction to Vector Graphics

• Topics: Grids and alignment. Visual hierarchy. Rule of thirds, proximity, white space. Introduction to vector graphics (Scalability, use cases – logos, icons). Overview of vector software interface (e.g., Illustrator/Inkscape) – Pen tool basics, shapes, paths.
• AI Intro: AI’s potential role in suggesting layout options.
• Practical: Design a simple flyer/poster layout focusing on hierarchy and grids. Practice creating basic vector shapes and tracing simple objects.
• AI Tools: Briefly mention AI layout suggestion tools (experimental/emerging).

Day 4: Introduction to Raster Graphics & Image Editing

• Topics: Pixels, resolution, file formats (JPEG, PNG, GIF). Use cases (photos, complex visuals). Overview of raster software interface (e.g., Photoshop/GIMP) – Layers, selections, basic adjustments (brightness/contrast, levels, curves), retouching basics.
• AI Intro: How AI is revolutionizing image editing (object removal, enhancement).
• Practical: Basic photo retouching (blemish removal, color correction). Making selections and cutting out objects. Combining images simply.
• AI Tools: Demonstrate basic AI features within Photoshop (Content-Aware Fill, Neural Filters) or standalone AI background removers.

Day 5: Understanding AI in Design – Concepts & Landscape

• Topics: What is Generative AI? Different types of AI relevant to design (image generation, text-to-image, style transfer, upscaling). Ethical considerations (copyright, bias, authenticity). Overview of popular AI design tools and platforms. Prompt engineering basics for designers.
• Practical: Interactive session exploring various AI design tools online. Practice writing simple prompts for image generation. Group discussion on ethics.
• AI Tools: Showcase examples from Midjourney, DALL-E 3, Stable Diffusion, Adobe Firefly.

Week 2: AI Integration in the Design Workflow

Day 6: AI for Image Generation & Manipulation

• Topics: Deep dive into text-to-image generation platforms. Understanding parameters (aspect ratio, style references, negative prompts). Generating realistic vs. stylized images. Inpainting and outpainting concepts. Using AI for brainstorming visual concepts.
• Practical: Workshop: Generate specific images based on design briefs using prompts. Experiment with different styles. Use AI tools to modify existing images (e.g., adding/removing elements).
• AI Tools: Hands-on practice with tools like Midjourney (via Discord), Stable Diffusion (local or web UI), Adobe Firefly, or Leonardo.ai. Photoshop Beta’s Generative Fill/Expand.

Day 7: AI for Asset Creation & Enhancement

• Topics: Using AI to generate icons, patterns, textures, and backgrounds. AI-powered image upscaling and enhancement (improving resolution, removing noise). Style transfer applications.
• Practical: Generate a set of icons for a fictional app. Create seamless patterns using AI. Upscale low-resolution images for print/web. Apply artistic styles to photographs.
• AI Tools: Vectorizer.ai, Pattern Maker AI, AI Image Upscalers (e.g., Gigapixel AI, free web options), Style transfer tools.

Day 8: AI for Design Assistance & Workflow Automation

• Topics: AI tools for background removal. Automating repetitive tasks (batch resizing, smart cropping). AI for generating design variations or suggestions (layouts, colors). AI for generating placeholder text or marketing copy.
• Practical: Batch process images using AI features. Use AI tools to explore design variations for a project. Generate copy for a design brief using an AI writer.
• AI Tools: AI Background removers (Remove.bg, Adobe Express), Canva’s AI features, Figma plugins with AI, ChatGPT/Bard for copy generation.

Day 9: Project Workshop – Integrating AI into a Design Brief

• Topics: Apply learned concepts to a practical design project (e.g., social media campaign visuals, website banner, simple logo concept). Workflow demonstration: Using AI for ideation, asset creation, image editing, and finalizing in standard design software.
• Practical: Participants work on their projects, integrating at least 2-3 different AI techniques/tools demonstrated during the course. Instructor provides guidance.
• AI Tools: Combination of tools covered in previous days, based on project needs.

Day 10: Future Trends, Portfolio & Wrap-up

• Topics: The future of AI in graphic design. Emerging tools and techniques. How to showcase AI-assisted work in a portfolio ethically and effectively. Tips for continuous learning. Course review and Q&A session.
• Practical: Peer review of project work. Final Q&A. Discussion on portfolio presentation.
• AI Tools: Recap and resource sharing.