ADVR 6A01: STRATEGY l: STRATEGY & CONSUMER INSIGHTS.
(Summer Residency, Year One, Week One, 20 hours)
Strategy is the foundation for sound business execution. In the marketing and communications business, professionals must understand how business strategy translates into marketing, communication, and brand strategy. This course focuses on how to interpret and develop consumer insights through research and analysis. Students design research plans and methodologies and apply the consumer insights to develop communication strategies and briefing documents. The class will also concentrate on how to formulate a consumer-oriented marketing strategy. Students use case studies to develop strategies for analyzing business problems and opportunities. Students apply these strategies in class projects in designing marketing communication plans and brand strategies. Consumer insights are the foundation for relevant and meaningful marketing strategies and communication briefs. Marketing professionals need to have a deep understanding of consumer behavior to direct marketing campaigns with impact.
ADVR 6A02: STRATEGY ll: INTEGRATED STRATEGIC THINKING (Summer Residency, Year One, Week Two, 20 hours)
This course builds upon the tenants of strategy and consumer insights introduced in Strategy I. Today, marketing is a combination of art and science . Integrated Strategic Thinking--combining left and right brain activities--is the skill that is required to create cohesive marketing and communication plans that combine business analysis, strategy, consumer insight, contact opportunity and conceptual ideas. The communication strategies and briefs that are developed in this class will be used as the basis for creative development in the course entitled, New Media l: Beyond Traditional Advertising.
ADVR 6A03: PROBLEM SOLVING SYSTEMS l: AGENCY APPROACHES
(Summer Residency, Year One, Week Two, 20 hours)
This class will explore the pertinent theory, history, and application of advertising processes with an emphasis on creative problem solving. In addition to reading, lectures and studio projects, students will have a number of live case history presentations by leading advertising professionals and analyze each agency’s particular system for creative problem solving. In addition, students will work as teams on a group project that will be presented on the last class day. This course will lay the foundation for Problem Solving Systems ll and the professors from both courses will evaluate the final project.
ADVR 6A04: PROBLEM SOLVING SYSTEMS ll: CLIENT PERSPECTIVES
(Summer Residency, Year Two, Week One, 20 hours)
In most undergraduate design programs in advertising, clients are removed largely from the creative process. The same is true at many traditional advertising agencies. However, regardless of whether they are in the banking, retailing or package goods business, each client must have a clear vision of their brand and how to position and communicate it most effectively through all levels of marketing. Building on Problem Solving Systems I, in this course, students will look at the brand from the client’s perspective and will analyze the role, process and issues that brand managers face in developing successful brand communications platforms. This understanding is critical to advertising agencies in today’s market where more emphasis is placed on creative problem solving that is not driven strictly by media.
ADVR 6A05: MEDIA l: BEYOND TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING
(Summer Residency, Year Two, Week One, 20 hours)
Traditional advertising thinking and conventional media choices are no longer sufficient tools for solving marketing problems. Advertising concepts are no longer tied to media but rather the concept drives the media. Regardless of this fact ad agencies have been slow to break free of the status quo of traditional media specific campaigns. Advertising as content rather than an interruption to content is the underlying notion that drives the focus of this course. The development of media-neutral ideas that demonstrate consumer understanding and employ an appropriate and wide range of tools including advertising, promotion, activation, and PR are primary objectives. The ideas created in this class will be based on the briefs developed in Strategy II--Integrated Strategic Thinking.
ADVR 6A06: MEDIA ll: EMBRACING TECHNOLOGY
(Summer Residency, Year Two, Week Two, 20 hours)
Building on the media-neutral creative problem solving that was explored in Media I, this course exposes the students to the various types of new media in advertising. Changes in this constantly evolving area are influenced by three elements: technological advances and constraints, business goals and trends, and consumer needs and expectations. Successful brand positions and advertising campaigns result from a thorough understanding and careful balancing of these three elements. Where appropriate, students will identify unusual approaches and explore alternative media solutions in designing innovative advertising campaigns. They will examine the strengths and weaknesses, potential impacts, and pitfalls related to new media. This course enables students to explore, analyze, and create distinctive advertising campaigns that use new media in innovative ways to interest consumers and achieve business goals.
ADVR 6A07: ANALYSIS OF MODERN GLOBAL ADVERTISING
(Summer Residency, Year Three, Week One, 20 hours)
With the pressure on most agencies to get the work out, many agencies and the people within them have little time to study and keep up with the latest national trends in advertising much less the latest global trends. This course will help students acquire the skills and the resources to track and analyze innovations in global advertising and to create and deploy a predictive model that can be used routinely to raise the bar in the creation and development of their own advertising campaigns.
ADVR 6A08: COMMUNICATING WITH SHORT FILMS
(Summer Residency, Year Three, Week One, 20 hours)
Building on the study of the various ways in which to reach today’s target audience, the short film genre—made famous by BMW-- clearly offers advertisers a dramatic and refreshing way to reach the target audience through web and cinema advertising along with new media as they become available. This course will analyze and study the short film genre to help inform advertisers of its enormous potential for innovative advertising campaigns.
ADVR 6A09: INVENTIVE THINKING AND NEW PRODUCTS
(Summer Residency, Year Three, Week Two, 20 hours)
As in the other courses in the curriculum, this course requires students to think beyond the traditional ways of problem solving as it applies to new products. In the world of advertising and marketing, clients usually invent new products and then take their ideas to advertising agencies that introduce the new product through the appropriate media advertising campaign. In this class, students will work in teams of writer, art director, planner and client, analyze a particular product category, and invent a new product or line extension in that category as a working creative team that benefits from the perspective of each team member. Students will be required to write a strategy statement, name the product and make a formal presentation of the final concept at the last class meeting.
ADVR 6A10: PRESENTING LIKE A MASTER
(Summer Residency, Year Three, Week Two, 20 hours)
In this course, students take all the things they have learned in previous courses and learn how to more effectively present and sell their ideas to a critical audience including the creative director, the head of account management and the client. A lot of great advertising concepts never get produced because the agency is not able to sell the ideas to the client. In this class students will study the various components that make for great presentations including the personal performances of the “actors” involved in the presentation, the logic and the quality of the writing, and the appropriate use of audio/video to enhance their presentations. A major focus will be recognizing how to put the right team members in the right roles. Student presentations will be video taped for critique.
ADVR 6B01: BUSINESS ETHICS & SUSTAINABILITY
(Summer Residency, Year One, Weeks One & Two, 40 hours)
As future leaders in the advertising industry, students need to think about some of the large social, ethical and economic issues that influence everyday decisions in the business world. The class will focus on a number of famous cases in business ethics. In addition, attention will be paid to the particular responsibility advertisers have to promote socially responsible programs having to do with sustainability. Global drivers such as climate, environment, population growth, and social inequity are redefining the competitive landscape and are demanding higher levels of attention, transparency and social responsibility from corporate entities. Students will learn the importance of this kind of thinking to their role as leaders in tomorrow’s industry.
ADVR 6D01: PRODUCT BRAND DEVELOPMENT
Year One, Distance-Learning Module: three meetings off campus of four days each. Meetings with professor for two hours every two weeks during Fall and Winter semesters.) While much is said about branding not much is known about the system for developing it. Building on the knowledge from previous courses, students will carefully analyze and understand that the core of each brand includes descriptive, verbal (messages), visual (design), and emotional (image world and ads) elements that define how a product or service will be perceived in the market place. The object of this course is to analyze the multi-step process that defines and develops these descriptors. In-depth research gives the student a profound understanding of the client and its corporate architecture, the competition, and the customer; this is the essential information to begin the strategic process. The success of a brand is dependent upon its unique imagery, quality and its emotional content. The road map for this success is the brand book that defines the brand essence, communication strategy, design, and advertising.
ADVR 6D02: ADVERTISING FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD
(Year Two: three off-campus seminars of four days each; Meeting with professor four hours once a month during Fall and Winter semesters) This is an independent study course where teams work off-campus and research a real world social or cultural issue that currently exists within a community. Teams will be responsible for identifying and contacting the appropriate client, conducting an in-depth study of the market place, dissecting the data and creating a comprehensive marketing plan and advertising strategy. Teams will then embark on the creation and execution of a multi-media advertising campaign that will address the problems identified in the strategy. Following that, teams will present their strategy and advertising campaigns to the client for final approval and execution.
CRCP 6B01 History and Theory of Exhibitions (3)
Surveying the diverse means by which art and design have been experienced since the 18th century, this course investigates exhibitions in their social, historical, and theoretical contexts. Besides covering sites such as salons, galleries, museums, and artist-generated alternatives, discussion also addresses how the postmodern interest in design, performance, digital media, and site-specific work re-conceives the notion of exhibition.
CRCP 6B02 Criticism and Critical Writing (3)
This subject of this course is critical writing in a broad sense. Critical writing can be seen as a large and flexible form that accompanies art and design’s production and public reception. This broad view will enable the seminar to examine many types of texts that deal with art and design theory, criticism, ficto-criticism, curatorial statements, and texts as artworks, as well as interviews (which though spoken, routinely appear in print.) A central question for the seminar will be the study of whether (or how) different positions in the field of art, design, curator, critic, artist, designer, etc. create different kinds of writing.
CRCP 6B03 Inside the AGO: Collaborative Group Exhibition (3)
course serves as a hands-on opportunity for students to work with curatorial staff at the AGO to mount a collaborative exhibition. The course includes focused departmental practica conducted by AGO staff in areas such as research, public and artist relations, fundraising, transportation and storage of artwork, documentation, security, and marketing. Registration in this course is limited to students in the CCP MFA program.
CRCP 6B05 Issues in Criticism and Curatorial Studies (3)
This seminar examines the ongoing debates circulating within and pertinent to contemporary criticism and curating. The course addresses the implications for criticism and curatorial practice through analysis of the theoretical formations and shifting context of prominent issues, for example, representation, gender, sexuality, difference, institutional power, censorship, globalization, and media culture.
CRCP 6B06 Introduction to Criticism and Curatorial Studies (3)
This introductory seminar, through readings and discussion, will introduce students to the major critical texts, theories and debates in the burgeoning international field of contemporary curatorial studies and criticism. Simultaneously throughout the seminar, students will attend public exhibitions, screenings, lectures, performances and events in Toronto’s visual art and design worlds. This ongoing examination of contemporary art and design practices within public culture will provide students with an eclectic and critical mapping of the layers and intersections of the visual arts, media and design, in relation to their varied publics, audiences, markets, the mass media, and the scholarly community.
CRCP 6B07 Thesis Writing Workshop (3)
Individual students will work with their Principal Advisor to develop their thesis project. Students and Principal Advisors will convene as a group periodically throughout the semester to present and discuss their thesis work with eachother.
CRCP 6C01 Individual Research and Reading (6)
This is a directed study course to pursue research and reading in connection with each student’s thesis project or critical essay, working with their Principal Advisor.
CRCP 6E01 Exhibition and Essay (6+6)
Students in the curatorial stream will be required to conceptualize and curate a public project and write a curatorial essay, which should be of publishable quality, and complete an internal exhibition report. The curatorial project may be in the form of an exhibition, a public installation, a public event, a performance, a website, etc. In addition, students may wish to produce a catalogue which includes the curatorial essay, list of works, illustrations, etc. to accompany the curatorial project.
CRCP 6E02 Criticism Thesis (12)
Students in the criticism stream will produce a criticism thesis in the form of one long sustained essay with chapters on a particular subject or three shorter essays on a theme of a similar combined length. The essay/s should include a critical literature overview, a chapter on methodology, and a bibliography. The criticism essay/s should demonstrate sustained research and critical argument and an awareness of the larger field of critical inquiry. The essay/s should indicate some level of primary research and investigation either through interviews, exhibition visits, site visits, studio visits, etc. The critical essay/s can focus on art, design or media criticism as a subject in its own right or as a critical analysis of an art object, design object, event, performance, web site, etc.
GGRA 6B01 Contemporary Research Methods (3)
A wide variety of methods inform research that takes as its object art, design, or visual studies. This range expands further when it includ es studio practice as well as scholarship. Moreover, a given method is inflected by the discipline within which it is applied. To sort through this array, this course surveys contemporary art and design research methods with reference to social sciences, humanities, and cultural studies, and then uses this knowledge to focus on the unique issues facing students in critical, curating, and interdisciplinary practices.
GGRA 6B03 Critical Theory Seminar I (3)
Based on a survey of critical theory, this graduate seminar provides a venue for the analysis of texts, issues, and discourses that inform contemporary visual culture. Emphasis is placed on examining the role of critical theory in contemporary art, design, criticism and curating.
IAMD 6B01 Interdisciplinary Studio I (3)
Students acquire the skill sets of a secondary art, media, or design discipline through a combination of directed work in the OCAD studios and/or through an audit of appropriate 200-400 level studio courses. Individual projects/critiques are determined and adjudicated by each student’s individual Principal Advisor with the additional supervision of a Directed Study Advisor. The program of study for the Secondary Studio is determined and arranged by the individual student with their Principal Advisor. In addition, students interact weekly with their peers in formal and informal critique presentations.
IAMD 6B02 Interdisciplinary Studio II (3)
Students will continue to acquire the skill sets and to produce work in their chosen secondary art, media, or design discipline through a combination of directed work in the OCAD studios. Students may also continue to audit appropriate 200-400 level studio courses. Individual projects/critiques are determined and adjudicated by each student’s Principal Advisor, with the additional supervision of a Directed Study Advisor. The program of study for the Secondary Studio is determined and arranged by the individual student with their Principal Advisor. In addition, students interact weekly with their peers in formal and informal critique presentations.
IAMD 6B03 Interdisciplinary Academic Study I (3)
Students pursue a secondary academic discipline through a combination of directed study and, when appropriate, audit of 300-400 level courses or coursework in Liberal Studies or at another university via Letter of Permission.
IAMD 6B04 Interdisciplinary Academic Study II (3)
Students will continue to pursue their secondary academic discipline through a combination of directed study and, when appropriate, audit of 300-400 level courses or coursework in Liberal Studies or at another university via Letter of Permission.
IAMD 6B05 Interdisciplinary Studio Seminar
Students acquire skills in interdisciplinary art, media, or design through a combination of directed research, case study, peer evaluation, studio-critiques, writing and practice. The course will support students’ development of thesis proposals and projects that prepare for the work of the thesis, in a directed studio environment. The course will provide opportunities for interaction with peers, faculty, and visiting experts in a focused studio-seminar setting.
IAMD 6B06 Special Focus: Research & Innovation Lab (3)
Students meet weekly for guided discussion of the theoretical and practical issues surrounding a common theme/interest. In this advanced graduate lab, students use their individual thesis topics as the basis for developing a methodological framework to research, analyze, and produce an installation or discrete project within a space or context appropriate for their work. The course structures students’ research and production as an iterative and discursive process, supplemented by the analysis of relevant texts, visits from guest lecturers, class critiques, and hands-on workshops. Students will identify theoretical frameworks and methodologies pertinent to their thesis topics, engage in a series of intensive mapping and model-making exercises, and produce an installation or a discrete project that responds to these conditions as a way to develop and ‘test out’ their research on a 1:1 scale.
IAMD 6B07 Graduate Seminar (3)
During the final semester, students work primarily independently on completing their theses. The Graduate Seminar provides a weekly opportunity for students to meet for guided discussion of their work.
IAMD 6B08 Critical Theory Seminar II (3)
Building on and extending the discussion framework, issues, and debates of Critical Theory Seminar I, this seminar provides historical and contemporary perspectives on art, media and design practices, with a focus on the interrelationship of critical theory and its social/political milieu.
IAMD 6C01 MFA/MDes Individual Studio I (6)
Participants pursue self-directed studio work in their primary area of concentration in consultation with their Principal Advisor. Students are expected to attend periodic lectures by visiting artists, designers, theorists, and cultural critics, as well as to meet individually for studio critiques with the invited lecturers. Regular interactions and critiques with the student’s Principal Advisor and invited lecturers will be an important part of this course.
IAMD 6C02 MFA/MDes Individual Studio II (6)
A continuation of Individual Studio I, students maintain their self-directed studio in their primary area of concentration, gradually integrating elements of their secondary discipline as they work toward interdisciplinary. Regular interactions and critiques with the student’s Principal Advisor and invited lecturers continue.
IAMD 6C03MA Individual Academic Study I (6)
Students pursue self-directed research, reading, and written work in their primary academic discipline in consultation with their Supervisory Committee. Similar to their studio cohort members, students are expected to attend periodic lectures by visiting artists, designers, theorists, and cultural critics. All students are required to participate in formal and informal critique presentations with their peers.
IAMD 6C04 MA Individual Academic Study II (6)
A continuation of Individual Study I, students maintain their self-directed study in their primary academic discipline, gradually integrating elements of their secondary discipline as they work toward interdisciplinary. Weekly studio critiques with peers and interaction/critiques with invited lecturers continue.
IAMD 6D01 Advanced Interdisciplinary Studio/Research (9)
Students pursue self-directed work on the culminating creative project and or thesis research. Biweekly meetings with the Principal Advisor are required.
IAMD 6E01 MFA/MDes Thesis (12)
This is the culminating work of the Interdisciplinary Master’s Program in Art, Media, and Design. The Master’s thesis for the MFA or MDes degrees comprises two important components. The central component is a body of visual work that clearly demonstrates the student’s advanced ability to integrate elements of two disciplines toward the achievement of a stated goal or solution. The supporting paper or written thesis a) elaborates in some depth the theoretical underpinnings of the project; b) articulates clearly and lucidly the objectives (problem to be solved) and the process undertaken (including false starts, unproductive tangents, and lessons learned); and c) explains in detail the end result or creative solution.
IAMD 6E02 MA Thesis (12)
This is the culminating work of the Interdisciplinary Master’s Program in Art, Media, and Design. The Master’s thesis for the MA degree comprises the same two important elements as for the MFA or MDes degrees, however, in reverse order of importance. The central element of the MA thesis is the written thesis that demonstrates substantial research and explication of an original creative idea or solution. The thesis is based on a strong, well-articulated theoretical perspective or methodology that highlights the interdisciplinary of the project (this should also include some discussion of the process involved in developing the critical framework or methodology, challenges, and benefits). An original creative work accompanies and supports or illustrates the written thesis.
SFIN 6B01: Business and Design Thinking (3 credits)
This course will examine the design ecosystem, describing the way in which design is linked with the disciplines of finance, law, management, marketing, science, and engineering. It will provide an overview and understanding of basic business and finance techniques, in particular those that have proven critical in the successful commercialization of innovation. Intellectual property rights, a critical component in new product development, will be discussed. The course will also demonstrate the importance of design thinking to business success. Students will review business case studies and will discuss and apply design processes through a series of short projects. They will have ‘hands on’ business and creative experiences through a business simulation and through the creation of an original work.
SFIN 6B02: Social Systems (3 credits)
In this introduction to complex systems, students will examine the dynamic arrangement of three interconnected and adaptive human systems; social, market and political. Developing the essentials of a systems approach, students will study structure, evolution, patterns of behaviour, and the impacts of change in these systems through case study review and systems model analysis. Working in teams, students will select a specific sector, define an objective and then will explore the potential direct and indirect consequences of a number of proposed solutions.
SFIN 6B03: The Human Factor (3 credits)
Understanding the people who will interact with new innovations is key to the development of valuable and sustainable solutions. Students will study diverse societies and cultures and their relationship to human motivation, behaviour and perception. A strong understanding of human values, desires and needs will provide crucial insight for the Research Methodologies Studio projects. Students will conduct research on emerging behavioural trends related to a specific activity or sector and will prepare visual and written documentation and analysis.
SFIN 6B04: Understanding Systems (3 credits)
In this second course on systems thinking, students will study non-human systems, specifically the ecosphere, biosphere and technosphere. Applying systems thinking approaches, students will compare these natural and man-made systems and discuss methods for understanding and respecting their interdependencies and interactions. The nature of adaptive life systems will be studied as well as examples of the unintended and often negative impacts of human action. Significant technological inventions and their impact on human and societal development and on the environment will be discussed. Included in this discussion will be the key role that information technology has played in accelerating change. Emerging and pivotal technologies and their potential value and impact will be studied. The social, legal, economic and ethical issues concerning technology innovation will be considered through case study analysis.
SFIN 6B05: Business Modeling and Policy Innovation (3 credits)
The key instrument for successfully commercializing a product or service is a well-developed business model and in the public sector, the key instrument for innovation is policy development. Students will first be introduced to the essential components of an effective business model and the key stakeholders involved from developer to end-user. Through case study analysis, students will study a number of precedents, analyze the assumptions on which they’re based and discuss the relative success or failure of each. Working in teams, students will develop a business model using their foresight studio project if applicable. Students will then be introduced to the complexities of various organizations in the public sector, and will develop an understanding of their particular structures and methods of navigation in the context of policy development. Students will study the key factors which determine effective policy development, and methods for implementation through the study of precedents. Working in teams, and applying insight from the Systems 1 course, students will develop an innovative policy and implementation plan for a project of their choice, using the work in the Foresight Studio if applicable.
SFIN 6B06: Strategic Communications (3 credits)
Students learn the essentials of effective communication through the study and development of strategic branding, marketing, and policy initiatives. Emphasis is given to interaction with external customers and stakeholders, supported through clear internal communication. Topics include understanding diverse audiences, visual thinking, structure and appropriateness of content and effective writing styles. Critical thinking leading to actionable strategies is advanced through private, public, and not-for-profit sector case studies. Precedents, current assumptions, and traditional notions of markets based on demographics and psychographics will be analyzed and critiqued with respect to their relevance to rapidly evolving conditions. Learning units on strategic brand positioning advance the understanding of the brand as a promise. The personality of the brand voice, its attributes, positioning, and intended impact are studied in the context of emerging behavioural trends. Working in teams, students will develop a communications strategy for a specific sector and application.
SFIN 6B07: Leadership Excellence (3 credits)
Leadership skills are critical to successful innovation, whether it involves developing consensus in multi-stakeholder groups, managing organizational change or leading the development of an innovative product or service. The evolution of leadership excellence will be introduced in this course, with particular emphasis on responsible leadership and non-traditional organizations. The essential components of effective leadership - vision, the ability to inspire and empower others, and ethics - as well as the consequences of particular forms of leadership will be considered through the analysis of case studies. Students will study organizational behaviours and structures and address the management of organizational change. Students will create a personal leadership development plan appropriate to their chosen sector.
SFIN 6C01: Research Methodologies (6 credits)
Making sense of complexity at the ‘fuzzy front end’ of innovation is only possible through the application of appropriate and valid research methods. Applying the right process at the right time yields crucial insights which aid in the teasing out and framing of the right problem. Students will study key research methodologies including field research and ethnography, market and user research, data analysis, problem framing, experience prototyping and participatory design methods (such as ideation workshops). Working in teams, students will apply the appropriate methodology to a specific dilemma or opportunity, collecting and analyzing their findings, documenting their resulting insights and presenting them to the class. Developing skills in facilitating diverse stakeholder groups in a workshop format will be an important outcome of this class.
SFIN 6C02: Foresight and Innovation Studio (6 credits)
Representing the pivotal learning in the program, this core studio will introduce foresight innovation methodologies in the development of private, public or voluntary sector solutions. Working in teams, students will identify an issue in a specific sector, and will begin their exploration and research in a divergent process of signal discovery through methods such as environmental scanning, new technology research, ethnographic, market or user research, field study, or stakeholder workshops. This phase of work makes sense of complex information and results in the framing of problems. In a convergent process, students will apply methodologies which include user experience scenarios, long range scenario planning and technology adoption modeling to develop creative insights and innovative solutions which anticipate short to mid to long-term needs in the form of strategic roadmaps, communications programs, products and services, and policy frameworks. Students will develop implementation strategies appropriate to their sector and will analyze the direct and indirect consequences of their solutions. This course will aid the students in identifying their area of interest for their major project and they will complete the course with their major project proposal.
SFIN 6E01: Major Project (12 credits)
This is the culminating work of the Master of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation. It synthesizes the knowledge and skills learned throughout the program and applies them in the development of a major project. In both cases students will develop innovative and anticipatory solutions and implementation strategies for defined dilemmas in the private, public or voluntary sectors. Students are encouraged to find real world projects and partners and may elect to work in teams or individually. A major project will comprise the identification and in-depth study of a significant issue, a framing of the problem, an articulated opportunity, a well-developed solution, an impact analysis, and a detailed implementation strategy. Their creative insights and innovative solutions will anticipate mid to long-term needs and will be presented in the form of strategic roadmaps, communications programs, products and services, or policy frameworks. Much of the research and proposed solutions will be presented in visual form with supporting written documentation.
Last Modified:1/24/2012 12:57:22 PM