General Information

The publishing industry has been seeing rapid change brought on by the extraordinary growth of global information networks and changes in publishing technology. The Publishing Program is a one-year, three-term program designed to provide a broad base of training for the following identifiable groups:

1. Those who wish to enter the rapidly evolving publishing industry, including the corporate communication and electronic publishing sectors;
2. Those who have set up, or who wish to set up, their own publishing businesses;
3. Those already in the industry who are trained in traditional production methods and who wish to upgrade their skills.

Some part-time placement may be available for those who have previously completed the fall semester of Publishing or for those with developed Photoshop skills who wish to study electronic publishing. If students are interested in either of these options, please inquire in October for the spring semester or in February for the summer semester.

A Diploma in Publishing will be awarded for successful completion of the full three-term, one-year program.

It is not the objective of the program to produce graduates who are experts in all areas of publishing. Rather, our goal is to promote a comprehensive understanding of the publishing process and to allow students to develop their own areas of expertise. The emphasis is on creative problem solving within each area.

The Langara College Publishing Program is project-based and hands-on. Students work to create a line of professional-quality projects. These include Pacific Rim Magazine (print run 18,000 with local distribution by the Globe and Mail), Pacific Rim Magazine Online (a website), a newsletter, personal projects and occasional outside projects — using the most advanced tools and techniques available.

The focus is on all-colour magazine production, online publishing, writing and editing — although corporate publishing, book design and production, typography, and other publishing issues are also emphasized. This approach encompasses a complete, advanced publishing sequence, setting a level of knowledge and skill that will equip students for a wide variety of publishing tasks.

Upon graduation, students will have a portfolio of tangible products they helped to create. They will have also acquired enough basic knowledge to start their own business, if that is their goal.

The Program will cover the entire print-based, graphics-and-photo intensive publication production sequence from initial concept to finished product: writing, research, text editing, page layout, graphics applications, scanning, digital photography, digital image editing, system calibration, colour correction, colour separation, colour proofing, imagesetting, ink and paper, and signature and offset printing. In addition, students will transform finished text and graphic material into Web pages, to be published on the World Wide Web.

The following are the three key components of the Langara College Publishing Program which will be integrated with other related courses in the curriculum and aligned with the magazine production path.

1. Print-based publishing: students will learn three main software packages — Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop.
2. Web publishing: students will learn how to make web pages, both hand coding and using visual software such as Adobe Dreamweaver.
3. Flash publishing: students will learn how to incorporate images, text, video, sound, and interactivity in Adobe Flash.

Program content and the order of courses may be subject to modification without notice, prior to the commencement of the program, although the main scope of the curriculum will be unchanged.

Program intake: September