Web Design, Associate of Science Degree (A.S.)

Program Outline and Course Descriptions

The Associate of Science degree in Web Design prepares students for a career in the expansive web design industry. The goal of the program is to provide students with the opportunity to develop an eye for design and gain an understanding of the theories and technologies required to build and maintain effective web pages and other web-based solutions. The program includes training in page construction, coding and scripting techniques, principles of design, content creation, and usability design. Students learn the skills needed to leverage existing technologies and frameworks to build mobile-ready, responsive web sites quickly and easily.

Course Number  Course Titles  Lecture 

Hours 

Lab 

Hours 

Quarter Credits 
BSM 150  Business Start-Up Strategies  50  10  5 
BSM 220  Principles of Marketing  50  10  5 
BSM 255  Project Management  50  10  5 
CSC 100  Student Success Fundamentals  50  10  5 
ENG 100  English Composition I*  50  10  5 
HUM 140  Introduction to Psychology*  50  10  5 
HUM 200 World History* 50  10  5 
MTH 101 Introductory Algebra* 50  10  5 
PHY 200 Physical Science* 50  10  5 
WDD 101  Internet Fundamentals  50  10  5 
WDD 110  Digital Graphics  50  10  5 
WDD 130  Website Fundamentals  50  10  5 
WDD 150  Creative Design  50  10  5 
WDD 160  Graphic Design Basics  50  10  5 
WDD 170  Web Page Authoring  50  10  5 
WDD 210  Digital Solutions  50  10  5 
WDD 230  Web Frameworks Fundamentals  50  10  5 
WDD 240  Digital Business Development  50  10  5 
WDD 250  Client-Side Scripting Fundamentals  50  10  5 
WDD 270  Digital Publishing  50  10  5 
  Totals:  1000  200  100 

*General Education course 

  • Plan and design an effective web solution for specific client goals.

  • Build and customize a website to client specifications.

  • Suggest appropriate changes to improve the usability of a given site.

  • Incorporate common website components and features to an existing site.

  • Create and implement an online e-commerce store.

  • Modify a website to align with common compliance standards.

  • Alter the code of a web framework site to achieve a given result.

  • Use design theories and techniques to improve the aesthetics of an image.

  • Plan and design common creative for a given brand.

  • Code simple scripts using JavaScript.

  • Create and deploy effective web-based content for a given brand.

The Web Design Associate of Science Degree program is 100 quarter credits and can be completed in two (2) years if the student attends all terms full time and consecutively.  

BSM 150: Business Start-up Strategies 
Students in this course are exposed to basic issues in starting a business. Topics may include capitalization, staffing, subcontracting, permits, facilities, and basic business planning. The course offers students practical exercises to begin strategic development of a business and offers practical problems and issues in the startup phase of building a successful organization.

BSM 220: Principles of Marketing 
In this course, students study the nuances of promotion, advertising, and consumer spending, and how those concepts can be applied to getting the word out about a company, product or service. Students learn about planning effective advertising campaigns by analyzing public demand for a particular product or service, and the products offered by the competition. Students also learn about the different methods of marketing, and how technology has impacted the way marketing is handled for both big and small companies.

BSM 255: Project Management 
This course prepares students to develop and implement project plans when working to complete assigned projects. Topics in this course may include defining project goals and objectives, specifying tasks or how goals will be achieved, establishing needed resources for project completion, and associating budgets and completion timelines. Students study the major phases of project management including project feasibility, planning, implementation, evaluation, and support. Project management software will be used by students to gain an understanding of how to best organize and delegate their project. Students gain an understanding of how to manage projects and how these skills may be applied to an individual project or a group project.
 
CSC 100: Student Success Fundamentals   
This course serves as an introduction to the necessary core skills needed to be successful at an academic, professional, and personal level. Students will identify core skills, values, and interests to assist in their path to success. Topics covered in this course may include time management, effective study skills, written and oral communication, improving critical thinking to enhance problem-solving skills. Other topics may include job search techniques and job etiquette, and on-the-job behavior. Students will work towards building their professional development through various assignments and topics throughout the course. Students will explore Laurus College resources for success inside and outside the classroom.

ENG 100: English Composition I 
English provides students with the basic rhetorical foundations to prepare them for the demands of academic and professional writing. Students in this course will learn and practice the strategies and processes that successful writers employ when communicating information. These strategies include reading analytically and strategically, improving reading comprehension, writing persuasively, writing for investigative purposes, problem-resolution, evaluation, explanation, and refutation.

HUM 140: Introduction to Psychology 
Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes. In this class, students will dive into what makes themselves and others behave the way they do. Topics covered in this class include Neuroscience, Sensation and Perception, Learning, Memory, Thinking and Intelligence, Developmental Psychology, Personality Theories and Assessment, Social Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, and Workplace Psychology. This class will be focused more on behavior as it pertains to the workplace rather than the clinical side of Psychology.

HUM 200: World History 
Students will explore common challenges and experiences that unite the human past and identify key global patterns over time. This overview of world history covers political, economic, social, religious, intellectual, cultural, and military history in a chronological story that will help students gain an appreciation and understanding of the distinctive character and development of individual cultures in society.

MTH 101: Introductory Algebra 
This course provides students with a conceptual understanding of algebra by using problem solving applications in context to real-world application. Students will integrate meaningful applications with relevant data, graphs, tables, charts, colors, and diagrams.

PHY 200: Physical Science 
This course introduces students to physical science. Students will learn about physics, chemistry, astronomy, meteorology, and geology. This will give students the ability to understand and interact with their physical environment in a more engaging way. Some of the knowledge students gain includes Newton’s Laws, chemical elements, the universe, and geologic concepts. masking, filters, image manipulation and correction, composition, painting, and optimization for the web. Students examine techniques for efficient editing, processing, and file handling. Topics in photo editing may be studied, including color enhancement, lighting correction, and overall retouching.

WDD 101: Internet Fundamentals 
This course introduces students to the World Wide Web. Students examine the history of the web and how its development has shaped the ways people do business and advertise. Students gain an understanding for the complexity of the web and how servers, users, and databases all work, search, access information, and download simultaneously.  Topics in this course may include the basics of HTTP, FTP, HTML language and tags, coding styles, links, image placement, and image maps. Students learn the importance of web page appearance and navigation. Students are introduced to the basics of initial web page planning and production, and learn key terminology applied to web page creation and implementation.

WDD 110: Digital Graphics 
This course introduces students to Adobe Photoshop, the fundamental graphics application and image editing software used in the computer graphics industry. Students learn the fundamentals of this software, and will study topics including selections, layers, masking, filters, image manipulation and correction, composition, painting, and optimization for the web. Students examine techniques for efficient editing, processing, and file handling. Topics in photo editing may be studied, including color enhancement, lighting correction, and overall retouching.

WDD 130: Website Fundamentals  
In this course, students will learn how to reproduce common web design layout patterns to quickly create websites that are easy to understand and navigate. Students learn to create more complex multi column designs to make their pages easier to read and understand. Students learn the basics of wireframing and planning as they take first steps towards building custom layouts utilizing design patterns. Students review the anatomy of web pages and examine common workflows as well as build confidence via critiquing both their peers and ready-made examples.

WDD 150: Creative Design 
Vector graphics are ideal for simple or composite drawings that need to be device-independent, or do not need to achieve photo-realism. In this course, students learn how to use a computer software program to create and edit vector-based graphic images for use within a web page. Applying the principles of graphics design, students will create and edit images for use within a web page. Other topics may include drawing and various artistic techniques to produce visual graphics effective for the web.

WDD 160: Graphic Design Basics  
This course introduces students to the basics of design theory as it relates to web design. Students gain an understanding of the effective use of design elements such as points, lines, colors, shapes, & space to create examples that emulate current web design trends. Students are introduced to building common layouts using design elements to create intentional visual hierarchies using visual weight and basic design principles. Students work with wireframes to create custom prototypes of web pages and other design solutions and learn to incorporate peer critiques into their designs. Additional topics include art history, typography, color theory, and designing for different audiences.

WDD 170: Web Page Authoring 
In this course, students gain an understanding of the basics of responsive design techniques. Students work towards creating responsive web pages using current techniques. In addition, students are introduced to common CSS frameworks to improve the speed and accuracy of building web solutions. Students work building pages utilizing common design patterns and elements through frameworks. Topics include media queries, percentage-based widths, image DPI, and modifying previously learned patterns to be responsive to different screen sizes.

WDD 210: Digital Solutions 
In this course, students gain an understanding of the PHP scripting language. This server-side language is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML documents. Students in this course will learn how to write programs to store and retrieve data, build arrays, work with control structures, and build contact forms. Students are introduced to sessions and cookies, custom functions, uploading files, and working with common programming elements.

WDD 230: Web Framework Fundamentals 
In this course, students will learn the basics of installing and managing popular Content Management Systems (CMS). This class will explore the creation and implementation of custom themes as well as the process of managing accounts, comments, pages, posts and other common CMS tools. Students will also study techniques to craft and display blog posts and other content. Topics include writing and installing plugins using popular scripting languages such as PHP, creating custom templates, and modifying the user interface.

WDD 240: Digital Business Development 
In this course students learn to create an online ecommerce solution using popular Content Management Systems (CMS). Students work with ecommerce plugins to transform their projects into websites designed for electronic sales including a means to collect orders, store customer information, work with payment gateways, and protect data. Students will learn to customize their sites for different types of businesses and products and add other common ecommerce elements. In addition, students are introduced to analytics and metrics for CMS sites as well as improving search engine optimization through plugins and other methods.
 
WDD 250: Client-Side Scripting Fundamentals 
In this course students learn the basics of the JavaScript scripting language. Students are introduced to programming elements such as variables, arrays, control structures, functions, and objects. Students gain an understanding of the Document Object Model and learn ways to manipulate HTML and CSS using current best practices. Students create simple common scripts and study how JavaScript can be incorporated into modern web designs. Other topics include DOM selection and events listeners, timers and dates, plus how to plan scripts and work with errors and bugs.

WDD 270: Digital Publishing 
This course introduces strategies for creating simple interactive mobile applications. Students will gain an understanding of the basic theory behind creating effective mobile applications as well as techniques for creating custom apps based on common design patterns and interfaces. Topics in this course may include native mobile applications created via Adobe AIR via Adobe Animate CC and hybrid apps created via HTML/CSS & JavaScript.

Program Outline
Course Number  Course Titles  Lecture 

Hours 

Lab 

Hours 

Quarter Credits 
BSM 150  Business Start-Up Strategies  50  10  5 
BSM 220  Principles of Marketing  50  10  5 
BSM 255  Project Management  50  10  5 
CSC 100  Student Success Fundamentals  50  10  5 
ENG 100  English Composition I*  50  10  5 
HUM 140  Introduction to Psychology*  50  10  5 
HUM 200 World History* 50  10  5 
MTH 101 Introductory Algebra* 50  10  5 
PHY 200 Physical Science* 50  10  5 
WDD 101  Internet Fundamentals  50  10  5 
WDD 110  Digital Graphics  50  10  5 
WDD 130  Website Fundamentals  50  10  5 
WDD 150  Creative Design  50  10  5 
WDD 160  Graphic Design Basics  50  10  5 
WDD 170  Web Page Authoring  50  10  5 
WDD 210  Digital Solutions  50  10  5 
WDD 230  Web Frameworks Fundamentals  50  10  5 
WDD 240  Digital Business Development  50  10  5 
WDD 250  Client-Side Scripting Fundamentals  50  10  5 
WDD 270  Digital Publishing  50  10  5 
  Totals:  1000  200  100 

*General Education course 

Program Outcomes
  • Plan and design an effective web solution for specific client goals.

  • Build and customize a website to client specifications.

  • Suggest appropriate changes to improve the usability of a given site.

  • Incorporate common website components and features to an existing site.

  • Create and implement an online e-commerce store.

  • Modify a website to align with common compliance standards.

  • Alter the code of a web framework site to achieve a given result.

  • Use design theories and techniques to improve the aesthetics of an image.

  • Plan and design common creative for a given brand.

  • Code simple scripts using JavaScript.

  • Create and deploy effective web-based content for a given brand.

Program Length

The Web Design Associate of Science Degree program is 100 quarter credits and can be completed in two (2) years if the student attends all terms full time and consecutively.  

Course Descriptions

BSM 150: Business Start-up Strategies 
Students in this course are exposed to basic issues in starting a business. Topics may include capitalization, staffing, subcontracting, permits, facilities, and basic business planning. The course offers students practical exercises to begin strategic development of a business and offers practical problems and issues in the startup phase of building a successful organization.

BSM 220: Principles of Marketing 
In this course, students study the nuances of promotion, advertising, and consumer spending, and how those concepts can be applied to getting the word out about a company, product or service. Students learn about planning effective advertising campaigns by analyzing public demand for a particular product or service, and the products offered by the competition. Students also learn about the different methods of marketing, and how technology has impacted the way marketing is handled for both big and small companies.

BSM 255: Project Management 
This course prepares students to develop and implement project plans when working to complete assigned projects. Topics in this course may include defining project goals and objectives, specifying tasks or how goals will be achieved, establishing needed resources for project completion, and associating budgets and completion timelines. Students study the major phases of project management including project feasibility, planning, implementation, evaluation, and support. Project management software will be used by students to gain an understanding of how to best organize and delegate their project. Students gain an understanding of how to manage projects and how these skills may be applied to an individual project or a group project.
 
CSC 100: Student Success Fundamentals   
This course serves as an introduction to the necessary core skills needed to be successful at an academic, professional, and personal level. Students will identify core skills, values, and interests to assist in their path to success. Topics covered in this course may include time management, effective study skills, written and oral communication, improving critical thinking to enhance problem-solving skills. Other topics may include job search techniques and job etiquette, and on-the-job behavior. Students will work towards building their professional development through various assignments and topics throughout the course. Students will explore Laurus College resources for success inside and outside the classroom.

ENG 100: English Composition I 
English provides students with the basic rhetorical foundations to prepare them for the demands of academic and professional writing. Students in this course will learn and practice the strategies and processes that successful writers employ when communicating information. These strategies include reading analytically and strategically, improving reading comprehension, writing persuasively, writing for investigative purposes, problem-resolution, evaluation, explanation, and refutation.

HUM 140: Introduction to Psychology 
Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes. In this class, students will dive into what makes themselves and others behave the way they do. Topics covered in this class include Neuroscience, Sensation and Perception, Learning, Memory, Thinking and Intelligence, Developmental Psychology, Personality Theories and Assessment, Social Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, and Workplace Psychology. This class will be focused more on behavior as it pertains to the workplace rather than the clinical side of Psychology.

HUM 200: World History 
Students will explore common challenges and experiences that unite the human past and identify key global patterns over time. This overview of world history covers political, economic, social, religious, intellectual, cultural, and military history in a chronological story that will help students gain an appreciation and understanding of the distinctive character and development of individual cultures in society.

MTH 101: Introductory Algebra 
This course provides students with a conceptual understanding of algebra by using problem solving applications in context to real-world application. Students will integrate meaningful applications with relevant data, graphs, tables, charts, colors, and diagrams.

PHY 200: Physical Science 
This course introduces students to physical science. Students will learn about physics, chemistry, astronomy, meteorology, and geology. This will give students the ability to understand and interact with their physical environment in a more engaging way. Some of the knowledge students gain includes Newton’s Laws, chemical elements, the universe, and geologic concepts. masking, filters, image manipulation and correction, composition, painting, and optimization for the web. Students examine techniques for efficient editing, processing, and file handling. Topics in photo editing may be studied, including color enhancement, lighting correction, and overall retouching.

WDD 101: Internet Fundamentals 
This course introduces students to the World Wide Web. Students examine the history of the web and how its development has shaped the ways people do business and advertise. Students gain an understanding for the complexity of the web and how servers, users, and databases all work, search, access information, and download simultaneously.  Topics in this course may include the basics of HTTP, FTP, HTML language and tags, coding styles, links, image placement, and image maps. Students learn the importance of web page appearance and navigation. Students are introduced to the basics of initial web page planning and production, and learn key terminology applied to web page creation and implementation.

WDD 110: Digital Graphics 
This course introduces students to Adobe Photoshop, the fundamental graphics application and image editing software used in the computer graphics industry. Students learn the fundamentals of this software, and will study topics including selections, layers, masking, filters, image manipulation and correction, composition, painting, and optimization for the web. Students examine techniques for efficient editing, processing, and file handling. Topics in photo editing may be studied, including color enhancement, lighting correction, and overall retouching.

WDD 130: Website Fundamentals  
In this course, students will learn how to reproduce common web design layout patterns to quickly create websites that are easy to understand and navigate. Students learn to create more complex multi column designs to make their pages easier to read and understand. Students learn the basics of wireframing and planning as they take first steps towards building custom layouts utilizing design patterns. Students review the anatomy of web pages and examine common workflows as well as build confidence via critiquing both their peers and ready-made examples.

WDD 150: Creative Design 
Vector graphics are ideal for simple or composite drawings that need to be device-independent, or do not need to achieve photo-realism. In this course, students learn how to use a computer software program to create and edit vector-based graphic images for use within a web page. Applying the principles of graphics design, students will create and edit images for use within a web page. Other topics may include drawing and various artistic techniques to produce visual graphics effective for the web.

WDD 160: Graphic Design Basics  
This course introduces students to the basics of design theory as it relates to web design. Students gain an understanding of the effective use of design elements such as points, lines, colors, shapes, & space to create examples that emulate current web design trends. Students are introduced to building common layouts using design elements to create intentional visual hierarchies using visual weight and basic design principles. Students work with wireframes to create custom prototypes of web pages and other design solutions and learn to incorporate peer critiques into their designs. Additional topics include art history, typography, color theory, and designing for different audiences.

WDD 170: Web Page Authoring 
In this course, students gain an understanding of the basics of responsive design techniques. Students work towards creating responsive web pages using current techniques. In addition, students are introduced to common CSS frameworks to improve the speed and accuracy of building web solutions. Students work building pages utilizing common design patterns and elements through frameworks. Topics include media queries, percentage-based widths, image DPI, and modifying previously learned patterns to be responsive to different screen sizes.

WDD 210: Digital Solutions 
In this course, students gain an understanding of the PHP scripting language. This server-side language is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML documents. Students in this course will learn how to write programs to store and retrieve data, build arrays, work with control structures, and build contact forms. Students are introduced to sessions and cookies, custom functions, uploading files, and working with common programming elements.

WDD 230: Web Framework Fundamentals 
In this course, students will learn the basics of installing and managing popular Content Management Systems (CMS). This class will explore the creation and implementation of custom themes as well as the process of managing accounts, comments, pages, posts and other common CMS tools. Students will also study techniques to craft and display blog posts and other content. Topics include writing and installing plugins using popular scripting languages such as PHP, creating custom templates, and modifying the user interface.

WDD 240: Digital Business Development 
In this course students learn to create an online ecommerce solution using popular Content Management Systems (CMS). Students work with ecommerce plugins to transform their projects into websites designed for electronic sales including a means to collect orders, store customer information, work with payment gateways, and protect data. Students will learn to customize their sites for different types of businesses and products and add other common ecommerce elements. In addition, students are introduced to analytics and metrics for CMS sites as well as improving search engine optimization through plugins and other methods.
 
WDD 250: Client-Side Scripting Fundamentals 
In this course students learn the basics of the JavaScript scripting language. Students are introduced to programming elements such as variables, arrays, control structures, functions, and objects. Students gain an understanding of the Document Object Model and learn ways to manipulate HTML and CSS using current best practices. Students create simple common scripts and study how JavaScript can be incorporated into modern web designs. Other topics include DOM selection and events listeners, timers and dates, plus how to plan scripts and work with errors and bugs.

WDD 270: Digital Publishing 
This course introduces strategies for creating simple interactive mobile applications. Students will gain an understanding of the basic theory behind creating effective mobile applications as well as techniques for creating custom apps based on common design patterns and interfaces. Topics in this course may include native mobile applications created via Adobe AIR via Adobe Animate CC and hybrid apps created via HTML/CSS & JavaScript.

We Have a Lot to Offer You

We Have a Lot to Offer You!

We offer Associate and Bachelor of Science Degrees. The courses at Laurus College are taught online by experienced professionals from the field, and our college is known for its friendly learning environment and supportive staff and instructors who will feel like family.

You can even connect with faculty, classmates, and staff in person by visiting one of our locations: Atascadero, Chula Vista, Las Vegas, Oxnard, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Maria.

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