1. AREA ELECTIVES

COURSE BREAKDOWN

1. COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

2. 1. SEMESTER

1. COMM 101 Fundamentals of Communication 

This course aims to teach students communication theories and the elements, modes and forms of communication. The aim of this course is to introduce students to the field of communication and basic concepts of communication. The course starts from the foundations of communication; and includes language, discourse and representation problems.

1. ADVE 101 Introduction to Advertising 

In this course, the development of advertising, the introduction of its basic concepts and institutional structuring, advertising media and advertising strategies will be examined in the light of selected examples, historical and cultural factors. Selected schools of advertising and associated advertisers are among the topics to be covered.

1. VCDE 111 Basic Design 

Basic Design is a fundamental course, structured upon and around the needs of students perusing design major. This course is compulsory and created in order to build a strong foundation for further, more advanced courses in visual communication design.

1. PHVD 111 Basic Photography 

In this course, students get acquainted with the technical possibilities of the photo camera, and learn the techniques of photo shooting and editing. The main goal is to learn the basic usage information such as the relationship between light and timing, depth and sharpness values, lens selection, framing, and to gain the ability to take the right photo.

1. DIME 105 Digital Design Concepts  

It aims to teach to recognize the tools used in the media field and to choose the best medium to create digital content on the digital platform. Students will learn to choose the best medium for creating digital content across multiple digital platforms, enhance narrative and how to create creative visual stories in digital storytelling, shoot, edit and publish video for social networks, create visual content to create an engaging video, and video and They will edit sound with photographs and learn the skills and knowledge to apply the basics of hosting a web blog.

1. SOFL 101 Academic English I  

Students who regularly attend this course; They will have the opportunity to practice a range of study skills, including but not limited to goal setting, organization, time use, concentration and note taking. Students will be given important articles written in modern English and students will learn to discuss and write responses at an academic level. At the end of the lessons, each student will be able to derive the meaning of unknown words in a reading text, write paragraphs and articles, summarize, discuss and write reply letters.

2.SEMESTER

1. COMM 102 History of Communication 

This course aims to teach students the history of communication studies and the elements, modes and forms of communication. The aim of this course is to introduce students the field of communication from basic concepts of communication. The course starts from the history the communication; and includes language, discourse and representation problems.

1. COMM 122 Digital Storytelling  

This course covers the basic principles of digital storytelling. Based on the narrative traditions on which storytelling is based, it is designed to define the constituent elements of digital narration. Students are expected to use combinations of text, moving images, photographs, sound and comics to create digital stories and share their stories on the course block. In this course, students will do both individual and group work, and learn digital storytelling from its theoretical and practical aspects. For this reason, basic production, design and simultaneous editing knowledge is required.

1. ADVE 102 Fundamentals of Marketing 

It is a course that aims to teach students the process of constructing and executing a brand’s marketing communication through marketing communication by introducing the elements of marketing mix.

1. ADVE 132 Creative Advertising Design 

This course aims to teach students the importance of creativity in contemporary advertising. Students learn the theoretical and practical aspects of the advertising industry. Within the scope of the course, the results of creative advertising are discussed within a social and commercial framework. It also covers in detail the methods that are becoming increasingly important in the advertising creation process, including viral and guerrilla marketing. Students analyze the stories of selected advertising campaigns that have received successful returns on a national and international scale and develop their ability to determine the basic characteristics of creative advertising.

1. VCDE 132 Computer Graphics and Image 

The aim of this course is to teach students pixel-based image processing techniques. Beginner level training is provided through image processing software. During the course, students will learn to process all kinds of pixel-based images and design conceptual collage works. The courses will be conducted in the Mac Lab using Adobe Photoshop.

1. SOFL 102 Academic English II 

Students who regularly attend this course; They will have the opportunity to practice a range of study skills, including but not limited to goal setting, organization, time use, concentration and note taking. Students will be given important articles written in modern English and students will learn to discuss and write responses at an academic level. At the end of the lessons, each student will be able to derive the meaning of unknown words in a reading text, write paragraphs and articles, summarize, discuss and write reply letters.

3.SEMESTER

COMM 201 Theories of Communication 

This course aims to teach students the history of communication studies and the elements, modes and forms of communication. The aim of this course is to introduce students the field of communication from basic concepts of communication. The course starts from the history the communication; and includes language, discourse and representation problems.

ADVE 201 Creative Advertising Writing 

The aim of the course is to teach students the basic techniques and principles of advertising copywriting. During the courses, students will focus on copywriting, an important business line of the advertising industry, and the theoretical requirements of this specialization. The courses will also cover the techniques required to create an advertising text in the fields of idea generation, creative solutions and communication used in the process of creating an international and local campaign. During the courses, which will include both individual and group work, it is aimed to guide students with constructive comments through the ideas and texts they produce.

DIME 203 Digital Media Marketing 

The aim of the Digital Media Marketing Course is to provide students the new approaches in marketing through emerging media channels. Students will be equiped with the knowledge about business advantages of the digital marketing and its importance for marketing success; to develop and execute a successful digital media marketing plans.

VCDE 203 Visual Language and Culture 

The theories of the visual language will be thought by series of lectures and will follow with asking students to give presentation on related topics. Short essays will be requested from student to practice the learning theories on analysing visuals and images.

Each week course will be divided in to parts (theory, applied). In practical part students will either produce some ideas on subject or simple presentations according to what they have learned in theory section of the course.

TUDI/TURK 201 Turkish Language I  

The aim of the course is to comprehend the structure and functioning features of the mother tongue to every young person who has higher education and to gain the ability to use Turkish correctly and beautifully as a means of written and verbal expression in terms of language-thought connection. Another goal is to make a unifying and integrative language prevailing in teaching and to raise young people who have native language awareness.

AIIT/HIST 201 Atatürk Principles and History of Revolutions I 

Atatürk’s Principles and History of Turkish Revolution course; telling students how to establish the circumstances under which the Republic of Turkey, forming the government intends to adopt the basic principles of Ataturk. The reason why his principles were transferred to the field of application is explained with case studies that not only the Turkish Nation but also the whole humanity need more than ever.

ADVE 203 Advertising Photography 

This course is on the techniques and principles of collaboration between art directors and other agency staff and professional studio photographers in a studio environment. Including conceptual image generation and retouching techniques required for product positioning, branding; Commercial photography specific to fashion, architecture, food, industrial products and similar fields will be studied. Students are expected to make applications for the visualization of their campaign ideas in a studio environment. In this course, it is aimed to orient professional photographers in accordance with the purpose and to develop the skills of working together.

ADVE 205 Neuromarketing and Case Studies 

Neuromarketing is an interdisciplinary field that examines how the consumers’ brains respond to marketing, brands, products and shopping. Recent advances in neurology and similar fields have been implemented by neuromarketers to help marketers and market researchers come up with new answers to the question “why do consumers buy?” In this course, students focus on understanding how neuromarketing helps businesses to better understand their consumers, how consumers also think, make decisions, and buy. It also enables students to rethink traditional marketing practices and discuss how organizations can best succeed with neuromarketing research and how neuromarketing can be done ethically and responsibly.

4.SEMESTER

COMM 202 Sociology of Communication This course aims to facilitate a sociological way of understanding mass media in the current society. This course will provide students with a foundation in various sociological theories of communication from the early 20th century up to today.

COMM 204 Innovative Approaches in Communication 

This course is designed to enable students to obtain knowledge on innovative approaches in communication by introducing them to the artists, designers, and the representatives working in different fields of communication and academics. The students need to take this course before the internship to have the opportunity to meet with the people from the field of their own interest. Moreover, the course also aims to provide students with the knowledge on occupational health and safety from the specialists or academicians working in that field.

ADVE 202 Strategic Media Planning 

In this course, students are taught the principles and practice of strategic media planning according to the dynamics of different media. Concepts about how to develop media planning suitable for the media from a strategic point of view, research on the media world, developments, new conditions introduced by digital media will be introduced to the students.

ADVE 204 Advertising Psychology 

In this course, students are taught the principles and practice of strategic media planning according to the dynamics of different media. Concepts about how to develop media planning suitable for the media from a strategic point of view, research on the media world, developments, new conditions introduced by digital media will be introduced to the students.

TUDI / TURK 202 Turkish Language II 

The aim of the course is to comprehend the structure and functioning features of the mother tongue to every young person who has higher education and to gain the ability to use Turkish correctly and beautifully as a means of written and verbal expression in terms of language-thought connection. Another goal is to make a unifying and integrative language prevailing in teaching and to raise young people who have native language awareness.

AIIT / HIST 202 Atatürk Principles and History of Revolutions II 

Atatürk’s Principles and History of Turkish Revolution course; telling students how to establish the circumstances under which the Republic of Turkey, forming the government intends to adopt the basic principles of Ataturk. The reason why his principles were transferred to the field of application is explained with case studies that not only the Turkish Nation but also the whole humanity need more than ever.

ADVE 206 Corporate Identity and Reputation 

This course is aiming to teach defining a strategy for your corporate identity; linking corporate vision, mission, values and culture to the corporate identity design; expressing corporate identity via design and corporate behaviours.

ADVE 208 Direct Response Advertising 

Direct response advertising is a type of marketing designed to get an instant response by encouraging people to take a specific action. The goal is to generate leads quickly. Comparatively, traditional marketing aims to raise brand awareness and promote your brand image in the long term. Direct response advertising requires immediate action. The aim of this course is to teach them to master step by step the process of designing and executing the advertising technique described above.

5.SEMESTER

COMM 301 Research Methods in Social Sciences 

The purpose of this course is to familiarize you with the logic of social science inquiry, strategies of research design, and a variety of research methods. In other words, this course is about how social scientists do research. We will compare quantitative and qualitative approaches to social science research in terms of their epistemologies, their research design strategies, and the tools they offer for carrying out social science research.

Somekh, B& Lewin, C. (2004). Research Methods in the Social Sciences.  SAGE Publications Inc. 

ADVE 301 Advertising Strategies 

In this course; In the adventure in which the message reaches the target audience in any advertisement, the focus is on approaches that reveal how the process should be set up, from setting goals to getting effective returns. Before determining the strategies of advertising, it is one of the main objectives of the course to provide students with the knowledge and skills of how the advertiser will shape the process in the light of the information obtained from market, target audience and brand status research.

ADVE 302 – Advertising Portfolio Design 

Advertising Portfolio design is a directive course that aids students in the quest of creating their own personal style of presenting their prior creative advertising works. Such a portfolio needs to be able to reflect the advertising designs’ background as well as final works’ communicative outcomes in order to clarify the context for the audience of the portfolio. During the course students will need to perform multiple research tasks and render experimental presentations to achieve the desired effect of an advertising portfolio. The aim of the course is to manage to communicate the students’ prior works without going too explicit which would diminish the presented advertising designs’ implied nature.

ADVE 303 Branding Concepts and Case Studies 

Based on the case studies in the field of advertising, it is aimed to develop the analysis and problem solving ability of the students by considering the sample advertising works in the processes from the creation of brands to the formation of brand equity. The focus of the course is to understand the correct and effective strategic brand communication by going through the examples that are on the agenda or that have entered the literature with its impact in the past.

ADVE 305 Advertising Workshop II

The Advertising Workshop is designed for students to create their individual portfolios through homework, applications and competitions. The course also includes the activities that students will do in the real problem – real customer – real solution triangle in order to start gaining their sectoral experiences with in-university practices.

ADVE 307 Copyright and Data Protection 

This course explains the protection of the content in conventional and digital media by the law of intellectual property and copywrite. It also teaches ethical and legal principles regarding the collection and use of user data.

ADVE 309 TV Commercials and Promos 

Information about the features, styles, production processes and planning of the TV commercials and promotions is given in this course.

6.SEMESTER

COMM 302 Creative and Critical Thinking  

Course Description:

The aim of this course is to help students understand and practice the techniques and tools that enable them to enhance and develop their creativity as well as the appreciation of creativity in other people. In this course, students will learn the techniques of problem solving in engineering and the knowledge and use of creative techniques for obtaining new or alternative solutions, to teamwork, to motivation, for improving performance of alternative solutions, as well as the concept of innovation in all areas of their future professional work.

ADVE 302 Advertising Portfolio Design 

Portfolio design course is all about directing students in the quest of creating their own personal style of presenting their prior creative works and resumes. A portfolio needs to be personal and unique in order to reflect the designer’s own style, but it also needs to inherit the basic principles of design to communicate effectively. 

Students will learn that the use of typography, the imagery and the page layout design are significant features in order to create the desired effect on the client.

ADVE 304 Consumer Behaviours 

Examining the behavior of individuals in the process of purchasing goods or services, their decision-making processes, their usage patterns, as well as the bond they establish with the brand through the products and services they purchase, is very valuable in marketing studies. The aim of this course is to enable students to understand the needs, desires, demands, reasons for purchasing of the target consumers correctly and to learn the applications to develop marketing strategies to satisfy the needs of the target audience as a result of these evaluations.

ADVE 306 Advertising Workshop II

The Advertising Workshop is designed for students to create their individual portfolios through homework, applications and competitions. The course also includes the activities that students will do in the real problem – real customer – real solution triangle in order to start gaining their sectoral experiences with in-university practices.

ADVE 312 Data Analysis in Digital Creative Industries 

This course teaches how to do businesses make sense of the large amounts of data coming from social and digital media and what are the best strategies for extracting and using this data. This course will help to student to get an introduction to digital and social media analytics, before progressing to examine social media research, owned media, earned media, paid media, and using ‘listening data’. At the end of the course students should feel confident in applying your knowledge in your own professional life.

ADVE 314 Interactive Media and Digital Advertising 

This course provides a detailed understanding of interactive media concepts, strategies, and implementation, including planning a website, website marketing, email and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaigns, Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns and integrating digital marketing with traditional marketing.

7.SEMESTER

COMM 401 Digital Aesthetics 

This course aims to teach that aesthetics are a part of design and create an understanding of the design process.

COMM 403 Creative Pitching

At the end of this course students will develop a sound understanding of the pitching process for any ‘Design Conquer’ that they may come across in their future careers in agencies. Topics like; use of perceptual psychology, methods of persuasion, advanced presentation skills, research on target audience, storytelling, role playing, on location solutions, guerrilla marketing and production of promotional items will be discussed and practiced during this major course.Students will be asked to utilise all these techniques and knowledge to influence and persuade their clients according to the tasks given for a successful and creative pitching.

ADVE 401 Social Media and Advertising 

This course focuses on paid advertising on social media. Learn how to start advertising on platforms like Facebook and Instagram by developing effective ads. The students learn how to work with design teams by capturing the essence of your ad campaign in a creative brief, and understand how privacy policies may affect your ads. This course will be completed with a project where the students will produce a creative brief with assets that students would deliver to a design team for the ad campaign. 

ADVE 403 Marketing Communication 

The objective of the course is to help students understand the principles and practices of  marketing communications, involving tools used by marketers to inform consumers and to provide a managerial framework for integrated marketing communications planning.

8.SEMESTER

ADVE 402 Advertising Campaign and Agency Management 

The aim of the Advertising Campaigns and Agency Management course is to inform about the management of all phases starting from the formation of a product or service in the agency environment to ensuring consistent communication with its target audience. It is aimed to inform the presentations to be made at various levels about all activities that may be necessary, such as budget preparation, implementation as products or services, campaign processes, and communication on the basis of dealers and branches. Project studies will be carried out on all subjects related to these processes during the lessons and active participation of the students will be ensured.

ADVE 404 Final Project 

In this course, students are required to bring together the knowledge and skills they have learned over the course of four years, to develop a strategic communication program and to implement a part of this program.

ADVE 406 Organizational Communication 

In this course, students will learn effective communication behaviors and skills for contemporary organizations and explore the dimensions of organizational communication, focusing on topics that include: listening, non-verbal communication, relational development, trust building, and values.

ADVE 408 Sales Strategies and Techniques 

This course aims to fortify the communication professional’s understanding of sales strategy and techniques integrating their experience with best academic knowledge. 

Faculty Electives

VCDE 207 Interpersonal Relationships and Communication 

In this course it is aimed to increase awarnes of the importance of communication in the daily life and in the business life, to enhance them to solve their communication problems and improve their ability by developing empathy skills. They will gain the ability to interpret verbal communication as well as verbal communication, to send correct messages to those who are in communication, and to understand what they mean better at the end of this course.

VCDE 211 Vectorial Drawing 

This course introduces students to the Vectoral drawing techniques. The course starts with training on drawing basic geometric forms using varying tools for creating vector shapes. Throughout the course as students learn to create more complex shapes, they will be asked either to re-draw or to create original graphic design elements like; patterns, icons, symbols, emblems, logos, perspective drawings and even vector character designs. Creating state of art vector illustrations is the main objective of this course.

VCDE 301 Illustration 

This course introduces students to the basics of Illustration; its purpose and creative process. Illustration is about communicating a specific conceptualised message to a target audience. And this course focuses on hand-crafted methods of visualising any conceptual commission through creative process. Any drawing, painting or printed work of art which explains, clarifies, illuminates, visually represents, or decorates a written text is considered an illustration, a.k.a. commercial art. Throughout the course; students will be given various assignments to create such art works in order to learn how to utilise this discipline for visual communication or commercial purposes.

VCDE 403 Graphic Design in Cinema 

This course is all about non-sequential graphic design and art works for Cinema, short films and animations. The course is primarily about designing a Key-Visual movie Poster for any kind of movie or short film in production. The core idea of this course is to be able to communicate by means of Visual Narratology, so that the viewer can understand what the movie is about through the poster and other similar graphic design works.

GAME 212 Introduction to Matte Painting 

The students are introduced to the basic principles and techniques of digital matte painting which is used as a medium for games and cinema. Students Will learn and understand a natural environment and be able to include it in there work.

COMM 308 Creative Writing 

Creative Writing is a class activity course that discovers many different genres of literary writing. Students supposed to write every day and work on their writing assignments each weekly. Students will read selections from well-known, appreciated writers and follow their style and specific genre. Students supposed to be imaginative enough to write and create characters and settings. Moreover, students will learn to write in a multiplicity of styles, such as analysis essays, subjective narratives, creative fiction, short stories, and poetry.  Projects are anticipated to arrange for more practice with specific writing techniques that can be applied to many other literary genres.

COMM 312 Media Law and Ethics 

Media Law and Ethics is a main course for Faculty of Communication students, which aims to understand the ethical concepts including freedom, democracy, truth, objectivity, honesty and privacy. The course examines the ethical issues both in philosophical and practical ways to help maintaining the quality of information. Also, the course introduces students to the basic legal concepts on media industry and media content relating to legal regulation of the telecommunications industry, information technology, broadcasting, advertising, the entertainment industry, censorship, and internet and online services among others.

COMM 314 Creative Industries 

The aim of this course is to provide students with a detailed understanding of how the knowledge is produced and distributed, and it aims to introduce the verity of the media industries in which students might work in the future. Also this course is a study on how human creates and transforms the information.