Lab fees

In-Person Class Sections: A $144 fee is charged to your tuition bill for each GD/AT LAB course that meets in-person on campus. These funds ensure the availability of the latest software and hardware tools and supplies for the making of art and design. Every Graphic Design and Art & Technology LAB course benefits from digital technology and students are required to use the technology either in the creation or the presentation of work. Lab fee waivers can only be issued to students who drop the course during the drop/add period.

Open Lab

Room 142 CFA is available to Art students to work on course-related assignments outside of class. Lab hours are posted outside the door and on the Department of Art website.

UBbox

UB students, faculty and staff can use UBbox to store, share and access academic and university-related documents from anywhere, with people inside and outside of UB.

Your instructor will demonstrate how Box wil be used in class to distribute and collect materials.

For more details, see the UBIT UBbox instructions.

Hardware Requirements

For in-person classes, students are welcome to bring in their personal laptops, or use a lab provided iMac.

In order to be successful in your online classes, for both attending sessions and making work, you must have access to a laptop or desktop computer with a functioning webcam and microphone.

If you will be purchasing a new computer, to maximize compatibility and the level of support we can offer you within the department, we recommend Macintosh computers.

Software Requirements

Web Development Apps

• Visual Studio Code – for editing text and code. Free.
• Cyberduck FTP Client — for uploading files to a web hosting provider.

Graphics apps

Used for developing visual content, image creation and optimization. You may choose to use any apps at your disposal.

• Gimp is a free and open source image editor
• InkScape is a free and open source vector drawing app.
• Affinity Photo and Designer are low cost, one-time fee raster and vector apps.
• Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are part of the Adobe CC subscription service.

Communications apps

• Zoom (Free pro account through UBIT)
• Discord for desktop and mobile

Internet Requirements

To participate in online classes with active video, and to upload and download potentially large files, you must have a high speed Internet connection. If you are on campus, your dorms, all buildings, and several outdoor areas (parking lots) will have WiFi. At home, ideally you will have high speed access through a cable or be able to create a hotspot with a smartphone.

External Storage and Backups

• Have a removable storage device (such as this LaCie Rugged Mini 1 TB USB 3.0, or at least 64GB USB Jump Drive) to every class/work session, and backup all work after each session. UBbox or other cloud storage can also be used for session backup.
• Lost or corrupt data, through the fault of yourself, an IT administrator, or hardware breakdown, is never a valid excuse for late work — in class or in the commercial world. Rigorous backup and saving procedures should be followed habitually. Losing a file is not justification for not submitting an assignment. Following all submission instructions is the responsibility of the student. Poorly named, misfiled or corrupt files may not be graded.

Time Commitment

• For sections that meet during the Fall or Spring semesters, an average of nine hours weekly should be committed to this course — typically four hours of work per week outside of class along with five hours weekly in class.
• For sections that meet during summer sessions, an average of 20 hours weekly should be committed to the six-week course — typically eight hours of work per week outside of class along with 12 hours weekly in class.