Overview
Our Graphic & Web Design (GWD) program offers students the opportunity to develop skills in website interface design and integration, graphic design and publication production – skills needed by today’s businesses. In their final semester, students apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired by entering the workplace for a three-week fieldwork placement.
Although there are no prerequisites, the ideal candidate for the program is interested in creating digital art and designing with the latest Adobe software while bringing ideas to life online using CSS and HTML.
Candidates are also interested in understanding more about graphic design, photography, branding, social media marketing, video editing, and animation.
Follow the link below to view some of the students work.
GWD Vernissage 2019
GWD Trade Fair 2019

As a Graphic student you will learn to:
- design and integrate complex website interfaces in a variety of styles from artistic and expressive, to grid-based, to the clean and sleek “corporate” aesthetic preferred by businesses,
- design and create branding identity packages including brochures, business cards, logos and stationary as well as posters, ads, flyers, calendars, newsletters, books and manuals, CD jackets and commercial packaging,
- create, scan, trace and modify drawings on the computer for logos and illustrations,
- create web animations using drawings, images and sound,
- shoot and edit digital photographs and videos,
- set up and start up your own design business.
We are design oriented!
Graphic and Web Design students focus on learning the following specialized design skills:
- Principles of 2D composition and layout for screen or printed page
- Typography
- Illustration, photography and video design
- Responsive layouts for web design
- Branding
- Search Engine and Social Media Optimization
We are software oriented!
The focus is on learning the following specialized design software:
- Adobe ® Photoshop
- Adobe ® Illustrator
- Adobe ® InDesign
- Adobe ® Acrobat
- Adobe ® Dreamweaver
- Adobe ® Premiere
- Adobe ® Lightroom
- HTML and CSS
- Apache, MySQL, PHP and WordPress
This program is for you if…
- You are creative.
- You possess good people skills.
- You enjoy working with computers and different software.
- You have strong verbal and written communication skills.
- You are highly motivated.
Where Graphic and Web Design can take you!
Some of our graduates become designers for large and small businesses that need to produce a wide variety of print and electronic documents with sophisticated graphic design and appeal. Others go into business for themselves as designers and marketers.
A third of our students go on to further education in a variety of fields, such as graphic design, marketing, computer systems, and 3D animation.
Employers
Stage/Internship
ATE (Alternance travail études)/Co-op Stages
The Graphic and Web Design program (412.AB) are registered with the Québec government as an ATE/Work-Study program. All companies, partnerships, cooperatives and eligible individuals operating a business in Québec can take advantage of a refundable tax credit for practicums in the workplace.
For further details from the Ministère de l’Éducation, éducation supérieur et recherche, about ATE click here. For details from Revenu Québec about the tax credit, click here or contact the Ministère du Revenu at 1-800-567-4692. Employers need not apply for the tax credit to hire one of our ATE students, however the criteria are the same.
- Students must be paid an hourly wage AND
- Stages must last a minimum of 225 hours over a minimum of 8 weeks AND
- Students must work a minimum of 24 hours/week AND
- Job descriptions must be approved by the ATE professor.
Our first and second year students are available for a maximum of 14 weeks in the summer (mid-May to mid-August-perfect for summer replacement).
What kind of computer will I need in Graphic & Web Design?
The most important consideration for a computer used in the graphic & web design industry is its ability to run the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of applications fast and well. Since the applications are available for Mac and PC, the choice of platform is really one of personal preference.
Most students prefer a laptop for it’s portability. It is easier to use one machine all the time, instead of switching in between school and home computers.
- The computer should have 16Gb of RAM (or more).
- The video card should be fairly powerful (but not necessarily what would be required for gaming).
- The hard drive should at the very least be 500Gb, but you can easily extend the storage with cheap external drives.
- The screen should be 15” or larger because the Adobe applications use many palettes that take up screen space.
The department’s recommendation is a Macbook Pro. For the following reasons:
- Can run Windows and Linux operating systems natively or in virtual machines (VMs are great for browser testing). Three computers for the price of one.
- Time Machine backup utility is so easy to use and can save you from catastrophic data loss (some sort of computer failure is not a question of “if” but “when”).
- Apple hardware is premium quality and usually last many years.
- Runs Mac OS X which is very similar to Linux and Unix; ie connecting to Linux web servers via Terminal is built-in.
- Journaled HFS+ file system helps prevent data corruption. There is no equivalent technology for Windows.
- 2 out of 3 Graphic & Web design labs are Mac labs.
- Macs can run an iOS emulator so you can test web designs on iPhones and iPads without having to buy a real iOS device.
Bottom line, buy the best computer you can afford. If you choose to buy a PC, buy a good (ie more expensive) one. The $350 Back-to-School special won’t last and you will feel like your investment was wasted.
Useful Software & Services
Required
Optional
Text Editors
- Notepad++ (PC)
- TextWrangler (Mac)
- SublimeText (Cross-platform)
File synchronization services
- Dropbox (recommended)
- Google Drive
Web Browsers
- Google Chrome (Recommended)
- Mozilla Firefox
- Opera
Web Browser Utilities
- Web Developer Toolbar (Recommended. Cross-platform.)
- Firebug (Recommended. Cross-platform.)
FTP Client
- Filezilla (Cross-platform. Do not download server version, use client version.)
Productivity Suites
- Microsoft Office (Cross-platform)
- OpenOffice (Free, recommended)
Virtualization Software
- Virtualbox (Free, recommended. Cross-platform.)
- VMWare Fusion (Mac)
- Parallels (Mac)
Web Testing Servers
- MAMP (Cross-platform.)
- Bitnami (Free. Recommended. Cross-platform.)
- WAMP (Windows)
- XAMPP (Cross-platform.)
Web Site Hosting
Admission Requirements
CEGEP Requirements
A Secondary School Diploma which includes:
- Secondary 5 Language of Instruction
- Secondary 5 Second Language
- Secondary 4 Mathematics
- Secondary 4 Science and Technology
OR Secondary 4 Applied Science and Technology - Secondary 4 History and Citizenship Education
Program Prerequisites
No specific prerequisites are required for this program.
OR a Secondary School Vocational Diploma which includes:
- Secondary 5 Language of Instruction
- Secondary 5 Second Language
- Secondary 4 Mathematics
Please Note
Applicants who have not studied in Québec must have education deemed equivalent by the College.
How To Apply
John Abbott College is affiliated with the Service régional d’admission du Montréal métropolitain (SRAM) and uses its online application service.
The application deadline is March 1.
Warning: The documents and payment must be submitted by the deadline.
Program start: Fall
To apply:
- Complete the online SRAM application
- Select John Abbott and the program of your choice along with the corresponding SRAM program number: 412.AB
(Program name which appears on SRAM website – Office System Technology: Micropublishing and Hypermedia) - Upload any necessary documents directly to your online SRAM application
Students whose prerequisites are more than five years old should contact the Admissions Office.
Admissions Office
514-457-6610 x5358, 5355 & 5361
admissions@johnabbott.qc.ca
Graphic and Web Design Department
gwd@johnabbott.qc.ca
Student for a Day Program
You are interested in John Abbott College and would like spend a few hours on campus?
Please follow this link to fill out the form Student for a day, and someone will contact you to set up a time for you to come to JAC and discover our campus.
During the tour, you will visit our newly renovated library, our sports facilities, the campus store, the cafeteria, etc. You will also be shown all the services offered on “Main Street”. If you have questions about application and programs, you can speak to someone in Admissions.