Admission and Unit Information - Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication)

Approaches to Communication offers a wide range overview of major theories and models in communication and embraces a series of selected case studies of the emergence, impact and social shaping of different communication and media technologies through history and into the future.

This is a practical, hands-on unit that introduces fundamental design principles, with a focus on typography and its key role in graphic design. Through analysis of theory, discussion and practice, students will learn how to form effective visual communication for specific contexts. Students will also gain understanding of graphic design as a dynamic practice that responds to a broad range of communication needs.

This unit introduces students to photographic image making for the purpose of representation, through engagement with issues based projects. It covers first principles of the photographic medium and it’s many uses in the context of Visual Communication. It will introduce students to the range of ways in which pictorial information can be designed and used to communicate a message to an audience utilizing a variety of techniques, strategies, principles of composition, structure and image organization.

This unit introduces students to understandings of the designed world by focussing on contemporary design phenomena including graphic design, illustration, motion graphics, photography, websites and animation, with an emphasis an Australian practice. The unit allows students to contextualise contemporary design in relation to social, political and philosophical developments. It also introduces modes of analysis from design theory to enable students to understand the invisible processes at work in these visible signs.

This unit introduces students to processes of design. It examines how knowledges may be formed through visual design processes and how visual design reveals knowledges. It also introduces students to basic visual literacies, current design applications and production processes.

Students develop an understanding of how current digital print design practices have evolved and developed through a brief historical overview of and past practices within graphic design. Students also develop fundamental computer software skills using the major print software packages and develop a working understanding of production literacies in the context of digital prepress. Students will engage in practical studies of typographic layout using Adobe InDesign, image manipulation using Adobe Photoshop and vector-based artwork using Adobe Illustrator. Emphasis is also placed on understanding the roles, functions and features of each software package in the design production context of digital prepress, their integrated use, and a working understanding of the key players and responsibilities inherent in the digital print production process.

Image Design introduces students to the interpretive and descriptive qualities of illustration, the methods and processes used to create illustration and the concept of the 'design brief', which are contextualized by a variety of applied design outcomes, target audience and client concerns.

This unit explores the history and theory of 20th Century design from two dominant perspectives, modernism and postmodernism. Students will become acquainted with the doctrines around which the modernist movement cohered, and the conditions under which these doctrines are questioned by postmodernism. Students will be introduced to a range of design outcomes such as photo-media, typography, illustration, the built environment, graphics, digital media, film and animation.

“Information design is the visual method of explaining and interpreting complex information and data to help the user achieve a particular objective.” Saul Carliner 2002. This unit looks into the visual method of explaining and interpreting complex information. Through this unit students explore the relatively recent history of information design as a specialist field, the embedded communication theories relating to this area of expertise and application to real world scenarios. It focuses on using international and localised techniques of graphic design and its devices in the visual delivery of information and statistical data.

Through lectures students develop an understanding of fundamental concepts and processes inherent in designing for on online environment. Students also develop fundamental computer software skills and design understandings appropriate to that medium using the major web software packages and develop a working understanding of production literacies for online design. Students will engage in practical studies of web authoring using HTML, Dreamweaver, image optimisation using Fireworks or Imageready. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the roles, functions and features of each software package in the design production context of online delivery, integrated use, and a working understanding of the responsibilities inherent in the digital production process.

This subject explores the conceptual, stylistic and format design of illustration for, and as narrative. Students work on a number of projects that encourage them to consider the design of different narrative forms, illustrative techniques and styles in relation to content, target audience, client, context and genre.

This unit focuses on design methodology for the development and delivery of contemporary interactive media applications. Particular concepts addressed will also include conceptual integration and convergence of various media forms, screen design, navigational hierarchy and structures, and designing engaging interactive interfaces. General principles of interface, interaction design and information architecture will be introduced, alongside basic principles of digital media production.

This unit examines the multifaceted nature of photographic practice and introduces students to a range of methods of Photographic image design for the purpose of Visual Communication. It explores the relationship between photographic technique, genre and the reception of photographic imagery. Students will be introduced to Photographic studio practice as the means of controlling image reception through the control of lighting, exposure and digital post production.

This unit situates the theoretical concepts of technology, consumerism, urbanism and gender in real contexts of contemporary design practice. In seminars students will engage with these concepts as key issues that are negotiated in design texts, debates and practice. Lectures will contextualise the concepts with respect to a cultural history of ideas, practices and events and explore their emergence as issues for design discourse.

Contemporary modes of typographic design production are not limited to the static printed page. This unit expands the students’ typographic vocabulary established in 101540 Introduction to Typography. Students will review their engagement with principles of typography and extend their understanding to the application of type in screen-based kinetic media. Students are exposed to a range of typographic production modes, from fundamentals and guidelines to experimental and expressive approaches. Students will analyse, discuss and synthesise effective typographic visual communication across convergent media forms, for both commercial and cultural applications

This unit explores the diverse range of illustrative styles and techniques that are used in contemporary advertising and editorial illustration. Students will work through professional concepts and developmental processes that include understanding the “design brief”, target audience and client needs, media considerations, style and layout, costing and deadlines.

This unit focuses on interactive design from an experience design perspective. Approaches utilising current digital technologies for advanced interactive design are explored. Students will design and produce interactive products and examine and critique current content and trends within these technologies. The focus of the unit is communication and experience design, rather than technical implementation. Interactive design examples are examined from the context of shifting production languages, convergent technologies and the design professional contexts.

This unit explores issues of identity through photographic practice as used in Fashion Photography. Fashion is a universal form of self-expression, accessible to all, making it the communication strategy most employed by subcultures to express identity. The role of photography in the creation of iconic and culturally referential images in both commercial and editorial work will be researched, analysed and interpreted to place the student’s work in context.

This is a key program unit for Visual Communication students, and the focus is on the student’s transition into professional practice. Students will gain first-hand insight into the business of design and develop their own design portfolio, with the added expectation of 90 hours of relevant work experience.

This unit examines the foundations for publication design and production - including approaches to layouts, image and text relationships, typography and graphic forms. Students will be involved in the design and production of publications for specific target audience. This unit examines the role of publication design as a promotional tool. Students explore a range of print promotional forms including brochures and catalogues. Students are involved in developing publications within professional studio practice. Through this unit students gain an 'holistic' understanding of how publications are mechanically put together and explore visual narrative methodologies through exploration of media areas appropriate to project requirements.

This unit provides an understanding of a range of research methods appropriate to design. This unit also develops students’ competence in preparing a research paper, and structuring research project management through planning and design thinking.

Design Project will provide students with the opportunity to work in a 'real world' context. Students will learn how to construct a meaningful promotional campaign for a specific purpose. The campaign will be based around a cultural, social, or environmental, theme or issue. Students will develop a design and communication strategy for their campaign that utilises the appropriate media to address the nominated audience.

This unit investigates the contemporary professional and cultural contexts of visual communication design that practicing designers negotiate in their working lives. Students will review and practice different genres of writing about design that profile professional practice and listen to lectures that discuss professional scenarios within the communication and design industries and the challenges they respond to. Lectures and set reading will interpret designerly ways of knowing, the roles of creative practitioners, and the socio-cultural, conceptual and technological implications of communication and design, while also analysing contemporary trends and future scenarios. In addition, students will review contemporary exhibitions, events, publications and/or resources that represent the communication design industries and serve as an insight into these changing contexts.

Students will develop supervised self-directed project work. Students typically develop their own brief/project from proposal to production over two semesters. Students will work in teams and link up with an external mentor. These teams are intended to provide a supportive peer environment for each student.

This unit introduces design students to working creatively and professionally with a ‘client’ or agency in a studio context. Various processes and methods of working are explored through workshops, discussions, and project work. Students are introduced to the ‘brief’ as a tool in project development work. Students work with guest clients and professionals, and explore a variety of approaches to developing project outcomes. Working in designated teams, students will work through the design brief process with an emphasis on professional conduct, presentation and production. Concurrently, students will expand on their knowledge of the creative industries by conducting research into services, organizations, companies, exhibitions, events, individuals, practices and resources, relevant to the brief. In addition, students will be actively engaged in the development of a self-promotion strategy that expands on their own informed position on visual communication as a professional practice and will assist them with carving out the creative career that they seek.

Donald Schön suggests that designers are ‘reflective practitioners’, an idea that has gained wide recognition in the profession. In this unit students learn concepts and skills of reflective practice that are relevant to their personal and professional lives. Through a series of design and writing exercises, students learn to notice their habits and prejudices, articulate areas of greater and lesser competency, and identify their individual styles of learning. Students use the insights they have gained to critically narrate their design process and to project future possibilities for their professional practice. This unit is a capstone unit and forms part of a series of capstone units.

Students will develop supervised self-directed project work. Students typically develop their own brief/project from proposal to production over two semesters. Students will work in teams and link up with an external mentor. These teams are intended to provide a supportive peer environment for each student.

This unit introduces design students to working creatively and professionally with a ‘client’ or agency in a studio context. Various processes and methods of working are explored through workshops, discussions, and project work. Students are introduced to the ‘brief’ as a tool in project development work. Students work with guest clients and professionals, and explore a variety of approaches to developing project outcomes. Working in designated teams, students will work through the design brief process with an emphasis on professional conduct, presentation and production. Concurrently, students will expand on their knowledge of the creative industries by conducting research into services, organizations, companies, exhibitions, events, individuals, practices and resources, relevant to the brief. In addition, students will be actively engaged in the development of a self-promotion strategy that expands on their own informed position on visual communication as a professional practice and will assist them with carving out the creative career that they seek.