TERTIARY & CAREERS PATHWAYS:
Advertising, architect, art/design director, communications manager, graphic designer, interior designer, photojournalist, teacher, video editor, web/app designer
In this course students produce graphic, product, industrial, user interface, interior and/ or architectural designs. Visual Communication Design is distinct in its study of visual language and visual language and the role it plays in communicating ideas, solving problems and influencing behaviours. Students explore how designers visually communicate concepts when designing messages, objects, environments and interactive experiences.The study emphasises the importance of developing a variety of drawing skills to visualise design thinking. Students are guided through the design process; the creative process which enables designers to generate, develop and refine visual communications. There are no prerequisites for this study however successfully completing Units 1 and/or 2 is preferred before commencing Units 3 and 4.
UNIT 1 - Finding, reframing and resolving design problems
In this unit students are introduced to the practices and processes used by designers to identify, reframe and resolve human-centred design problems. They learn how design can improve life and living for people, communities and societies, and how understandings of good design have changed over time. Students learn the value of human-centred research methods, working collaboratively to discover design problems and understand the perspectives of stakeholders. They draw on these new insights to determine communication needs and prepare design criteria in the form of a brief.Practical projects in Unit 1 focus on the design of messages and objects, while introducing the role of visual language in communicating ideas and information. Students participate in critiques by sharing ideas in progress and both delivering and responding to feedback. Students learn to apply the Develop and Deliver phases of the VCD design process and use methods, media and materials typically employed in the specialist fields of communication and industrial design.
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UNIT 2 - Design contexts and connections
Unit 2 builds on understandings of visual communication practices developed in Unit 1. Students draw on conceptions of good design, human-centred research methods and influential design factors as they revisit the VCD design process, applying the model in its entirety. Practical tasks across the unit focus on the design of environments and interactive experiences. Students adopt the practices of design specialists working in fields such as architecture, landscape architecture and interior design, while discovering the role of the interactive designer in the realm of user-experience (UX). Methods, media and materials are explored together with the design elements and principles, as students develop spaces and interfaces that respond to both contextual factors and user needs.
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Prerequisites:
N/A
Recommendations:
It is recommended that the student have Visual Art subject experience from previous years.
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