Introduction to Visual Communication Design

This unit involves students in acquiring and applying design thinking skills as well as drawing skills to make messages, ideas and concepts visible and tangible. Students practise their ability to draw what they observe and they use visualisation drawing methods to explore their own ideas and concepts. Students develop an understanding of the importance of presentation drawings to clearly communicate their final visual communications.

Through experimentation and through exploration of the relationship between design elements and design principles, students develop an understanding of how design elements and principles affect the visual message and the way information and ideas are read and perceived. Students review the contextual background of visual communication through an investigation of design styles. This research will introduce students to the broader context of the place and purpose of design.

OUTCOMES

1. Students will create drawings for different purposes using a range of different methods media and materials

2. Students will select and apply design elements and design principles to create visual communications that satisfy stated purposes.

3. Students will describe how a visual communication has been influenced by past and contemporary practices and by social and cultural factors.

ASSESSMENT TASKS

• Design Folio

• Drawing Folio

• Design Context Study

Applications of Visual Communication Design

This unit focuses on the application of visual communication design knowledge, thinking skills and drawing methods to create visual communications to meet specific purposes in designated design fields. Students use presentation drawing methods that incorporate the use of technical drawing conventions to communicate information and ideas associated with the environmental or industrial fields of design. They investigate how typography and imagery are used in visual communication design. They apply design thinking skills when exploring ways in which images and type can be manipulated to communicate ideas and concepts in different ways in the communication design field. 

OUTCOMES

1. Create presentation drawings that incorporate relevant technical drawing conventions and effectively communicate information and ideas for a selected design field.

2. Manipulate type and images to create visual communications suitable for print and screen-based presentations, taking into account copyright.

3. Engage in stages of the design process to create a visual communication appropriate to a given brief.

ASSESSMENT TASKS

• Visual Diary: Design process, Type and Imagery, Technical Drawing 

• Research Tasks

• Examination 

Design Thinking and Practice

In this unit students gain an understanding of the process designers employ to structure their thinking and communicate ideas with clients, target audiences, other designers and specialists. Through practical investigation and analysis of existing visual communications, students gain insight into how the selection of methods, media, materials and the application of design elements and design principles can create effective visual communications for specific audiences and purposes. 

They investigate and experiment with the use of manual and digital methods, media and materials to make informed decisions when selecting suitable approaches for the development of their own design ideas and concepts. Students use their research and analysis of visual communication designers to support the development of their own work. They establish a brief and apply design thinking skills through the design process.

They will identify and describe a client, two distinctly different needs of that client, and the purpose, target audience, context and constraints relevant to each need. This design brief and investigation work underpins the developmental and refinement work undertaken in Unit 4.

OUTCOMES

1. Create visual communications for specific contexts, purposes and audiences that are informed by their analysis of existing visual communications

2. Describe how visual communications are designed and produced in the design industry and explain factors that influence these practices.

3. Apply design thinking skills in preparing a brief, undertaking research and generating a range of ideas relevant to the brief.

ASSESSMENT TASKS

• Design Folio – industrial, environmental and communication design

• Analysis tasks – industrial, environmental and communication design

• Case study report

• Development of a brief, research and generation of ideas

Design Development and Presentation

The focus of this unit is the development of design concepts and two final presentations of visual communications to meet the requirements of the brief. This involves applying the design process twice to meet each of the stated needs. Having completed their brief and generated ideas in Unit 3, students continue the design process by developing and refining concepts for each need stated in the brief. They utilise a range of digital and manual two- and three-dimensional methods, media and materials. They investigate how the application of design elements and design principles creates different communication messages with their target audience.

As students revisit stages to undertake further research or idea generation when developing and presenting their design solutions, they develop an understanding of the iterative nature of the design process. Ongoing reflection and evaluation of design solutions are made against the brief to assists students with keeping their endeavours focused.

Students refine and present two visual communications within the parameters of the brief. They reflect on the design process and the design decisions they took in the realisation of their ideas. They evaluate their visual communications and devise a pitch to communicate their design thinking and decision making to the client.

OUTCOMES

1. Develop distinctly different design concepts for each need, and select and refine for each need a concept that satisfies each of the requirements of the brief created in Unit 3.

2. Produce final visual communication presentations that satisfy the requirements of the brief. 

3. Devise a pitch to present and explain their visual communications to an audience and evaluate the visual communications against the brief.

ASSESSMENT TASKS

• Two Distinct Final Presentations

• Folio of developments and refinements addressing the brief created in Unit 3

• Developing and presenting a pitch

For more information about Visual Communication Design, see Angella Liu