Teaching & Learning
This course represents the breadth of possible practices within the field of graphic design, ranging from design for print and screen, advertising, typography, photography, moving image and animation. You are encouraged to explore this breadth in the earlier stages of the course, as a means of understanding your own creative potential. This initial exploration supports you to progress towards narrowing your area of interest and to engage with a deeper level of creative investigation.
What you'll learn
Undertake a number of short projects, which will introduce you to the course philosophy and your wider course community. You will explore some of the key principles of idea generation, problem-solving and communication in new and unexpected learning scenarios and develop strategies to initiate work.
Gain an understanding of contemporary graphic design, illustration and visual communication through its relationship to the history of art and design in general. You will begin to be able to locate your own work within wider contexts.
Investigate some of the fundamental building blocks of graphic design through a series of short projects, designed to build on your existing skills and introduce you to new ones. You will take part in a range of workshops and learning activities, which will support the integration of process skills into your project work.
Explore a broad range of practices related to graphic design, such as branding, advertising, editorial, user experience and interaction, and art direction. You will be presented with a series of creative scenarios, which will require resourcefulness and adaptability for you to work with a professional perspective.
Investigate, interpret and analyse images, combinations of image and text as well as sequential and moving image forms through a theoretical and practical application of semiotics. You will develop an appreciation of different communication models and their relevance to understanding the functions of visual communication in general.
What you'll learn
Explore the rigorous craft of typography as a means to manage language, function and space, and consider how meaning and expression can be used to enhance a visual form. You will work through practical problems of managing complex amounts of information within a defined space and format, to enhance communication and the reader/viewer experience.
Integrate theory and practice through a critical study presented through written, visual and/or audio-visual formats connecting your research and critical understanding of the work made in the studio.
Extend your knowledge of technologies that relate to graphic design through the creation of multiple and varied visual outcomes. This module will develop your creative thinking skills, extend the scope of your graphic design practice, and it encourages innovative playful experimentation to extract unexpected results from technologies.
Through the exploration of selected and negotiated studio projects, this module aims to build the skills relevant to your creative direction. It aims to develop your creative voice and reflect on the location of your graphic design practice, within a professional setting.
You will introduced to key debates, both historically and in a contemporary context, within graphic design and visual communication, and you will be encouraged to apply some of these to your own emerging practice. You will develop critical thinking by researching, analysing, reflecting on, responding to and discussing some of the key debates within graphic design.
What you'll learn
Create a body of work appropriate to your emerging practice. Through negotiation, you will propose, develop and refine projects allowing you to build on, acquire new skills, and explore appropriate practices within graphic design.
Develop your ideas and approaches towards graphic design by negotiating, developing and refining a coherent body of work which represents consolidation within your practice. You will build on the work you produced in semester one, and continue existing project ideas, experimenting and developing new forms for the work, or initiating and self-directing new projects that explore related ideas.
You are encouraged to engage with a range of transferable professional practices in a real-world, external context, challenging you to consider how your practice can exist beyond university.