87011 VC Project: Visual Communication and Emergent Practices
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particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source
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Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.
Credit points: 6 cp
Result type: Grade and marks
Requisite(s): 87443 VC Project: Typography in Context AND 87009 VC Design Studio: Visualising Experience AND 87731 VC Design Studio: Narrative, Form and Time
Description
This subject introduces emerging areas of social and technological change in visual communication design practice. Students investigate issues and opportunities at the intersection of design practices and the creative technologies of machine learning and generative AI. The use of these technologies requires interrogation of the role and responsibilities of the visual communication designer in contemporary Australia. By engaging with current literature, including Indigenous scholarship, and undertaking creative experiments, students challenge dominant anthropocentric views and develop a design approach for diverse worldviews.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
| 1. | Engage with primary creative research through sustained visual experimentation with emerging technologies. |
|---|---|
| 2. | Develop critical perspectives through actively engaging with academic secondary research, including First Nations scholarship and the Indigenous Design Charter, contemporary academic journals, video and multimedia. |
| 3. | Demonstrate professional documentation and presentation skills. This will include research documentation of secondary research and creative experiments ensuring APA referencing of all text and images, respectful representations of ideas and professional visual communication design. |
| 4. | Design a visual essay that demonstrates responsible and respectful representation and responds to findings from primary and secondary research. |
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)
This subject also contributes to the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes:
- Establish and develop a sustainable, informed and ethical position towards social and cultural issues. (A.1)
- Communicate an informed well-researched viewpoint. (C.2)
- Communicate ideas effectively in a variety of ways, including oral, written and visual. (C.3)
- Create designs that respond to their context in formally or conceptually innovative ways. (I.1)
- Advance ideas through an exploratory and iterative design process. (I.2)
- Understanding of academic and professional ethics, copyright and appropriate acknowledgement of intellectual property. (P.3)
- Students will have knowledge of Indigenous Australian contexts to apply professional capabilities when working with and for Indigenous peoples across Design in Visual Communication projects and industry. (P.5)
- Source, evaluate and utilise appropriate academic and professional references. (R.1)
- Analyse, synthesise and formulate complex ideas, arguments and rationales and use initiative to explore. (R.3)
Contribution to the development of graduate attributes
The term CAPRI is used for the five Design, Architecture and Building faculty graduate attribute categories where:
C = communication and groupwork
A = attitudes and values
P = practical and professional
R = research and critique
I = innovation and creativity.
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs) are linked to these categories using codes (e.g. C-1, A-3, P-4, etc.).
Teaching and learning strategies
TEACHING STRATEGIES
The subject is delivered in weekly sessions, including a combination of lectures, studios and workshops.
The lectures establish the theoretical and conceptual frameworks, provide briefings on task requirements, and build a community of practice led by expert guest speakers.
Weekly studio sessions give students the opportunity to:
- Discuss the weekly lectures and subject content with peers and studio leaders.
- Collaborate on activities directly relevant to key ideas and develop skills as design researchers and practitioners.
- Engage in peer-to-peer feedback and consultations throughout the semester to support independent learning.
- Find guidance on studio work from studio leaders and peers.
- Develop collaboration skills through consistent informal group work.
Four workshops will be delivered over the semester that will provide an opportunity for creative experimentation with the technologies of machine learning and generative AI.
Students will develop independent documentation strategies to keep track of their design research and process. Students will maintain an annotated bibliography throughout the session to keep track of insights from lectures and critical texts.
Please note: Each 6-credit point subject requires a commitment of 10-12 hours per week, including the contact hours. Each week, allocate 8-9 hours to complete preparatory activities and assessment tasks.
PREPARATORY ACTIVITIES
Each week before class, complete readings and activities as advised to prepare for studio sessions. These will be available on Canvas.
It is advisable for students, before leaving the studio, to write an ‘action list’ of tasks to complete before the next studio session, and that times are assigned in a weekly personal planner to complete these tasks. Students may be asked to reflect on progress with learning groups or studio leaders in the following studio session.
EQUIPMENT
Students will need a laptop for the workshops and sometimes in the studio (check with your Studio Leader). Laptops can be borrowed from UTS Library, which has a number available for 1-3 day loans. You can access this service on Level 7 of the library, on the right after you pass through the library entrance.
SUBJECT COMMUNICATION
All communication and updates to the subject will be through UTS Canvas emails and Announcements. Please ensure that you have enabled Canvas notifications so you receive all subject communication.
Content (topics)
Explore the intersection of design practices and emerging creative technologies.
Engage with the Indigenous Design Charter and recent Indigenous scholarship addressing emergent technologies.
Develop practice-led research skills through a sustained, creative investigation process.
Investigation of contemporary theoretical and creative approaches to new technologies.
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Annotated Bibliography - First Nations Perspectives
| Intent: | Documentation of engagement with First Nations perspectives on emerging technologies through contemporary literature. | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 2 and 3 This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.): P.3 and P.5 | ||||||||||||
| Type: | Annotated bibliography | ||||||||||||
| Groupwork: | Individual | ||||||||||||
| Weight: | 20% | ||||||||||||
| Length: | Minimum TWO Annotated Bibiography entries of 180-200 words each. | ||||||||||||
| Criteria: | Engagement with Indigenous scholarship: Respectful engagement with the Indigenous Design Charter and other prescribed academic texts offering First Nations perspectives on emergent technologies. Communication and Documentation of Research : Quality and organisation of written and visual material in the research document. Application of the UTS APA Referencing System. | ||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Assessment task 2: Expanded Annotated Bibliography
| Intent: | Documentation of primary and secondary research towards the final project. | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 1, 2 and 3 This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.): C.3, I.2 and R.1 | ||||||||||||||||
| Type: | Portfolio | ||||||||||||||||
| Groupwork: | Individual | ||||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 40% | ||||||||||||||||
| Length: | - Minimum TWO Annotated Bibiography entries of 180-200 words each. - Documentation of your creative experiments based on TWO workshops with annotations (approximately 2 A4 pages or equivalent per workshop). Edit process documentation to highlight key insights driving iterations. | ||||||||||||||||
| Criteria: | Primary Research: Exploration of creative research methods introduced during the workshops. Evidence of sustained development of experimental outcomes through thoughtful analysis and reflection. Secondary Research: Critical engagement with key contemporary readings selected from the subject materials and presented in the Annotated Bibliography format. Communication and Documentation of Research : Quality and organisation of written and visual material in the research document. Application of the UTS APA Referencing System. | ||||||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Assessment task 3: Visual Essay
| Intent: | Design a Visual Essay synthesising and extending on your research from Assessment Tasks 1 and 2.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 2, 3 and 4 This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.): A.1, C.2, I.1 and R.3 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Type: | Project | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Groupwork: | Individual | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 40% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Length: | 600 words | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Criteria: | Cultural Awareness: Ability to present a Visual Essay that demonstrates a thoughtful engagement with subject materials. Application of principles for responsible and respectful representation appropriate to your chosen presentation format, including correct attribution of ideas and sources in the APA style. Design Quality: Ability to develop a Visual Essay of high creative and intellectual quality in response to insights developed through subject materials and independent creative experimentation. Critical Perspective: Capacity to develop a compelling argument in the Visual Essay through a combination of text and image. Subject Engagement: Sustained level of quality engagement with subject materials, self-directed research, and design professionalism as evidenced through participation in studio and response to subject materials in the Visual Essay. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Minimum requirements
The DAB attendance policy requires students to attend no less than 80% of formal teaching sessions (lectures and tutorials) for each class they are enrolled in to remain eligible for assessment.
References
All subject materials are on Canvas.
Other resources
UTS Design Index, see: http://www.utsdesignindex.com