87222 VC Design Project: Symbols, Systems and Visual Play
Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a
particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source
of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.
Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.
Credit points: 6 cp
Subject level:
Undergraduate
Result type: Grade and marksThere are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.
Description
This subject gives students the opportunity to synthesise and apply the foundational principles of visual communication design through sustained projects. A series of lectures and studio tasks assist conceptual development, with an emphasis on the relationship between word and image to communicate. Weekly tasks guide students through the iterative design process: starting with research, conceptual development, roughs to comprehensive visuals, and finally, refined outcomes.
Topics covered in the lecture series include: form and materiality as communication strategies; constraints; graphic wit; series design; sequencing; and, visual metaphor. How to be an active member in critiques, and how to give and receive critique is also part of tutorial tasks.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
| 1. | Investigate and experiment with organisational systems and metaphoric visual language, through the design process and final outcomes. |
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| 2. | Develop original designs (typography and images) relevant to the specific demands of the project brief, through an iterative process of experimentation, critical reflection, evaluation and refinement. |
| 3. | Select appropriate media to the project brief and development of craft skills, as evident in refinement of process and final work. |
| 4. | Communicate in a clear and engaging way, as outlined in the project brief. |
| 5. | Independently manage project development and completion within the timeframe of a project brief, as evident in work presented in studio and the process journal. |
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)
This subject also contributes to the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes:
- Practice cultural principals and protocols required to work in Indigenous contexts. (A.3)
- Work cooperatively and professionally as part of a team, initiate partnerships with others, take a leadership role when required, and constructively contribute to peer learning. (C.1)
- 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)
- An ability to critique your own work and the work of others with reference to standards drawn from contemporary design practice. (P.1)
- Awareness of and/or engagement with the local and global design community. (P.2)
- Source, evaluate and utilise appropriate academic and professional references. (R.1)
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
Weekly lectures and studio.
Students are expected to commit 9–12 hours per week to each 6 credit point subject. This includes the contact hours. The 6–9 hours remaining each week are for the completion of preparatory activities and assessment tasks.
The lectures will orient you to specific visual communication concepts and theories, studio activites and project requirements.
Studio sessions will give you the opportunity to discuss questions about the weekly topic/content with your peers and with an expert studio leader, to collaborate on activities directly relevant to key ideas and to develop your skills as a design practitioner with assistance from your studio leader. Studio sessions will provide you with the opportunity to take ownership of the ideas encountered in preparatory reading, research and the lectures. Your studio leader will facilitate discussion and offer expert insight and direction where needed, but as students you are primarily responsible for the mood of the studio session.
LECTURE AND STUDIO ETIQUETTE
Lectures and studio sessions provide important opportunities for you to move out of digital environments. Mobile phone and laptop use can be distracting to those around you. Digital devices can interfere with face-to-face communication. Mobile phones and laptops should not be used in lectures or studio sessions. You will be given explicit information about situations where limited use of these technologies might be appropriate.
PREPARATORY ACTIVITIES
Each week before class, you will familiarise yourself with a range of written and visual texts that relate to the subject. These are included in the weekly outline.
Before leaving the studio, you will write an ‘action list’ of tasks you need to complete before the next studio session and assign times in your personal weekly planner to complete these tasks. You may be asked to reflect on how you managed these tasks with your learning group or studio leader in the following studio session.
PEER CRITIQUES
Learning to give and receive feedback on visuals is essential to your development as a professional designer. In peer feedback sessions you will ask your group to give you feedback on the ideas and visuals that they repond to. Try to sit back and listen. Try not to prompt your peers with information about your intentions. You want feedback from as many different perspectives as possible. As a group try to work out why some examples are more successful or have more potential than others. Develop a list of qualities (criteria) that contribute to its success and include this in your process journal. From time to time you will be asked to contribute your list of qualities to your class, or for presentation in subsequent lectures.
Content (topics)
The subject will comprise of the following:
- Lectures – a series of illustrated lectures introduce graphic symbols and systems as key communication tools for visual communication design practitioners.
- Demonstrations – a number of demonstrations in both lecture and studio sessions introduce students to a range of techniques to encourage their practical design skills.
- Design studio – individual project, practical workshops and group research activities are undertaken, discussed and critiqued with learning groups and lectures.
- Research – visual research skills are developed by establishing a shared online resource. Library research by individuals and as members of a learning group is developed through an electronic flexible learning program access from computer laboratories or externally via the internet.
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Two-in-One: graphic series or sequence
| Intent: | The aim of this project is to explore how familiar graphic forms and materials can be altered to create new visual associations. You will do this by making a book of images that share a conceptual and/or visual constraint. A detailed brief will be handed out in the first lecture. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 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.3, C.1, I.1, I.2, P.1 and R.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Type: | Project | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Groupwork: | Individual | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 45% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Assessment task 2: A series of book covers developing a visual system
| Intent: | The aim of this project is to explore approaches to designing a cohesive visual system. You will do this by designing a series of three book covers (front and back). The covers must reflect the content of each individual book as well as looking like part of the set. A detailed brief will be handed out in the briefing lecture. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 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.3, I.1, I.2, P.1, P.2 and R.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Type: | Project | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Groupwork: | Individual | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 55% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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.