Visual Communication Design

Visual Arts

VCE

Visual Communication Design is distinct in its study of visual language and the role it plays in communicating ideas, solving problems and influencing behaviours. Students learn how to manipulate type and imagery when designing for specific contexts, purposes and audiences. They choose and combine manual and digital methods, media and materials with design elements and principles. In doing so, students learn how aesthetic considerations contribute to the effective communication and resolution of design ideas, and how an understanding of visual language, its role and potential is the foundation of effective design practice.

Students explore how designers visually communicate concepts when designing messages, objects, environments and interactive experiences. They work both together and independently to find and address design problems, making improvements to services, systems, spaces and places experienced by stakeholders, both in person and online. Students employ a design process together with convergent and divergent thinking strategies to discover, define, develop and deliver design solutions. Drawings are used to visually represent relationships, ideas and appearances, while models and prototypes are produced for the purposes of testing and presentation. Students participate in critiques, both delivering and receiving constructive feedback and expanding their design terminology.

Assessment activities

folios of work demonstrating the stages of the VCD design process
investigation of culturally appropriate design practices
written reports or presentations
presentations of design concepts
creation of personal iconography
a comparative case study of designers
practical design exercises
a comparative analysis of design examples

Selection advice

This subject is suited to students who have a strong interest in design, advertising, logo and poster design, architecture, interior design, product design, digital and manual drawing. If a student plans to do more than one folio subject, consultation must occur with the subject teachers, Year Level Coordinators and the Assistant Principal of the Senior School.

Links to further pathways

The study of VCE Visual Communication Design seeks to cultivate future-ready designers who have a critical and reflective eye, a refined aesthetic sensibility, and who are equipped with the skills, knowledge and mindsets necessary to address the problems of life. Through exposure to the cultures and traditions of design practice, students learn how designers visually communicate ideas and information when designing for people, communities and societies. They develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions required of a multidisciplinary designer who is a reflective, responsible and empathetic practitioner equipped with agency and initiative.