Units

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Sample subject outline - Semester 2 2013

Note: Subject outlines often change before the semester begins. Below is a sample outline.

Rationale

Contemporary visual designers need to have a thorough and sophisticated understanding of the principles, theories, and history of visual communication as well as how it shapes and changes the way that we understand meaning, persuasion, society and culture. This unit builds on knowledge gained in KIB101 Visual Communication and KIB120 Graphic Design to provide an in-depth knowledge of the field of visual communication.

Aims

This unit aims to provide you with an intellectual framework for considering theoretical, philosophical and cultural issues surrounding visual communication, analysing how visual communication impacts upon experience, understandings and culture and thereby how designers can employ it effectively.

Objectives

On completion of this unit you should be able to:
1. Identify and discuss theoretical issues, historical referents in visual communication, and principles for effective visual communication
2. Articulate this understanding in written and oral form;
3. Analyse images and visual design in multiple ways;
4. Present arguments associated with these analyses within written texts;
5. Apply research approaches to the analysis of visual media.

Content

This theoretical subject will consider various forms of visual images, including traditional and contemporary mediums. Within lectures and tutorials, discussion will focus on theoretical, philosophical and cultural interpretations of visual communication and offer insights into how various methods of analysis and visual interpretation are applied. From a range of perspectives, it will address how visual communication affects experience, understandings and culture.

Approaches to Teaching and Learning

This unit will be delivered through lectures, which will provide theoretical and analytical frameworks for interpreting a range of visual mediums, and provide examples as case studies. Tutorials will provide the opportunity for detailed discussions of texts and images, and guidance towards the structure and presentation of academic arguments. Together, this will establish a grounding in the discourses and concepts underpinning the field of visual communication.

Assessment

LATE ASSIGNMENTS
An assignment submitted after the due date without an approved extension will not be marked. If you are unable to complete your assignment on time, you should submit on time whatever work you have done.

Faculty Assessment Information
To access complete Creative Industries Faculty Assessment Information please refer to the Blackboard site for this unit.FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
The tutorial environment allows for ongoing communication and feedback with relevant teaching staff and peers.

Weight: 0%

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
You will be awarded a final grade on a 1 to 7 scale.

Assessment name: Oral Presentation
Description: You will deliver an oral presentation/s and evidence research and articulates a given position and argument in relation to a topic and case studies shared with your peers.
Relates to objectives: 1,2,3 4
Weight: 40%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Mid Semester

Assessment name: Essay
Description: A written assignment demonstrating an understanding of theory, methods, and analysis of visual images.
Relates to objectives: 1,2,3,4,5
Weight: 60%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: End Semester

Academic Honesty

QUT is committed to maintaining high academic standards to protect the value of its qualifications. To assist you in assuring the academic integrity of your assessment you are encouraged to make use of the support materials and services available to help you consider and check your assessment items. Important information about the university's approach to academic integrity of assessment is on your unit Blackboard site.

A breach of academic integrity is regarded as Student Misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties.

Resource materials

Required Text

There are no required texts for this unit. Readings and other reference materials will be published on the unit blackboard web site.

Recommended References

Rose, G., 2001. Visual methodologies: an introduction to the interpretation of visual materials, London: Sage

Kress G. and van Leeuwen, T., 2006. Reading images: the grammar of visual design, London: Routledge

Mirzoeff, N., 2002. The Visual Culture Reader,, London: Routledge

Mitchell, W.J,. 1992. The reconfigured eye: visual truth in the post-photographic era, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press

Barnard, M., 2005. Graphic design as communication, New York: Routledge

And other references and media detailed on the unit Blackboard site.

Risk assessment statement

There are no risks associated with this unit.

Students should backup all of their digital files on a regular basis - daily or weekly - to ensure work is not lost if there is a hardware failure.

Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of semester.

Last modified: 07-Dec-2012