Units you can study

Choose from the undergraduate or postgraduate options on offer across a range of disciplines. As long as you meet the prerequisites, you can choose subjects from any of our discipline areas to suit your interests.

Most units have a lecture and a tutorial each week. Lectures and tutorials for postgraduate units are usually held in the evenings.

Approved units

All students can study these units, regardless of your academic background. These units will be approved on your QUT study plan after you apply.

Design

DYB101 Impact Lab: Place and Context

While you will develop disciplinary knowledge and skills through the course, many problems facing organisations and societies naturally span disciplines. DYB101 explores the potential of design to bring about change. DYB101 introduces design processes and practices for a future characterised by diverse perspectives, social agendas and environmental concerns. You will learn how 21st-century designers from all disciplines apply empathy and the ability to acknowledge and incorporate diverse viewpoints to address challenging themes.

DYB121 Introducing Design Fabrication

This introductory hands-on unit explores concepts, skills and methods required to prototype and fabricate physical objects from your design ideas. Designers need to consider the capabilities of fabrication, associated processes and equipment, and materials available to produce a physical prototype of their design ideas. From this perspective, design fabrication is problem centric and requires a rationale behind the choice of materials and processes, an understanding of the quality of the fabrication outcome as part of an iterative process or for its temporal qualities for concept evaluation, as well as consideration of the ethics of fabrication. The foundational design fabrication skills acquired in this unit will be further developed in subsequent design units in the program.

DYB122 Design Visualisations

This unit Introduces you to design visualisation practice and how to employ a variety of techniques to visualise design ideas to assist you in design thinking, research, communication and presentation.

DYB123 Emerging Design Technology

The design industry is rapidly evolving with the introduction of new technologies. This unit introduces you to existing and emerging technology and how it applies to the design process and design outputs. Designers need to be familiar with technology to aid them in the design process as well as being able to create new products, services or experiences that take advantage of existing and emerging technologies. 

DYB124 Design Consequences

Design Consequences is an introductory unit employing theoretical and applied methods to explore the ways in which design influences and is influenced by cultural traditions and practices, beliefs and biases. Working across frames of past, present and future, you will learn how to critically engage with and draw upon these cultural factors and influences to shape and define your design work and practice.The twenty-first century presents designers with a challenging context characterised by the increasingly dramatic effects of climate change, growing levels of inequality, and destabilised geopolitical conditions. This unit will introduce you to a range of ideas, methods, and approaches necessary to understand design not only as products, environments, services and experiences but also as a social, cultural, political, and economic agent.

KKB180 Creative Futures

This unit introduces creative industries disciplines, interdisciplinarity and the careers of creative industries practitioners. It aids you to plan your course of study in line with your career interests and potential career opportunities. It enhances your research, written communication and critical thinking skills for various professional and academic purposes. It draws on cutting edge research into the distinctive characteristics of the creative workforce, the creative industries and its cultural context, introducing you to study and work as an emerging interdisciplinary creative practitioner. You will investigate creative career possibilities and opportunities and develop essential information literacy and written communication skills for both academic and professional contexts. You will envision potential creative career pathways, identify cultural and other considerations and discover which skills and strategies you’ll need. This will help you make the most of your degree.

KKB181 Creative Industry Foundations and Futures

This unit comprehensively explores the creative industries, providing a foundational understanding of their context, challenges, and opportunities. It delves into the multifaceted world of creative sectors, learning about key trends and dynamics. You will identify and align your personal values and interests within the creative industries, helping to shape your career aspirations. The unit will provide you with opportunities to gain insights into the diverse ways of working within these industries, from freelancing to corporate settings, and position yourself strategically. The unit also introduces desktop graphics content creation and printing/fabrication essentials, empowering you with practical skills using graphics software, providing technical literacy in a crucial aspect of creative industry work. This unit serves as an essential stepping stone for individuals seeking to embark on a successful and fulfilling journey in the creative industries.

KKB185 Creative Enterprise Studio 1

In Studio 1, students develop both enterprise skills and collaborative foundational design thinking skills to better understand the problem space for unique industry or community-based problems. As such, the unit responds to opportunity identification and value creation aligned to industry and/or community-based real world needs. Whilst the value of disciplinary expertise remains constant in this changing world, many problems facing organisations and societies naturally span disciplines. Collaboration and inquiry into these real world problems require a breadth of knowledge and skills in ways that demand and reward curiosity and innovation. Being the first of three Creative Enterprise Studio units, your ability to respond to complex and unique real world problems is strengthened by learning to think and act in diverse ways and draw upon perspectives, methods and insights garnered from the multiplicity of disciplines in your unit cohort.

Fashion

DFB102 Introduction to Fashion Communication

This unit provides an introduction to fashion communication and is intended to provide foundational knowledge and skills to pursue further studies in fashion communication. It aims to develop your understanding of fashion as both an everyday cultural form and a complex global industry. Learning in this unit will be important in order to gain an overview of the global fashion system and fashion cultures. You will develop and practise foundational fashion communication skills alongside learning how to apply key theoretical ideas to understanding fashion. This unit will provide you with the conceptual basis to pursue further studies in fashion communication.

DFB104 Fashion Sustainability

This unit provides you with a foundational knowledge of environmental and social impacts of the fashion system. The unit examines the environmental and social impact of materials, production and consumption methods in order to develop the skills and mindset to apply more sustainable practices. It also introduces fashion systems as complex supply chains spanning raw fibre through to manufacturing, design, retailing and garment use, and disposal systems at end of life.

DFB208 Fashion Textiles

This unit covers applied textile design in the past, present and future. It will explore the cultural, social and industrial significance of textiles. The unit will provide opportunities to learn about the techniques involved with textile production. You will draw on this to experiment with and design textiles in line with industry trends and challenges, and explore avenues in speculative design into textile futures.

DFB209 Global Fashion History

This unit introduces the foundations of fashion history through a global perspective of trade, culture and style flows between the West and the East. It presents a new approach to the study of fashion history as an exchange between cultures through a critical and interdisciplinary approach. The unit provides you with the opportunity to build your fashion knowledge in the context of complex global cultural and commercial exchanges in fashion. It unravels competing cultural and political discourses of dress in colonial contexts, recognising the multiple sites that contributed to the emergence of fashion. It provides you with skills in written and oral communication; research and visual analysis; and creative skills. Importantly, it will help you to identify and understand current influences and future directions in contemporary fashion design.

DFB216 Wearables

This unit introduces wearable product design for the purposes of enhancing the user experience within a given context. It provides knowledge and skills to design interactive wearable products. It focuses on demonstrating the use of emerging technologies and rapid prototyping techniques for the purposes of designing wearable products that enhance the user experience within a given context. This unit is designed as an intermediate experience of your course and as such it is desirable that you have completed design foundation units, tangible media or textiles and technology units prior to enrolling in this unit. This unit provides you with opportunities to build, develop and apply creative design proficiency in the context of wearable design and wearable technologies.

Industrial design

DNB110 ID Studio 1: User Centred Design

This unit introduces you to User Centred Industrial Design. It addresses visual and creative thinking within the context of the industrial design process and provides human-centred knowledge focused on usability, usability methods and evaluation techniques. You will learn how to implement physical, cognitive and emotional factors to human-centred product design, services and systems. Understanding the needs and capabilities of people is essential to the design of usable, desirable and viable products, services and systems. In order to do this you will need a solid understanding of user-centred design methods during the industrial design process and the application of form, structure, function and beauty in design.

Interaction design

DXB111 Introduction to Web Design

This unit introduces concepts and skills underpinning the user-centred design of web sites using the web technologies such as HTML and CSS. It enables you to understand web technologies as a medium to explore design concepts and to build responsive, high-fidelity, mobile-first web sites. This includes translating conceptual designs into responsive websites while taking into account principles of interface and user experience design, layout, style and navigation. The unit enables you to formulate solutions to design problems, to produce high quality technical and aesthetic outcomes, and to understand the basic skills needed by web design professionals.

DXB205 Interactive Narrative Design

This unit serves as an introduction to creating immersive environments and building interactive worlds for player performance and dramatic agency. The role of the narrative designer is central to the success of any significant professional project in interactive media and game design. The unit addresses theoretical issues associated with immersive / non-linear story structures and interactive narrative forms through the analysis of game / play systems, the creation of original game concepts and the application of techniques of narrative design. It extends this understanding into practice through the application of relevant skills, which will scaffold you into the production of a portfolio work (suitable for interaction designers, visual communication designers, game designers, media designers, creative writers and performance studies).

Visual communication

DVB101 Visual Communication Design

This unit introduces the principles and conventions associated with the interpretation and production of meaning through visual representation. Visual Communication is based on the creation of meaning through image and text and this plays a critical role in our contemporary world which is visually and media driven. Visual communicators require a deep understanding of conceptual development, design process, typography and image making, and how image-based communication occurs. You will learn how to think and operate as a visual designer through studio-based learning and a series of industry-focused experiences.

DVB305 Design for Health Innovation

The contribution of design-led approaches and methods to innovations in eHealth and healthcare services and technologies is increasing. Challenges impacting Australian and international health sectors require skills and knowledge of consumer- and user-centric approaches. You will become familiar with theoretical frameworks for health and wellbeing and develop knowledge of contemporary design-led approaches to the development of health and wellbeing services, products and experiences. This unit addresses theories, approaches, methods and applications of design to the context of health and wellbeing. It takes into account multiple stakeholder perspectives: health professionals, patients and carers. You will deepen you design skills and knowledge of methods used in Design Thinking to conceptualise, develop and produce a design prototype.

Units requiring approval

Students need specific academic background knowledge to study these units, so we will assess your eligibility and determine if you’re able to take these units after you apply. We will let you know the outcome through the application portal as soon as possible.

Design

DYB102 Impact Lab: Society and Systems

This unit addresses methods of social impact design and the ways in which these approaches can contribute to transformational social and community focused change. In it, you experience how design approaches and tools can be applied to complex social and community-based challenges. In a context where design can foster inclusion and act as a disruptor and driver for positive change you as a designer, alongside your design peers, have the collective potential to lead or make a better future. Framed around real world challenges; and in partnership with community, government and/or industry partners; you will engage with transdisciplinary design-led participatory entrepreneurial strategies to address key issues within one or more communities. This will develop skills valuable in designing for social impact. This impact lab focuses on people, to foreground the importance of keeping the human condition at the heart of design practice which enables solutions aimed at social change.

DYB301 Design Portfolio for Professional Practice

This unit is a capstone professional practice experience - providing you with an opportunity to explore and define your design purpose and identity, foster career aspirations and expand your professional network.  Through this unit you will develop your knowledge and expectations of professional practice and navigate career opportunities. The unit will assist you as you transition from student to professional, translating what you have learned and experienced over the course of your degree to be able to professionally present your skills, knowledge and capabilities into a meaningful and purposeful portfolio, as well as excel at job interviews.

Fashion

DFB110 Fashion Design Studio 1

This unit provides introductory knowledge and skills for the theory and practice of fashion design, focusing on three dimensional design, draping and organic forms. This foundational unit provides knowledge of theoretical and cultural fashion contexts that underpin concept driven fashion design. It addresses fashion design principles and processes, including the development of effective skills to communicate expressively and realise design ideas in an integrated studio environment. The suite of six Fashion Design Studio units form the foundation of learning for understanding fashion design in the Bachelor of Design (Fashion) program. Embedded in this program is a focus on ethical and sustainable practices.

DFB111 Fashion Design Studio 2

This unit provides introductory knowledge and skills for the theory and practice of fashion design, focusing on flat patternmaking and classic western design forms. This foundational unit provides knowledge and skills for the theory and practice of structured fashion design.   It addresses fashion design principles, processes and contexts, including the development of effective skills to communicate digitally and realise design ideas in an integrated studio environment. The suite of six Fashion Design Studio units form the foundation of learning for understanding fashion design in the Bachelor of Design (Fashion) program. Embedded in this program is a focus on ethical and sustainable practices.

DFB204 Fashion Product Development

This unit further develops your knowledge, skills and application for professional fashion communication and product development in the fashion industry. It focuses on commercial fashion design and product styling. Developing consumer products in the fashion industry requires diverse skills and knowledge in trend analysis, range building, sourcing, finishing, specification sheets and marketing to ensure successful and sustainable outcomes. By developing a foundational knowledge in product development you will be prepared to work in commercial fashion or to create your own fashion brand.

DFB206 Global Fashion Cultures

This unit further develops your knowledge of the complexities of global fashion systems and builds on the application of your skills in fashion visual communication with an emphasis on visual analysis. It focuses on the diverse aesthetics and practices of global fashion cultures since the mid-twentieth century. The aim of this unit is to develop your knowledge of the diversity of global fashion aesthetics since the mid-twentieth century while focusing on consumer-led fashion developments alongside high-end designer fashion of this period. As such, it will deepen your knowledge of how design is connected to social and cultural developments.

DFB210 Fashion Design Studio 3

This unit builds developmentally on previous fashion studio knowledge to navigate the structure and requirements of professional fashion contexts. It develops effective skills to communicate and realise design ideas in an integrated studio environment. It provides expanded knowledge and skills for the theory and practice of fashion design and includes practical skills and knowledge of pattern cutting, garment construction and applied technologies for the communication of design ideas. Embedded in this unit is a focus on ethical practices. The suite of Fashion Design Studio units form the foundation of learning for understanding fashion design in the Bachelor of Design (Fashion Design) program.

DFB211 Fashion Design Studio 4

This unit provides knowledge of fashion design for public consumption. In this unit, you will develop and expand skills to conceptualise, communicate and realise design ideas for mass manufacture in an integrated studio environment. You will build on your previously acquired research, conceptual and fabrication skills as well as develop and apply sustainable fashion practice knowledge. You will synthesise your understanding of product development and retail readiness and will learn about the logistical and practical considerations of fashion design and production. The suite of Fashion Design Studio units form the foundation of learning for understanding fashion design in the Bachelor of Design (Fashion) program.

DFB305 Fashion Justice

This advanced level unit deepens your critical fashion engagement and consolidates your skills in fashion communication. It prepares you to play a leadership role in shaping the dialogues that are transforming fashion practices. The aim of this unit is to develop your critical, analytical and communication skills in the context of the global fashion industry and wider cultural debates. Embracing an interdisciplinary approach characteristic of current fashion scholarship, this final unit builds on the theoretical and practical knowledge developed in DFB206 Global Fashion Cultures and DFB209 Global Fashion History and provides you with the opportunity to develop sophisticated research and written communication skills, preparing you to contribute to shaping the dialogues and debates that are changing the contemporary fashion industry.

DFB310 Fashion Design Studio 5

This unit builds developmentally on previous fashion studio knowledge and together with DFB311 forms the capstone of the Bachelor of Design Fashion program. It provides advanced knowledge and skills for the theory and practice of fashion design contextualised within critical and ethical parameters. The unit focuses on the development of advanced skills to research, communicate and realise design in an integrated studio environment. Within this unit you will develop your confidence and ability to work with minimal supervision in preparation for graduation, exploring your individual design aesthetic. The suite of Fashion Design Studio units form the foundation of learning for the Bachelor of Design (Fashion) program.

DFB311 Fashion Design Studio 6

This 24 credit point unit is one of two capstone Fashion Design Studio experiences and aims to provide you with the opportunity to synthesise your prior learning, within university and the workplace, through the production of a final year project that will be outward looking. Within this unit you will develop your confidence and ability to work with minimal supervision in preparation for graduation exploring your individual design aesthetic. During this unit you will complete an extended final year project and will have the opportunity to present your work to industry. The suite of Fashion Design Studio units form the foundation of learning for the Bachelor of Design (Fashion) program.

Industrial design

DNB111 ID Studio 2: Aesthetics and Visualisation

This introductory unit advances knowledge and skills with analogue and digital visualisation techniques to explore, elaborate and communicate your design ideas effectively. The most common and complex aspect of industrial design deals with creating aesthetically pleasing products imbued with meaning and value through form and function. Continuing the development of design process knowledge and skills established in DNB110 ID Studio 1: User Centred Design, this unit delves deeper into ideas of aesthetics and meaning in order to advance the quality of everyday products.

DNB210 ID Studio 3: Interaction and Experience

A core responsibility of the Industrial Designer is the interpretation of human interactions with products or systems. This unit develops intermediate design research skills and strategies to gain a detailed understanding of the user within the product's social, cultural and technological context. It employs design strategies to identify opportunities of human interactions with products and systems and enhance the user-product experience. In this unit you will strengthen and apply your design, visualisation, model-making and CAD skills at an intermediate level while dealing with user-centred design (UCD) principles to produce interactive designs. This unit builds on knowledge and experience gained in earlier Industrial Design (ID) foundation units. It builds your skills and knowledge in the area of interaction and experience allowing for integration of skills and knowledge in the capstone units.

DNB211 ID Studio 4: Manufacturing Technology

This unit introduces the skills and knowledge to transform design ideas into manufacturable products. It provides experience and skills in creating 3D CAD models and using them to communicate design intent. The unit increases your knowledge of the commonly used materials and processes and of how their manufacturing constraints and opportunities affect the design process. The industrial designer needs to possess skills in translating these constraints and opportunities into viable product designs and to be able to communicate their design intent with sufficient detail to allow that product to be manufactured according to industry standards and capabilities. This unit introduces you to the principles of Design For Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) and extends your Computer-Aided Design (CAD) skills. The skills and knowledge covered by this unit are amongst those highly sought after by employers and will be applied in all subsequent ID studio units.

DNB212 ID Studio 5: Applied Technology

This unit provides the skills and knowledge required to design products for manufacture. It advances knowledge on commonly used materials allowing you to gain an understanding of how manufacturing constraints and opportunities affect the design process. Industrial Designers need to be able to design products that are viable for production. They also need to possess skills in translating these constraints and opportunities into viable product designs and to be able to efficiently communicate their design intent to allow that product to be manufactured according to industry standards and capabilities. The unit focuses on 3D parametric Computer Aided Design (CAD) and on how this is incorporated into the design process. Additionally, it provides skills in creating 3D CAD models and using them to communicate design intent. The unit builds on the DNB211 ID Studio 4: Manufacturing Technology unit as well as developing CAD and digital presentation skills.

DNB215 Personal Transportation

This unit introduces personal transport and mobility system concepts as applied to the design of a personal transport system for a given context. It focuses on understanding, benchmarking and designing personal transport systems for a specific context. It prepares you for future units including mass transportation and future transportation units. This unit is in the developmental stage of your course and introduces you to some basic concepts for transportation systems and builds on your application of design. It is preferred (but not a requirement) that you have completed design or design visualisation units prior to enrolling in this unit.

DNB310 ID Studio 6: Systems Design

This unit introduces the concept of systems thinking and its application to design to solve complex societal, cultural and environmental challenges. It advances on Industrial design concepts, methods, strategies and processes for innovation with a particular focus on future products and systems. It also builds and consolidates knowledge and experience gained in earlier Industrial Design units, in particular skills and knowledge in the area of systems design. To be able to tackle the most critical problems of our time, we must broaden our view to incorporate a more holistic and comprehensive view of design and systems. This requires the understanding and application of novel systems thinking approaches to the design of products, services and systems that are viable, feasible and desirable for people and the environment.

DNB311 ID Studio 7: Capstone

This is the capstone unit for Industrial Design. It is built upon the earlier Industrial Design units and extends the application of research to the designing products and systems. This is an independent project reinforcing leadership and project management as well as strengthening your expertise. You will focus on research done through design, application of research findings for early and developmental design stages, and will learn to integrate research and design to support novel design ideas. The unit provides you with an opportunity to learn how to manage and lead large authentic projects.

DNB312 Advanced Manufacturing

The aim of this unit is to elevate your knowledge of manufacturing to a level where you can confidently produce products able to be manufactured. It further develops your knowledge of the relationship between manufacturing and design. In this you will gain a greater understanding of manufacturing materials and processes that are commonly used by designers. You will also gain experience applying that knowledge to a design project. For a design to progress from just an idea to becoming a real thing it needs to be able to be manufactured. For this, designers need an in-depth understanding of the ways that products are manufactured and what they can be manufactured from. This forms part of the core technical skills that designers require. This unit builds on previous manufacturing skills and allows for this knowledge to be incorporated into the final capstone unit.

DNB313 Advanced Computer-Aided Design

This unit develops your knowledge and skill in Computer Aided Design (CAD), with the aim to strengthen your knowledge about the implementation of CAD in an industrial design context as well as skills in generating CAD output (digital renderings) in a form that accurately communicates design intent. This unit will focus on building skills using SolidWorks, a 3D parametric modeller and Keyshot, a render engine. Designers need to be able to communicate their 3D design ideas in an accurate way to others to have them manufactured, and CAD is the primary way that this is done. Therefore, good CAD skills are an essential skill, sought after by employers and very useful for design communication in subsequent units, especially the capstone unit.

Interaction design

DXB210 Critical Experience Design

This unit explores the way in which critical and speculative design theory and practices can transform established design conventions in new and unexpected ways, leading to innovative design solutions. Design does not operate in isolation. All our decisions as designers affect not only the produced outcome, but the broader society and environments for which it is created. This unit provides you with design skills to create highly engaging and interactive speculative designs, services and experiences, while focusing on their impact and potential of design for change and deep societal transformation. In this unit you will adopt critical thinking and speculative design methods to re-imagine, analyse, design and present solutions for future scenarios (e.g. living in future cities, design of future hospitals and future of the environment) as a way to re-frame present interactions between people, spaces and technologies.

DXB211 Creative Coding

This is an introductory programming unit for designers. It presents core principles of computer programming and explores how these can be applied to produce creative outcomes. It also surveys the ways that designers, artists and other creative practitioners have engaged with computer programming and reflects on the nature of code as a creative medium. A basic literacy with programming is essential in areas of professional practice such as interaction design, visual design, web design, mobile app design and game design. As such, it is important for you to develop core skills in computer programming, as well as knowledge of the aesthetics of computational processes in design and creative practice.   

DXB212 Tangible Interaction Design

This unit provides an in-depth exploration of tangible interaction design through the creation of an advanced prototyping project. It integrates theoretical frameworks with hands-on practice, focusing on the design of computational and interactive prototypes that engage users through tangible and embodied interaction. You will develop proficiency in rapid prototyping techniques, producing both low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes, using a variety of design and fabrication methods.

DXB310 Augmented Interactions

This unit advances on your understandings of augmented interaction. Studio-driven explorations of emerging and future practices and concerns, and engagement in a chosen problem space, will facilitate such process. The unit provides an opportunity for reflective practices to situate your work in the relevant context as well as extend your own understanding of interaction design. You will create an augmented interactive system that responds to a problem or site you identify and research, as well as evaluate people’s experience of it gaining formative feedback. You will use interactive media technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality software tools and sensors, and develop a visual and experiential language for your concept. Understanding social and physical phenomena evolution and how we interact with the world is crucial, even more so today as wireless networks proliferate and that interaction is increasingly mediated.

DXB311 Advanced Interaction Design Project

This capstone unit further develops your interaction design skills through the production of a signature project. It focuses on developing your own specialist Interaction Design work which will serve to assist you in defining your professional portfolio and future career pathways. The outcome will also become your major design work to be presented in the final year exhibition. Design for interaction continues to be a transformative and pivotal field of design for contemporary society, encompassing a range of practice from sustainability, usability, and collaboration to the evocative, playful and expressive. New design opportunities and career options continue to emerge and an understanding of future industry practices and an ability to actively engage in these is essential for career success. This subject provides you with the opportunity to explore emerging areas of interaction design through practice-based research, creative focus and a supportive community of learning.

Visual communication

DVB102 Image Design and Production

This unit provides skills and knowledge for image creation and production across different contexts, styles and media. It also deals with issues of originality, creativity and suitability of images used in professional visual design, while increasing your skills and creative approaches to areas of illustration, information design, photography, and photo media design. It advances knowledge on aesthetic and formal qualities of new areas of image design and a growing technical skill set which will be built upon in further Visual Communication Design specialisation subjects. In a world of easily reproduced digital imagery, the ability to create your own original illustrations, photos, textures and patterns can be highly competitive. Along with developing practical skills to generate original imagery for your design work, the unit further develops your capacity to critique and reflect upon practice.

DVB201 Typographic Design

This unit provides knowledge and skills of typographic principles, composition and design strategies. It combines theory and practice, history and experimentation, and designing for print and digital media, all within a vibrant studio environment delivered face-to-face and online. You will engage with dynamic, creative briefs and use type as the main element of visual expression in your work. Typically typography is at the core of any visual communication work, independently of media. ‘Good’ typographic design demands well developed technical skills, constant attention to detail as well as a sharp understanding of the context and content of the message being transmitted. Upon completion of this unit you will be able to understand, apply and manipulate multiple aspects of typography as a powerful visual communication tool and to prepare and publish your work in multiple media contexts, including emerging technologies and environmental spaces.

DVB202 Visual Design for Storytelling

While contemporary visual communication often applies concise and immediate messaging for targeted audiences, it can also require extended, multi-layered narrative-led messaging. This unit provides theoretical, conceptual, technical and research skills to produce narrative-based visual communication works. The unit addresses principles and techniques of visual storytelling across multiple media forms such as print, screen and space, and allows you to develop key portfolio pieces which are complex and creative. Visual Design for Storytelling builds upon the Visual Communication foundations, expanding the scope of projects you are equipped for.

DVB203 Theories and Methods of Visual Communication

This unit builds on your understanding of the principles of visual communication and its role in determining the values of our contemporary cultures and societies. Through exploring theoretical perspectives, discussions and class exercises you will critique and analyse images and visual communication designs occurring in multiple contexts. In doing so, you will develop further expertise in the production of contemporary communication design and the ethical, social and professional responsibilities of a designer. This unit directly builds upon the Visual Communication and Image Production units while providing opportunities to engage with critical analysis of images and experiences and evidence this through written expression and report writing.

DVB301 Kinetic Image and Text

Moving image and typographic design has become a leading form of communication in contemporary society, from online contexts, to film and television, to digital signage. An in-depth understanding of and creative skills in motion-based design are essential for visual designers to work on major campaigns and address all client needs. This unit provides you with knowledge of key theoretical approaches, techniques and methods of kinetic design and allows you to explore these through practice within studio-based assessment projects. In taking this focus, the unit builds directly upon prior foundations of Image Design and Typography in the Visual Communication specialisation and prepares students to work at a further, advanced level within the industry.

DVB302 Data Visualisation and Information Design

Information and data is now an essential aspect of everyday life in our technologically-driven and visually rich society. In the contemporary world, the generation of data is much greater than the ability to digest and visualise this as meaningful information. The unit provides advanced knowledge and skills in visual information design and data visualisation allowing you to apply these within a series of practice-based design works. The unit contextualises the growth of this information design specialisation for visual designers, raises issues relating to data collection and integrity, and provides you with a comprehensive understanding of the variety of design approaches that can be engaged within this area. It offers both a practical understanding of established information design models and also the opportunity to develop an innovative and future-forward approached to data visualisation, including utilising interactivity.

Enrolment restrictions

Postgraduate students can't enrol in:

  • first-year undergraduate core units
  • postgraduate honours-level units, which change from year to year.

Enrolment in capstone units is generally not allowed, as these units require extended knowledge gained throughout the course of a full degree.

Search all units

Discover subjects that match your interests. Browse more than 1000 study abroad and exchange units across a variety of study areas.

Browse our units

Need more information?

If you have questions about choosing units, get in touch with the study abroad and exchange team and we’ll gladly help you out.