Visual Communication Design
Subject Guide
Explore design as a powerful tool for communication in VCE Visual Communication Design (Units 1–4).
In VCD, students investigate and analyse how to communicate ideas, solve problems and influence behaviours through messages, objects, environments and interactive experiences. Through hands on projects, students use human centred research methods, generate ideas, undertake drawing, model making and prototyping to refine solutions to meet user needs. They build creative, digital and design thinking skills, preparing them for pathways in marketing, entrepreneurship, UX design, digital media, and interactive technologies.
The course also supports future pathways in environmental design, architecture industrial design, STEM and engineering, with a focus on user behaviour, spatial design and emerging sustainable technologies that improve wellbeing, respect the environment and respond to changing lifestyles.
Visual Arts Department
headofvisualarts@haileybury.com.au
Unit focus areas Pre-requisites
Units 1 and 2
Finding, reframing and resolving design problems
Design contexts and connections
Students explore the practices and processes used by designers to solve humancentred design problems while exploring the meaning of good design They work through the design process to experiment with visual language and a range of methods, media and materials to create designs from the fields of environments, objects, messages and interactive experiences. Drawing methods, model making and digital design programs are explored to present resolved design concepts as final presentations.
Units 3 and 4
Visual communication design practices
Delivering design solutions
Students investigate how and where designers work, identifying the role of visual communication in professional design practice. They analyse designs from various fields of design in terms of how visual language is used to effectively communicate ideas to audiences or users. Students work through the design process to discover and define a design problem and then use a range of methods, media and materials to develop and deliver final concepts. This involves gathering research and inspiration, drawing ideas, creating models and mock ups of concepts, analysing feedback and using digital design programs to refine and resolve ideas into final presentations.
There are no pre-requisites for studying Visual Communication Design Units 1 and 2.
Assessment
For Units 1 and 2, students submit a folio containing a range of design work (including all preparation and finished presentation drawings) and written tasks. Students complete an examination at the end of the year. For Units 3 and 4, students complete SchoolAssessed Coursework (20%), a School-Assessed Task (50%), and an end-of-year written examination (30%).