Course Topics
When autobiography enters the field of visual communication, it becomes more than a personal story: it turns into a design tool able to shape and orchestrate images. The self is no longer just content, but also visual language, typography, color, and narrative rhythm. Design thus becomes a medium for constructing identity and sharing it within the public sphere. Designing an autobiography therefore means inventing a system of signs that both reflects and transforms lived experience. Module 1 What is an autobiography today? No longer just the linear account of a life, but a fluid territory where diaries, memoirs, autofiction, blogs, and social media constantly invent new forms of the self. It is not only about “telling life,” but about imagining and constructing a public image: blending reality and fiction, memory and desire, testimony and invention. An autobiography can be illustrated, narrated, photographed, drawn, written. It can be critical or ironic, severe or light, intimate or public. It can tell how one is, or how one would like to be. The course explores autobiography as a design practice: a tool to reflect on one’s own path, on the role of design, and on the ability of storytelling to give shape to experience. On the life we are living and the one we would like to live. The final result may be a book, a diary, a blog, a visual or digital narrative, a video, or even a written story: what matters is that it is a conscious gesture of self-representation, a narration of the self that, through design, also becomes a collective story. Module 2 In this module, we will address the practical theme of creating editorial artifacts capable of containing the experimental material collected during the course. At the same time, aspects of basic design and applied typography will be learned through exercises focused on the expressiveness of letterforms, which will be treated as visual objects to be explored using two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and spatial tools: a parallel contribution to the main project that will ultimately lead to the creation of a work in line with the spirit of the course. Module 3 The theoretical module on visual culture explores autobiography as a crossroads between literature, philosophy, and aesthetics. It will focus on literary texts that stage self-writing in a critical and problematic way, such as those by Thomas Bernhard and Elias Canetti, before moving on to authors like Annie Ernaux and W.G. Sebald, who weave together words and images in hybrid narrative forms. The course will also engage with cinema, through two masterpieces by Federico Fellini, "Amarcord" and "8½", which transform personal memory into collective vision and visual imagination. Alongside these references, contemporary practices will be examined: from the diaristic and autobiographical works of artists such as Tracey Emin, Sophie Calle, Nan Goldin, and On Kawara, to the digital forms of self-representation circulating on social media. The aim is to recognize how autobiography, through diverse languages, becomes a critical and creative device for questioning the relationship between image, identity, and memory.

Teaching format
Module 1 Workshop, lectures, projects, seminars and reviews. Module 2 Workshop, lectures, projects, seminars and reviews. Module 3 Lectures, student presentations, exercises, workshops and group discussions.

Educational objectives
Knowledge and understanding have acquired their own project methodology in the field of visual communication, from the phase of planning to the phase of realisation of the project. have acquired the basic practical and theoretical knowledge necessary to realise a project in the field of visual communication. have acquired the basic knowledge to be able to turn a critical eye to their own work and to deal with contemporary complexity. have acquired the basic knowledge necessary for further Master's studies in all components of project culture as well as in theoretical subjects. Applying knowledge and understanding plan, develop and realise a project in the field of visual communication. be able to finalize the creation of an accomplished project in the field of visual communication, thanks to the basic knowledge acquired in the practical, scientific and theoretical fields. recognise the main phenomena of contemporary society, to observe them critically, also from an ethical and social point of view, and to elaborate appropriate solutions at the level of a design proposal/response. make use of the skills acquired during the course of study in the event of continuing studies in a Master's degree programme in the field of visual communication and to develop them further. Making judgements be able to make independent judgements for the purpose of developing their own design skills and in relation to all those decisions that are necessary to bring a project to completion. be able to make independent judgements, both in the critical evaluation of their own work and in their ability to use the right interpretative tools in those design contexts in which they will work and/or continue their studies, also considering ethical and social aspects. Communication skills present an independently realised project in the field of visual communication in the form of an installation, orally as well as in writing in a professional manner. to professionally communicate and substantiate one’s own decisions and justify them from a formal and theoretical point of view. communicate and present your own project at a professional level in another language and correctly in a third language in addition to their own language. Learning skills have learned a work methodology at a professional level - in the sense of being able to identify, develop and realise solutions to complex problems by applying the knowledge acquired in the practical and theoretical fields - in order to start a professional activity and/or continue their studies with a master's degree program. have developed a creative attitude and learned how to enhance it and develop it according to their own inclinations. have acquired basic knowledge in theoretical and practical subjects as well as a study methodology suitable for continuing studies with a master's degree program.

Assessment
Final oral examination, including a critical presentation of the project carried out, taking into account the work process undertaken and addressing its key theoretical aspects. N.B. ALL THE STUDENTS ATTENDING THE EXAM AS NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS MUST AGREE UPON THE CONTENTS WITH THE TEACHER.

Evaluation criteria
Module 1 Final exam requires the delivery, presentation and discussion of the projects carried out during the semester as well as of their documentation. Students will be asked to answer a number of questions to assess the understanding of the topics covered during the semester. Students will present their work according to instructions that will be provided during the semester and will argue the projects, proving to have critically developed the references proposed during the semester and to have gained a personal interpretation of the proposed design themes. Module 2 - For the own work: originality, appropriateness, formal, aesthetic quality, technical quality. - For the presentation: clearity, convincingness. - For the process during the whole semester: quality of team dynamics and individual role in its individual development; active participation and quality of contributions; correct use of the tools and new competences. Module 3 Oral exam. The final exam, which will take place in oral form, will have to verify the student’s knowledge of the contents presented in class. It will therefore be a question not only of demonstrating an in-depth knowledge of the texts indicated in the bibliography, but also of their conceptual implications, with respect to which the student will be required to reach an autonomous level of critical and original elaboration. As part of their final exam, students will be asked to discuss one of the art or design projects discussed during the module.