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Project Visual Communication 2.c

Semester 2 · 97158 · Bachelor in Design and Art - Major in Design · 19CP · IT · EN · DE


The course provides students with knowledge and skills on in the operational aspects approaches of designwork, methods and theories of visual communication for various functional and experimental fields of application with a focus on the role of the digital media.

Lecturers: Thomas Kronbichler, Giacomo Festi
Teaching assistants: Andreas Trenker

Teaching Hours: 90+60+30
Lab Hours: 0
Mandatory Attendance: not compulsory, but recommended

Course Topics
“I hardly understand how people can think without a pencil, without their fingers.” Wim Crouwel (Helvetica, 2007) This course centers around the investigation of Tools; what they are, what they do, and what they make possible. A tool is never neutral. It shapes the hand that holds it as much as the work it produces. From the pencil to Chat GPT, from brainstorming to meditation, from a single gesture to a piece of software with hundreds of commands and combinations so vast they defy counting, tools are the foundation of creative practice. This course asks: how is our creativity changed with our tools? What can we learn by using different tools, and can we teach these tools to others? Each student will choose 3 to 4 tools and work with them independently over two to three weeks each. The work unfolds in these phases: – research (understanding the tool’s history, logic, and limitations) – mastery (learning to use the tool with intention and skill) – provocation (creating something with the tool that breaks an expectation, challenges a convention, or surprises – explanation (the creation of one explainer video for each tool) The final output of each investigation is a short explainer video that explores the tool while being entertaining, crazy, poetic, thought-provoking. Alongside the video, each student writes a text reflecting on their tool and their experience with it. Together, these videos form a collection: a portrait of tools as seen through the eyes of designers. Students can learn from these videos and teach each other new skills. Course Structure – Tool Investigations: Each student selects one tool and moves through research, mastery, provocation and explanation independently, with feedback given at various points. Tools may be analog or digital, practical or “philosophical” — a pencil, a constraint, a ritual, a piece of software. Tools should be precisely chosen and not be too complex for the time constraint. – Critique as a Tool: Feedback and discussion are themselves treated as tools in this course, something to be chosen, shaped, designed. Sessions may take the form of one-on-one conversations, peer critique, speed-dating formats, or open group reflection. Students are encouraged to notice the difference in how they receive and find out what works best for them. – Practical Input: Key topics will be introduced through workshops and lessons, covering areas such as specific tools in design, video production basics, and the basics of visual communication. – Publication: The course will produce a collection of videos, each an explanation and provocation centered on one tool. The videos and texts form the foundation of a Toolbox. Objectives – To develop deep knowledge of a self-chosen (design) tool – To encourage creative provocation and the willingness to test the limits of established methods – To treat critique and discussion as active design tools rather than evaluation – To contribute to a collective understanding of how tools shape creative practice.

Teaching format
Module 1: Lectures, workshops, guest talks, group discussions, in-class exercises, experiments, different review/feedback modalities, mutual learning/teaching. Module 2: Lectures, workshops, guest talks, group discussions, in-class exercises, experiments, micro-excursions, different review/feedback modalities, mutual learning/teaching. Module 3: Lectures, group discussions, in-class exercises, student presentations.

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
Module 1: Students’ work will be assessed based on – Active participation in assignments and discussions – Progress in creative skills – Contribution to group activities and the final publication – Ability to reflect on and articulate their design processes and outcomes Module 2: Throughout the module, students will participate in hands-on workshops to design and produce a range of visual works. Adherence to assignment deadlines, as outlined during the semester, is crucial to ensure consistent progress. Assessments will be conducted through presentations, where students will explain their conceptual, formal, and technical choices for their final projects. Additionally, students are required to submit one physical copy of each artifact created during the course. The submission of a well-executed documentation of the design work is a fundamental part of the assessment. Module 3: - quality of the participation to the didactic activity - in class presentation - mid-term test - final dossier N.B. ALL THE STUDENTS ATTENDING THE EXAM AS NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS MUST AGREE UPON THE CONTENTS WITH THE TEACHER.

Evaluation criteria
Module 1: – Quality of design and presentations – Independence and critical ability of developing and arguing the design work in accordance with the given themes – Knowledge, understanding and ability of discussing the references proposed during the semester – Presence and engagement during the semester. Module 2: - conclusiveness of the design concept - conclusiveness of the formal aspects of the design work - quality of the technical execution - clarity of the presentation - quality and thoroughness of the project documentation. Module 3: - quality of the conceptual understanding, visible in the final dossier - commitment in following course journey and requests

Required readings

Module 1:

Readings related to the topic of the project will be communicated during the course.

Module 2:

Pater, Ruben. CAPS LOCK: How Capitalism Took Hold of Graphic Design, and How to Escape from It. Valiz, 2021.

Pater, Ruben. The Politics of Design: A (Not So) Global Manual for Visual Communication. BIS Publishers, 2016.

Goldstein, Mitch. How to Be a Design Student. Princeton Architectural Press, 2023.

Lupton, Ellen. Extra Bold: A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-racist, Nonbinary Field Guide for Graphic Designers. Princeton Architectural Press, 2021.

Dunne, Anthony & Fiona Raby. Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming. MIT Press, 2013.

Module 3: A precise reader of mandatory readings will be presented at the beginning of the course, including a semiotic vademecum and a reader of academic essays about the atelier topic.



Supplementary readings

Module 1:

Supplementary readings related to the topic of the project will be communicated during the course.

Module 2:

Further readings will be provided during the course. Students are expected to participate and debate about the topics presented during the lectures.

Drucker, Johanna. Graphesis: Visual Forms of Knowledge Production. Harvard University Press, 2014.

Lorusso, Silvio. What Design Can’t Do: Essays on Design and Disillusion. Set Margins Press, 2023.

Chris Lee. Designing History: Documents and the Design Imperative to Immutability. Set Margins, 2025

Dirk Vis. Research For People Who Think They Would Rather Create. Onomatopee, 2025.

Module 3:

Akrich, M. (1992). The de-scription of technical objects. In W. E. Bijker & J. Law (Eds.), Shaping technology/building society: Studies in sociotechnical change (pp. 205–224). MIT Press.

Berlage, T. (1994). A selective undo mechanism for graphical user interfaces based on command objects. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 1(3), 269–294. https://doi.org/10.1145/196699.196721

Clark, A., & Chalmers, D. (1998). The extended mind. Analysis, 58(1), 7–19. https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/58.1.7

Gibson, J. J. (1979). The ecological approach to visual perception. Houghton Mifflin.

Hutchins, E. (1995). Cognition in the wild. MIT Press.

Kittler, F. (1995). There is no software. Stanford Literature Review, 9(1), 81–90.

Latour, B. (1992). Where are the missing masses? The sociology of a few mundane artifacts. In W. E. Bijker & J. Law (Eds.), Shaping technology/building society: Studies in sociotechnical change (pp. 225–258). MIT Press.

Lesage, F. (2015). Keeping up through teaching and learning media software. Canadian Journal of Communication, 40(2), 259–277.

Lesage, F. (2016). Reviewing Photoshop: Mediating cultural subjectivities for application software. Convergence, 22(2), 215–229. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856514545711

Malafouris, L. (2013). How things shape the mind: A theory of material engagement. MIT Press.

Mendoza-Collazos, J. (2024). Enhanced agency and the visual thinking of design. Cognitive Semiotics, 17(1), 1–22.

Norman, D. A. (2013). The design of everyday things (Revised and expanded ed.). Basic Books.

Pickering, A. (1995). The mangle of practice: Time, agency, and science. University of Chicago Press.

Suchman, L. A. (1987). Plans and situated actions: The problem of human–machine communication. Cambridge University Press.

Suchman, L. A. (2007). Human–machine reconfigurations: Plans and situated actions (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Zhang, X., et al. (2023). Understanding collaborative practices and tools of professional UX designers. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM.




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Sustainable Development Goals
This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the following Sustainable Development Goals.

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Modules

Semester 2 · 97158A · Bachelor in Design and Art - Major in Design · 8CP · DE

Module A — Visual Communication

The course should provide fundamentals, skills, working methods, theories and practices of Visual communication in diverse functional and experimental scopes.

Lecturers: Thomas Kronbichler

Teaching Hours: 90
Lab Hours: 0

Course Topics
This course centers around the investigation of Tools; what they are, what they do, and what they make possible. A tool is never neutral. It shapes the hand that holds it as much as the work it produces. From the pencil to Chat GPT, from brainstorming to meditation, from a single gesture to a piece of software with hundreds of commands and combinations so vast they defy counting, tools are the foundation of creative practice. This course asks: how is our creativity changed with our tools? What can we learn by using different tools, and can we teach these tools to others? Each student will choose 3 to 4 tools and work with them independently over two to three weeks each. The work unfolds in these phases: – research (understanding the tool’s history, logic, and limitations) – mastery (learning to use the tool with intention and skill) – provocation (creating something with the tool that breaks an expectation, challenges a convention, or surprises – explanation (the creation of one explainer video for each tool) The final output of each investigation is a short explainer video that explores the tool while being entertaining, crazy, poetic, thought-provoking. Alongside the video, each student writes a text reflecting on their tool and their experience with it. Together, these videos form a collection: a portrait of tools as seen through the eyes of designers. Students can learn from these videos and teach each other new skills. Course Structure – Tool Investigations: Each student selects one tool and moves through research, mastery, provocation and explanation independently, with feedback given at various points. Tools may be analog or digital, practical or “philosophical” — a pencil, a constraint, a ritual, a piece of software. Tools should be precisely chosen and not be too complex for the time constraint. – Critique as a Tool: Feedback and discussion are themselves treated as tools in this course, something to be chosen, shaped, designed. Sessions may take the form of one-on-one conversations, peer critique, speed-dating formats, or open group reflection. Students are encouraged to notice the difference in how they receive and find out what works best for them. – Practical Input: Key topics will be introduced through workshops and lessons, covering areas such as specific tools in design, video production basics, and the basics of visual communication. – Publication: The course will produce a collection of videos, each an explanation and provocation centered on one tool. The videos and texts form the foundation of a Toolbox. Objectives – To develop deep knowledge of a self-chosen (design) tool – To encourage creative provocation and the willingness to test the limits of established methods – To treat critique and discussion as active design tools rather than evaluation – To contribute to a collective understanding of how tools shape creative practice.

Teaching format
Lectures, workshops, guest talks, group discussions, in-class exercises, experiments, different review/feedback modalities, mutual learning/teaching.

Required readings

See main project description.



Supplementary readings

See main project description.



Semester 2 · 97158B · Bachelor in Design and Art - Major in Design · 6CP · IT

Module B — Digital media

The lecturer should teach fundamentals, skills, working methods, theories and practices of diverse forms of digital publishing and social media marketing.

Lecturers: Andreas Trenker

Teaching Hours: 60
Lab Hours: 0

Semester 2 · 97158C · Bachelor in Design and Art - Major in Design · 5CP · EN

Module C — Theories and languages of visual communication

The integrated theoretical module provides fundamental overview about scientific methods of contemporary semiology and communication theory.

Lecturers: Giacomo Festi

Teaching Hours: 30
Lab Hours: 0

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