Course overview
Meaningful and socially conscious communication design practice is informed and guided by a rigorous approach to design theory and critique. Critical Design Practice is a course that integrates these creative and intellectual endeavours for students to explore their own potential for engaging in design as social, cultural and political discourse that both represents, shapes and questions meaning in and about the world (Fairclough, 1992). Students will independently identify, examine, critique and reflect on the influences exerted by contemporary communication design, to develop creative work that critically responds to and positions communication design around current social, cultural, political and environmental debates. Doing so, enables students to extend their practical and theoretical abilities to deliver representational arguments for the current and emerging roles and responsibilities of communication design professionals and their work.
Course learning outcomes
- Apply research methods to identify and gather a range of relevant data about significant social, cultural, political, technological and environmental factors that have shaped, and been shaped, by contemporary communication design practice
- Independently, and collaboratively, analyse and critically evaluate selected data from various relevant sources and contexts, using appropriate methods of academic attribution
- Independently integrate principles from communication design theory and practice to plan, develop, deliver and present an original visual solution stating a critical position around the role of design practice and it’s changing social, cultural, political and environmental purpose
- Independently exercise self-reflection and contribute meaningfully to collective design critique as part of developing a professional level of practice