Design Seminar: Theory, Criticism, and Visual Culture

Design Seminar: Theory, Criticism, and Visual Culture
Visiting lecture series with theoretical readings exploring visual culture, aesthetics, critical studies, art and design practice across various professional disciplines. Overview of historical image systems, visual communications, and contemporary visual media in diverse social contexts.
DES
111
 Hours1.0 Credit, 2.0 Lecture, 2.0 Lab
 PrerequisitesPre-graphic design, pre-illustration, pre-photography, pre-design, pre-ARTED major/minor status.
 TaughtFall
 ProgramsContaining DES 111
Course Outcomes

Design Practice

Students will be able to identify and understand the diverse modes of professional practice in various disciplines of contemporary visual communications, including graphic design, photography, illustration, and interaction design, through guest lectures and research.

Design Theory and Criticism

Students will be able to analyze and identify critical theories of design, art, aesthetics, image systems, pictorial semiotics and visual perception through selected readings and writing assignments.

Design Thinking

Students will be able to apply sound thinking, creative inquiry, and diverse modes of reasoning, including visual, perceptual, conceptual, inductive, deductive, analytical, logical, critical, organizational and creative.

Creative Discovery

Students will be able to identify and apply methodologies to foster creativity, solve visual problems, and address social concerns with innovative approaches to design practice.

Communication, Beliefs, and Ethics

Students will be able to discuss the central role of beliefs and ethics in visual communication through art and design. Students will have the ability to examine how the values of societies are expressed in their visual cultures and recognize the role of the individual designers in delivering meaning through image systems.