Design and Communication

Graphic Design In Universitas Pelita Harapan

14As a formal education institution, the Visual Communication Design Department of Universitas Pelita Harapan had it’s own operational curriculum. The curriculum that is active when the students created the design that is showcased in this book is the 2016 operational curriculum. In that curriculum, there were three majors or concentration that were offered to students, animation design, cinematography, and graphic design. Now, as previously stated, this book showcased graphic design major student works during their studies on their first, second, and third semester of concentration study. The overall structure of the curriculum will be shown below.

On the first year, the students are taught about visual arts. During these period, students are introduced on elements of art and principles of design. After learning their foundation, the students choses any concentrations from the the three options available. On the second year, the students dwell on a more focused and foundational studies on their chosen concentration. In the third year, the students begin to learn to apply what they learn on their concentration in a broader context. During these years the students are also taught to work on interdisciplinary projects as part of their preparation for their final year. In their fourth year, the students will spent two semesters on their final projects, with the first semester focusing on

Visual Communication Design

John Heskett explained design as the human capacity to manipulate things to serve our needs and create meaning (Heskett, 2002, p. 5). In this definition, Heskett describes design as a process that had a purpose: to be useful and also meaningful. Graphic design, as a process, is useful and meaningful as it helps people to connect with the signs it employs to form a communication process. Communication itself had been described by Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver as a process that involves separate aspects that are elementary. The model proposed by Shannon and Weaver is then recontextualized by Jonathan Baldwin & Lucienne Roberts that shows how graphic design and designer fit in a communication process (Baldwin & Roberts, 2006, p. 24) shown below.

If we ignore the external noise factors, we are left with four categories that play a key role in establishing graphic design as a communication:

1. The Client, or the communicator. The entity that has a message or image yet to be presented or represented by the designer with its design.

2. The Designer, the one that interprets the client and represents the client through graphic design.

3. The Media Outlet, or the touchpoints that are chosen by the client and designer, in which the audience is accessible.

4. The Audience, the entity that needs to receive and understand the message intended by the client (and delivered by the designer and media outlet).

This model is then translated further and mapped within the three layers of communication intensity:

1. To Inform is to create a clear and structured design. To achieve this stage, the designer must be able to craft a graphic design. This layer is based on the understanding that a designer has to be able to choose (or create) a media outlet properly.

2. To Identify is to create an identifiable design, a design that represents an entity, that showcases the ability of the designer to comprehend the client comprehensively. This layer is signified by adding the client into the mix.

3. To Persuade is to create a communication that is able to shift the audience’s behavior or attitude. This is achieved by understanding the audience properly, hence creating communication that is on point.

This structure had become the core and also foundation of the three semesters of graphic design class in Universitas Pelita Harapan. Through this model, the students are also informed about the big idea of graphic design, though the knowledge itself must be properly experienced to obtain a proper understanding.