This 4-week course is an introduction to learning how to critically engage with visual communication.  The course contextualizes the major intellectual debates and key theoretical concepts and tools used by contemporary visual communicators. This framework can assist you to become a more informed designer, or it can enlarge your understanding and appreciation for design and art practice more generally.  All four weeks include a lecture and a reading pack to independently explore the topics further.  There is also the opportunity to discuss and ask questions relating to the content.

Week 1, we will focus on the relationship between images and meaning making and examine visual communication in our social context. You will learn to interpret examples of visual culture using semiotics as a tool to deconstruct and interpret the intended meaning of images.  You will also be introduced to Critical Theory as a framework that has informed the major theories of the 20th and 21st century including media studies, gender theory, feminism and critical race theory among others.  All these theories have shaped visual culture in profound ways and having an insight into this history expands your understanding of visual communication.

Week 2 builds on the first week and introduces Michel Foucault’s contribution to understanding how meaning is constructed through ‘discourses’ and how this relates to representation and power.   Cultural Studies and Visual Studies both draw on this approach as a tool for analyzing visual culture.  You will also be introduced to the theory surrounding the ‘gaze’ and how this relates to representation and visual culture including film, advertisements and other forms of popular culture.

Week 3 focuses on Visual Communication and the audience and considers the role played by the media and medium that shapes the audience engagement with different pieces of visual culture.  We discuss the impact of postmodern thinking in terms of how audiences interpret visual culture through the lens of subjective experience.  We also consider human centered design, inclusive design and experiential design.

Week 4 explores visual communication in relation to display and considers the different formats and media used to present visual communication and how this alters audience engagement and meaning.  We will consider a variety of examples to analyse and discuss the impact of curation, media and medium, as well as intention and intended audience.

17H30 - 19H30 ONLINE

12 August 2025

19 August 2025

26 August 2025

31 August 2025

R3500 p/p subject to 5 people