Class Visual Culture

The curricular unit of Visual Culture has as its main goal to cover different strands which build contemporary visual culture, namely the press, television, digital environments, history of art, visual trends and social movements/causes. It is intended for the students to get acquainted with entities and media outlets that operate in these sectors and their values, to understand how they communicate visually and to develop an analytical spirit towards the existing graphic production, the role that creativity, art and design play in building a visual culture shared on local, national and global scales. Through various tasks, they’ll have to present the acquired knowledge and discuss them in class, fostering learning through dialogue and sharing ideas.

Not applicable

1. Visual Culture and Art Influence of Art in Visual Culture; Research and presentation of artitstic movement through visual narratives and meaningful artworks; Art and feminism;   2. Visual Culture and Social Movements Graphic, audivisual production and design used to communicatice and advocate for social causes; Research and presentation of social causes and movement the creation of a DIY infographic poster;   3. Visual Culture and Press Analysis of national and international titles/publications and understanding how current themes are translated in visual content; Visual metaphors, methods and strategies to produce creative compositions of images and text (copy); Research and presentation of several publications, design of an original cover on a current theme;   4. Visual Culture and Advertising Graphic identity and brand awareness sustained in graphic/audiovisual production; Research and presentation of several brands/ad campaigns through and infographic/ludic short video.

Within the scope of the BA in Communication Science and Culture, the Curricular Unit of Visual Communication distinguishes itself in its experimental approach towards the analysis of visual contents present in our everyday lives, through several exercises which simultaneously stimulate the research of information, the visual communication of contents and the discussion and learning in class environment. Therefore, the students start to learn how to communicate visually and substantiate the decisions taken, in an interception of the roles of journalist, manager/editor and creative director or designer.

Adams, Sean; Dawson, Peter; Foster, John; Seddon, Tony – Graphic Design Rules: 365 Essential Design Dos & Don’ts. Londres: Francis Lincoln Limited Publishers, 2012.   Ambrose, Gavin; Harris, Paul — Basics Design 02: Layout. Lausanne: AVA Publishing S.A., 2006. Ambrose, Gavin; Harris, Paul — Design Thinking. Lausanne: AVA Publishing AS, 2010.   Barbosa, Conceição – Manual Prático de Produção Gráfica. Parede: Principia, 2009.   Caldwell, Cath; Zappaterra, Yoland – Editorial Design: Digital and Print. Londres: Lawrence King Publishing, 2014.   Errea, Javier – Newspaper Design: Editorial Design from the World’s Best Newsrooms. Berlim: Die Gestalten Verlag, 2018.   Haslam, Andrew – Book Design. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2006.   Landa, Robin – Advertising by Design: Generating and Designing Creative Ideas Across Media. Londres: Wiley, 2021.