Unit 1 – Area of Study 3: Visual communications in context

Outcome 3

Describe how visual communications in a design field have been influenced by past and contemporary practices, and by social and cultural factors.​​

Examples of learning activities

• In teams, investigate the social and political factors and influences of one key period that saw significant growth in visual communication design: post industrial revolution, post second world war or the digital revolution. Examine that period for its characteristics and define its key points. Play the music and read articles and stories from the period. Individually, create a mood board displaying key type styles, fashions and a chart of popular period colours. Use this mood board as an inspiration base for creating a contemporary infographic presentation that describes visual communications from that period. Explain the social and cultural settings and describe the visual communications in terms of how manual and/or digital methods, media, materials, design elements, design principles and presentation formats were applied. Identify the connections between that period and contemporary visual communications practices.
• Design a board game based on the ‘Design Timeline’. Design the game based on an existing board game such as Monopoly. Research the original design period of the first release and incorporate type and imagery that reflect this era.
• As a class, create a visual timeline of design periods in visual communication design to be used as a class resource. This could also become an online interactive timeline.
• Complete a ‘Who am I?’ quiz to reveal a noted/celebrated designer from a particular period (local/national/international). Use a sequence of generic questions to frame the research and to slowly discover the identity of the designer as you go through their timeline. A useful website for designers is: Design museum​ (Other quizzes could be ‘What am I?’ or ‘When was I made?’).
• Create a new poster for a different purpose using the same structure, colour pallet, layout and typographic conventions from an earlier design period.
• Show a range of post-modern-appropriated visual communications that use historic visual conventions. Analyse how they have been influenced by past styles. Discuss the legal obligations around appropriation and the use of other designers work.
• ​​Research the social and cultural significance of poster designs from historical periods. Evaluate the use of design elements and design principles used by the designers from that time to convey their messages. Discuss the methods and media from that period. Identify current designs that may have been influenced from this period.
• ​Establish a class debate on the topic of ‘Most influential design (product/object) of the 20th century’. Select and research a product or object and present a debate or case as to why this product/object is the most influential in recent time based on how it has created or caused or influenced positive change.
• Select a simple household object (e.g. radio, toaster or kettle) and trace the evolution of this object to its current form. Research the materials and technologies evident in each generation of the product and discuss how technology may have informed the design.
• Research the work of Australian architect Glenn Murcutt and in particular his work on the Newport Mosque. Discuss the way this work is influenced by social and cultural factors.
• Examine a range of contemporary visual communications in the current hospitality sector. Determine which of them appear to reference past styles in terms of design elements and principles, especially: balance, contrast, figure-ground, scale, pattern, type, shape or colour. Consider how contemporary designers use white when creating retro designs. Collect examples from past design styles that could have influenced current designers. Annotate any similarities. Use the style identified in the research, design the re-branded packaging for a common supermarket product (e.g. two-minute noodles).
• ​​​Identify and develop definitions and vocabulary for terms to describe the factors that impact on design including: aesthetics, historical events, cultural observances, social values and lifestyles, political changes, economic growth and depression, technological advances. Support the vocabulary list with visual examples.

Factors that influence poster design

Students develop a resource of posters from different eras, cultures and interests.
​These could include Indian Bollywood posters, American movie posters and/or political posters, including different 1930s Soviet propaganda posters and contemporary western political campaigns.

Students identify and discuss the context and culture, purpose and audience of the posters and examine how design elements and principles, methods, materials and media have been best used to attract attention and maintain engagement of a specific audience.

Students investigate the methods and media used in 1930s and 1940s tourism posters and the technological advances being portrayed in the imagery. Students explore the manual methods used in the creation of the imagery.

Students compare these with factors that may influence poster design today in Australia, such as: cultural observances, social values, lifestyles and interests, political changes, economic status and technological developments. They review the posters of graphic designer Shephard Fairey and examine how he uses conventions of the past to influence the conceptual reading of his contemporary posters.

Students select a poster from their historical research and redesign it (using manual and digital methods) for a contemporary audience. They are inspired by the original and employ a selective use of design elements and principles. They identify the current cultural and social factors compared to the historical factors, and research the images and fonts used. They describe the ways in which methods, media, materials, design elements and design principles are influenced by the original design. Research, concept generation and development should be well-documented and all resources referenced appropriately, demonstrating the students’ clear understanding of legal obligations as a designer.