Applied Communication Design module (DJ32007)

You will be challenged to use, adapt and develop the skills you’ve learned previously to professional contexts and establish a direction for Level 4

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Credits

30

Module code

DJ32007

This module will be renamed Collaboration & Professional Development from September 2025

This is a shared module between Animation, Graphic Design and Illustration.

This module begins at the halfway point of your degree. Through practical projects you will be challenged to use, adapt and develop the skills you’ve learned previously in professional and industry contexts.

What you will learn

In this module, you will: 

  • refine your team working skills to develop a concept and pre-production for your final Level 4 film project
  • develop your chosen specialist skills to assist your group work and create your own showreel/portfolio
  • discover the industry contexts of the roles and skills of and practically explore how these different skills contribute to a project
  • develop self-initiated responses to briefs, exploring contemporary Graphic Design issues within the discipline and your own personal/professional interests.
  • deepen your understanding of the Graphic Design industry by interviewing a Graphic Designer
  • prepare a portfolio for self-promotion, and collaborate on a live brief and pitch your project to a client
    carry on your creative journey developing your understanding of research, drawing and illustration practices whilst refining your visual note-taking skills using sketchbooks, journals etc.
  • uncover new and old sources of inspiration
  • examine real life stories
  • explore various ways to compose narratives through drawings, illustration, sequential work and exhibition works whilst broadening your understanding of illustration related media

By the end of the module, you will be able to:

  • gather qualitative subject specific research and thoroughly analyse reference materials in sketchbooks, journals, blogs etc.
  • confidently work through your creative process - testing, exploring, and refining a range of ideas through drawing, typography, image-making, animatics etc.
  • demonstrate a thorough and versatile approach to problem solving and a working knowledge of subject specific practices, processes and techniques
  • package and present your final outcomes in a professional manner within a portfolio/showreel, still/moving image, publication, exhibition etc.
  • demonstrate enhanced personal skills through contributions to collaborative and external situations (such as tutorials, group crits, collaborative projects, exhibitions, pitching)

Assignments / assessment

  • Coursework (100%)

This module does not have a final exam.

Teaching methods / timetable

This studio-based module will run during Semester 2 of level 3. 

Tutor contact will be on a Monday and Tuesday and all teaching activities will be scheduled on these days.

Briefs will vary in duration and ambition and will be delivered by specialist teaching staff within a range of teaching scenarios (one to one tutorials, group crits, lectures, study tasks, collaborations etc) and settings (studio, DJCAD workshops, media labs, libraries, occasional online presentations etc).  

Outside tutor contact times you will be expected to use self-directed study periods in a responsible and productive manner to advance your coursework. 

Courses

This module is available on following courses: