Propedeutic year
During the first two semesters, you will be confronted with a great amount of knowledge and skills in the various (basic) subjects and you will learn your way by exploration, experimentation and research. The propaedeutic year is a formative, exploratory, selective and indicative one, a year in which you will become acquainted with the basic skills, techniques and insights that together form the basis of your further course of studies. You will have the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the diverse aspects of the profession and the various possibilities offered by your course of studies. The selective aspect of this year occurs during the collective assessment at the end of the semesters. The assessment of the second semester, the propaedeutic evaluation, can lead to your being told not to continue in this programme. A referral during or at the end of the propaedeutic year means that you are advised to follow another course of study either at the Academy or elsewhere.
Competences propaedeutic year
During this phase of the programme, the student should acquire the following competences:
- Creative ability: the student can make something using the knowledge and skills that he or she has acquired in the lessons.
- Ability to reflect critically: the student can discuss his/her work and can evaluate its effectiveness and quality.
- Ability to grow and develop: the student can gain new knowledge, skills and insights at the theoretical and practical levels.
- Ability to organize: the student can develop his/her own work process and can document and archive his/her own work.
- Ability to communicate: the student can explain and defend the choice of sources, materials and design solutions. Oriented towards the surrounding world: the student has a wide interest in social and cultural developments and recognizes various views on designing.
- Ability to work with others: the student can achieve his/her goals in cooperation with others.
This implies that, as a student, you show that:
- you have enough intellectual capacity;
- you are willing to spend enough time on your studies;
- you want to go into depth in your studies; you have the expected talents, insights and skills needed to work as a graphic designer.
The propaedeutic competences are acquired in the following subjects:
Artistic professionally technical
Drawing and painting
The purpose is to achieve drawing skills in observing and noting and the basic knowledge of and insight into painting techniques, learning to work with colour, using intrinsic and formal visual tools, and investigating the expressiveness and applicability of painting techniques in media that designers can use to communicate.
Visual Concept
The purpose is to investigate the expressive possibilities of and the limits to intrinsic visual tools, to develop an experimental, reflective and critical attitude, to learn to use concept and concept development, to become acquainted with relevant contemporary art developments, to use formal visual tools and to acquire technical skills.
Photography
The purpose is to acquire the basic knowledge, insights and skills related to the techniques of photography, including learning to use photography as an intrinsic visual tool as part of the design courses, as a method of preliminary investigation, a source of inspiration, a means of presentation or independent image registration, and learning to understand and interpret photographic images.
Type design
The purpose is to develop insight into and views on letter design, to acquire skills related to letter writing, letter drawing and to learn to use all of the phases and facets of the design process.
Design
The purpose is to learn to use all of the phases and facets of the design process, to develop an investigative, experimental, reflective and critical attitude, to develop the ability to be analytical and conceptual and to acquire editorial and technical skills.
Optical grammatical studies (part-time programme)
The purpose is to acquire a fundamental basis for design as well as insight into and skills in the area of formal and intrinsic visual tools as the basis for the other aspects of design.
Typography
The purpose is to gain a basic knowledge of and insight into typography, to learn about typographical concepts, to acquire the basic techniques of typography, typesetting, letterpress processes and knowledge of materials and technical skills.
Digital techniques
The purpose is to gain knowledge about various computer programmes, such as Photoshop, Illustrator and Quark Xpress / InDesign, and about computer systems as well as the skills needed to use the computer as a tool.
Theoretical:
Art history
The purpose is to gain insight into the history of art, to acquire knowledge about and insight into the most well-known works of art, art styles and art theories, to learn to analyse and reflect, to formulate a personal opinion, to develop a critical attitude and to develop skills in written and oral expression.
Professional:
Exploring the profession
The purpose is to acquire knowledge about the profession, professional terms and expressions, the work done by designers, an historical perspective, an awareness of the parties involved in graphic design, the ability to see, analyse and reflect, the ability to formulate a personal opinion, to develop a critical attitude and to develop skills in written and oral expression.
Main phase year 2 full-time/year 3 part-time
During the third and fourth semester, the student will increase his/her basic knowledge, insights and skills and will investigate the limits of his/her personal, intrinsic and technical abilities and how these limits can be extended and surpassed in order to improve the quality of the results.
Competences year 2 full-time/year 3 part-time
During this phase of the programme, the student should acquire the following competences:
- Creative ability: the student can work methodologically and apply his/her ideas to a design problem.
- Ability to reflect critically: the student can have others discuss his/her work and can discuss work made by others and can evaluate its effectiveness and quality.
- Ability to grow and develop: the student can use newly acquired knowledge, skills and insights as well as the criticism of others to develop his/her own work.
- Ability to organize: the student can develop his/her own work process and remain aware of deadlines and priorities.
- Ability to communicate: the student can interpret an assignment and debrief it in word and image.
- Oriented towards the surrounding world: the student is inspired by social and cultural developments and can name them in his/her own work; he/she can also name the target groups for his/her work.
- Ability to work with others: the student can work with others and use his/her talents in cooperative projects.
This implies that, as a student, you have:
- the talents, insights and skills needed to complete the course of study in the allotted period;
- the necessary intellectual capacity to complete the course of study in the allotted period;
- the ability to show, describe and motivate an affinity with the profession of graphic designer;
- the ability to develop the uniqueness of your work;•the ability to further deepen your work;
- a curiosity about all aspects of the profession.
The competences related to this year are acquired in the following subjects:
Artistic professionally technical:
Drawing/painting/graphics
The purpose is to investigate the possible expressions and applications of drawing, painting and graphic techniques and materials in a work created to further develop the authenticity of the student’s own work.
Visual Concept
The purpose is to learn to use intrinsic visual tools in which the accent is on the relation between image and text and to develop an ability to observe as well as a critical attitude.
Photography
The purpose is to acquire knowledge of and insight into the skills related to the techniques of photography, such as learning to use photography as an intrinsic visual tools in diverse areas of design; also to acquire knowledge of and insight into the communicative aspects of photography.
Letter design
The purpose is to develop insight into and views on letter design, to acquire the related technical skills and to learn to objectively name the form characteristics of letters.
Typography
The purpose is to gain further knowledge of and insight into typography, typographical concepts and tools, contemporary views on typography (intrinsic, with respect to form and technical), to stimulate the student’s own development, to use the design process and to develop concepts.
Design 1
The purpose is to learn to use all of the phases and facets of the design process, to gain knowledge of and insight into the relation between the communication purpose, the text, the image and the form, to develop an exploratory, experimental, reflective and critical attitude, to develop the student’s own views on graphic design and to be able to name the affinity with the profession.
Design 2
The purpose is to investigate the meanings of the concepts of space, size and dimension in a design or an independent piece of work, to develop insight into thinking in terms of dimensions and forms, to develop concepts and to study the possible applications of various materials.
Interactive Media Design
The purpose is to learn to give form to proposed designs for an interactive information system based on the available information and source material, to acquire knowledge of software programmes that support interactive, digital information and knowledge of concepts such as storyboard, script, prototyping, human computer interaction, interface, usability and usability test.
Digital techniques
The purpose is to acquire knowledge about computer programmes and working with html, flowchart, animation techniques and to be able to make a website and a personal digital portfolio.
Theoretical:
Art history/ history of the profession.
The purpose is to gain knowledge of and insight into the history and the present situation of graphic design, into the relation between visual art, graphic design and other design disciplines and into various art theories and theories related to designing.
Communication
The purpose is to acquire a basic knowledge of and insight into the way in which communication can be generated, to explore the relation between communication and various media and to use concepts such as sender, receiver, target group, internal and external communication.
Philosophy
The purpose is to learn to think about social themes, to increase the student’s insight into these themes, to learn to formulate, to strengthen theoretical frameworks and to learn to use philosophical concepts and basic theories drawn from primary texts.
Professional:
Practical projects
This is part of the lessons in design and/or part of the Individual Study Trajectory. The purpose is to translate the assignments from the lessons into an actual assignment in the world outside of the Academy.
Main phase year 3 full-time / year 4 part-time
In the third year of the programme, students become more professional by becoming more self-sufficient and by learning to form an independent view in their work. This finds expression in all of the courses. Great value is attached to being able to manage the creative design process. Students gain professional experience by means of both practical projects and an apprenticeship in the sixth semester. The final joint assignment, also in the sixth semester, is supervised by all of the teachers who are giving courses in that semester and is considered to be preparation for the final examination assignment, which is done in the eighth semester.
Competences year 3 full-time/year 4 part-time
During this phase of the programme, the student should acquire the following competences:
- Creative ability: the student can formulate a design problem and begin a study to develop a design solution.
- Ability to reflect critically: the student can relate his/her work to developments in the field in a cultural and social context and can take a position in this.
- Ability to grow and develop: the student develops a personal view of designing, using an open attitude.
- Ability to organize: the student can find a balance between design, support and production activities.
- Ability to communicate: the student can convincingly present and explain his/her work and way of working.
- Oriented towards the surrounding world: the student can draw connections between his/her own work and that of others and between his/her own work and the public. The student’s work is able to meet the needs of the target groups.
- Ability to work with others: the student can work purposefully in the design process in various roles and with various responsibilities and interests.
This implies that, as a student, you:
- have the skills, insights and intellectual capacity to be able to play a role in professional practice;•can express your own individuality in joint assignments;
- show interest in the various aspects of professional practice both in joint assignments and in your own assignments;
- have gained sufficient positive experience from an apprenticeship, doing research or participating in a student exchange with a similar institute abroad.
The competences related to this year are acquired in the following subjects:
Artistic/professionally technical:
Visual Concept
The purpose is to investigate the expressiveness and applicability of materials and techniques in order to develop both the authenticity of one’s own work and a professional and critical attitude and to develop visual concepts related to generally formulated assignments.
Typography
The purpose is to acquire further knowledge of and insight into the diverse forms of typography, to stimulate one’s own and independent development, to use the design process and to gain technical skills.
Letter design
The purpose is to integrate letter design into the broader context of graphic and typographic design, to perhaps develop one’s own typeface in an typographical design so that its applicability can be tested.
Design 1
The purpose is to teach the student to design his/her own design process, especially when it involves large, lengthy and complex assignments, to enable the student, using a relatively limited set of means, to make a design that consists of various items and publications, to confront the student with the visual, technical and editorial aspects of building a website, this also including programming.
Design 2
The purpose is to learn to use all of the phases and facets of the design process, to develop one’s own view of graphic design, to learn to deal with editorially complex assignments, to train conceptual skills and to gain knowledge of and insight into professional practice.
Interactive media design
The purpose is to acquire knowledge of and insight into the skills needed to design interactive media, to learn to develop conceptual, logistic and functional models to be produced by a multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary team and to learn to manage human computer interaction implications, flow management, interactive design and interface design.
Theoretical:
Art history/history of the profession
The purpose is to gain knowledge of and insight into the history and the present situation of graphic design and of the various theories about designing, to learn to analyse and reflect and to develop verbal and written skills of expression.
Project-related theory
The purpose is to gain insight into the professional areas that form the basis of an assignment and to experience how theory in its applied form makes an actual contribution to the development of a concept.
Professional:
Practical projects
This is part of the lessons in design and/or part of the Individual Study Trajectory. The purpose is to translate the assignments from the lessons into an actual assignment in the world outside of the Academy.
Apprenticeship
The purpose is to be able to apply and test that which has been learned in the surroundings of an existing professional agency, to experience not only the intrinsic and technical aspects but also the logistic and financial consequences of an assignment and to learn more about the role of the client also in relation to the public.
Main phase final year
Semesters 7 and 8 together form the final phase of the programme. This year is directed at positioning and the student is expected to take an increasingly far-reaching personal position. The student must show that he/she is able to convincingly formulate and give form to this position, thus indicating that he can make the step to the professional world. During the seventh semester, both single and joint assignments will be done. One of the teachers will intensively supervise the design problem formulated by the student that will be done as a final examination assignment in the eighth semester. The student shows that he/she is capable of integrating all separate parts of the study into his/her final assignment.
Competences final phase
The competences that the student should acquire in the final phase are the same as the final qualifications of the programme:
- Creative ability: the student can design an innovative concept and develop this into a unique and significant image, product, means of communication or spatial design and can innovatively place this into a context.
- Ability to reflect critically: the student can examine, analyse, interpret and evaluate his/her own work and that of others and is able to use the result of this for his/her own work.
- Ability to grow and develop: the student can further develop his/her own views, capacities, work and way of working in a way that suits his/her as a person and that is related to his/her discipline.
- Ability to organize: the student can set up and maintain his/her own inspiring and functional work situation.
- Ability to communicate: the student can convincingly and enthusiastically present and explain his/her work and discuss it with clients and other involved parties.
- Oriented towards the surrounding world: the student has a view of the role and the position of his/her discipline in society and can relate his/her work and views to those of others and to cultural and social developments.
- Ability to work with others: the student can direct joint efforts and give them substance and quality.
The subjects in the seventh semester are visual concept, design 1 and 2, typography, interactive media design, preparation for the profession and art history. The eighth and final semester is used to make the final examination assignment, and supervision is offered in image, letter design, typographical design, graphic design and interactive media design. During the final period, students have their own place to work. The schedule is so structured that there is efficient supervision: during semester 8 the student is supervised by various final exam teachers on 2 days and can work independently on the other 3 days.
In addition to the presentation of the final examination assignment, the final examination paper is also part of the final assessment and the related final examination exhibition. In this paper, which is supervised by one of the teachers, the students are expected to taken their own position on the nature and significance of their own work in relation to their design discipline and thus place their own work in a broader cultural and historical context. Students should also be able to describe and explain their own design process. Making a portfolio (a report of the study in the form of a book supplemented with a portfolio on CD-ROM) is also part of the final examination.
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