VISC 520 Junior Studio | Project 1 | Project 2 | Resources | One Drive
ESSENTIAL COMPETENCIES
as defined by AIGA and NASAD (National Association of Schools of Art and Design)
(1) Communication
The ability to conceive and to design visual communications and systems involving various integrations of the elements of professional practice.
(2) Visual Principles and Processes
Understanding and use of basic visual communication principles and processes including, but not limited to:
• Understanding of how communication theories, principles, and processes have evolved through history and the ability to use this knowledge to address various types of contemporary problems.
• Understanding of and ability to develop strategies for planning, producing, and disseminating visual communications.
• Functional knowledge of creative approaches, and the analytical ability to make appropriate, purpose-based choices among them, and to use such approaches to identify communication opportunities and generate alternative solutions.
• Ability to plan the design process and construct narratives and scenarios for describing user experiences.
• Fluency in the use of the formal vocabulary and concepts of design—including content, elements, structure, style, and technology—in response to visual communication problems. Studies in critical theory and semiotics are strongly recommended.
• Ability to develop informed considerations of the spatial, temporal, and kinesthetic relationships among form, meaning, and behavior and apply them to the development of various types of visual communication design projects.
• Ability to use typography, images, diagrams, motion, sequencing, color, and other such elements effectively in the contexts of specific design projects.
(3) Audience & Context
Ability to incorporate research and findings regarding people and contexts into communication design decision-making including, but not limited to:
• Ability to frame and conduct investigations in terms of people, activities, and their settings, including, but not limited to using appropriate methods for determining people’s wants, needs, and patterns of behavior; and developing design responses that respect the social and cultural differences among users of design in local and global contexts.
• Understanding of design at different scales, ranging from components to systems and from artifacts to experiences.
• Ability to exercise critical judgment about the student’s own design and the design of others with regard to usefulness, usability, desirability, technological feasibility, economic viability, and sustainability in terms of long-term consequences.
(4) Working in Teams
Acquisition of collaborative skills and the ability to work effectively in interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary teams to solve complex problems.
(5) Technology
Understanding of and the ability to use technology including, but not limited to:
• Functional understanding of how to continue learning technology, recognizing that technological change is constant.
• Ability to conduct critical evaluations of different technologies in specific design problem contexts, including the placement of technical issues in the service of human-centered priorities and matching relationships between technologies and the people expected to use them.
• Functional capability to shape and create technological tools and systems to address communication problems and further communication goals.
• Ability to recognize and analyze the social, cultural, and economic implications of technology on message creation and production and on human behavior, and to incorporate results into design decisions.
(6) Research
Understanding of and ability to use basic research and analysis procedures and skills including, but not limited to:
• Acquisition of research capabilities and skills such as using databases, asking questions, observing users, and developing prototypes.
• Ability to use analytical tools to construct appropriate visual representations in the execution of research activities.
• Ability to interpret research findings practically and apply them in design development.
• Ability to support design decisions with quantitative and qualitative research findings at various stages of project development and presentation.
(7) Practice & Ethics
Functional knowledge of professional design practices and processes including, but not limited to professional and ethical behaviors and intellectual property issues such as patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
(8) Experiential Learning
Experience in applying design knowledge and skills beyond the classroom is essential. Opportunities for field research and experience, internships, collaborative programs with professional and industry groups, and international experiences are strongly recommended. Such opportunities to become oriented to the working profession should be supported through strong advising.
The Six Major Levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy:
There is more than one type of learning. A committee of colleges, led by Benjamin Bloom, identified different levels of educational activities. There are six major categories, which are listed in order below, starting from the simplest behavior to the most complex. The categories can be thought of as degrees of difficulties. That is, the first one must be mastered before the next one can take place.
Knowledge.
- Remembering information
- Define, identify, label, state, list, match
• Identify the standard peripheral components of a computer
• Quote prices to a customer from memory
• Identify the five major prophets of the Old Testament
Comprehension.
- Explaining the meaning of information
- Describe, generalize, paraphrase, summarize, estimate
• In one sentence explain the main idea of a written passage
• Describe in prose what is shown in graph form
• Explain in one’s own words the steps for performing a complex task
Application.
- Using abstractions in concrete situations
- Determine, chart, implement, prepare, solve, use, develop
• Apply previously learned information to new and unfamiliar situations.
• Apply shading to produce depth in drawing
• Use a manual to put a piece of furniture together
Analysis.
- Breaking down a whole into component parts, examining (and trying to understand the organizational structure of) information.
- Points out, differentiate, distinguish, discriminate, compare
• Compare and contrast the major assumptions underlying psychoanalytic and humanistic approaches to psychology
• Identify supporting evidence to support the interpretation of a literary passage
• Troubleshoot a piece of equipment by using logical deduction
Synthesis.
- Putting parts together to form a new and integrated whole
- Create, design, plan, organize, generate, write
• Integrate training from several sources to solve a problem.
• Revises and process to improve the outcome.
• Develop an individualized nutrition program for a diabetic patient
• Compose a choral work using four-part harmony for men’s and women’s voices
Evaluation.
- Making judgments about the merits of ideas, materials, or phenomena
- Appraise, critique, judge, weigh, evaluate, select
• Select the best proposal for a proposed water treatment plant
• Evaluate a work of art using appropriate terminology
• Explain and justify a new budget.