Graphic Design and Infographics
Code: 104799 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2503868 Communication in Organisations | OT | 4 |
Contact
- Name:
- Guillem Marca Frances
- Email:
- guillem.marca@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
Previous user computer knowledge.
Objectives and Contextualisation
- Introducing Organizational Communication students to the effective use of advanced tools for creating informative graphics and infographics, as an integral part of their academic training.
- Equipping students to visually communicate, enabling them to understand and develop various types of corporate design products, infographics, and data visualizations.
- Facilitating the development of cross-functional skills that allow students to apply design techniques in creating graphic content suitable for corporate publications, marketing, and social media platforms.
- Familiarizing students with new technologies and applications, particularly in data visualization, including an introduction to tools such as Tableau or graphic software packages.
- Providing deep theoretical and practical knowledge in design applied to organizational communication, emphasizing the handling of static and dynamic graphics as innovative expressive forms in contemporary media.
Competences
- Act within one's own area of knowledge, evaluating sex/gender-based inequalities.
- Devise, plan and execute communication projects about the organisation on all types of media and for both internal and external audiences.
- Differentiate the principal theories on communication in organisations, which underpin knowledge of the discipline and its different branches.
- Establish communication objectives, and design and apply optimal strategies for communication between organisations and their employees, clients and users, and society in general.
- Introduce changes in the methods and processes of the field of knowledge to provide innovative responses to the needs and demands of society.
- Manage time efficiently and plan for short-, medium- and long-term tasks.
- Search for, select and rank any type of source and document that is useful for creating messages.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- Work in compliance with professional codes of conduct.
Learning Outcomes
- Apply design and computer graphics techniques, taking professional standards into account.
- Apply the most suitable design and computer graphics strategies for an organisation to communicate with its internal or external clients, by organising visuals and public relations products that help to get messages across.
- Carry out activities on demand, such as announcing events, creating a general image or reporting on a company's news or products.
- Communicate aesthetically pleasing and practical ideas on behalf of an organisation, which all kinds of target audiences can understand, enjoy and respond to emotionally.
- Communicate using language that is not sexist or discriminatory.
- Conceive, plan and execute communication projects about an organisation's design and computer graphics on all types of media, for a particular target audience.
- Display knowledge of the aesthetic, technical and communicative environment in order to develop an original graphics idea through critical thinking, and generate practical ideas on modern design and computer graphics.
- Establish objectives for communication through design.
- Find what is substantial and relevant in documents within the subject.
- Identify situations in which a change or improvement is needed.
- Identify the design, computer graphics and publication of the various media, regarding the social impact of the different types of documents.
- Plan and execute graphics and computer graphics projects as a basis for work.
- Propose projects and actions that incorporate the gender perspective.
- Submit high-quality coursework on time, which requires attention to both individual and group work.
- Work independently to solve problems and take strategic decisions on the basis of the knowledge acquired.
Content
T1. Design Process
Design Processes
The basis of any design and infographic process is Research
Audiences, markets, and concepts
Conceptualization
Theories of image and text
Planning, organizing, and finishing
Design
T2. Fundamentals of Composition: Basic Elements
Essentially: point, line, plane, space
Defining objects: texture and scale
Time and movement
Gestalt
Arranging objects: Rhythm and balance
T3. Fundamentals of Composition: Layout and Arrangement
Basic principles of layout
Size and format
Grid, layout, and rule setting
Layout styles
Project rhythm and contrast
Coordination and identity
Use of photography and illustration
T4. Fundamentals of Typography
Typographic anatomy
Selecting a typeface
Spacing
Readability and legibility
Typographic emphasis and hierarchy
Text as image
T5. Fundamentals of Color
Color terminology
Color readability, contrast, and harmony
Color associations
Color for information
A1. Technological Practice
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Laboratory practices | 24 | 0.96 | 2, 4, 7, 8, 3, 12, 15 |
| Seminars: ICT tools | 9 | 0.36 | 7, 15 |
| theory classes | 15 | 0.6 | 2, 6, 8 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Follow-up tutoring | 10 | 0.4 | 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 3, 11, 10, 12 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Data research and analysis | 35 | 1.4 | 6, 8, 11 |
| Work preparation | 35 | 1.4 | 2, 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 3, 11, 12, 15 |
The detailed calendar with the content of the different sessions will be available on the day of the presentation of the course.
The development of the course involves the realization of different types of activities:
a) Lectures. Theory that will be used to carry out the different exercises.
b) Laboratory practice. Learning different software to perform the exercises. The objective is that the student performs the various practices.
c) Seminars: ICT tools. Practical reflection on the tools used.
In case of change of teaching modality for health reasons, the teacher will inform about the changes that will occur in the programming of the subject and in the teaching methodologies.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delivery of jobs | 30% | 6 | 0.24 | 2, 1, 5, 4, 6, 7, 8, 3, 11, 10, 12, 14, 13, 15, 9 |
| Follow-up tutoring | 5% | 2 | 0.08 | 4, 7, 11, 12, 15 |
| Laboratory practices | 50% | 12 | 0.48 | 4, 7, 12, 15 |
| Theory test | 15% | 2 | 0.08 | 7 |
This course can be passed through continuous assessment (CA). The theoretical test will be written. The evaluation activities are:
- Activity a) Laboratory practices (50% of the final grade).
- Activity b) Theoretical knowledge test (15% of the final grade).
- Activity c) Delivery of work (30% of the final grade).
- Activity d) Participation in the follow-up tutorials (5% of the final grade).
In order to pass the course, all the activities of activity a and activity c must be handed in, which must have a minimum grade of 4 in order to obtain the average grade of the course.
The activities a, b and c that are failed (between 0-4.99) can be recovered. The teacher will indicate the recovery process on a case-by-case basis.
The activity of by its very nature is not recoverable.
The final grade obtained in the case of recoveries will be weighted from the initial grade recovered.
Attendance to the laboratory practices is compulsory. The unexcused absence of the student in these sessions will result in a 0 in the grade of this activity.
Plagiarism: The student who makes any irregularity (copy, plagiarism,...) will be graded with 0 in this evaluation activity. In case of several irregularities, the final grade of the course will be 0.
The proposed teaching methodology and evaluation may undergo some modification depending on the restrictions imposed by the health authorities.
Bibliography
Alberto Cairo. (2008). Infografía 2.0: Visualización interactiva de información en prensa. Alamut.
Alberto Cairo. (2011). El arte funcional: infografía i visualización de la información. Alamut.
Shaoqiang Wang. (2017). Infografía: Diseño y visualización de la información. Promopress.
Valentina D'Efilippo i James Ball. (2018). La historia infográfica del mundo.
Timothy Sahara. (2002). Diseñar con y sin retícula.
Software
For the correct follow up of the course we will use the following software available at the Faculty:
- Affinity: Photo, Publisher and Designer
- Davinci Resolve
- Excel
- Word
- Powwerpoint
- Flourish
- Tableau
Proprietary programs and online tools may be used.
Language list
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PLAB) Practical laboratories | 71 | Catalan | first semester | afternoon |
| (TE) Theory | 7 | Catalan | first semester | afternoon |