Module overview
This module is one of the core modules taken by all students on the University of Southampton undergraduate programmes taught at Dalian Polytechnic University. You will work increasingly independently, building on the technical capabilities you have gained in the previous years of the programme. This module will lay the conceptual groundwork for your Final Major Project in Semester 2.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Critically evaluate arguments to develop your practice
- Apply a range of methodologies enabling development of your ideas and work
- Extend innovation and originality in your work
- Initiate and identify approaches, appropriate to your subject, that are necessary to manifest your ideas
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Problem solve effectively and efficiently through the design process
- Apply professional standards to the communication of your work.
- Identify resources connect your research activity and studio practice
Subject Specific Practical Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Apply a range of technical relevant to graphic art and the graphic design industry
- Be increasingly sophisticated in your technical experimentation and practice
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- The conceptual grounding of your approach to your discipline;
- Critical debates prevailing in your subject and your positioning within them
- The scope of ideas and research as appropriate to your intended audience
Syllabus
The Graphic Arts Final Project Preparation module engages you in beginning to synthesise your skills, ideas and working methods into ambitious outcomes appropriate to the graphic arts and graphic design disciplines. Emphasis will be on analysis and the evaluation of your ideas and practice. You will become aware of the importance of the detail of your work. An increasingly thorough understanding of critical thinking will help you recognise the strengths of what you are producing.
The module offers the opportunity to engage with specialist and guest staff at the forefront of your discipline. You will be encouraged to be highly independent and self-motivated, and to work towards ambitious and confident presentation of your work.
Your outcomes will demonstrate qualities of originality, coherence and detailed understanding of how to apply specific media and techniques; complex pieces of work will be informed by increasingly independent and individualised research.
The work and outcomes of this module inform your thinking for the Final Major Project.
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Teaching methods include
- project briefings
- seminars
- group critiques
- tutorials
- technical workshops
Learning activities include
- project briefings
- seminars
- group critiques
- peer group learning
- independent study
- technical workshops
Relationship between the teaching, learning and assessment methods and the planned learning outcomes
In this module learning and teaching activities focus on helping you to develop increasingly sophisticated methods and techniques particular to your discipline-specific practice. To support this process you will be involved with specialist staff who will help you to advance your work in relation to current discipline-specific thinking and practices. Increasingly this will involve anticipating the issues connected to the effective completion of art and design work and its interaction with and reception by an audience.
Critical contexts will be outlined through briefings and seminars. Discussion in seminars will help you to become increasingly sophisticated in your ability to communicate the processes and outcomes of your work as well as help you to evaluate your thinking and skills, whether specialist or transferable. In periods of independent study you will be expected to manage your time effectively outside the taught sessions.
Feedback on your progress and development will be given during group critiques. The formal assessment of your work will include a portfolio of work that demonstrates your experimental process, the products of your testing and examples of work that creatively address the concerns of your project.
Type | Hours |
---|---|
Independent Study | 378 |
Teaching | 72 |
Total study time | 450 |
Resources & Reading list
Internet Resources
Harvard citing and referencing support including citethemright online resource.
The Academic Skills Library page for study skills support.
Textbooks
Cummings,N, Lewandowska, M. ( (2000)). The Value of Things.. Birkhauser.
Eskilson, S. ( (2007)). Graphic design: A new history.. London:: Laurence King.
Clarke, M. ((2007)). Verbalising the Visual, Translating art & design into words.. London:: AVA Publishing.
Barry, P. ((2012)). The advertising concept book: Think now, design late : A complete guide to creative ideas, strategies and campaigns. London:: Thames & Hudson.
Bourdieu, P. ( (1984)). Distinction: A social critique of the Judgement of Taste.. Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.
Bono, E. ( (1990)). Lateral thinking: A textbook of creativity. London: Penguin.
Gallo, M., & Quintavalle, A. ( (2001)). The poster in history.. New York:: W.W. Norton.
Jackson, P, Lowe, M, Millar, D, Mort, F. ((2000)). Commercial Cultures: Economies, Practices, Spaces.. Berg Publishers.
Collins, T. ((2014)). 100 ways to create a great ad.. London:: Laurence King.
Hebdige, D ((1984)). Subculture: The Meaning of Style.. London:: Methuen & Co. Ltd.
Assessment
Formative
This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.
Portfolio Development
- Assessment Type: Formative
- Feedback: The purpose of formative feedback is to enhance your learning, help you understand how your work is developing and how you can improve it in the future. There are no marks attached to formative assessment and it will not count towards your final mark.
- Final Assessment: No
- Group Work: No
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Portfolio | 100% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Portfolio | 100% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Portfolio | 100% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal