DSGN1102 Design Communication

This is a design foundation topic that will help students develop the necessary skills and knowledge employed by contemporary designers. Effective design communication is one of the numerous tools that a contemporary designer should have at their disposal. Designers from all creative disciplines have always used 2D ideation sketching, in conjunction with other creative skills such as 3D modelling and prototyping, as a means of communicating innovative design concepts to clients, colleagues and as a method of generating new ideas. Ideation is a method of communicating complex ideas in relation to form, functionality, technology application, space, size, volume, scale, texture, materials and processes. Most design disciplines have developed specific techniques for conceptual ideation to support the communication of ideas.

Analogue sketching exhibits the same essential skills that are required for digital drawing, using devices such as tablet computers, drawing tablets, or simply using a pen and piece of paper. The ability to sketch competently, document and develop ideas from observation or derived from the designer's creative processes, is a skill that digital devices cannot yet efficiently replace, nor can they replace the tactile sensations that are manifest through physical drawing. This topic therefore aims to nurture the essential 2D and 3D communication skills essential for design, through the provision of a series of lectures and problem solving scenarios.

This topic aims to introduce students to methods, tools and strategies that will enable them to analyse high-level form/aesthetics problems, with a focus on practical ideation sketching and modelling skills, within an experience-based studio environment through learning by doing. It will introduce students to basics 2D and 3D design sketching for the representation, development and communication of design concepts and form solutions, through the design process.

Students will develop knowledge of perspective drawing principles and the use of ideation sketching as a tool for creative thinking and conceptual development. There will be an introduction to basic sketching skills to develop the use of drawing as a tool for visual thinking and design development. Students will use their skills to produce a portfolio of design concepts and to create 2D perspective drawings and 3D sketch models, to communicate three dimensional products, systems and services.

1. Resolve form problems in ways that result in aesthetically pleasing forms
2. Understand, apply and communicate the visual language of 2D and 3D aesthetic form for further discussion and analysis
3. Explore and resolve complex form problems using 3D prototyping skills through the use of additive and subtractive prototyping technologies
4. Apply the principles of perspective construction to create ideation sketches expressing form and Function
5. Employ Sketches and prototypes to describe and communicate divergent thinking processes and conceptual ideas
6. Understand and apply a range of communication techniques and presentation methods commonly used by designers