Diploma & Bachelor of Design (Visual Communications, UX) Courses & School

Design (Visual Communication) //

See the world differently...

Technology is moving fast and society is changing with it. If you’re passionate about all things visual and the impact design has on people and culture, this course is for you.

Visual Communication at JMC provides you with the tools and skills you need to create innovative solutions in an ever evolving world of interactive media. You’ll discover the true power of visual communication and storytelling, learn the processes behind creative problem solving, and explore ways to create better experiences for people in physical, digital and virtual spaces.

The Visual Communication course equips you with the ‘how’ as you learn the ‘why’ and exercise your creativity with input from experienced teachers. Delve into a deeper understanding of core design principles, the design thinking process, and the technical skills required for you to apply what you’ve learned across a variety of platforms and media.

TECH //

We take design seriously at JMC. Our classes are full of the best tech in the trade, constantly updated with industry standard tech and the latest software out there. From day one, you’ll attend classes setup in studio-like environments and have access to a range of equipment including Wacom graphics tablets, HTC Vive VR tech, 3D printers and DSLR cameras that will allow you to experiment and design to your heart’s desire. You’ll also receive a complimentary Adobe Creative Cloud license for your personal computer, giving you access to all of Adobe’s apps and software including Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects.

GALLERY //

Go Beyond Graphic Design into
the World of digital and user experience

Delve into the design process
and become a creative Digital Ninja

Be Future Proof - with our
hands on, adaptive learning approach

Join our creative spaces and
studio set up built for collaboration

course guide //

Bachelor of Design (Visual Communications)
[CRICOS 085009K]
Diploma of Design (Visual Communications)
[CRICOS 085007A]

The Bachelor degree allows you to immerse yourself in the design world, develop strong visual communication skills and understand the tools you need to make it in the industry. It will give you the opportunity to build a professional portfolio of your own work, while investigating a process-based design approach and engaging with mentors from the industry on real world projects.

Learning takes place in a studio environment where small classes encourage students to come together to collaborate on projects. From initial concept through to design and delivery, you will explore different design tools and methods to graduate fully equipped to enter the industry.

In only 2 years you can graduate with a Bachelor degree thanks to our accelerated full-time course. Part-time study is also available to domestic students. International students may choose to complete the course in 3 years rather than the accelerated 2 year option.

curriculum

Design Fundamentals

This unit explores the foundations of good visual design. Students will learn the different elements and principles of visual communication like Gestalt, colour theory, layout, typography, etc... and explore how to bring these components together to create strong visual messages.

Digital Toolkit I

This subject underpins many other specialised design subjects by equipping students with the tools of trade used to communicate and turn design ideas into reality. You will learn hands on digital skills while tackling creative project briefs.

Story Telling

All designed artifacts tell stories, some deliberately and others unconsciously. This subject will explore the relationship between design and narrative. You will undertake a creative brief which will be answered using a narrative driven design approach.

Typography in Design

The way a designer chooses to make language visible has a deep impact on audiences’ perception of the information being transmitted. This subject will explore making typography in a variety of mediums including digital applications. Through a mixture of theory and practice, you will come to develop an understanding of visual language.

Design Communication II

Building on previous subjects, you will learn to produce more finished concept art, mock ups and prototypes for presentation to clients and the general public.

Digital Toolkit III

Merging ever-expanding technologies into our lives in a way that serves rather than frustrates us is one of the emerging design challenges of our time. In this subject, you will explore the boundaries of everyday life and bring new uses to emergent technologies.

Design History & Theory

In this subject you will engage with the key art and design movements, practitioners and theories spanning from the late 1890's to contemporary practice. This subject provides you with the skills of research, writing and cultural critique.

Interactive Design

Building on your previous exploration of user experience, this subject asks you to create a digitally interactive space.

3D Forms and Spaces I

Creating environments that give us appropriate tactile, visual or otherwise sensory feedback is an exciting new area of design. In this subject you will create an intervention in a public space that actively engages passers by.

The Reinvention of 'Cool'

The purpose of this unit is to review and critically analyse the history, culture, fashion, people and business of “Cool”. By exploring contemporary cultural theory, you will investigate the personalities, the symbols, and the society that contribute to current occidental notions of “Cool”.

The concept of “Cool” as an extremely complex yet fleeting proposition that underpins the vast majority of new trends in fashion, style, music and art is explored. Throughout this unit, you will study the social impact of MTV, hip hop, and street fashion, as well as the media giants, music and film producers. This study will be delivered in the context of enabling you to understand and develop your own contribution to the business of “cool”.

Design for Society

Design is not only about products, it is a methodology for achieving positive social and ecological change. Through research and studio projects this subject will explore design led social change.

Design Communication I

Producing perfect pictures is not the main goal of this subject. Drawing, sketching and modelling play an important role at key moments in the design process. You will learn to use design communication both as a persuasive device to sell their concept and as a reflective practice throughout the design process.

Digital Toolkit II

This subject underpins many other specialised design subjects by equipping you with the tools of trade used to communicate and turn design ideas into reality. Building on previous subjects you will learn advanced technical skills while tackling industry based projects.

Creative Process

The aim of this subject is to build an awareness of a reliable and thorough creative process. It aims to instil commitment, individual and group, to that process, and to provide working tools for the origination and development of creative projects.

You will work in small groups, through three distinct stages, towards a Prototype Proposal that deals with the challenge of approaching a creative career. This research exploration will include your backgrounds, interests, aspirations and expectations, then explore the links, similarities and differences between the group members. Creative outcomes will include both individual and group generated content as the result of a design-thinking based structure or information framework that links the research findings. The final outcome of the three stages is a Prototype Proposal that will contain evidence of the creative process applied to the development of a proposed design project. This proposal could be an animated film, a game, a digital interactive work, web site or similar.

You will undertake three creative stages that will introduce and explore you as a young designer today and your pathway into a future career. Each part of this unit will be approached employing a design-thinking methodology. Each phase of the process will be explored employing the following processes and themes: 1. Discover: “What do we like to make?” (sustaining our practice, aspirations and expectations) 2. Ideate: “How do we get our work ‘out there’” (potential strategies, methods for exposure) 3. Prototype: “Strategy, Platforms, Process” (a proposal on how to make it all happen)

The three stages of this project always remains at a development stage and are never taken into actual production, allowing you to focus on the process rather than on the polish of a finished outcome. This also allows them to work with ideas that may not be practical to actually execute, encouraging them to be more ambitious, investigative and inventive.

User Experience Design

Designing for experiences is an holistic approach to design that heavily invests in planning and sketching out an entire user interaction with a product or service. You will learn build experience prototypes that investigate the interaction of human senses and emotion with designed interfaces.

3D Forms and Spaces II

3D Printing has had a profound impact in the mechanical design fields, but not until recently have designers and artists begun to use 3D printing for more conceptual work. In this specialist subject you will incorporate 3D printing into your conceptual design development.

Design for Community

Designing for diverse groups holds its own challenges. Working in teams, you will be given a design challenge with a specific community to design for. A major part of this project will be conducting user research amongst the target group.

Specialised Project

Developing a strong creative vision and collaborating effectively with a team to act on that vision is key to successful design outcomes. In this subject you will undertake project from research and conception to client feedback and re-design, right through to delivery.

Industry Project

Industry based project.

Cross Institutional Project

This elective unit enables students to attend one of JMC Academy's study abroad options like the LA trip and the Japan study tour.

Integration

This unit brings together students from Animation, Game Development and Digital Design (and potentially other courses) to work on creative projects that seek to look outside the mainstream production areas normally focussed on. You will develop, plan and execute innovative projects that may involve elements such as location-based gaming, interactivity, projection mapping, web and device-based storytelling, transmedia and other forms that flow from the intersection of animation, game technologies and interactive digital design.

Motion Design

This unit builds on the design principles and animation technique that you have been introduced to in 3DAN 201 Production Art I, 3DAN 203 Traditional Animation and VIS 204 Creative Process. Basic design principles will be re-visited in the context of motion and timeline, and further concepts, including colour, light, motion, depth and time, will be introduced and explored.

You will also be introduced to some of the origins, history and current practice of motion graphics and hybrid digital 2D and 2.5D animation through screenings and analysis of recent and current work, both purely graphic, and character and narrative based.

You will be introduced to technique and workflow in After Effects and its integration with other graphic packages including Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash. These techniques will be applied across a series of exercises addressing basic technique, communication challenges, and the creative possibilities of the medium. This unit is an elective choice.

At the Diploma level, explore the fundamentals of graphic design and the technical skills required to create aesthetically appealing messaging. Then delve into the design process, from research, ideation, sketching and prototyping, to implementation and watch your work come to life.

Removed from traditional classroom learning, you’ll enjoy working within a design-studio environment. Tackle creative briefs, sketch ideas on paper and create quick prototypes for testing with a realized digital outcome. Learn the processes involved with creating compelling user experiences, and utilize different tools and tech to help you make it.

curriculum

Design Communication I

Digital Toolkit II

Creative Process

User Experience Design

Careers in the Industry //

JMC’s Visual Communication graduates could go on to work across the design realm. While traditionally, agencies, advertising, publishing and media roles are the most common areas of opportunity, these days, there’s a role for visual communication designers in every field. From joining business and tech companies all the way through to engineering and medical fields, become a vital part of any industry you see fit.

Specific roles may include

Visual Communication
Brand and Identity Design
Digital Design
Experience Design
UX Consultantancy
UX/UI Design
Graphic Design
Art Direction
Social Media Design
Content Coordination
Multimedia Design

Interactive Design
Interface Design
Web/App Design
Exhibition Design
Events Design
Spatial Design
3D Visualisation
Design Research
UX Research
Motion Design
Graphic Facilitation

spotlight //

This course is very hands on. It’s really quite different to anything I've ever looked at studying before.
Savannah Lee, Online Coordinator at DKM Blue, Visual Communication Alumni

JMC provided me the chance to explore my inner creativity and develop problem solving skills through ‘real world’ situations, leaving me well prepared to enter the industry.
Cody Waters, Digital Designer at Elastic Studios, Visual Communication Alumni

I love the fact that we are not constrained and can show what we are really capable of. It makes me want to push my own boundaries to learn new styles and techniques to incorporate into my work.
Anthony Abade , Graphic Designer at Accent Group Limited , Visual Communication Alumni

Everyone that comes to JMC has their own vibe and their own flavour. You see it come out in the work they produce and I feel like the lecturers appreciate that everyone has their own personal taste.
Steven Abboud, Graphic Designer at Next Level Generation Performing Arts Company, Visual Communication Alumni

You end up becoming quite close with your lecturer because you work with them all the time as opposed to a distant authoritative figure. There’s still authority, but they are like your friend as well.
Darren Ho, Strategic Designer at Tobias Australia, Visual Communication Alumni

I’m so grateful for my time at JMC Academy. It was a dream come true to find a course (and great lecturers!) that challenged and helped me grow into the designer and person I am today!
Serena Kassam, Digital Assistant at JMC Academy, Visual Communication Alumni

Faqs //

What equipment or resources will I need for the Visual Communication course?

You will need to bring the following to your course:

Laptop: Macbook Pro or similarly powered
Windows laptop, running latest OS
Device: Smartphone or Tablet
Journal: A5 size Blank pages
Pen: Felt-tip 0.3-0.5
Pencils: HB-2B, rulers and erasers

JMC will supply you with Adobe Creative Cloud software

Do I need a portfolio of work to apply for the Visual Communication course?

At application, we are most keen to learn about your passion and reasons for wanting to study design. In addition to that, we ask that you answer the following two questions prior to coming in for the interview:

1. Show us your best piece of work

What’s something you’ve created that you’re really proud of? It can be any of the following:

An image (a photography piece, an illustration or a painting)
A project (an idea, a story, a film critique, a blog, etc…)
A product (a website, an animation, a poster, presentation, etc…)

Write a small paragraph explaining your choices and rationale behind it. Show us your rigor and initiative. Give us an insight into your creative approach, your creativity and the resulting output.

2. Tell us your thoughts

Choose a brand that you like and think is successful; write a short paragraph reflecting on why you like it and the reasons behind its success.
Choose a brand that you dislike or has not been doing well; write a short paragraph reflecting on what the issues are and how they might improve.

Show us the way you see the world around you, your standard of what makes a design good or bad and an insight into your thought process.

Do I need to learn coding to be eligible for the Visual Communication course?

No. We equip you with digital tools that allow you to create high-functioning prototypes without coding.

How will I connect with the industry while studying the Visual Communication course?

We are committed to strengthening our Design Industry connections by fostering both internships and industry based projects. You will also be mentored by industry practitioners on some of the projects throughout your course of study. In addition, we have industry guests come and talk on a range of topics in each trimester, so you get to build your network even before you graduate.

How much theory VS practice is there in the Visual Communication course?

This course is very hands on and you will tackle real world creative projects. However, having a foundational understanding of design theory is still vitally important. There is approximately a 25% (theory) to 75% (practice) balance.

Are there exams in the Visual Communication course?

No. We assess your work as would happen in the workplace via proposal documents and reports, presentations and demonstrations.

Do I need to be able to draw to be eligible for the Visual Communication course?

As with any design you will need to communicate ideas via drawing and sketching. We believe anyone can learn how to think visually, and we teach sketching techniques right from the beginning. So, if you are open to making marks and learning how to do it well, that’s all you need to start!

Make it.Design (Visual Communication)

Design (Visual Communication) //

TECH //

GALLERY //

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spotlight //

Faqs //

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Make it.Design (Visual Communication)

Design (Visual Communication) //

TECH //

GALLERY //

on campus

fees

next intake

entry requirements

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course guide //

Careers in the Industry //

Specific roles may include

spotlight //

Faqs //

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