Overview of the Major

Visual Communication Design belongs to the design discipline and awards a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. The major was officially included in the "Catalog of Undergraduate Majors in Regular Institutions of Higher Education" in 2012. It requires students to possess solid basic theoretical knowledge and strong professional skills in visual communication design, understand art, economics, marketing, and management, and be able to create and design. Graduates are expected to engage in visual communication design work in public institutions, professional design departments, and research institutions.

In the new media era, the Visual Communication Design major has a deep intersection with telecommunications, manufacturing, e-commerce, cultural entertainment, advertising, and other industries under the background of industry-education integration, with information services as the mainstay. The development of the media industry has brought challenges and new opportunities to the related industries of Visual Communication Design. The highly developed visual culture in the information age has created an increasing demand for high-quality, compound talents with innovative thinking and artistic creativity who are proficient in visual communication design skills.

Between January and February 2023, the major conducted in-depth research through interviews, visits, questionnaire surveys, and data collection, involving Guangdong enterprise managers, industry representatives, university experts, current interns in enterprises, and past graduates. The research comprehensively understood the views and opinions of the industry and academia on the talent needs of this major. The results showed that visual communication is the foundation for communication in both traditional and new media, as well as in both physical enterprises and e-commerce and live streaming agencies. There is a high demand for visual communication production talents, indicating a broad professional prospect and high practicality and technical content, making it a high-return major.

Training Objectives

This major primarily targets the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, aiming to cultivate individuals who are comprehensively developed in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor aspects, possessing homeland emotions, a healthy personality, an international perspective, craftsmanship spirit, and innovation ability. They should master the basic theories and professional skills of Visual Communication Design, possess certain innovative abilities and good comprehensive qualities, be familiar with the application of software and creative methods related to visual communication, and possess strong capabilities in areas such as new media advertising creative design expression, brand planning and design, publishing design, packaging, and printing process production. They should also possess film and new media art design abilities, enabling them to engage in positions such as graphic design, publication design and printing, commercial art design, product packaging, interface interaction design, brand planning and design, and visual marketing design in fields like advertising, publishing and printing, online media, brand communication, film and television animation effects, among others.

Knowledge and Abilities

Professional ethics: Possess a firm and correct political orientation, good ideological and moral character, and a sound personality. Love the country and the people, support the leadership of the Communist Party of China. Have a scientific spirit, humanistic cultivation, cultural taste, professional ethics, and an enterprising spirit. Care about social issues and national development, possess a sense of social responsibility, and actively participate in social practice. Able to disseminate Chinese excellent culture, understand national conditions, social conditions, and people's lives, and practice socialist core values.

Subject knowledge abilities: Systematically master the basic knowledge and principles of Visual Communication Design, including graphic design fundamentals, basic principles of visual design, and the intersection of art design with modern social politics, culture, and economy. Possess certain design practice abilities, able to proficiently use design tools in the major and express visually using various visual languages. Understand the basic knowledge of art design history and theory, as well as the history, current status, and frontiers of the major and related disciplines, and possess the ability to integrate traditional culture with modern design.

Application abilities: Possess cross-disciplinary knowledge integration abilities, able to comprehensively utilize relevant knowledge and skills, and possess basic abilities in creative design and arrangement of visual elements such as graphics, text, and illustrations. Familiar with the application skills of related design software such as image processing, graphic design, layout, and interactive visual effects, and possess strong cultural and creative design abilities in areas like graphics and packaging. Possess the ability to communicate, visually disseminate, and exchange using means such as graphics, printing, packaging, and media communication, as well as research visual patterns and design expression abilities. Master market research, consumer psychology analysis, and marketing planning, and possess the ability to plan and design advertisements and brands based on market research and marketing strategies.

Innovation abilities: Possess strong innovative spirits, entrepreneurship awareness, and certain independent entrepreneurship abilities. Master basic skills for innovation and entrepreneurship, skills in creative conception, digital painting, and AI artificial intelligence creation, and the ability to innovatively organize and design visual elements. Able to conduct market research, innovative design, and project implementation with a business-centric approach, and engage in innovative design based on corporate and social needs, enabling innovative designs to truly materialize and create commercial value.

Information abilities: Possess strong computer application abilities, able to proficiently use common office software and professional software for art design, and conduct business related to the major through the internet. Possess strong language and writing expression, information collection and processing abilities, master a foreign language, and possess strong reading, translation, and certain oral communication abilities. Have the ability to obtain information and new knowledge through language and writing, and possess the ability to retrieve literature and query data to obtain professional information at home and abroad.

Communication and expression abilities: Possess design expression and communication skills, strong communication and expression abilities, able to use accurate and standardized language and writing to logically express opinions, effectively communicate with industry professionals regarding complex issues in design projects, and possess certain promotional and dissemination abilities.

Teamwork abilities: Possess good teamwork spirit, strong organizational, coordination, and management abilities, able to harmoniously coexist with team members and collaborate to complete complex tasks.

International perspective: Understand and respect the differences and diversity of world cultures, keep abreast of international developments, pay attention to global major issues in the major, possess the ability to conduct international exchanges and cooperation, and disseminate Chinese excellent culture and wisdom.

Learning and development abilities: Understand the focus, industry frontiers, AIGC, and development trends of the advertising, publishing, printing, film and television, and new media industries. Possess self-planning, self-management, self-learning, and lifelong learning abilities. Able to maintain competitiveness in new industries, create more innovative and influential works, and contribute to the development of the industry through continuous learning and adaptive improvement.

Characteristics of the Visual Communication Design Major

This major aligns with the industries in the Greater Bay Area, following the OBE (Outcome-Based Education) philosophy of "student-centeredness, output orientation, and continuous improvement." It constructs talent cultivation programs and curricula closely aligned with industrial demands, featuring collaborative training between government, schools, and enterprises.

Connecting with Guangdong's cultural and creative industries to build a distinctive major

This major is a key construction major of the school and a supporting undergraduate major for the key cultivation discipline of "Design Art" in Guangdong Province. It has formed a research direction of cultural vision and digital design, connecting with Guangdong's cultural and creative industries and basing itself on cultural construction and regional cultural inheritance in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Implementing "competition-driven teaching" and "project-based" course teaching

The major focuses on cultivating students' abilities in creative conception, design expression, and execution. It introduces advertising design competitions or real enterprise projects into the classroom, allowing students to master design patterns and creative methods through practical cases. In recent years, it has won over 500 gold, silver, bronze, and other awards in national advertising design competitions.

Constructing an industry-education integration and school-enterprise collaborative talent cultivation model

The major explores off-campus practical teaching based on current professional talent needs in the industry market. Currently, it has established deep cooperation with multiple 4A advertising companies and large and medium-sized enterprises, conducting enterprise teaching and offering multiple dual-degree courses with enterprises. Enterprise mentors participate in the teaching process, enabling students to gain exposure to the latest industry trends and real enterprise projects during their school years and actively promoting the implementation and transformation of project outcomes.

Artificial intelligence empowering professional education

The major focuses on the forefront of the discipline, pays attention to artificial intelligence technology, continuously explores and practices the integrated innovation of AI+education, virtual reality+education, and platform+education, empowering professional education, and cultivating future design innovators.

Dual international teaching pathways

Students in this major can choose the "2+2" or "3+1.5" dual credit exchange study mode with Edith Cowan University in Australia. After studying for 2 years or 3 years at their home institution, they can choose to study for the remaining 2 years or 1.5 years at Edith Cowan University, obtaining dual bachelor's degrees from both institutions.

Core Courses of the Major

Graphic Creative Design, Communication and Planning, Illustration Design and AIGC Creation, Layout Design, New Media Advertising Creative Design, Packaging Design, VI Design, Publishing and Printing Design, Advertising Thematic Design, Brand Planning and Design.

Practical Teaching Links

On-campus concentrated practical teaching: Sketching/Color Sketching, Font Design Training, Comprehensive Graphic Image Processing Training, Digital Painting, Logo Design, Print Advertising Design, Packaging Materials and Processes, Book Binding Design, Digital Design of Cultural and Creative Products.

Enterprise practical teaching

projects: Online self-study extension module courses, professional ethics education, regional, industry, enterprise research (choose one of three), professional internships, graduation internships, and graduation theses.

Teaching Conditions

Teaching equipment

Relying on our school's overall design plan for building a "digitalized" and "intelligent" campus, the Visual Communication Design major possesses advanced and complete teaching equipment, which can well satisfy students' needs for classroom learning and extracurricular practice.

Laboratories

The Visual Communication Design major boasts well-equipped and fully functional professional laboratories such as visual communication design laboratories, digital design laboratories, hand-drawn expression technique rooms, packaging and printing laboratories, photography studios, film and television studios, digital creative studios, computer-aided design rooms, art design project studios, art studios, course design rooms, and art design interactive laboratories. These facilities can fully meet the teaching needs of all experimental courses in Visual Communication Design.

Practice bases

The Visual Communication Design major attaches great importance to the construction and planning of practice bases. It has established cooperation with over 30 4A advertising companies and large, medium, and small enterprises, establishing stable off-campus teaching and research bases. It has also established long-term off-campus internship base partnerships with numerous high-quality well-known enterprises such as Guangdong Advertising Group Co., Ltd., Guangdong Guangxu Advertising Co., Ltd., Guangdong Golden Great Wall International Advertising Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Sanchuantian Cultural Technology Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Beitai Chuangshuo Culture Communication Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Guoyang Advertising Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Aipeng Printing Co., Ltd., among others, which can well meet the needs of students' on-the-job production internships and graduation internships during their fourth year of study.

Employment Prospects

Graduates of the Visual Communication Design major have always been favored by employers. After graduation, they can engage in positions such as advertising planning and design, commercial printing design, product packaging design, brand image design, webpage or App interface design, commercial photography, e-commerce graphic design, marketing and media planning, advertising operation management, and promotional planning. They can also pursue teaching careers in vocational colleges.

Faculty Team

The Visual Communication Design major currently has 36 full-time teachers, including 3 associate professors, 11 lecturers, and 22 teaching assistants. 94% of the teachers hold master's degrees or above, and several have returned from overseas studies. The full-time teachers possess professional backgrounds in areas such as visual communication design, fine arts, digital media arts, film and television animation, among others. They possess disciplinary backgrounds related to design science, fine arts, communication science, drama and film studies, computer science and technology. Additionally, the major invites renowned domestic professors and industry experts to serve as mentors, establishing a mentor team with optimized structure, strong practical abilities, and high professional standards. This integration of theory and practice comprehensively enhances students' comprehensive practical abilities.