Overview of the Major

The Digital Media Art major aligns closely with the national strategic emerging industry of digital creative industries. Focused on cultural creative content, digital creative industries leverage digital technology for creation, production, dissemination, and services, leading to new supply and consumption. Formed by the integration of cultural creative content and digital technology in recent years, it is a rapidly growing new industry characterized by digitalized production, networked dissemination, and informationized consumption. Currently, the deep application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (including VR, AR, MR), and blockchain will further promote digital creativity in areas such as the metaverse, digital twins, and NFTs (e.g., virtual scenes, digital avatars, digital collectibles), resulting in the enhancement of professionally generated content (PGC), the rapid development of user-generated content (UGC), and the increasing importance of AI-generated content (AIGC) as a content production method. This will undoubtedly accelerate the transformation and growth of digital creative industries, pushing the industry to new heights. Currently, China's digital creative industries have entered a period of rapid growth, with tremendous growth potential and a significant demand gap for industry talent, estimated at approximately 150,000 per year.

The Digital Media Art major primarily cultivates talent in areas such as the digital design and production of cultural creative content (production digitization), the dissemination of digital content or products on online platforms and media (dissemination networking), the informationization and digital marketing promotion of digital content or products to consumers (consumption informatization), and the application of future digital technologies in digital arts (deep application of new technologies).

Training Objectives

This major primarily targets Guangdong and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, aiming to cultivate individuals who are comprehensively developed in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor aspects. They should possess homeland emotions, a healthy personality, an international perspective, craftsmanship spirit, and innovation ability. They should master the basic theories and professional skills of Digital Media Art, possess certain design aesthetic abilities, digital creative design abilities, and good comprehensive qualities. They should be proficient in digital art design techniques, digital design tools, and technologies. They should possess strong abilities in digital media interface and interaction design, digital film and television creation and special effects design, digital virtual avatars, and IP design. They are expected to engage in composite applied positions such as interface design, webpage design, interaction design, film and television editing and special effects production, film and television creation, digital IP design, digital avatar design, virtual reality design, advertising and graphic design, and e-commerce graphic design in fields like digital product development and design, online and new media design, digital film and television production, digital publishing, digital entertainment, advertising and exhibitions, and digital marketing.

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. Care about social issues and national development, possess a sense of social responsibility, and actively participate in social practice. Understand national conditions, social conditions, and people's lives, practice socialist core values, and possess specialized humanistic and artistic accomplishments and aesthetic taste. Have a scientific spirit, professional ethics, and an enterprising spirit. Able to disseminate Chinese excellent culture and possess a healthy physique and mindset.

Subject knowledge abilities: Possess knowledge in design science and interdisciplinary fields. Master the basic theories, fundamentals, and skills of Digital Media Art. Possess the ability to analyze and evaluate digital media products or works. Have principled and methodological professional knowledge and basic design and production techniques in areas such as digital product user experience and interaction interface design, film and television audiovisual language and production, and digital virtual character design. Understand the current status and prospects of the major, as well as the development status and innovation trends of aligned cultural industries.

Application abilities: Possess professional abilities in areas such as digital media or product interface visual and interaction design, digital film and television production and creation, and virtual digital avatar and virtual reality design. Depending on the development direction of professional abilities, possess either digital media design application abilities, digital film and television creation application abilities, or virtual avatar design application abilities. Have the initial ability to apply professional knowledge and skills to professional job roles.

Innovation and creativity: Possess creative thinking and innovative abilities in comprehensive cultural creation and digital media. Have a strong spirit of innovation, entrepreneurship awareness, and certain independent entrepreneurship abilities. Have the ability to digitally inherit and innovate traditional culture.

Information abilities: Have strong abilities to collect, process information, and materials using digital technology. Possess strong computer application abilities, able to proficiently use common office software and digital media design software. Able to conduct business related to the major through the internet and utilize AI technology to assist in digital creative design.

Communication and expression abilities: Have strong oral and written communication abilities, interpersonal communication, promotional, and social activities abilities. Possess cross-cultural communication and exchange abilities, master a foreign language, and possess listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translation abilities.

Teamwork abilities: Have a good spirit of unity and cooperation, strong planning, organization, coordination, and management abilities. Have the ability to collaborate on digital creative businesses through division of labor and cooperation.

International perspective: Possess a certain international perspective, understanding the latest developments in international cultural creativity, digital media art, and technology fields. Have cross-cultural understanding, integration, and cooperation abilities, as well as the ability to digitally disseminate Chinese and foreign excellent cultures.

Learning and development abilities: Have self-learning abilities and the ability to learn and integrate cross-disciplinary knowledge and skills. Have keen insights, able to learn and grasp the frontiers and trends of the digital media industry, and adapt to the sustained development of digital technology, digital creative industries, digital economy, and society.

Characteristics of the Digital Media Art 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.

This major is a supporting major for the Guangdong Provincial key cultivation discipline of "Design Art Science," forming a research direction of "cultural creativity and digital dissemination."

Implement project-based teaching based on the integration of professional creation and industry-education integration, introducing real enterprise projects or subject competitions, innovation competitions, and innovation and entrepreneurship projects into the classroom to cultivate students' practical application abilities and innovation and entrepreneurship abilities.

Implement the "five-pronged collaborative" industry-education integration and school-enterprise collaborative talent cultivation model to promote the initial development of students' vocational abilities. Carry out teaching model reforms in collaboration with many well-known enterprises and institutions, allowing students to develop their vocational abilities through real enterprise projects.

Align with the strategic emerging industry of digital creative industries, targeting the latest digital creative fields and exploring emerging and future hot applications such as interactive experiences, film and television CG, virtual reality, and digital avatars.

Core Courses of the Major

Principles and Methods of Digital Media Interaction Design, Web Visual Design, Mobile App Design, Non-linear Editing, Film and Television CG Special Effects Design, Film and Television Short Film Creation, Basic Virtual Character Original Drawing, Digital Avatar Design and Development, VR/AR Product Interaction Design.

Practical Teaching

On-campus concentrated practical teaching links: Sketching and Color Sketching, Graphic Image Processing Training, Film and Television Videography, Webpage Creation, Virtual Scene Creation, 3D Material Rendering, Animation and Motion Design (Digital Media Design Module), Digital Audio and Sound Effects (Digital Film and Television Creation Module), Motion Capture and Application (Virtual Avatar Design Module), Film and Television Short Film Production.

Enterprise practical teaching projects and main contents: Online self-study extension module courses, professional ethics education, regional, industry, enterprise research (choose one of three), professional (production) 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 and leveraging our provincial-level converged media experimental teaching demonstration center and provincial-level art and design experimental teaching demonstration center, the Digital Media Art major possesses advanced and complete experimental and teaching equipment for digital image processing, digital video, human-computer interaction, digital design, digital input and output, and intelligent teaching, which can well satisfy teaching, experimentation, research, and extracurricular practice.

Laboratories

The Digital Media Art major is equipped with digital design laboratories, interactive laboratories, virtual studio laboratories, photography studios, film and television studios, visual communication design laboratories, digital creative studios, computer rooms, art studios, smart classrooms, and curriculum design rooms, covering a total area of 840 square meters.

Practice bases

The Digital Media Art major attaches great importance to the construction and planning of practice bases. It has established cooperative relationships with over 13 cultural media and internet enterprises, serving as teaching internship and research bases that can well meet the needs of students' on-the-job internships and graduation internships during their senior year.

Employment Prospects

Graduates of this major are primarily employed in digital product development, online media, film and television production, advertising and exhibitions, libraries, museums, and other enterprises and institutions in Guangdong and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, as well as television stations, other media organizations, and corporate e-commerce departments. They engage in positions such as interface design, webpage design, interaction design, film and television editing and special effects production, film and television creation, digital IP design, digital avatar design, virtual reality design, advertising and graphic design, and e-commerce graphic design.

Faculty Team

The Digital Media Art major currently has 16 full-time teachers, including 1 professor, 1 associate professor, 6 lecturers, and 8 teaching assistants. Among them, 5 teachers are "dual-teacher" qualified. 87.5% hold master's degrees or above, and 4 teachers have overseas study experiences. The professional backgrounds of the full-time teachers cover digital media art, film and television animation, media studies, visual communication design, fine arts, software engineering, and more. They possess disciplinary backgrounds related to design science, fine arts, communication science, drama and film studies, computer science and technology, among others. Additionally, the major invites renowned domestic professors and industry experts to serve as mentors.