Content and structure

Course content.

Students learn how to communicate information and implement complex content creatively in all manner of social contexts. 

The course includes material from a variety of channels as well as traditional and digital media, while focusing strongly on the conceptual and creative aspects of project work. Students acquire a design repertoire and learn about design methods and technologies, the mechanisms of visual communication, design skills as well as the methods and expertise required to implement overall visual-communicative strategies. 

Course structure.

Basics
Learn the forms of expression and stylistic tools of design – the visual vocabulary, standards and craftsmanship, quality and impact. Students experiment with typographic settings, pictorial elements, photographic imagery, graphic tools and digital programming. They also deal with semiotics, media, aesthetics as well as issues specific to communication and society. 

Advanced skills/Basic applications
The module units are more business-focused. Together with units on experimental design, they create a bridge between real and fictitious content, the cornerstones of which are web design, poster design, type design, photojournalism and editorial design. 

Core Subject Identity and Brands/Corporate Design Practice
You study the methods and skills required to design and implement tailored overall visual-communicative strategies for institutions and companies. In the process, you explore the disciplines of Brand Identity and Corporate Communications as well as the areas where they overlap with Corporate Culture and Advertising. 

Core Subject Information Design/Information Design Practice
Students develop information and reference systems within the spatial environment. They investigate the visualization of abstract data and content, the development of didactic media and content, and examine the visual formulation of guiding or instructional applications. 

Core Subject Editorial Design/Editorial Design Practice
Design knowledge and information units in journalistic formats – from artistically elaborate editions, to customized information carriers, through to industrial media productions: Newspapers, magazines, journals, annual reports, exhibition catalogues, programmes, books, booklets, flyers – and all their electronic equivalents. 

Practical work with other majors
Learn how to act and work in interdisciplinary design teams. Students formulate and implement joint ideas on a current issue, learn how to communicate design processes, and get across their understanding of design in discussions with others. 

Skills acquired in the course.

  • Develop skills in the visual communication of information and creative implementation of communication
  • Evaluate, apply and communicate the mechanisms of visual communication
  • Develop methods to implement overall visual-communicative strategies
  • Depict institutional facilities and elucidate their respective function, importance and value to society using persuasive, symbolic language
  • Develop and implement reference systems within the spatial context, visualizations of abstract information, design and implement didactic media and visual formulations of guiding or instructional applications
  • Communicate all manner of topics and themes in a creative, design-oriented and narrative manner
  • Take a broader view of the techniques and production conditions of thematic editing
  • Contribute to the dissemination of knowledge and consciousness with word and image
  • Apply visual vocabulary to basic typographic settings, pictorial elements, photographic imagery, graphic tools and digital programming appropriately and, in the process, highlight semiotics, media, aesthetics, and issues specific to communication and society
  • Constantly tap into new areas of activity in a rapidly changing professional field

Admissions requirements.

You have a wide range of interests, creative potential and have good communication skills. You also have the following skill set:

  • Conceptual skills
  • Curiosity and commitment towards design issues
  • Awareness of what is happening in society
  • Open to transdisciplinary concepts and new technologies
  • Observation, perception and abstraction skills

Benefits of studying at ZHdK.

  • The Major in Visual Communication develops students’ skills in communicating information visually and implementing communication creatively.
  • The course combines traditional craftsmanship with the latest findings and technology.
  • Students acquire broad skills in communicating information visually and implementing communication creatively; they develop a design repertoire, learn design methods and techniques and study the mechanisms of visual communication. 
  • The course encompasses both traditional and digital media, while focusing strongly on the conceptual and creative aspects of project work.

Studying at ZHdK offers you a wealth of benefits.

  • Take your future in hand: You enjoy a contemporary, interdisciplinary, highly specialized education. 
  • You have access to the Toni Campus. This centre for education and culture combines all disciplines under one roof and is unparalleled in its dimensions anywhere in Europe. 
  • ZHdK regularly puts on projects and events. 
  • You benefit from professional networks and collaborations with the creative industry and other educational institutions in Switzerland and abroad.