Programme/Stream Code |
73416–SYC (Senior Year Admission) |
Mode of Study |
Full Time |
Number of Credits |
62 (Senior year Curriculum)
|
Normal Period of Study |
2 years (Senior year Curriculum) |
Tuition |
Local Student: HK$42,100 per academic year Non-local Student: HK$145,000 (approximately US$18,600) per academic year |
Communication Design (BA) [Senior Year]
Brief programme outline
Aims and objectives
The BA(Hons) in Communication Design programme invites students to investigate the critical role of design elements and language—i.e., typography, colour, imagery, interactivity, time and space—in clarifying and conveying information, evoking emotions, inducing actions, and engendering change.
Students not only develop their aesthetics, craft and form-giving skills for a variety of media, they also integrate contextual research, theories, processes and methods in their studio practice.
Studio learning is centred on three major areas: Designing for identities, designing for information, and designing for experiences. Students are encouraged to think creatively, critically as well as practically when solving complex communication problems.
Graduates are equipped with the professional skills necessary to meet the expanding needs of the profession as well as develop critical minds to question the social and cultural roles of communication design in local, regional and global contexts.
Characteristics
Is Communication Design for you?
This is not a programme that focuses on self-initiated artistic endeavours or the learning and development of unique artistic styles. Instead, the learning and studio projects are centred around designing purposefully for specific people and situations.
You are expected to be someone who pays attention to details, likes making connections intuitively and logically, and passionate about experimenting ideas in various forms.
You are likely to be a conceptual thinker who has a strong desire to communicate with clarity and conviction via visual, verbal and written means. In addition, you also enjoy analysing problems and organising information.
Ideally, you should have a strong interest in human behaviours and how one interacts with activities, environments, information, objects and users or people in general.
Last but not least, having good command of spoken and written languages would definitely make you a stronger candidate for the communication design programme.
Programme structure
Senior year students are required to complete a total of 62 credits in order to graduate; including 9 credits earned from General University Requirements subjects, 12 from Common Compulsory Subjects, and 41 from Discipline-Specific and Elective Subjects.
Senior Year Curriculum |
|
General University Requirement |
9 (Credits) |
Freshman Seminar |
|
Leadership & Intra-personal Development |
|
Service-learning |
✓ |
Language and Communication Requirements (LCR)* |
|
Cluster-Area Requirements (CAR) |
✓ |
Healthy Lifestyle |
|
|
|
Common Compulsory Subjects |
12 (Credits) |
Communication Basics for Designers |
|
Visual Culture 1 |
|
Design History 1 |
|
Introduction to Design Theories and Culture |
✓ |
Internship |
✓ |
Cooperative Project |
✓ |
|
|
Discipline-specific Compulsory Subjects |
35 (Credits) |
Communication Design 1 |
|
Typography 1 |
|
Drawing 1 |
|
Time 1 |
|
Communication Design 2 |
✓ |
Typography 2 |
✓ |
Images 1 |
|
Interactivity 1 |
|
Studio 1: Text and Image |
|
Information Design |
|
Studio 2: Information |
✓ |
User Studies Seminar |
✓ |
Design History 2: Communication Design |
|
Studio 3: Identities |
|
Identities Seminar |
|
Art Direction |
✓ |
Studio 4: Experiences |
✓ |
Experience Design Seminar |
✓ |
Professional Communication in Chinese for Design Studies |
✓ |
Professional Practice: Communication Design |
✓ |
Capstone Project 1: Communication Design |
✓ |
Capstone Project 2: Communication Design |
✓ |
|
|
Elective Subjects (Communication Design elective + Elective from Communication Design or other disciplines) |
3 + 6 (Credits) |
Drawing 2: Illustration |
|
Time 2 |
|
Images 2 |
|
Interactivity 2 |
|
Special Communication Design Project |
|
Publication Design |
|
Applied Chinese Typography |
|
Production Technologies for Communication Design |
|
Communication Design to Foster Substainable Behaviour |
|
Motion Graphics |
|
Study Trip (Communication Design) |
|
Multiplatform Publishing |
✓ Compulsory Subjects
*Senior Year Students who fail to meet the equivalent standard of the Undergraduate Degree LCR will be required to take up to 9 credits of degree LCR subjects.
Project Showcase
Career prospects
Graduates of the Communication Design programme may embark on careers in corporate identity design, publication design, web design, environmental graphic design, exhibition design, and packaging design, as well as newly emerging areas such as information design, motion graphics for television and film, interaction and user experience design.
Discipline leader
Brian Kwok — Associate Professor

Associate Professor
Discipline Leader of Communication Design
Leader of Information Design Lab
Expertise: Communication Design, Information Design, Visual Culture, Healthcare Communication
Email sdbriank@polyu.edu.hk
Teaching staff
Application
Please click HERE for application details.