Communication Design (BA)

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.

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. 

Students of the 4-years programme are required to complete a total of 124 credits in order to graduate; including 30 credits earned from General University Requirements subjects, 23 from Common Compulsory Subjects, and 71 from Discipline-Specific and Elective Subjects.

Senior year students are required to complete a total of 62-63 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.

✓ 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.

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.

Brian Kwok — Assistant Professor

Assistant Professor
Discipline Leader of Communication Design
Leader of Information Design Lab

Expertise: Information Design, Interaction Design, Interface Design, Web Design

Email sdbriank@polyu.edu.hk

• Anneke Coppoolse
• Brian Kwok
• Clive Ng
• Chi Kin Sammy Or
• C vE
• Roberto Vilchis

See also: Meet our staff