COURSE: BA IN INFORMATION DESIGN

What design is all about

The successful information designer (communication designer), is a professional, highly qualified person who plays a decisive role in creating the contemporary visual environment. We live in a world in which we are surrounded by words and pictures and it is the designer’s responsibility to provide original solutions to mass communication problems. A skilled designer has the ability to convey meaningful and powerful visual messages in a variety of media, to many different people.

The functions of communications design can be broadly defined by four intentions. They are:

• To establish a visual identity for people, organisations or products


• To visually inform, direct, explain, describe and educate


• To persuade people to change their actions and behaviors


• To create an entertaining, aesthetic or intriguing experience.

Communications designers execute projects in three major media:

• Print media: examples are books, magazines, brochures, posters, forms, stamps, billboards


• Screen-based media: examples are TV advertisements and title sequences, multimedia products such as CD-ROMs and DVDs, web-sites, broadcast graphics, information and service kiosks, computer games and social media


• 3-D media: examples are exhibition stands, packaging and environmental signage.

Opportunities for Designers

The design and communications industries offer you a wide range of career opportunities.
Graduates work for:

• design consultants (traditional and new media)


• advertising agencies, in-house studios of large companies, state and parastatal organisations, research institutes, educational institutions and broadcast corporations


• book and magazine publishers


• printers


• public relations companies


• computer bureaux and media production houses


• their own studios and as freelance designers

You will leave the course in Information Design with confidence and a versatility that enable you to establish yourself in any of the above areas of design and advertising. You can expect to be knowledgeable about current developments in professional practice and to be sensitive to influences within society that have an impact on design.

For more information on the Course structure, visit: the www.up.ac.za/VisualArts

Admission requirements & selection

To be accepted for the Information Design package, you need a National Senior Certificate with full university exemption. Art as a school subject is not essential, but prospective students must be able to demonstrate their creative potential and commitment to their chosen field of study. You are therefore required to submit a portfolio of work for a merit selection review and, if invited, undergo a series of tests and be interviewed by a selection committee. Applications for the course close on 30 June annually.

For more information, go to www.up.ac.za

Also look at  www.informationdesign.co.za