General information


Subject type: Basic

Coordinator: Adso Fernández Baena

Trimester: Second term

Credits: 6

Teaching staff: 

Barbara Astals Brull
Jordi Mascarell Morgado 

Teaching languages


Les classes s'impatiran en català i castellà, amb documentació en anglès.

Skills


Basic skills
  • B4_That students can convey information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialized and non-specialized audiences

     

Specific skills
  • V8. Visually represent concepts and / or data for the ideation and creation of video games.

Transversal competences
  • T2_That students have the ability to work as members of an interdisciplinary team either as one more member, or performing management tasks in order to contribute to developing projects with pragmatism and a sense of responsibility, making commitments taking into account the available resources

     

Description


The subject of Graphic Design is part of the subject of Artistic Creation, and offers students an approach to the theory and practice of traditional graphic design, as well as current laws of usability and UX. In this way, the student will be able to propose solutions to problems related to the creation of interactive products and video games. From master classes, presentations and laboratory practices, the student will acquire knowledge of design fundamentals, history of graphic design, user interface design and specific software for designers.

 

This subject has methodological and digital resources to make possible its continuity in non-contact mode in the case of being necessary for reasons related to the Covid-19. In this way, the achievement of the same knowledge and skills that are specified in this teaching plan will be ensured.

The Tecnocampus will make available to teachers and students the digital tools needed to carry out the course, as well as guides and recommendations that facilitate adaptation to the non-contact mode.

Learning outcomes


The learning outcomes that the student must achieve are:

 E8.1 To devise the graphic aspect of a video game, according to the types of user, the type of game and the cultural and historical context of the same.

 E8.2 Represent graphically the elements of a video game: scenes, characters, levels, etc.

 E8.3 Represent information and data visually using infographics and other cutting-edge techniques.

Working methodology


The course combines master classes, presentations, video capsules, case studies, problem solving and laboratory practices.

Contents


  1. Introduction. History of graphic design
  2. Fundamentals of graphic design

             2.1.Semiotics

2.2.Theory of perception.

2.3.Color theory

2.4.Typography

2.5.Iconography

2.6. Pictograms and infographics

2.7.Concepts of composition: weight, balance, symmetry, scale.

2.8.Theory and practice of the layout and treatment of the text.

3. Brand creation. Branding.

3.1. Briefing

3.2. Naming

3.3. Image formats and industry standards. Logos

4. User Experience and User Interface

4.1. What is UX?

4.2. Information Architecture

4.3 User Interface in video games. Typologies.

5. Computer tools for creating and editing images.

5.1. Adobe Photoshop

5.2. Adobe Illustrator

 

Learning activities


In order to gather evidence of the achievement of the expected learning outcomes, the following activities will be carried out:

A1. Group work: Author analysis and artistic pieces (Evidence of learning outcome E8.2 and E8.3)

The student must work in a team, and agree on a working methodology based on research and analysis of the information acquired, to then make a presentation of the author chosen from the list presented. 

A2. Individual work: Brand and Brandbook (Evidence of learning outcome E8.1)

The student will have to create a brand from scratch inspired by a fictional video game. In order to do this, you will have to define the typology, theme, imaginary, etc. of the video game and reason the design of the brand based on these features. Next, the student will have to make the Brandbook of the created brand.

A3. Individual work: Pictograms and Infographics (Evidence of learning outcome E8.3)

The student will have to do through the conceptual synthesis, the elaboration of a system of pictograms by means only of the use of icons, symbols and signs. Next, the student will have to make an Infographic using pictograms.

A4. Laboratory practice: Digital graphic creation tools (Evidence of learning outcome E8.2)

The student will have to solve graphic design exercises using specific graphic creation software: Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.

A5. Final Exam (Evidence of all learning outcomes)

General criteria of the activities:

- The teacher will present a statement for each activity and the evaluation and / or rubric criteria.

- The teacher will inform of the dates and format of the delivery of the activity.

Evaluation system


The grade of each student will be calculated following the following percentages:

A1. Group work: Author analysis and artistic pieces 6%

A2. Individual work: Brand and Brandbook 12%

A3. Individual work: Pictograms and Infographics 12%

A4. Laboratory practices: Digital graphic creation tools 35%

A5. Final Exam 35%

 

Final grade: A1 0,06 + A2 0,12 + A3 0,12 + A4 0,35 + A5 0,35

Considerations:

- It is necessary to obtain a final grade equal to or higher than 5 in the final exam to pass the subject.

- An activity not delivered or delivered late and without justification (court summons or medical matter) counts as a 0.

- It is the responsibility of the student to avoid plagiarism in all its forms. In the case of detecting a plagiarism, regardless of its scope, in some activity it will correspond to have a note of 0. In addition, the professor will communicate to the Head of Studies the situation so that measures applicable in matter of sanctioning regime are taken. .

 

Recovery:

- It is necessary to obtain a mark superior to 5 in the final exam of recovery to pass the asignatura.

- Activities A2 and A3 can be recovered with a maximum grade of 7, however, activities A1 and A4 are not recoverable.

- The mark of the resit exam will be applied only to the mark of the A5 activity.

 

REFERENCES


Basic

Dondis, DA (1976). The syntax of the image: Introduction to the visual alphabet (JG Beramendi, Trans.). Barcelona: Gustavo Gili.

Satué, E. (2012). Graphic design: From the Origins to the Present Day. Madrid: Alianza Editorial

Complementary

Maeda, J. (2006). The laws of simplicity. Barcelona: Gedisa Editorial.