Course: Visual Communication & Sketching, fall 2017
Visual Communication & Sketching, an entry-level Design Innovation course, aims to equip students to effectively and confidently sketch by hand, understand and utilize the basics of visual design, and tell captivating and compelling stories. Over the course of the semester, students build up their skills in each of these areas, through a series of assignments that hone in on particular elements. Bringing everything together, instructor Purin Phanichphant’s final assignment for students was to pitch a product or service that could help address climate change, drawing on what they had learned over the semester to create clear, compelling materials.
To begin the project, students created high-quality post-it sketches as they brainstormed ideas, developing their concepts through simple one-page sketches. Over the next two weeks, they produced slide decks to demonstrate their concepts, including elements like infographics or app mockups to visually bolster their pitches. From there, students drew from storytelling techniques they had learned to create scripts, storyboards, and, eventually, one-minute pitch videos. At the course’s end, they presented their work to their classmates, connecting an array of visual storytelling skills in the process.
Want to learn more about the course? Check out:
“Making abstract ideas tangible: Five questions with Purin Phanichphant”