Graphic Visual Communication

Department: School of Communication
Institution: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Term: Fall 99, Spring 99

In this course, I taught the history of graphic design as an interface. The course encompassed, in a linear perspective, the history of alphabets, the invention of the printing press, the development of typography, the modern art movements, and the analyses of the Bauhaus, the Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm, De Stijl, and the Swiss International Style. I emphasized how shifts on the material interfaces (e.g. letter, papyrus, paper, and screen) transform our relationship to information and to the content to be transmitted. The lecture classes have been intercalated with typographic analyses in printed products, and the evaluation of the use of colors and forms in projects developed by students in the classroom. The course finished with the study of today’s most prominent communication graphic interfaces, such as books, magazines, and websites. For the final project, groups of students developed a complete layout for one of the previously mentioned media. The work has been presented and discussed in class.