In collaborative design settings, designers communicate and explicate their ideas visually and verbally in order to reach a shared understanding. The verbal exchanges of group members engaged in a joint design task provide rich data regarding the design activities being undertaken by the group members. In addition, sketching and modelling are…

Graphic Communication and Design (GCD) students often struggle to understand and convert multi-faceted objects from orthographic (2D) into isometric (3D). Research established a strong link between spatial visualisation and the field of Graphics Communication. Conventional teaching and learning practice using textbooks, physical models and pencil…

Asynchronous discussion technologies offer the advantage of providing time for reflection essential for higher order cognitive thinking. In the context of a ten-week graphic design foundations course in the Digital Graphic Design program at Vancouver Community College, this advantage provides an avenue for advancing critical discussion of design…

One of the biggest problems for students majoring in pre-graphic design is students' inability to apply their knowledge to different design solutions. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of interactive learning modules in facilitating knowledge acquisition during the learning process and to create interactive learning modules…

By far, the tastiest technology learning activity that the author's students work on is the development of the design of a chocolate candy bar. This article describes how the author implemented the candy bar activity. The activity gives students an opportunity to design a product and to take it from concept through to production.

Technology education in Irish post-primary schools is undergoing significant change. In recent years the syllabi of all technology-related subjects have been revised. A new subject, Design and Communication Graphics, has replaced the traditional Technical Drawing subject. This new subject aims to develop students' spatial awareness and graphical…

This article explores project-based cross-cultural and cross-institutional learning. Using Web 2.0 technologies, this project involved more than 240 students and eighteen academic staff from seven international universities. The focus of this article relates to a project-based learning activity named "The Gift". At each institution the…

Computers have changed the ways students study components of design. Once on the computer, students tend to get so excited that they usually neglect to make preliminary sketches. Rather than rely on design software to provide visual solutions, this author chose to use design assignments that are intended to foster thinking in his students. In this…

Defines transposition operations (changing the way the display of the model proceeds) in diagrams within computer graphics. Describes transpositions that are spatial (moving the point of view or the point viewed), procedural (changing the flow of time), or organizational (arranging multiple simultaneous views and interjecting auxiliary measuring…

In this scoping study we have investigated the integration of subject-specific software into the structure of visual communications courses. There is a view that the response within visual communications courses to the rapid developments in technology has been linked to necessity rather than by design. Through perceptions of staff with day-to-day…

Online education has become a central element of the discourse on higher education. There seems to be an overall drive toward online learning given the mounting need for flexibility in scheduling and the daily emergence of communication technologies and capabilities. Online education is presented as a means of conveying instruction to an extensive…

Presents two short articles addressing issues of document design: "The Rhetoric of Desktop Publishing: The Page versus the Screen" (Rebecca B. Worley); and "Typography 101" (Valerie J. Vance). (SR)

Reviews the history of art as an element of music-recording packaging. Describes a project in which students design a jacket for either cassette or CD using a combination of computerized and traditional rendering techniques. Reports that students have been inspired to look into careers in graphic design. (DSK)

Describes easy-to-use, easy-to-learn dedicated graphics packages for developing slide presentations shown directly from computers. A general description of the features of five packages and suggestions for software selection are provided. A sidebar provides graphics tips, such as the use of color, typefaces, and formatting, for developing…

There is a lot of software available for young children, but there are not many applications designed especially for them. This situation may be about to change with the release of BumperCar and a new version of KidPix, both of which recently earned awards from MacWorld magazine. In this article, the author describes this new software and how it…