Bachelor of Communication Design

Meaning in media is produced through interconnected systems of signs, symbols and culturally embedded codes. Through the lens of semiotics, students explore advertising theory, communication strategies, and the mechanics of meaning-making across branding, campaigns, and emerging media platforms. The subject introduces key historical, cultural, and technological shifts that shape contemporary media communication and encourages students to challenge conventional creative practices. Through applied semiotic analysis, students develop meaningful, persuasive, and culturally aware advertising concepts informed by evolving audience behaviours and media environments.

Assessment Tasks: Case Study Analysis, Campaign Strategy and Execution

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Brand experience shapes how people perceive, engage with and remember brands across media, contexts and touchpoints. This subject introduces the strategic foundations of how brands are positioned, differentiated, communicated and experienced within contemporary cultural, digital and commercial contexts. Emphasis is placed on integrating research, audience insight and design thinking to develop meaningful brand strategies that extend beyond visual identity into holistic experience systems. Through research-led inquiry, students examine brand positioning, brand narratives, customer journeys and multi-channel communication strategies. They critically analyse how brand value is created and sustained through coherent and engaging experiences across different contexts. The subject culminates in the development of a strategic brand proposal supported by applied identity and experiential outcomes that demonstrate alignment between brand intent and audience experience.

Assessment Tasks: Report

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Packaging design sits at the intersection of communication, function and experience, shaping how products are understood and engaged with from first encounter to end of life. Students design, iterate, and produce a holistic packaging solution that integrates user insight, functional requirements, branding and visual communication strategies.

Students examine sustainability and social responsibility in packaging design, situating their thinking within contemporary industry trends and practices. They apply persona development and narrative frameworks to inform practical outcomes, integrating commercial considerations with design thinking methodologies. This approach supports the creation of empathetic solutions that consider the entire lifecycle of packaging, from point of sale, through consumer use, to end of life and disposal.

Pre-requisite: CGD102 Digital Design Foundations, CGD104 Typography

Assessment Tasks: Quiz, Pitch, Presentation, Report, Design Artefact

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Focusing on typographic brand design, this subject examines how typography can function as a cohesive visual identity system across real-world environments. Students design a logotype as the conceptual and visual foundation for a typographic identity system, extended across multiple media platforms including spatial applications. Emphasis is placed on creating consistent visual language through the considered use of hierarchy, layout, tone of voice, materiality and production specification. A central focus is placemaking, the practice of shaping public spaces to reflect and serve their communities. Students identify and develop a concept to transform an underused or overlooked space. They explore how typographic design can shape public experience, communicate identity, and create meaningful connections, while experimenting with abstract, pattern and three-dimensional applications.

Pre-requisite: CGD102 Digital Design Foundations, CGD104 Typography

Assessment Tasks: Report, PDF Presentation

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Design Futures encourages students to critically examine the shifting role of design today. Rather than centering on the creation of objects, artefacts, or campaigns, this subject prioritises the journey. The focus is on the broader processes, impacts, and consequences of design interventions on society, culture, and the environment.

Design Futures explores how design can be used to imagine and shape possible futures through experiential, human-centred, and disruptive approaches. Students develop empathy for diverse users and communities, considering how social, environmental, and technological changes influence the way people experience the world. students explore future possibilities and generate speculative ideas that challenge current ways of thinking and disrupt existing norms. While making remains important, it is redefined as a meaningful act in which artefacts and prototypes are considered not just for their aesthetic and functional qualities but also for the social meaning and environmental change they promote.

Assessment Tasks: Presentation, Proposal

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Design practice and production examines the professional, operational, technical and ethical systems that underpin contemporary design industries. Students explore how design work is planned, costed, managed and produced, drawing on industry case studies to understand studio workflows, resourcing, delivery, and professional practice. 

Alongside project planning, contracts, copyright, and industry standards, students are introduced to ethical considerations, including accessibility, sustainability, fair representation, intellectual property, and the social impact of design decisions. The subject emphasises how design outcomes move from concept to production across print and digital formats, with students developing a project management plan that reflects both industry expectations and responsible design practice.

Assessment Tasks: Presentation, Report, Project Plan

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Design shapes the services people interact with every day — from digital platforms to physical environments and the systems that support them. This subject examines services as interconnected socio-technical systems and the role of design in improving their coherence, usability, and effectiveness. Students explore service design and systems thinking as complementary frameworks and ways of working for understanding complexity in service contexts. They apply established methodologies such as journey mapping, stakeholder mapping, service blueprinting, and ecosystem mapping to analyse and evaluate end-to-end service experiences, identifying value creation, breakdowns, and opportunities for improvement. The focus is on applying structured design approaches to respond to complex service challenges. Emphasis is placed on developing evidence-informed design propositions that improve service quality, accessibility, and user experience in real-world contexts.

Pre-requisite: DSG201 Design Futures

Assessment Tasks: Presentation, Proposal, Presentation

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Social Enterprise is an exciting theoretically-based subject that is driven by the desire to create positive change through entrepreneurial activities. These activities harness design thinking and problem-solving processes in the realisation of pragmatic, viable project proposals from initiation to client presentation. By providing students with a framework to understand business model generation and the skills to source, evaluate, and measure opportunities through systematic research and competitor analysis, Social Enterprise empowers students to conceptualise, develop and propose new ventures and products that focus primarily upon social change for good. In addition, this subject will help students understand and address the practical challenges of working within this environment; to analyse different entrepreneurial business strategies, to explore diverse funding strategies, as well as incorporate theoretical discussions on major trends and issues in the social economy. Social Enterprise enables students to appreciate the power of creativity in problem-solving and the importance of the designer’s role in making a difference and precipitating change.

Assessment Tasks: Report, Presentation

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online, Intensive

This subject provides students with authentic industry engagement through workplace-based learning or industry project experiences aligned with their field of study. The aim of providing industry-specific opportunities is to enable students to develop skills that will enhance their prospects of gaining meaningful employment and building their career for the future. Work Integrated Learning enables students to integrate theory and practice through observation, participation, critical reflection and the application of professional judgement. Students engage with workplace challenges, industry expectations and professional standards to develop skills in communication, collaboration, problem-solving, ethical practice and lifelong learning. This subject supports students in developing professional confidence, industry awareness and career readiness through meaningful engagement with workplace and project environments.

Students may complete the subject through one of two Work Integrated Learning pathways. 

Option 1: Internship

Students undertake a supervised internship within a professional-related environment, allowing them to gain practical experience while engaging with workplace culture, professional responsibilities and industry practices. Through workplace activities, research tasks, interviews and reflective investigation, student critically evaluate professional workflows, operational practices and stakeholder relationships. The internship pathway enables students to develop professional communication, collaboration, decision-making and reflective practice while applying disciplinary knowledge in authentic workplace settings. Students are expected to demonstrate initiative, professional responsibility and adaptability while contributing to organisational objectives and responding to workplace challenges. 

Option 2: Industry Live Brief

Students respond to an authentic, live industry brief by undertaking a professionally focused design project. Working independently and/or collaboratively, students apply research methods, creative inquiry and project management approaches to analyse client needs, define project parameters and develop innovative solutions. The Industry Live Brief pathway provides opportunities for students to engage with real industry challenges while considering commercial, social, ethical and sustainability factors that influence professional practice. Students communicate project outcomes to industry audiences and critically reflect on design decisions, feedback and professional development throughout the project lifecycle.Through either pathway, students develop and demonstrate evidence-based professional capability, industry engagement, reflective practice and career-ready skills that support their ongoing professional growth and lifelong learning.

Assessment Tasks: Internship, Report, Portfolio, Video-Pitch

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Undertaken towards the end of their course, this capstone subject facilitates students to develop a self-initiated project that serves as a vessel for creative and professional inquiry.

Students define a focused area of practice, and conceptualise, document, design and deliver a substantial body of creative work, experimenting with storytelling, media, mediums and methods.

Throughout the process, students critically evaluate their decisions, apply industry-standard workflows and test their ideas to develop resolved, portfolio-ready outcomes. The final project demonstrates their ability to integrate research, concept development, and design execution, evidencing readiness for professional practice or further study.

Assessment Tasks: Report, Design Artefact

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Preparing students for transition into the creative industry, the subject focuses on the curation and development of a professional portfolio, a cohesive suite of self-promotional artefacts, and a compelling professional profile.

Through self-directed research and practice, students explore contemporary approaches, methods, and presentation formats relevant to their discipline. They develop strategies for career readiness, including professional adaptability, entrepreneurial thinking, and the articulation of a distinctive creative identity.

By the end of the subject, students are equipped to launch into the industry with confidence, present their work, and clearly define their identity as designers.

Assessment Tasks: Report, Design Artefact, Presentation

Delivery Mode: On campus, Online

This subject explores the history, techniques, styles, elements and principles of different mediums within illustration. Students will apply visual problem solving, exploration and conceptual skills to develop their own sense of style while creating illustrations that can be used in a commercial context for print, web and animated content.

Assessment Tasks: Online Test, Design Project, Report

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

This subject introduces students to the theory and practice of information design, displaying data with purpose to foster understanding and engagement. Using a variety of sources, students identify and collate quantitative and qualitative data before synthesising and analysing it with applied organisational methods. Using visualisation techniques, students bring the information to life by telling its story in graphic and/or interactive form that represents the data in an effective and compelling way.

Assessment Tasks: Quiz, Design Artefact, Report

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

This subject introduces students to the fundamentals of JavaScript and the application of this knowledge in web development. The subject explores principles of JavaScript to broaden understanding of programming languages. Students apply these fundamentals to navigate and manipulate the document object model (DOM) of a webpage. They subsequently design and develop their own interactive components and interfaces, expanding beyond the capabilities that web design languages such as HTML and CSS afford. This subject culminates in exploring design and coding interactive web animations using various JavaScript libraries, increasing ability and skillsets for modern web design and development.

Assessment Tasks: Design Research Project, Wireframe, Prototype, Interactive Web, Video

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

This subject introduces web app development, which is a blend of web design, development, and software engineering. The relationship between data, design and logic are explored in modern frameworks to develop complex web-based interfaces that are reactive and real-time. The subject will examine modern backend and frontend technologies that have changed the approach to designing and developing for the modern web. The subject will also include methods for using dynamic application programming interfaces (APIs), decoding and displaying JavaScript object notation (JSON) to develop dynamic web design.

Pre-requisite: JSF100 JavaScript Fundamentals

Assessment Tasks: 3-5 Webpage Site and Video

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

In this subject, students are introduced to the properties of light and its evaluation, measurement, and control in photography and video contexts. Students develop foundational lighting techniques, including identifying and manipulating the colour, quantity, quality, and direction of light. The subject also explores the emotive qualities of lighting, enabling students to creatively apply and modify light across a range of studio and location environments.

Assessment Tasks: Report, Images

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

This subject introduces students to the foundations of photo imaging, developing essential technical skills in digital camera operation and image capture across diverse conditions. Students learn to control exposure, composition, and focus, and to adapt their approach to different lighting and environmental scenarios. The subject also fosters visual awareness, critical observation, and foundational photographic thinking, encouraging students to analyse and reflect on imagery, experiment with creative techniques, and engage in constructive discussion with peers to refine their photographic practice.

Assessment Tasks: Online Quiz,  Photographic Images, Report

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

3D Asset Creation introduces the fundamental concepts of developing 3D models for use in digital media and allows the students to familiarise with industry standard 3D modelling tools and techniques to communicate complex ideas and emotions. Students will develop a foundational understanding for the principles and techniques required for creating practical digital assets such as props, characters and environments.

Assessment Tasks: Render 3D design project

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

This subject explores the fundamental principles of producing animations within 3D software. Students are first introduced to a range of techniques relating to key frame based animation such as speed, ease and velocity. Students are also introduced to alternative methods of animation including procedural and dynamics based simulations. These skills are designed to expand student awareness of methodologies in creating animation and their application to a wide range of potential outcomes such as game design, broadcast motion design and branded identity.

Assessment Tasks: Video and Process Report

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Digital Print Design and Print Theory provides students with the opportunity to develop both their textile knowledge and skills in manually and digitally generating original prints and colours for commercial print. Emphasis will be placed on the relationship between textile type, print design and surface, applying knowledge of fabric composition, properties and performance. Students develop their knowledge of colour theory and its relationship to fabric and fabric designs, integrating colour in the development of a range of print designs (placement and repeat). Students will use both analogue and digital processes to produce their work and develop a portfolio that demonstrates their understanding of the theory and application of colour and print design. Students have the opportunity to develop and print a fabric strike-off of their design. The brief will require students to undertake a small research project to forecast colours and patterns. Importantly this work will be carried out with ongoing reflection on issues of copyright and cultural appropriation and its application to commercial print design.

Assessment Tasks: Physical Samples, Report, Sketch Book

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Fashion and Social Media requires students to collaborate online within a group to design and build a social media strategy for a fashion brand. Employing a problem based learning methodology, students critically review and analyse their understanding of social media and its applications. They identify and build on their understanding of the evolving social media landscape and its many features by demonstrating and applying the usage and benefits for fashion companies. Students develop an appreciation of the range and functionality of social media tools that currently exist and are used in the fashion industry, underpinning the sales, marketing and branding divisions of such businesses. In a simulated boardroom scenario, students identify and present a range of scenarios for the development of a social media strategy for a fashion brand and critically analyse the return on investment for their chosen approach.

Assessment Tasks: Social Media Project, Digital Applications, Report

Delivery Mode: Online

This subject will introduce you to the role and purpose of accounting processes, systems and ethical frameworks. The subject will also introduce the accounting treatment to record business transactions pertaining to different business types, such as sole trader, partnership and basic companies. With a particular emphasis on computerised accounting systems and processes, this subject will develop skills of double entry accounting. You will gain an understanding of the code of ethics for professional accountants, which underpins the creating and presenting of accounting information for planning and decision-making. You will also study the full accounting cycle and apply it to key areas such as trading inventory, non-current assets, accounts receivables and payables

Assessment Tasks: Reflection Presentation, Accounting Software Assignment, Business Scenario Analysis

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

This subject introduces marketing concepts and approaches within a digital environment. You will practise segmenting, targeting, and positioning to a market. You will identify how a diverse range of customers make purchase decisions to satisfy their needs and wants. You will explore the mix of decisions regarding product, price, place and promotion, and analyse a market environment in your area of study.

Assessment Tasks: Report, Presentation

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online