Expanding the Horizon of Design with ICT Skills and Wider Perspectives
The School of Design pursues what we call “New Design Education,” an innovative approach to educating students to become creators and producers with wide-ranging practical abilities.
Advances in digital technologies, coupled with the diversification of communication methods, have been blurring the conventional boundaries between the various sub-genres of design such as graphic design, animation, commercial features (CF), and spatial design, causing them to blend with each other. Sensing this new trend proactively, the School of Design organizes its curricula vertically in three phases and horizontally in three courses. In the first and second years students are educated to sharpen their sensitivity; from the second to third year they are trained to acquire the necessary skills for utilizing a range of digital technologies; in the third and fourth years they take specialized subjects, both inside and outside their fields of interest, through which they broaden their viewpoints and intellect.
Three Courses in Design
2D Design Course
Central to visual design is the viewpoint of communication, that is, how to convey information and one’s intention to people and society. Students are trained to sharpen their sensitivity in visual design, including graphics and Web design, and to refine their rendering skills.
Time Based Design Course
Image design calls for a careful consideration of composition, in other words, constructing individual elements of expression into one meaningful whole. Students learn the fundamental thinking and expression techniques that permeate video, animation, and CF, and then train to create image works that express their own thoughts and ideas.
3D Design Course
Essential to spatial design is the viewpoint of direction, namely, realizing unity and harmony between space, objects, light, and sound. Based on the notion that space is where overall communication takes place, students learn basic concepts of spatial expression and are then guided to render their ideas as works of spatial art.
