Lida Gous. 2021. Fine Tune: Participatory campaign. Design for Social Justice. VCD 3rd year website design project. Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, Procreate Pro.
Teaching: Visual Communication Design and Illustration
I currently lecture students from first year to fourth year level in Visual Communication Design and Illustration at the Visual Arts Department at Stellenbosch University, and I am the acting coordinator of the postgraduate Honours Illustration course at SU. In addition, I also supervise candidates in the Master's in Visual Arts programme in integrated practice-led research degrees.
Visual communication design is a broad term encompassing graphic design, information design, instructional design, web design, UX/UI, visual storytelling, experience design, motion graphics and various products of cultural and visual information. Featuring a broad range of media and formats, each of these visual messages is designed with a specific function, purpose and audience in mind.
The VCD course at the Visual Arts Department, Stellenbosch University prepares our graduates to work in almost any field imaginable. Most of our graduates find themselves in established professions such as design studios and the advertising industry. Here they work as designers, web designers, art directors, copywriters, studio managers, etc. Others work as graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, researchers or editors on books or magazines in the publishing industry. It is also not uncommon for our graduates to open their own design studios. Many work as freelance photographers, children’s picture book illustrators, and illustrator-writers of comics and graphic novels.
VCD Course Text: Visual Communication Design, Visual Arts SU
2048: Sustainability campaign. 2016. VCD 3rd years stop-motion animation project, Visual Arts Department, SU. Sally Tor, Anja du Plessis, Jana Slabber, Jeanre Smith
Teaching Experience and Expertise
I have more than twenty years lecturing experience in both tertiary private Design Academy and formal University academic environments. I am comfortable with and experienced in all aspects of working in an interdisciplinary, integrated art and design environment in terms of: practical studio teaching, giving lectures, presentations and workshops, course coordination and administration, timetable and curriculum management, capacity building and talent development, strategic planning, managing course budgets, studio equipment and material orders, hybrid learning, online course design, internal and external examination, and supervision of practice-led research at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Visual Communication Design and Illustration teaching experience include: Narrative Illustration, Comics, Picture books, Graphic Novels, Editorial Design, Publication Design, Poster Design, Information Design and Data Visualisation, Typography, Web Design, Colour Theory, Packaging, Sustainable Design, Animation, 3D Design, Augmented Reality, Integrated Campaign Design, Digital Illustration, Traditional Illustration, Painting techniques, Drawing, and Printmaking: Relief, Intaglio, Monotype and Screen-Printing.
2048. Sustainability campaign. 2016. VCD 3rd years stop-motion animation project, Visual Arts Department, SU. Sally Tor, Anja du Plessis, Jana Slabber
Kirsten Sims. Baltasar, The Great. 2016. Honours Illustration – Narrative Module. Visual Arts Department, SU.
VCD and Illustration: Student Work Samples
Some examples taken from student work and projects produced in courses and modules that I facilitated in Visual Communication Design and Illustration at the Visual Arts Department, Stellenbosch University. Techniques used include pen & ink, digital colouring, collage, mixed media, gouache, watercolours, printmaking, digital design and drawing/illustration in Procreate, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe XD and Adobe Indesign among others. Click to enlarge, press the two diagonal arrows for full screen view:
Video and Animation: Student Projects
Some examples of student video and animation projects produced in courses and modules that I facilitated and co-facilitated in Illustration and Visual Communication Design at the Visual Arts Department, Stellenbosch University. Techniques used include cell animation, 2D cell animation, 2D digital frame-by-frame animation, claymation, stop-motion, montage, moving collage, live footage, digital editing and post-production.
Considering Consumption. 2021. Mieke Verster. VCD 4th year Sustainability campaign/Public Storytelling project, Visual Arts Department, SU.