Outline

Overview

This unit of study explores the boundary between artwork, publication and portfolio. The unit acquaints you with the principal tools of InDesign, a software program that has become industry standard for designing digital and paper publications. Focusing on experimental magazines and other small scale artist's publications the unit explores the visual language of contemporary publishing from an artist's perspective. You learn about the complex interplay of text, image and sequence involved in producing multipage documents/artworks through the practical experience of creating your own InDesign publication. A series of lectures and in-class digital tutorials will equip you with the technical skills and critical framework to produce intelligent, engaging and innovative output.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit	Sydney College of the Arts
Credit points	6
Prerequisites ?	12 credit points at 2000 level from CAEL or 12 credit points at 2000 level from CAST
Corequisites ?	None
Prohibitions ?	CAEL2052
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Rebecca Beardmore, rebecca.beardmore@sydney.edu.au
Lecturer(s)	Miguel Valenzuela, miguel.valenzuela@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Creative assessment / demonstration	Digital publication Booklet submitted as a digital pdf document	60%	Formal exam period Due date: 13 Nov 2023 at 23:59	12-14 pages
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	digital booklet 12pg digital booklet (submitted as an InDesign file)	20%	Week 06 Due date: 04 Sep 2023 at 23:59	12 Pages
Outcomes assessed:
Creative assessment / demonstration	Typography design Final design should be digitally combined.	20%	Week 08 Due date: 18 Sep 2023 at 23:59	N/A
Outcomes assessed:

Assessment summary

ASSESSMENT TASK 1: DIGITAL BOOKLET (20%)

Description of task

This assessment task addresses the challenge of creating overall design unity in a document. It is an exercise that requires you to focus only on this aspect of the design and not on the information and images that demand most of the reader’s attention in magazines

The 12 page digital booklet (submitted as an InDesign file) should be created using only colour and form.

Assessment and Grading criteria

• Overall design unity: the booklet should demonstrate an understanding of an overall design approach.

ASSESSMENT TASK 2: TYPOGRAPHY DESIGN ASSIGNMENT (20%)

Description of task

This is an assignment in thinking about how type can function as an image.

Students should pick and illustrate a simple word or phrase, primarily through the use of typography. The visual design can reinforce or undermine the conventional meaning of this word or statement.

Students should use this assignment to explore the relationship between image and text. The final design should visually communicate the tone and content behind your message.

Fonts can be created from scratch or modified using existing fonts. Students may use any combination of vector, photographic, hand drawn and painted elements to create this typography but the final design should be digitally combined and handed in as a digital pdf and/or print on paper.

Assessment and Grading criteria

• The design should demonstrate an understanding of the function of
large-scale text and its visual impact.

• Innovation.

ASSESSMENT TASK 3: DIGITAL MAGAZINE

Description of task

A digital booklet submitted as a digital pdf document that contains between 12 -24 pages.

This course has not set out to define a particular genre of publication or teach a specific set of established design rules. It has used magazine design as it’s key reference point because this particular publication model is useful for connecting the design and technical issues related to print production.

The expectation for this final assignment is that you will be choosing the nature and subject matter of the publication you are designing.

You may, if you choose, model your publication on a recognisable commercial magazine genre and make a simulated version of one of these. If you choose this option you may include texts and images sourced from creative commons or create your own.

Alternatively, you may use this assessment task as an opportunity to translate your own creative ideas or image making practice into a digital publication format. This could take the form of a catalogue, zine, artists book or portfolio.

In all instances it is the consistency, creativity, and innovation of the publication design rather than the merit of the content that will be taken into account when assessing.

Assessment and Grading criteria

• Design structure

The most important design issue being assessed in this assignment is the overall unity of the publications appearance. The focus is on how all the different elements come together and are sequenced across the full span of the publication. This sense of design unity, the magazine’s signature style, should be clearly recognisable in the publication as a whole. The emphasis is on mastering the basics of the InDesign software program and knowing how to use it to layout and orchestrate the complex collection of texts and image that make up a magazine.

• Critical Awareness

The publication should demonstrate your understanding of good design principles. This means that the design approach you take should consistently demonstrate your awareness of the particular issues that need addressed in different sections or pages of the publication. Furthermore the sequence of these divisions around which the publication is structured need to be visible and well designed.

• Relationship between image and text.

The relationship between image and text lies at the core of publication design. This relationship should be conceptual with particular attention paid to the balance between them throughout.

• Innovation

Assessment criteria

Result Name

Mark Range

Description

High Distinction

85-100

Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at an exceptional standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.

Distinction

75-84

Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at a very high standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.

Credit

65-74

Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at a good standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.

Pass

50-65

Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at an acceptable standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.

Fail

0-49

When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

You may only use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator. If you do use these tools, you must acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section. The assessment instructions or unit outline will give guidance of the types of tools that are permitted and how the tools should be used.

Your final submitted work must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of generative AI tools that have been used in the assessment, and any material that forms part of your submission must be appropriately referenced. For guidance on how to acknowledge the use of AI, please refer to the AI in Education Canvas site.

The unapproved use of these tools or unacknowledged use will be considered a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and penalties may apply.

Studiosity is permitted unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission as detailed on the Learning Hub’s Canvas page.

Outside assessment tasks, generative AI tools may be used to support your learning. The AI in Education Canvas site contains a number of productive ways that students are using AI to improve their learning.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Course introduction	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 02	Principles of graphic design	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 03	The grid	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 04	Typography (part 1)	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 05	Typography (part 2)	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 06	Colour and design	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 07	Constructing a presentation	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 08	Prepress preparation	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 10	Work presentations	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 11	In class project work and feedback	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 12	In class project work and feedback	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 13	In class project work and feedback	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Additional requirements from Sydney College of the Arts

Students must attend a minimum of 90% of timetabled activities for this unit of study, unless granted exemption by the Unit Coordinator.
All assignments are compulsory and must be attempted.
You must attend scheduled assessments to be eligible to pass. Non-attendance at assessment on any grounds insufficient to claim special consideration will result in the forfeiture of marks associated with the assessment.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. Engaged students with the creative possibilities of a range of publication formats.
LO2. Introduce students to the basic design principles that inform the layout and production of magazines and other small scale publications.
LO3. provide students with an introductory understanding of pre-press preparation for digital documents.
LO4. give students a conceptual understanding of the close links between the narrative imagination and the sequential structure of books.
LO5. enhance student's research skills

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

Since this unit was last offered it content has been updated in regards to changes in the software being used and it has been adapted for online delivery.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

CAEL3018: Design for Digital Publishing

Semester 2, 2023 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect