VIRTUAL MADRID FOCUS ON PEDAGOGY
Abstract
The belief that good design comes from a ‘big idea’ builds an expectation that a singular moment of illumination will summon forth ‘the solution’. Undergraduate students may not have the knowledge, skills or habitus to facilitate this conjuring act. As design educators, we have observed the resulting frustration, drop in confidence and an increasing reliance on digital platforms (Pinterest, Google Images, generative AI) for visual reference and conceptual direction. While these tools have value as collaborators, the cognitive offloading of the design process can result in visual sameness and superficial outcomes that lack contextual relevance. This paper presents a case study of an undergraduate communication design course that proposes an alternative approach: where visual identity design is an act of translation and the outcome is a dynamic visual identity system. Informed by conceptual metaphor theory and linguistic translation, this process leads students through structured stages emphasizing direct observation, thinking through making and building new connections between visual and contextual elements. This interpretative framework offers students a generative process that actively fosters conceptual depth and authentic engagement with real-world source material. Student outcomes included identity systems built from forms that represent symbiosis, shapes derived from competing lichen and a typeface inspired by caterpillar markings. The process also prompted reflection, helping students recognize that design can be approached in multiple ways—not simply follow how it’s always been done.
Caroline Powley is a graphic designer and academic. She is a Senior Lecturer in Communication Design at Auckland University of Technology and has also worked for a range of clients, design studios and advertising agencies, both in New Zealand and the UK. Her research explores interpretive and generative design processes, with a focus on the relationship between typography and place. Design research outputs include experimental type design, printmaking, and publication design. https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3009-7850
Becky Ford is a practising Graphic Designer and Senior Lecturer at Auckland University of Technology. She spent the first two decades of her career in London, working in both the commercial design industry and on several highly regarded academic design programmes, before relocating to New Zealand in 2020. Her commercial practice focuses on visual identity, packaging, and print design for a diverse range of local and international clients. Her research interests centre on the design process, collaborative practice, and design for social impact.