Program: BA Information Design

Kindly take note of the disclaimer regarding qualifications and degree names.
Code Faculty Department
01130102 Faculty of Humanities Department: School of the Arts
Credits Duration NQF level
Minimum duration of study: 4 jaar Totale krediete: 530 NQF level:  08

Programinligting

This programme qualifies candidates for entry-level positions into the mass communications industries such as graphic design, branding and advertising as well as broadcast design. With a strong social underpinning, the programme incorporates design strategies, design applications and design products in print, ambient and screen-based media and technologies.

Closing date for applications: 30 June annually

Admission requirements

Important information for all prospective students for 2024

The admission requirements below apply to all who apply for admission to the University of Pretoria with a National Senior Certificate (NSC) and Independent Examination Board (IEB) qualifications. Click here for this Faculty Brochure.

Minimum requirements

Achievement level

English Home Language or English First Additional Language

APS

(Grade 11)

APS

(NSC/IEB completed)

5

30

28

* To retain admission, you must obtain an APS of at least 28 in the NSC. 

*  In addition to the UP application, it is compulsory for applicants to submit an online portfolio to the Information Design division by 30 June. Those who fail to do this will end up with an incomplete application and will therefore not be considered for the selection process.

Life Orientation is excluded when calculating the APS. 

Applicants currently in Grade 12 must apply with their final Grade 11 (or equivalent) results.

Applicants who have completed Grade 12 must apply with their final NSC or equivalent qualification results.

Please note that meeting the minimum academic requirements does not guarantee admission.

Successful candidates will be notified once admitted or conditionally admitted.

Applicants should check their application status regularly on the UP Student Portal at click here.

Applicants with qualifications other than the abovementioned should refer to the Brochure: Undergraduate Programme Information 2024: Qualifications other than the NSC and IEB, available at click here.

International students: Click here.

Transferring students

A transferring student is a student who, at the time of applying at the University of Pretoria (UP) is/was a registered student at another tertiary institution. A transferring student will be considered for admission based on NSC or equivalent qualification and previous academic performance. Students who have been dismissed from other institutions due to poor academic performance will not be considered for admission to UP.

Closing dates: Same as above.

Returning students

A returning student is a student who, at the time of application for a degree programme is/was a registered student at UP, and wants to transfer to another degree at UP. A returning student will be considered for admission based on NSC or equivalent qualification and previous academic performance.

Note:

  • Students who have been excluded/dismissed from a faculty due to poor academic performance may be considered for admission to another programme at UP, as per faculty-specific requirements.
  • Only ONE transfer between UP faculties and TWO transfers within a faculty will be allowed.
  • Admission of returning students will always depend on the faculty concerned and the availability of space in the programmes for which they apply.

Closing date for applications from returning students

Same as above.

 

Additional requirements

Departmental selection is necessary prior to admission to this programme. Although Art as a Grade 12 subject is not a requirement, a candidate must be able to demonstrate his/her creative potential and commitment to the chosen field of study. Candidates are therefore required to submit a portfolio of work for a merit selection review and, if invited, undergo a series of tests and be interviewed by a selection committee. Contact the coordinator for more information. A student who chooses this programme must work in an appropriate design studio, approved by the coordinator, for at least six weeks during the third and fourth years.

Other programme-specific information

  • Students with an achievement level of 5 or 6 or 7 for English Home Language or an achievement level of 6 or 7 for English First Additional Language, or the foreign qualification equivalence as per the conversion table, may apply for an exemption from ALL 110 and ALL 125.
  • Students who are deemed NOT to be at risk of their level of academic literacy are compelled to take language modules to the value of 12 credits from the other departments.
  • Students who are deemed to be at risk with an achievement level of 4 and below for English Home Language or an achievement level of 5 and below for English First Additional Language or the foreign qualification equivalence must register for ALL 110 and ALL 125. 

Promotion to next study year

A student must pass all the core modules to be promoted to the next year of study. The Dean may approve exceptions to these promotion requirements on the recommendation of the head of the department.

Pass with distinction

The degree is awarded with distinction to a candidate who obtains at least 75% in IOW 400 and VKK 402.

Minimum krediete: 124

To be promoted to the second year of study all core modules must be passed.

Fundamental modules

Core modules

  • Module-inhoud:

    *Closed – requires departmental selection
    The module develops drawing skills that can be used to visually explore and create images and ideas for visual communication. An understanding of structure, form, space and lighting is developed through perceptual exploration of man-made and organic forms, supported by related theory.

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  • Module-inhoud:

    *Closed – requires departmental selection
    Introduction to design as visual form; elements, principles and logic in design; colour and its use as a design tool; analysis, synthesis and application of selected techniques. Introduction to typography: terminology, historical development and basic text forming; typography as direct communication; typography as illustrative entity. Introduction to the design process: originality and conceptual values; research, concept development, visual articulation and design rationales; self-evaluation.

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  • Module-inhoud:

    Foundations of visual culture
    This module introduces art and visual culture theory using a wide range of texts and ideas. The module gives students wide exposure to visual discourses and includes a variety of visual culture examples e.g. artworks, advertisements. These discourses may include:  exploring what visual culture is; modes of analysis; introducing terminology such as ideology and myth; dealing with selected periods from history contextually; introducing cultural icons and themes from popular visual culture.

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  • Module-inhoud:

    Images across media: current issues
    This module presents an introduction into the ways in which images appear across media in contemporary visual culture from a specific African perspective within the global. This is done by means of exploring key modes, themes, genres, platforms and visual texts. Among the media and mediums that may be covered are photography, art, graphic design, advertising, film, documentaries, video, digital and social media. 

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Minimum krediete: 126

To be promoted to the third year of study all core modules must be passed.

Core modules

  • Module-inhoud:

    *Closed – requires departmental selection
    This module allows development of skills necessary for the conceptualisation, visualization and presentation of ideas and images with different meanings and purposes. Areas explored include interpretation of word and image relationships, visual rhetoric, characterisation, diagramming of information, instructional storyboarding and media experimentation.

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  • Module-inhoud:

    *Closed – requires departmental selection
    Introduction to digital technology. Typography and layout: typographic expression; layout systems and structures; integration of image and text. Photography in design. Design as visual communication: expressive and utilitarian dimensions; selected techniques and media. Applications and design problem solving in visual identity, packaging, editorial and promotional design.

    Sien meer

  • Module-inhoud:

    Programme-specific execution of a community-related project.

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  • Module-inhoud:

    Gender, sexuality and visual representation
    Introduction to the representation of sex, gender and sexuality in visual culture.  Gender theory and terminology related to feminism, masculinity studies and lbgtq theory (lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgendered, queer) are unpacked. Themes and issues in gender and identity politics such as the male hero, the nude in late 19th century art, the femme fatale, hysteria, androgyny and transsexuality are dealt with. Sexuality and gender issues across a range of visual cultural such as soaps, sitcoms, artworks, advertisements, fashion, music videos and films are addressed.

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  • Module-inhoud:

    Visual (Post)colonialisms
    This module investigates aspects of Africanness, Afrocentrism, multiculturalism, transnationalism and the African diaspora and studies a cross section of work including traditional art, tourist art and the hybrid aesthetics of contemporary African art and visual culture. The module also focuses on the ideology of imperialism and colonialism and its influence on art and visual culture from the nineteenth century onwards. The influence of postcolonial thinking on the deconstruction of the ideology of colonialism is highlighted with reference to landscape and memory, the exotic and primitivism in South African visual culture.

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Minimum krediete: 160

To be promoted to the fourth year of study all core modules must be passed.

Core modules

  • Module-inhoud:

    *Closed – requires departmental selection
    This module allows for integration of imaging and visualisation with selected Information Design outcomes. Personal approaches to conceptualisation, critical reflection, autographic style and use of media are developed to visually explore and interpret deeper levels of meaning.

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  • Module-inhoud:

    *Closed – requires departmental selection
    Computer proficiency and digital technology as design tool and design medium. Production management: technology and production systems for paper and screen-based media. Design as visual communication: content, audience, media and design strategy. Applications and design problem solving in visual identity, packaging, exhibition, editorial, advertising and promotional design. Individualised design research.

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  • Module-inhoud:

    Post/Modernities: Contemporary discourses
    This module investigates Modernism and Postmodernism as the dominant aesthetic, discursive and visual paradigms of the 20th and 21st centuries. Key concepts in these discourses and counter-discourses are highlighted and explored, such as the creation of modern subjectivity, the beautiful and the sublime, the avant garde, the metaphysics of presence, originality, authorship, hermeneutics, the “language turn”, différance and the so-called “end of art”. Theorist may include: Kant, Heidegger, Derrida and Foucault.

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  • Module-inhoud:

    Visual and virtual spaces 
    Critical decoding of culturally encoded ideas and ideologies embodied in the construction of space, place, and cyberspace in selected Modernist and Postmodernist cultural practices. Topics include spaces of consumption and entertainment such as shopping malls; gender and spatiality; symbolic spaces; surveillance and the architecture of fear. Land art, environmental art and related debates are also addressed. The ways in which real space is virtualised through new technologies; the history and development of virtual reality, virtual communities, the cyborg and cyberpunk, as well as post humanism, are all engaged with specific emphasis on how embodiment and disembodiment are represented visually.

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Minimum krediete: 120

Core modules


General Academic Regulations and Student Rules
The General Academic Regulations (G Regulations) and General Student Rules apply to all faculties and registered students of the University, as well as all prospective students who have accepted an offer of a place at the University of Pretoria. On registering for a programme, the student bears the responsibility of ensuring that they familiarise themselves with the General Academic Regulations applicable to their registration, as well as the relevant faculty-specific and programme-specific regulations and information as stipulated in the relevant yearbook. Ignorance concerning these regulations will not be accepted as an excuse for any transgression, or basis for an exception to any of the aforementioned regulations. The G Regulations are updated annually and may be amended after the publication of this information.

Regulations, degree requirements and information
The faculty regulations, information on and requirements for the degrees published here are subject to change and may be amended after the publication of this information.

University of Pretoria Programme Qualification Mix (PQM) verification project
The higher education sector has undergone an extensive alignment to the Higher Education Qualification Sub-Framework (HEQSF) across all institutions in South Africa. In order to comply with the HEQSF, all institutions are legally required to participate in a national initiative led by regulatory bodies such as the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), the Council on Higher Education (CHE), and the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). The University of Pretoria is presently engaged in an ongoing effort to align its qualifications and programmes with the HEQSF criteria. Current and prospective students should take note that changes to UP qualification and programme names, may occur as a result of the HEQSF initiative. Students are advised to contact their faculties if they have any questions.

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