Course syllabus — AY2026

Time and place:	TBA
Department:	College of Global Liberal Arts, Ritsumeikan University
Credits:	4
Class format:	In person (includes asynchronous online content) *
Instructor:	Professor Paul Haimes (Student office hours TBA)
Instructor email:	haimes [at] fc.ritsumei.ac.jp

* Note that in rare instances, such as disruptions to transportation networks, some classes may be delivered online.

Please read the the below carefully, prior to taking this course. The onus is on students to familiarise themselves with all course policies, deadlines, and expectations outlined in this syllabus. If you have any questions about any of the below, it is your responsibility to seek clarification from the instructor.

Course overview

This course provides a gentle introduction to the fundamentals of visual communication design. Students will learn design theory, concepts, and skills, developing knowledge and understanding of the foundational creative components of visual communication. By emphasizing practical skills relevant to digital industries, students will learn how to utilize design concepts and theories, and use contemporary design applications to create their own digital design works.

This course will be delivered through a series of interactive lectures and hands-on tutorials. The course covers design principles, elements and layouts, as well as file handling for digital media. Through a series of small design projects, students who take this course will put design theory into practice. There will be two design projects, and quizzes and tests, to test your knowledge of the course material. Feedback on assignment work will be given within approximately two weeks, via Moodle. You will also be assessed on your completion of in-class activities.

Please note: GLA students should not take this course if they already passed Design Practice in 2019-2022, as there is significant overlap in the contents and assessments.

Course objectives

Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:

Describe what visual communication design is and its various implementations.
Identify, describe, and analyze the concepts and theories of visual communication, including design composition, elements, and principles, and use of type and various modes of visual depiction.
Apply design concepts and theories to effectively communicate visually to an audience.

What is expected of you

By taking this course, you are committing yourself to the following:

reading all of the course materials
contributing to class discussions
completing the course assessment items

It is expected that you come to class having done any necessary preparation in advance.

What to expect from your instructor

The job of your instructor is to assist you in developing your understanding of the topics, and to help you develop your academic skills more broadly. Your instructor will also grade your assessments, which will include detailed feedback where appropriate. This feedback, which may seem quite critical at times, is intended to help you improve the standard of your work. If you need help, your first port of call should be contacting your instructor — it is their job to help your learning and do all that is feasibly possible to assist you.

Contacting your instructor

Email is the best method of contacting your instructor. Please do not use the course system for contacting your instructor outside of class hours.

Some important points about emailing

On weekdays, email inquiries will be responded to within 24 hours as a general rule.
Generally, emails sent after 6pm on weekdays, on weekends, or on public holidays, will be responded to on the following work day.
If it is the first time for you to email your instructor, make it clear which course you are writing about.
Please use your instructor's title and surname correctly in all email correspondence.
If your email is about the course structure, content, or assignments, it is recommended that you carefully check the course syllabus, course content, or assignment descriptions, prior to emailing your instructor.
Recognise that emails within a university setting to your instructors or university administration staff are formal, professional correspondence, so you should treat them as such ( See a list of professional email etiquette tips here ). Emails that don’t adhere to professional email etiquette will not be responded to.

Course readings

Selected readings from:
Hagen, R., & Golombisky, K. (2024). White space is not your enemy: a beginner’s guide to communicating visually through graphic, web & multimedia design (4th ed.). CRC Press.

This text is available in the library, but also as an ebook via the library website. While it is not necessary to purchase a physical copy of the book, you are encouraged to do so. Previous editions are OK.

Students are expected to read assigned readings before the lectures, and should bear in mind that all course materials (including readings and lecture notes) are relevant to the assessments, including the in-class exams.

Software

For this class, we will use Adobe Express, which is available for free online (requires login). See more here about working with design software in the tutorial sessions of this course.

Regarding electronic devices

As a general rule, you should not use electronic devices in class, with the exception of using laptops for the portion of the classes where we are doing course-related tasks. When taking notes in class, paper is best, though tablet devices are OK if you are taking notes with a stylus pen.
Phones are immensely distracting to you, those around you, and your instructor(s) — please leave them in your bag during the class period.
To ensure a respectful and focused learning environment, please do not use headphones during lectures, as this is discourteous to both your instructor(s) and fellow students.

Weekly schedule

Note that the below schedule will be conducted over 13 weeks, with one additional session containing a week's worth of asynchronous content.

Week	Topic	Lecture (Monday)	Tutorial (Wednesday)
1	Introduction (Reading Chapter 1)	September 28	September 30
2	Design research, design history (Reading Chapter 2)	October 5	October 7
3	What not to do in design (Reading Chapters 3–4)	October 12 (Online)	October 14
4	Design elements and principles (Reading Chapter 5)	October 19	October 21
5	Typography (Reading Chapter 7)	October 26	October 28
6	Typography (continued) Asynchronous session. Watch: Helvetica (2007)	Online	Online
7	Typography (continued)	November 2	November 4
8	Colour theory (Reading Chapter 8) In-class Exam #1 (Tutorial)	November 9	November 11
9	Revision week Design Project 1 draft due in tutorial	November 16	November 18
10	Images in design (Reading Chapter 9)	November 23 (Online)	November 25
11	Images in design (continued)	November 30	December 2
12	Layouts (Reading Chapter 6)	December 7	December 9
13	Infographics (Reading Chapter 10) In-class Exam #2 (Tutorial)	December 14	December 16
14	Course review Design Project 2 draft due in tutorial	December 21	December 23

Further information regarding the schedule

Monday classes will be interactive lectures, while Wednesday classes will be tutorials, focused on working with design software. Please bring your PC to all tutorial sessions.
Note that asynchronous content in Week 6 is material that could be covered in both of the in-class exams, so should be reviewed before the tutorial session of Week 8. The content will also be part of in-class and/or online discussion prior to the first exam.
Note that this schedule may change due to unforeseen circumstances. However, the overall topics and methods of assessment will not change. Students will be notified online immediately of any changes after the commencement of semester.
Please confirm all assignment deadlines on Moodle. Students are responsible for ensuring that their own work is completed and submitted on time.

Assessments

Design project #1: 20%
Design project #2: 35%
In-class exams: 30%
In-class activities: 15%

Important notices regarding assignment work

All submitted work will be checked for plagiarism. Any suspected plagiarism will be investigated and may result in an F for the assignment and/or the course. Note that use of artificial intelligence to write or rewrite assignment material, unless otherwise specified, is also a form of plagiarism. Please read the GLA policy on academic misconduct thoroughly.
File management is your responsibility. Check that your submission is complete and in the correct format before the deadline. If any components are missing, or are unable to be read or executed in the necessary format, it may adversely affect your grade, and could result in a zero for the assessment. Save and back up your work regularly.
All assignments are to be submitted electronically and should be uploaded to Moodle. Due to the 20MB limit on Moodle, students may upload larger files to their Microsoft OneDrive account and share a link with their instructor.
Students are not allowed to submit assignments for this course if they have been submitted in other courses.

Further information regarding assessments

Details of assessments, including due dates, will be announced in class. Feedback for all assessment items will be given through Moodle and, where appropriate, in-person. Feedback on assignments will generally be returned within two weeks (10 working days), unless notified otherwise.
All written work should use APA 7 referencing format. You can find a "quickstart" guide at http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~haimes/publications/citation.pdf. A more comprehensive resource is the official APA 7 guide at https://apastyle.apa.org.
Exams cover 1-3 of the course objectives. The design projects cover all of the course objectives. Engagement in class activities is also relevant to all of the course objectives.

Design project #1

This is an exercise primarily in typography. Also important is your application of design elements and principles. You are to design a menu based on the constraints and details given in class. The submission should also include evidence of brainstorming and sketches. A draft and sketches will be shown in class, as per the schedule.

Design project #2

This is an exercise in layout, imagery, and typography. Also important is your application of design elements and principles. You are to design a feature story layout based on the constraints and details given in class. The submission should also include evidence of brainstorming and sketches. A draft and sketches will be shown in class, as per the schedule.

In-class exams

Two small in-class exams will be given to test students’ knowledge of the course material. The mid-term exam will be worth 10%, while the end of semester exam will be worth 20%.

In-class activities

There will be several practical activities in this course. Students will be graded based on whether they submit the work by 7pm on the day of the class or not.

Late policy

Students are responsible for meeting all deadlines as set by the course instructor. If a student cannot meet the submission deadline as specified by the course instructor the assignment will be deducted 5% (per 100 marks) for each 24 hour period passed. Any submission within a 24 hour period counts as the entirety of that period. Assignments will not be accepted for evaluation if the assignment is submitted five or more days late unless specified otherwise by the course instructor. Late assignments may receive fewer comments as feedback.

Furthermore, students should realise that deadlines are not just for students, but for instructors to help manage their time. Late assignments are frankly an inconvenience, and instructors are doing you a favour when they accept work submitted late. It's expected that students provide a compelling reason why they are submitting work late.

In the case of request for a makeup assessment or extension due to extenuating circumstances, students must consult the instructor in charge of the course. In such cases, students should contact the instructor prior to the deadline or in-class assessments.

Other policies

For the full list of academic policies, refer to the GLA Academic Handbook. Click here to see the Curriculum Map and Course Numbering: http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp//students/pathways-future/course/curriculum.html.