C1. Form/Function
C1.1. Interpretation and decoding
C1.2. Meanings and creation (ambiguity and adequacy)
C2. Methodology
C2.1. Design Process (understand, research, idealize, formalize)
C3. Composition. Abstraction and Figuration
Visual elements of communication (point, line, shape, direction, tone, colour, texture, scale,
movement)
C3.2. Visual communication techniques. Dichotomy of concepts
C3.3. Theory of Form / Gestalt
C3.4. Visual elements organization (structure, weight, hierarchy, scale, format, balance, contrast,
movement)
C3.5 Elements combination (multiply, increase, decrease, invert, rotate)
C4. Colour
C4.1. Physics and components of colour (hue, lightness, saturation and temperature).
C4.2 Colour systems: RGB (additive synthesis), CMYK (subtractive synthesis), Hexadecimal
(numeral system)
C4.3 Chromatic circle (primary, secondary and complementary colours), chromatic contrasts and
interaction of colours
C4.4 Symbology of colour
C5. Introduction to the development of Signs
C5.1. syntactic, semantic and pragmatic
C5.2. formal attributes, structure, simplification
C5.3 Family of objects
C 6. Introduction to the creation of Movement
C6.1. Cut out and frame by frame
C6.2. Visual relationship of elements in space and coordination of movement
C6.3. Digital storytelling
C7. Typographic Expressiveness
C7.1. Shape, contrast, body size
C7.2 Meaning, expressivity and semantic reinforcement

C1. Drawing as an instrument of perception and communication
C1.1. The Drawing functions
C1.2. Drawing materials, instruments and media
C2. Representation Systems
C2.1. Observation drawing – analysis and representation
C2.2. The contour drawing and the spot drawing
C2.3. the tonal values in drawing and the study of volume
C2.4. the importance of visual framing. The Composition
C3. From two-dimensional to three-dimensional
C3.1. The study of space and depth Axonometric perspectives Conic perspectives
C4. Modes of Representation and Narrative Design
C4.1. Time in Drawing
C4.2. Body, Gesture, Space
C4.3. Analogies between traditional drawing and computer mediated drawing
C4.4. the graphic diary and the importance of continuous drawing practice

C1. Introduction to Typography
C1.1 What is Typography;
C1.2. Typography and visual communication;
C1.3. The Latin Alphabet;
C1.4. A Brief History of Typography.
C2. Character Representation
C2.1. Written letterforms;
C2.1.1. Western writing utensils: nibs and nib-points;
C2.1.2. Types of construction: interrupted and continuous;;
C2.1.3. Types of contrast: translation, rotation and expansion;
C2.1.4. Historical Calligraphic Models
C2.2. The Drawing Letterforms;
C2.1 Tools and Techniques
C3. Printed Letterforms
C3.1. Anatomy of typefaces;
C3.2 Upper and Lowercase;
C3.3. Contrast and Stress;
C3.4 Size, Weight;
C3.5. Proportion;
C3.6 Typeface Classification;
C3.7 Shape and Counter.
C3.8. Metal type vs Digital type;
C3.9. Typographic Measures

C1. What kind of activity is Design?
C1.1 What is enlightenment?
C1.1.1. The thought of Design: autonomous, free, public.
C1.2. The object of Design: how to analyse?
C2. Thought within the framework of design theory.
C2.1 Stages of the design project.
C2.1.1. From linear and individual approach to iterative and collaborative approach.
C2.2 Characterization of the notions of process, project and design methodology.
C2.2.1. Proposed guidelines for critical thinking to apply in design practice: the articulation of triad,
methodology, project and process.
C3. Research and experimentation in design practice.
Planning research as a form of experimentation.
Interpreting and understanding the Design problem as an indeterminate problem.
C4. Is Design a ‘black box’?
C4.1. Vilém Flusser’s thought, the impact of language and technique in contemporary life.

C1. Introduction;
C1.1 Types of images;
C1.2 Color Modes;
C1.3 File Formats;
C2. Image Capture;
C2.1 Fundamentals of operating a digital camera: diaphragm, shutter, ISO sensitivity, photometer,
histogram, depth of field, file quality, color temperature of light, types of lenses;
C3. Bitmap image and post-production of digital photography;
C3.1. Selection, Transformation, Retouching and Painting tools;
C3.2. Layers, channels, adjustments and styles;
C3.3 Masks;
C3.4. Smart object;
C3.5 Text;
C3.6 Levels, curves;
C3.7. colour balance;
C3.8 Hue and saturation.
C3.9 Resizing files;
C4. Vector image;
C4.1. layers;
C4.2 Creating and Editing Basic Shapes (open and closed);
C4.3 Fill and stroke;
C4.4. Composite segment;
C4.4 Styles and Swatches;
C4.5. masks and blends;
C4.6. text.

C1. The Brand;
C1.1. Brand and Brand Identity;
C1.2. Meaning, vision, values, differentiation, coherence and flexibility;
C1.3. Brand Architecture;
C1.4. Verbal Representation of the Brand;
C1.5. Visual Language of the Brand;
C1.5.1. Basic and complementary elements;
C1.5.2. Brand types;
C1.6. Sound Branding;
C1.7. Brand Animation;
C2. Applications:
C2.1. signatures;
C2.2. declinations;
C2.3. stationary; C2.4;
C2.4. website; C2.5;
C2.5. social networks;
C3. Graphic Standards Manual:
C3.1. Graphic shapes;
C3.2; Construction grid;
C3.3. Typography;
C3.4 Colors;
C3.5. Application to backgrounds;
C3.6 Safety area;
C3.7. minimum size;
C4. Presentation of brand identity.

C1. Scientific Illustration;
C1.1 Visual and graphic references for scientific illustration;
C1.2. traditional techniques of scientific illustration;
C1.3. The creation of scientific illustration;
C2. Editorial Illustration;
C2.1. visual and graphic references of editorial illustration;
C2.2. narrative and picture books;
C2.3. illustration for newspapers, books, magazines;
C2.4. techniques;
C2.5. The creation of an illustrated book;
C3. Illustration and Persuasion;
C3.1. visual and graphic references of persuasion illustration;
C3.1. The poster as an object of promotion;
C3.2. illustration in the creation of a poster;
C3.3. techniques;
C3.4. the creation of illustration for poster;
C4. Illustration and Identity;
C4.1. Visual and graphic references for illustration and identity;
C4.2. The creation of an illustration capable of assigning identity.

C1. Microtypography;
C1.1 Readability and legibility.
C1.2 Notions of Color and Texture
C1.3 Relationships of microtypography;
C1.4 Relations between macro and microtypography;
C1.5 Opentype features
C1.6 Optical Scales
C1.7 H&J’s;
C1.8 Paragraphs;
C2. Printed Publications;
C2.1 Format: proportion and size;
C2.2 Construction of the type area;
C2.3 Layout;
C2.4 Grids;
C2.5 Typographic Hierarchies;
C2.6 Preliminary, textual and post-textual elements
C3. Digital Publications;
C3.1 Fixed, fluid and adaptive formats;
C3.2 Typography for screen;
C3.3; Digital Formats;
C3.4 Interactivity;
C3.5. Production.

C1. Visual culture, design and a complex world to ‘design’;
C1.1. What is meant by “visual culture”: brief fundamentals;
C1.2. Graphic Design and contemporary visual culture: analysis of practices;
C2. Visual culture as way(s) of seeing the world;
Visual representation and identity policies; C2.2;
Design, visual culture and power: contemporary challenges;
C3. Remixed visual culture;
C3.1. Performative aspects of networked visual communication;
Visual culture and connectivity: participatory practices;
C4. Visual culture in debate;
C4.1 Forum for collective presentation of results and critical discussion.

C1. Video cameras operation: constituent elements and basic functions;
C2. The principle of cinema under the sign of the plane-sequence. The plan as a composition of the
forms of the physical world, transfigured by the videographic device;
C3. Basic elements of the composition of the video image. The attention to the frame: control of light,
colour, camera movement and characters, through the practice of audiovisual composition and
experimental recognition of its effects;
C4. The sound in audiovisual: direct sound capture, Foley and audio post-production;
C5. From the single plan to the montage. The classic planning and articulation of points of view.
Structure and Mise-en-scéne;
C6. The practice of montage as composition of the structure and work of continuity and discontinuity
time;
C7. Narrative structures, their differences and implications.

C1. Forms of Editorial Design: books and periodicals, printed and digital and other special formats;
C2. Creation of a communication concept;
C3. Anatomy of a publication;
C3.1 Identity and visual expression;
C3.2. formats, size and context of usage
C3.3. Cover
C3.3. The inside pages;
C4. Layout components;
C4.1. Layout;
C4.2. Visual hierarchy;
C4.3. Image – illustration, photography and animated image;
C4.4 Relations between image and typography;
C5. Mockup;
C6. Digital publications;
C6.1 Navigation, interactivity and accessibility;
C6.2 Iconography;
C6.3. Style guides and components;
C6.4. Interactive prototype;
C6.5. Usability tests and accessibility tests.

C1. Fundamentals of motion graphics;
C2. Storyboard and Animatic for digital animation;
C3. Analysis of different case studies;
C4. Introduction to the work environment;
C5. Creation and manipulation of graphic and typographic elements;
C6. Visual composition;
C7. Timeline, expression and parameters;
C8. Digital and procedural animation techniques;
C9. Cameras and lighting;
C10. Rendering and exporting in different formats;
C11. Presentation of digital animation.

C1. History and culture of Design;
C1.1 Modern assumptions of design;
C1.1.1. science and objectivity; economy; industrialization;
C1.2 Major currents in the History of Design;
C1.2.1 Romanticism and subjectivity;
C1.2.1.1. Image: color, aesthetic experience, language;
C1.2.1.2. Expression: from avant-garde to Bauhaus;
C1.2.2 Functionalism: from objectivity to information;
C1.2.3 Styling and the image society;
C2. Graphism and Typography in History;
C2.1. The graphism as an inscription and its evolution;
C2.1.2. From oral culture to typography;
C2.1.2. techniques of engraving and printing;
C2.2. Typography and Modernity;
C2.2.1. Renaissance: the printing in the dissemination of knowledge;
C2.2.2. Gutenberg;
C2.2.3. The typographic design;
C2.2.4. The codification of the book;
C2.2.5. the industrial typography;
C3. History of Graphic Design;
C3.1. From ‘graphic arts’ to design (1890-1914);
C3.2. The Vanguards and Modernism I (1914-1940);
C3.2.1. National trends until 1940;
C3.2.2. Designer and Artistic Director (1930s);
C3.2.3. Variants of Modernism in Europe;
C3.3. Psychedelism, contestation, New Wave (60s-70s);
C3.4. Postmodernism and digital technology (1970s-80s);
C3.5 Grunge Design (1990s);
C3.6. Multimedia and digital support

Conditional option curricular units can be offered among those that operate in all ESAD.CR courses — within the constraints established by each curricular plan.

Fundamentals and stages of development:
C1. The contemporary digital media and digital interfaces;
C2. Historical framework of HCI (Human Computer Interaction);
C3. UX (User Experience) and UI (User Interface);
C4. Usability, interaction and accessibility;
C5. User Research – personas, user stories and journey maps;
C6. Interactive narrative and Storyboard;
C7. Information Architecture;
C8. Graphic language;
C9. Wireframe, mock-ups and prototypes;
C10. Usability tests and accessibility tests.
Technical development:
B11. Grid systems, anatomy and types;
B12. Principles of Typography use;
B13. Principles of Images;
B13. Prototyping – Interactivity creation

C1. Information Design Systems – diagrams, infographics and signage systems;
C2. Processing and graphic representation of verbal, numerical and statistical data in analogue and
digital formats
C3. Translation alphanumeric data in a lexivisual system;
C4. Synthesising graphic information – from complexity to simplification;
C5. Components and project development of an information system composed of pictograms and
infographics;
C5.1 Communication using pictograms
C5.2 Translation of concepts, verbs or places through the systematic design of the pictogram design
to be applied on an infographic
C5.3 Creating a family of pictograms for a system;
C5.4 Graphic elements and visual codes of an infographic;
C5.5 Visual communication systems that disseminate dynamically;
C6. Components and project development of a wayfinding system:
C6.1 Researching and processing information from the users of a public space;
C6.2 Information mapping, translation of statistical, geographic and/or other data;
C6.3 Identification of the hierarchy of functions of the space;
C6.4 Elaboration of a communication strategy for that space;
C6.5 Selection of typographic, chromatic, pictographic and production materials;
C6.6 Planning the placement of information in a public space, in analogue and digital format;
C6.7 Visualizing the information of the space in a dynamic way.

C1. Introduction to Computational Design;
C2. Introduction to the programming environment;
C3. Representation:
C3.1 Drawing and geometric shapes;
C3.2 Colour;
C3.3 Typography;
C3.4 Images;
C4. Control and Logic:
C4.1 Variables;
C4.2 Arithmetic operators and calculus functions;
C4.3 Conditions, relation and logic operators;
C4.4 Cycles and iteration;
C4.5 Functions;
C4.6 Arrays and objects;
C4.8 Errors and the console;
C5. Dynamism:
C5.1 Interaction;
C5.2 Animation.
In addition to the mentioned, may be taught content that arise from specific needs of the project and
the scope of the course unit.

C1. Introduction to the 3D environment;
C2. Three-dimensional modelling techniques;
C3 Creating and applying materials;
C4. Expression and animation;
C5. Techniques of digital and procedural animation;
C6. Lighting and environments;
C7. Cameras and visual composition;
C8. Rendering and post-production.

C1. Communication Theory: fundamental models for Design.
C1.1 Instrumental models.
C1.2 Constructivist and environmental models of communication.
C2. Environmental models of communication and the ecology of the media.
C2.1 The technological dimension and the language – the necessity of a media critique.
C2.2. Experience, mediation and design.
C3. Cultural Semiotics
C3.1 Semiotics and Design: fundamental authors and basic notions.
C3.2 Methodologies of discourse analysis: proposals of the school of Paris.
C4. Social semiotics, discursivity and digital media.
C4.1. Multimodal semiotics and functional analysis.
C4.2. The pragmatics of Design

Free option curricular units can be chosen by students among those that operate in all ESAD.CR courses — within the constraints established by each curricular plan.

C1. Flexible Visual Systems:
C1.1 Static vs. dynamic identity;
C1.2 Categories of systems – container, variable background, modular, formulated, customizable and
generative;
C1.3 Dynamic applications;
C2. Advertising:
C2.1. the message;
C2.2 Concept and idea;
C2.3. multidisciplinary team;
C2.4. the art direction;
C2.5. writing text for advertising;
C3. Graphic structures for advertising communication;
C4. Integrated campaigns:
C4.1. Communication design as a unifying element of communication;
C4.2. The poster, mupi, outdoor, press ad, promotional film, radio communication;
C4.3. Communication for digital media;
C4.4 Social Networks;
C4.5. Alternative media.

C1. Artificial Intelligence (AI):
C1.1 Artificial Intelligence as an assistant in the creative process;
C1.2 Prompt Design for the exploration of AI tools;
C1.3 The interface beyond the prompt;
C1.4 The combination of results with other software and/or multiple AI technologies.
C2. The use of a game engine as a Communication Design tool:
C2.1 Introduction to the working environment;
C2.2 Inclusion of objects and object movement;
C2.3 Scenario and 3D models;
C2.4 Sound and lighting;
C2.5 Output of the project.
C3. Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality (AR/VR):
C3.1 Fundamentals and basic principles of AR/VR;
C3.2 Software configurations for implementation;
C3.3 Interactions and events in AR/VR;
C3.4 Optimization of AR/VR project;
C3.5 Output of the AR/VR project.

C1. Art, design and technical image;
C2. Analog image and digital image;
C3. The remix theory;
C4. Performative aspects of network communication;
C5. The culture of connectivity: participatory practices.

Conditional option curricular units can be offered among those that operate in all ESAD.CR courses — within the constraints established by each curricular plan.

Free option curricular units can be chosen by students among those that operate in all ESAD.CR courses — within the constraints established by each curricular plan.

C1. Design of integrated communication systems;
C1.1 Advanced Human Centered Design methodologies;
C1.2 Service design;
C1.3 Specific contexts of use: cultural, commercial and educational;
C2. Contemporary transversal communication strategies;
C3. Design as a sociocultural phenomenon;
C3.1 Socio-cultural phenomena and its contextualization within the communication design.
C4. The design as a communication device;
C5. Curatorship and exhibition in communication design;
C6. Portfolio.

C1. The importance of Communication Design in contemporary society;
C2. The education of the communication designers;
C3. The role of communication designers in society and in the market;
C4. The institutionalization of the professionalization of the Design of Communication: past and
present;
C5. Regulatory Entities of the Profession;
C6. National and international legislation on the regulation of the profession, advertising, propaganda
and the media;
C7. The professional responsibility of the communication designers;
C8. The relationship between designers and their peers and partners;
C9. The different budgetary and legal aspects to consider when preparing a project;
C10. The social responsibility of communication design;
C11. Communication Design and Citizenship.

Final synthesis discipline which promotes the initiation to individual, tutorial and autonomous research
of a critical and theoretical nature and which, simultaneously, prepares for entry to the 2nd cycle or
allows a reasoned synthesis by the students of what is their future field of action as designers. The
various shifts can be taught by teachers with different profiles and the students should enrol in shifts
according to these profiles. Some classes should be reserved for sessions on research
methodologies to be taught by teachers with research experience. In a first lesson the different
approaches of the shifts should be presented.
C1. Theoretical and analytical seminars
C2. Research-research seminars
C3. Seminars with guest experts

Free option curricular units can be chosen by students among those that operate in all ESAD.CR courses — within the constraints established by each curricular plan.

Free option curricular units can be chosen by students among those that operate in all ESAD.CR courses — within the constraints established by each curricular plan.