Visual Communication Design – Tips to get a 40+ in Visual Communication and Design:
Hi guys! Here’s my advice to score high is visual communication and design (VCD). I particularly scored a 43 in VCD during 2021, so I wanted to give some tips on how to possibly achieve those high marks or how to boost your current marks. You could be aiming for a 25, a 38, a 42, etc. Whatever your goal is, I hope this can help in some way.
Resources:
Textbook -> I used the Nelson Net VCD textbook, as that was the one I had to use for the subject. I found it to be a decent textbook with plenty of helpful information about design fields, design history, elements and principles, digital design, folio tips, etc. It does however have a lot of excess information that is helpful for your understanding and to aid in skill improvement. Like any subject, you’ll need to be able to work out which information is important to remember/memorise for exam/SAC contexts. I would definitely use the study design as a checklist, and make use of the definitions/information given in the cross specifications section of the study design. Overall, I don’t think you can go too wrong with textbooks for VCD, as they will all be quite in depth and have a lot of excess content anyway.
Online resources -> There is very little online resources for VCD. I did make use of the Edrolo videos my school gave me excess to, especially during my exam study to consolidate my theory knowledge without getting to lost in all the information in the textbook.
Class PPT -> If your teacher makes PPTs with lots of information, use it. It is likely taken from the textbook in a condensed form. Good teachers will know their stuff, so make use of these PPTs to help strengthen your theory knowledge and your folio skills.
Teachers -> They are your number one resource! Honestly, don’t underestimate the power of asking questions and getting feedback. Of course, when it comes to SACs and the SAT, they can be slightly limited (they can’t give you answers), but they can help you if your struggling or need ideas on what to change with your designs. Also make the most of your SAC feedback to improve your writing, and send them samples to look at to see if you’re on the right track. The same goes for practice exams. Get them to mark some and look over your responses (this is one thing I wish I did more of). Please please please don’t ignore them. They’re there to help you and the more feedback you can get, the better.
SAC tips:
For year 12 VCD, there are design analysis SACs and a SAC on design in contexts. The SACs will likely be very straight forward, but they require good writing skills, a strong understanding of what makes up good designs (elements and principles, field, specialist practitioners, impacts on intended audience, etc.). Make sure to do lots of practice. You can try making a table that outlines all the areas that needs to be covered in your response. I would include the following -> Type of visual communication (what it is), purpose and its effect, intended audience, context and its impact, design elements and their impact, design principles and their effect with design elements, methods and their effect/why they were chosen, media and its visual effect, and materials. Of course, check with your teacher what they are looking for. I would recommend using Pinterest, google images and/or design gallery websites to find images to practice, and ensure that you practice all the fields of design. With the design in contexts SAC, make sure you have a strong understanding of the roles of people involved in design projects (design, client, specialists from different fields with examples, etc.), factors involved in design (social, cultural, ethical, environmental, economic, legal, etc.), and legal elements (copyright, patents, registered designs, trademarks, etc. and where they are applied). Your teacher and textbook should go through this thoroughly with you.
SAC design projects:
These have a pretty low weighting, but they’re really important in allowing you to see which fields of design you enjoy working with the most, and they help you strengthen your design process skills. Definitely have fun with them, but make sure you work hard to mimic sort of what you would do if it was your SAT (just on a much smaller scale). I wouldn’t stress too much about them.
Folio tips:
The folio or SAT project is the big beast of year 12 VCD (more so than the exam I think). If you want to do well at VCD, you need to be prepared to pour many hours into your SAT folio because of its high weighting. Of course, don’t burn yourself out in the process. However, folio subjects are not easy and your folio is going to take lots and lots of effort if you want to achieve those high grades (i.e. A or A+). Here are some important tips:
- Annotations are really important. Not only are they important, but good annotations are essential to not only boost your marks but to also help guide you through the design process. Make sure you move away from statements surrounding “this feelings” and “I like”. Basically, avoid anything that’s too subjective, especially when annotating your research and need to craft them in a more analytical manner (since more first-person types of annotations are needed for the development and refinement sections to explain your process of creating your design). Ask your teacher if you’re not too sure, but this really just take practice. You’ll notice that over time your annotations improve and become more specific and intricate. Also, make sure to not over do the annotations, because it's unnecessary and takes up a lot of time. Just include what’s needed to ensure your design process and ideas are clear.
- Trial lots of different types of methods, media, and materials. Of course, don’t go too overboard, but make sure you choose a variety as it will aid in your design process dramatically. Don’t settle for what’s easy. Try things. Fail at things and write about it. It really shows that you’ve put lots of thought into your designs. I would recommend making a list of everything you want to trial so you don’t forget anything, since the development stage is quite intense.
- The pitch and getting feedback are both super important components of your folio. You need to prioritise these just as much as any other design process stage. I can’t tell you how much getting feedback improved my designs. It allows you to see slight flaws in your designs that you wouldn’t have otherwise noticed. Make sure to carefully collate it so that you can go back to it when you need. Also make sure you’re clear with what changes you plan to make in response to the feedback.
- Make sure you get plenty of feedback along the way, especially from your teacher, to ensure you’re on the right track.
- For communication design particularly, make sure you trial different types of printed paper. I used Officeworks to print my designs, but it was quite stressful uploading everything. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time so you can assess which paper medium you want for your final design and can make any tweaks if required. Also, PRINT MULTIPLE COPIES in case something goes wrong.
- Don’t leave things last minute! I mean, this is a given for any subject, but please don’t do this with your folio. You will be so stressed on top of all the other stress mounting on top of you as you finish up all your other subjects. Make lists and ensure you’ve ticked off all the folio requirements. That way you can hopefully get a good night’s sleep before handing it in.
- REMEMBER TO BACK UP YOUR DIGITAL WORK!!!!!! Make sure you regularly back up your work to a USB in case something happens. You really don't want to loose all of your folio work!
Exam preparation tips:
- Make sure you brush up your theory notes and ensure that they are concise. I spent a decent amount of time making sure I understood the content. There isn’t a lot that you need to memories, but you need to have a good understanding of the theory that the stipulated by the study design.
- Info to probably memories: Elements and Principles, Purposes, Design fields, legal info (just know what copyright, registered designs, trademarks, patents and moral rights are).
- Practice is key! I would complete as many exams as you can, but at the same time, don’t go to over board. I did roughly 10 – 12 practice exams in full (it’s been a while so I can’t quite remember). I did mostly VCAA exams, but I threw in a few company ones for good measure. At first, you don’t need to do them under timed conditions necessarily, but work on ensuring you know how to answer different types of questions/know what is required by certain questions. I would aim to do a majority timed.
- You don’t just have to do practice exams in full. I went through the VCAA exams and printed out a tone of rendering and drawing questions to practice (especially from the old exams). I then first practiced rendering different materials on a plain piece of paper before trying a VCAA question. The first one I did was not timed, but afterwards, I started timing myself until I could complete the rendering in 9 minutes (since most are 9 markers).
- Ask your teacher for drawing worksheets to practice converting between different types of drawings (e.g., orthogonal to isometric). Make sure to practice every possible combination and ask your teacher for help if needed.
- Make sure to refer to the drawing specification document by VCAA, as it provides you with information on the different forms of design drawings and the rules/regulations around them. Some are not very applicable in an exam setting, but most are. You need to know how scales work, and don’t forget how to do the orthogonal drawing icon! This document is also super helpful for your folio too!
Rendering tips:
- Do grey lead first and put the colour on top. Coloured pencils suck at creating good tone. That's what your grey leads are for!
- Do the tone, then the texture, and lastly the colour
- Make sure you have plenty of coloured pencils with you in case (but not too many because it might be hard to find them in the exam).
Analytical question tips:
- Just keep practicing them. Look back at your design analysis SACs and make sure you review the VCD content regularly. I basically printed out copies of my summarised notes and stuck them up on my wardrobe to practice active recall (or just went through them at my desk and tried to recall what I could before looking back at my notes).
- Get feedback from your teacher! Get them to mark these questions and also make sure to read the exemplar responses on the VCAA examiner reports. I wish I did this more!
- Try to be as concise as you can. This will come with practice. You simply just have the time to write lots, because it’s practically a mark per minute (and that’s not giving you time at the end to review your exam answers).
Reading time tips:
- Do the multiple choice in your head and choose your answers. This will give you an extra 4 minutes in the exam writing time! Don’t overthink them since they’re meant to be straight-forward.
- I would briefly look through the other questions and drawing tasks, but don’t spend too much time with them.
- I would then look at the design task and start thinking of ideas. Once you’ve spent some time with the question parts, you can go back to the other questions.
- I would recommend 5 minutes on the MCQs and questions other than the design task, and then 10 minutes on the design task. However, that said, work out what’s best for you and your exam technique. Just don’t change it up in the exam because it might throw you off.
Other exam tips:
- Make sure you have all the materials you need (grey lead and coloured pencils, pens, sharpener, eraser, ruler, set squares, etc.). Check the VCAA exam materials page to find what you need.
- If your stuck on a question, move on. You don’t have the time because you need to be spending a minute at most on each mark. However, try not to leave anything blank. Even if you just attempt 1 mark for a 4 marker, it’s better than nothing. Just remember to not panic (I did this for one of the questions, which threw me off a bit).
- When practicing questions, you’ll start to learn what VCAA is looking for. Try and have a good idea of how you want to structure your answers, as this will help you in the exam.
I hope these tips help. VCD is a tough subject, but it can also be super rewarding a fun. If you have any questions, let me know below and I’ll try to answer them as best as possible.
