TGMCDC: Core

Module code: TGMCDC

Module provider: Typography; School of Arts and Comm Design

Credits: 20

Level: Postgraduate Masters

When you'll be taught: Semester 1 / 2

Module convenor: Dr Ruth Blacksell, email: r.e.blacksell@reading.ac.uk

Module co-convenor: Mrs Josefina Bravo, email: j.bravo@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 20 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module introduces students to key concepts in Communication Design with particular emphasis on areas aligning to the Department's expertise. It covers relevant areas of typographic history and theory, and it explores the formation of distinct areas of discourse aligned to aspects of practice. The module provides an underpinning for the interrogation of collections and archives and introduces key narratives that contextualise and enrich design practice. The module helps students to discover for themselves conceptual tools and vocabularies with which to develop and articulate independent critical thought. It enables students to approach design practice from a position of critical awareness and through the employment of frameworks for evaluation and reflection. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Draw on broad historical, theoretical and technical perspectives in specified areas of Communication Design.
2. Identify and explain the main currents of thought in specified areas in Communication Design, engaging critically with current discourse, policy and practice.
3. Locate, critically review and evaluate published literature associated with a specified research topic. Write clearly and use illustrations effectively to explain and reinforce an argument in written work.
4. Critically reflect upon the needs of readers and develop an understanding of the application of evaluation methods.

Module content

Students take part in a series of weekly staff-led sessions, to examine and discuss resources from the Department’s own collections and the University’s Special Collections. These sessions provide contextual material, and underpin students’ engagement with issues across typographic theory, history, and practice and the material aspects of Communication Design. The sessions align with the pathways on offer within the programme and feed directly into topics for the assessed written essay assignment of this module. The sessions also help to inform contextual considerations for practical work , and make explicit reference to collections-based academic research conducted in the Department.Within the teaching sessions and in researching their own topics for the written essay assignment, Students are encouraged to develop an awareness of current issues in design discourse, the interaction of technological developments and social conditions globally, and issues of inclusion and diversity in the field. 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

In Semester 1, students receive pathway-specific reading lists and preparatory advice for their individually assigned topics. These assigned topics will form the basis of the students’ own written essay assignments, which are supported through a combination of sessions from the University Librarians,  tutorials with their individual Pathway Lead tutors and a series of ‘key skills’ group seminars to guide and instruct on approaches to writing and research. Throughout Semesters 1 and 2, students attend weekly staff-led sessions to examine and discuss resources from the Department and University collections. These in-person sessions align with the Programme’s pathways and with the individual topics of the students’ own written essay assignments. The students also attend an in-person practical digital photography workshop which provides instruction on the visual recording of collections artefacts as a means to generate supporting figures for written work. At the end of Semester 2, the students submit their completed written essay assignments.  

Study hours

At least 60 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 50% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Students take part in seminars and workshops that provide an opportunity for feedback on their initial questions. Pathway Lead tutors provide feedback on interim work by commenting on drafts and/or through discussion in mutually arranged tutorials leading up to the submission of the final work. 

Reassessment

Additional costs