Study program/study programs: Computer Multimedia

Study type and level: Undergraduate applied studies

Course title: Visual basics

Course status: compulsory

ECTS: 5

Course objectives

The objective of the Visual basics course is introducing students to the basic elements of visual world and visual perception. By studying the basic visual elements and principles, and the analysis of relevant artistic and designer solutions, students will learn how to recognize these elements and use them to create complex visual compositions. Students will also master the basic elements of the material form, space and light, as well as concepts of two-dimensionality and three-dimensionality, which represent the basis of any visual and creative expression. By familiarizing themselves with all these elements and principles, they will develop inventiveness through analytical thinking, thus creatively solving and interpreting the essence of these ideas. Finally, through detailed and comprehensive studying of visual elements, as well as practical and theoretical classes, students will learn to recognize and integrate visual elements into more creative design solutions, using latest, technologically complex processes.  

Course outcomes

In this course, students will learn the fundamentals of visual language through an overview of the greatest and most valuable examples of art and design in history. They will learn the basic elements and principles of visual language and master the modeling of two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects and forms through practical work. They will learn the principles of visual perception and how information we receive through our senses from the external stimuli impact the creation of judgments – our opinions on something. They will also learn the basic principles of visual perception on the examples of Gestalt psychology and its principles. Examples and practical classes will allow them to learn the basic elements that make a form, as well as principles that make a more complex structure of a whole – composition. They will apply a research-analytical approach to observe and identify all these elements and principles in the works of art and design, both on forms and more complex wholes – compositions. They will also master the principles of infinity of space, proportions and perspective. They will learn how to determine the relationship between a figure and their background, as well as between a character (figure) and a transitional figure created as a new value from this interrelation. Students will also learn the principles of light, reflection and refraction of light that generate light-dark relations and their gradation known as tonal value, as well as about color as one of the most important elements of visual perception that, although a nonmaterial phenomenon, strongly impacts our emotions. They will learn that the rules and principles for matching colors, and their harmonious and contrasting relations impact us, both emotionally and psychologically, and how to apply this knowledge in practice. They will also learn to correctly select elements and principles, and to apply them in the creative process. They will learn that knowledge is synthesized through the relationship of all applied elements and principles, and be able to shape and express their ideas in an articulate and creative manner.    

Course content

The course is designed to combine lectures and practical classes, so students could best understand and master the fundamentals of this important and complex language. The course begins with introductory lectures on the principles of visual perception, analysis of visual and designer works, as well as the introduction to the basic elements of visual language. Students will familiarize themselves with the basic elements of visual expression: point, line, surface– character, (figure and background), position, proportion, texture, light, color, tonal value, form, etc. They will also be introduced to the basic principles of composition, such as: harmony, contrast, composition, symmetry, balance, dominant, dynamics, etc. Practical work on projects and tasks will help them apply the procedures necessary for the realization of their ideas in chronological order. By studying the given elements of form, surface, light and the phenomena of color and tonal value, they will be able to build harmonious relationships between these elements as part of a visual whole. Analyzing and interpreting these peculiar signs, they will be able to build a composition as the most complex form of a visual whole. Practical classes require students to complete given exercises and projects through individual study and research, as well as to provide ideas, make a selection of the best ones and realize them in the form of artwork. Conceptual solutions are realized through combined practice, or using adequate software so as to master the material in the best possible way.