Words and images permeate the contemporary visual world, from the urban environment of signs, symbols and commercial messages to our television screens and computers. Art and design practitioners have both influenced and reflected their era through the use of cartoon and illustration, as storytellers commenting on political and social issues of the time. The rapid development in mass production of printed material encouraged designers to target their ideas to specific audiences. They recognized the potential for images and words across the commercial, political and wider cultural world and in order to compete in a highly competitive market. More recently, artists and designers have employed digital means to develop increasingly innovative ways of communicating their ideas.

This unit is about developing learners’ skills in the use of graphic visual language and employing words and images in their work in a rich variety of ways for different purposes. In this unit learners will be taught to recognize the potential for words and images across a broad range of media, from printed matter, animations and the internet to traditional media, TV and photography. This will involve developing learners’ technical skills as well as their ability to generate ideas that could result in original, exciting and thought provoking final outcomes.

Art and design practitioners have recognized and used the partnership words and images in their work, producing visually stimulating solutions to commercial and non-commercial briefs. This unit should combine creative thinking with practical, workable solutions. Learners should be guided through the benefits and pitfalls of producing work to a client brief for possible commercial use. Through this unit learners will develop an understanding of how to respond to given themes or assignments and how to develop appropriate ideas using carefully selected words and images that can communicate either literal or abstract outcomes.