In 2026, after nearly 90 years, the Institute of Design was folded into Illinois Tech's School of Design & Society.
This website is an archive of the impactful and inspirational work produced by the ID community before that transition.

László Moholy-Nagy opened the New Bauhaus in Chicago in 1937, treating design as a discipline that was teachable, testable, and consequential. Nine decades on, its scope had widened from the things people use to the systems they depend on: hospitals, government agencies, classrooms, supply chains, digital platforms. Along the way, ID community members developed the published research, methods, and frameworks that designers rely on every day.

Chief among them is human-centered design: close attention to how people actually live, and advocacy for what that research reveals. It shaped designers who are comfortable with complexity and ambiguity: curious, rigorous, inclusive, and stubbornly optimistic about design's ability to change the systems that shape our lives.

To every one of them, who taught, studied, built, critiqued, and stayed late in the studio: thank you, and keep designing.

institute
of desiGn
Search

Fundamentals of Visual Communication

Fundamentals of Visual Communication

Applies the principles and methods of visual representations and communication.

Objective & Outcomes

This course will equip students with the knowledge and skills to create visual representations by applying basic visual communication principles in layout and typography to better organize and visually structure information.

Upon completion of the course, students can visually communicate concepts that don’t yet exist without relying on commonplace or trendy graphic design expressions.

Typical Schedule

  • Session 1: Theories Visual Concepts: Layout
  • Session 2: Communication Factors: Content Categories, Sign Systems: Text, Visual Comm Concepts: Typography
  • Session 3: Communication Factors: Offering Attributes, Sign Systems: Imagery, Visual Comm Concepts: Gestalt Principles
  • Session 4: Sign Systems: Diagrams, Visual Comm Concepts: Color
  • Session 5: Communication Factors: Communication Goals & Audience Situations
  • Session 6: Integrating All Concepts Into Offering Description [2 Contexts]
  • Session 7: Critique

See all MDes Courses