COM62204 – Visual Communication

Assessments 1 and 2

September 2025

SUMMARY

Assessment

Assessment 1 – Poster design

Assessment 2 –Product promotion Ad-GIF social media post.

Assessment 3 – In-class skill test

Weightage

35%

35%

30%

Deadline

Week 6

Week 14

Week 10

Brief

Create a poster for a chosen product. The poster should convey all the necessary messages and information of the product to the target audience.

Create a packaging design for a specific product based on the list provided. The packaging design should communicate all the necessary information regarding the product to the target audience.

In-class test that will assess their theoretical and practical understanding of the class material. These exercises will be in the form. of practical tasks.

IMPORTANT NOTES

ALL content produced for this class is expected to be a student’s ORIGINAL work unless it is specifically allowed in the instructions. The following are STRICTLY PROHIBITED unless permission is given in writing:

• Stock images and stock vectors

• Work by other creators (friends, relatives, pets, people you hired, etc.)

• Work created by or on apps/websites such as (but not limited to) Canva, Adobe Express, Storyboardthat, and PicsArt

• Work produced via AI-generation methods and LIVE TRACE (assignment 1) You are expected to use professional software from the Adobe Creative Suite _

e.g. Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator – and must keep and submit all working design files for checking. Other software/apps such as Figma and Procreate are NOT ALLOWED for this module.

When a software is specified, you must use ONLY that software. You should not be mixing them (e.g. Procreate and Photoshop).

Working files and demonstration of work in progress checks are required as proof of work process. A Photoshop file with a flat image layer within it is NOT proof of work process, and this is especially important for assignments that are assessing technique (e.g. Assignment 2). Use non-destructive methods for editing instead of destructive ones.

Work submitted with no prior progress checks or that suddenly deviates dramatically from work previously shown/demonstrated in class will be subject to questioning by the lecturer and/or may have a 50% penalty imposed on the grade. Work produced in class will take priority as proof of technical skills achieved. If, for a take-home assignment, there is a discrepancy between take-home work and work produced in class (e.g. during tutorials or in-class test), the student must give an in-person demonstration to the instructor to demonstrate and corroborate his/her technical skills. If an in-person demonstration is not possible or if the demonstrated skills do not match up, the relevant criteria will be capped at half.

ASSIGNMENT 1

A.    Instructions

DEADLINE: 11.59PM, Friday of Week 6

This is an INDIVIDUAL project, which serves as the FINAL PIECE for this module.

A.1    STEP 1: Choose a product

1.    For this assignment, you are required to create a promotional poster for a specific product. You can ONLY choose (1) ONE from the 3 imaginary products provided below:

A.2    STEP 2: Sketch your ideas

1.    Sketch at least 3 ideas on paper.

What is a sketch?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a sketch as “a rough drawing representing the chief features of an object or scene and often made as a preliminary study.”

Please refer to the SKETCHES for examples of what sketches look like.

2.   Your sketches must:

a.   Be proportional to a Horizontal A4 shape with 3 vertical box sketches.

b.    Show the product or a visual that is related to the product and the given headline.

c.   Show the overall layout of your intended poster.

d.    Indicate where the tagline and brand logo will go.

e.    Be DRAWN ON PAPER.

For this assignment, DIGITAL SKETCHES ARE STRICTLY NOT ALLOWED. This isto ensure fairness as it is easier to copy/trace images on an iPad or on a computer with a graphic tablet and not every student has access to iPads or graphic tablets.

3.   Your sketches do not need to be full size or fully detailed and coloured. They only need to be

proportional to the specified dimensions, and clearly show the elements stated above (product/relevant visual, overall layout, placement of the headline and logo). You can have multiple sketches on one sheet of A4 paper. It is acceptable.

4.    Bring your sketches to class in Week 3 for critique. You must bring the ORIGINAL paper sketches. This is compulsory as the critiques contribute to your final score. Photographs of your sketches or digital drawings will NOT be checked or graded.

A.3    STEP 3: Create the final design in Illustrator

1.   Once a sketch has been approved by the lecturer,   you can then begin work on the final design in Adobe Illustrator. Do NOT use any other software/app for the final design work. Importing elements created in  other software (e.g. Procreate or Photoshop) is NOT allowed.

2.   Your poster  MUST:

a.  Use the tagline provided in Table A-1 (Step 1).  

b.  Have an original illustration of the product or an original illustration of a relevant visual and this must be created in Adobe Illustrator .

c.  Include the brand logo. Do NOT design your own logo. Use the relevant black or white logo in this folder  (please  ensure  you  are  logged  in  with  your  student  ID  to  access  this):

*Assignment 1 (poster design 3 logos) link

** The graphics in these logos should NOT become integral parts of your overall design.

d.  NOT have blank border, whether it is in white, black or any other colour. The design should fill the artboard from edge to edge.

3.   Please  ensure  your poster  adheres to ALL requirements in Section B. Failure to follow these requirements will result in deduction of marks.

4.   In Week 5, show a draft in class to the lecturer. You may show a JPEG draft BUT you must have your original orking file available in case the lecturer requests to see it.

A.4    STEP 5: Submit your final design.

1.  Compile your files according to the list given in Section B.

2.  Ensure that your files have the correct filename and file dimensions before submitting them.

3.  Submit the relevant files by 11.59PM, Friday of Week 6.

B.    Assignment Details & Requirements

B.1    Assignment Details Summary

     Item                      Details

a. Dimensions               A4 (Vertical/Portrait ONLY) At 300dpi, this should come out to 2481x3508 pixels when exported.

b. Resolution                High (300 dpi)

c. Other

There MUST be:

• The given brand logo (not distorted or rotated or flipped).

• The given headline.

• A relevant visual that communicates the message.

• Appropriate supporting visual elements, such as the background.

All design elements apart from the logo must be ORIGINAL.

d. Cover sheet

Please ensure that you use the correct cover sheet template provided in the General Class Documents folder linked on MyTimes and Teams.

Table B-1

ASSIGNMENT 2

D.    Project Overview and Instructions

This is an INDIVIDUAL project.

DEADLINE: 11pm, Thursday of Week 14

In this assignment, you will be creating an original package design and also its mockup.

D.1    STEP 1: Choose your product.

1.     Choose ONE imaginary product from the list below and download the relevant pack:

Table D-1

Note: The brands and products are NOT real. They are imaginary and invented for the purpose of this assignment

THE BRAND NAME AND LOGO IS PROVIDED ON THE LINK BELOW, YOU MAY CHANGE OR CREATE THE PRODUCT NAME/ DESCRIPTION YOURSELF.

EXAMPLE : Mixed fruits jam = Strawberry & Blueberry Jam. Flower Tea: Jasmin Tea or Rose Tea

2.     Download the relevant file pack from this OneDrive folder:

*Assignment 2 Packaging Design logo and Mock-up folder.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE!!!

4.     The file pack that you download will contain the files that you will need for this assignment:

a.     Template for sketches (Sketch-Template.png)

b.     Mock-up PSD template (Mockup.psd) Directly do your design on the Mock-up PSD template.

You CANNOT use other mock-ups. Only use the one that is provided.

c.     Logo file in black (Logo (black).png)

d.     Logo file in white (Logo (white).png)

You only need to use one of the logos –black or the white or colour  version(Ai version provided).

You do NOT need to use both.

You CANNOT design your own logo. Only use the one that is provided.

D.2    STEP 2: Sketch your ideas.

1.    In the file pack you downloaded in Step 1, you will find one PNG file that has a simple outlined version of your chosen product (Sketch-Template.PNG). Print this sketch template on A4 paper. You can print more than one copy if you feel you need it.

2.    Using this template, create AT LEAST 3 sketches. These should be pen/pencil SKETCHES ON PAPER. Photographs of sketches or digital sketches (e.g. those done on the iPad) will NOT be checked or graded.

3.    Your sketches must:

•    Include the brand name

•    Include  the product name

•    Show a relevant design for the label (and lid, if necessary)

•    Include a concept for the background

4.    Bring  your  sketches  to class in Week 9  for critique. This is compulsory as the critiques contribute to your final score.

D.3    STEP 3: Create the packaging design and mock-up.

1.    Once a sketch has been approved by the lecturer, you can then begin work on the final design in Adobe Photoshop. Do NOT use any other software or app for this. Work created in other software (e.g. Illustrator or Procreate) and imported into Photoshop is NOT allowed.

2.    Your packaging design must:

a.  Include the brand name

b.  Include the product  name

c.  Include at least one photograph on the label itself. You may include illustrated elements on/around the photo, but the main visual must be a photograph.

3.    Your mock-up must:

a.  Be a collage of at least 2 edited photographs that enhances the presentation of your packaging design.

i.  You are allowed to use free stock images from the Internet for this assignment. Do NOT use

random downloaded images from Internet search engines such as Google Images. Please use only free stock images from sites such as Pexels.

ii.  You may also use your own photographs. Bonus points will be given for effective use of relevant original photographs.

b.  You are allowed to use a maximum of three(3) AI-generated images as elements or parts of your final packaging design and background.

c.  Have  significant  changes/improvements through the use of Photoshop’s tools. Please refer to the Appendixfor examples of acceptable backgrounds for the mock-up.

4.    Both your packaging  design itself and the mock-up MUST demonstrate proof of work through relevant non-destructive editing methods (e.g. shape layers, brush work on separated layers, adjustment layers, layer masks, etc). PSD files submitted with no clear proof of work (e.g. has only a few layers with no non- destructive editing methods that correspond to the end result) will not receive full marks.

5.    Please note that you MUST submit a text file listing the source URLs for every stock image you use in the assignment so do not just download the images and forget about it. Keep the image URL in a text file.

A source URL should point to a proper stock image website, not something random like imgur or Discord.

If you are using a photograph that you took yourself or an illustration that you created, you must submit the original unedited picture or original working file for the illustration by uploading it to a Google Drive or One Drive folder (with access set to “Anyone with the link can view”). This link must be included in the text file. See Section E for details.

6.    Create your design  directly in the template PSD provided in the file pack. To do this, follow these steps (or you can view a video demonstration at this link:click here )

a.  Open the template PSD file.

b.  Each file has a different layer structure due to how the mock-ups were constructed. The layers in RED are the ones you should edit for your design.

EXAMPLE:

c.  Edit the mock-up until you are satisfied. (And remember to SAVE YOUR WORK as you do it!)

d.  Once the package itself is done, you can move on to the background. Create the background directly in the template file itself.

Be careful when arranging layers in the file so that you do not accidentally break the clipping mask sequence for the mock-up itself.

e.  Save the file with the required file name.

D.4    STEP 4: Compile your files and submit them.

1.  Review the requirements and compile your files according to the list given in Section E.

2.  Ensure that your files have the correct filename and file dimensions before submitting them.

4.  Submit the relevant files by 11.59PM, Friday of Week 13.

E.    Assignment Details & Requirements

E.1    Assignment Details Summary

Table E-1

NOTE: Imported smart objects are not considered proof of work within Photoshop as they are  always objects created outside of Photoshop.