Fields of design practice: contexts, practices and processes designers work within

The four fields and what separates them

The study design recognises four fields of design practice, and you study at least one in depth. Each field has its own communication needs, conventions and visual language:

• Communication design — visual messages for audiences: branding, publication, packaging, illustration, motion and information design.
• Environmental design — design of physical spaces and the built environment: architecture, interior, landscape, exhibition and wayfinding/signage.
• Industrial / object design — three-dimensional products and objects: furniture, appliances, tools, vehicles and consumer goods.
• Interactive design — designed digital experiences: apps, websites, user interfaces and game interfaces, centred on how a user moves through a system.

Note the language cue VCAA uses: communication and environmental design serve audiences, while interactive (and often industrial) design serves users — the difference between viewing a message and operating something.

Context: where the work happens

Context means the conditions a designer works within and the conditions an outcome is encountered in. It covers the studio or business model (freelance, in-house team, agency, multidisciplinary practice), the brief and budget, and the situation of use — where, when and how an audience or user meets the outcome. A bus-shelter poster, a phone screen and a museum wall are three different contexts that pull the same content in different directions. Identifying context is the first move in almost any analysis question.