Techniques of Visual Communication and Creativity
In a society like ours, where we are surrounded by all kinds of visual stimuli, images are increasingly becoming tools to communicate all sorts of ideas and information. In just a few years, technology has completely transformed the social and cultural framework in which we operate. The emergence and proliferation of social media, and more recently, the rise of artificial intelligence, have changed how we relate to others, how we stay informed, and how we generate content. In this context, the cultural industries market demands creative professionals who focus on visual communication, who value art and culture in their various forms, and who wish to develop their careers in diverse fields such as advertising, editorial illustration, animation, or experimental audiovisual production, among others.
The Specialization Diploma in Visual Communication Techniques and Creativity is aimed at individuals who are curious and interested in artistic and cultural expressions, skilled in handling artistic creation tools and materials, and open to cultural diversity.
Target audience:
- Graduates in Advertising and Public Relations, Audiovisual Communication, or Journalism.
- Graduates in other degrees from the fields of Arts and Humanities such as Fine Arts, Digital Design and Creation, Art History, History, Humanities, etc., or from the field of Social Sciences such as Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, Business Administration, etc., who wish to specialize or deepen their understanding of creative and strategic aspects of visual communication product design. Also, other graduates who wish to acquire complementary specialized training to enhance their employment opportunities.
- Lastly, individuals without a university degree who can demonstrate prior training in related higher vocational programs or relevant professional experience and personal motivation. In these cases, the qualification awarded will be a Certificate of Completion in Visual Communication Techniques and Creativity.
Qualification awarded: Specialization Diploma
Objectives: The Specialization Diploma in Visual Communication Techniques and Creativity aims to provide comprehensive training in techniques to unlock creative talent and foster lateral thinking, thus promoting the exploration of new approaches to achieve communication goals.
The program aims to equip students with the ability to use illustration as a key tool for effectively conveying ideas, while introducing them to the dominant aesthetic trends in contemporary audiovisual communication and culture, fostering a critical and creative perspective.
Career opportunities:
- In the field of audiovisual communication: audiovisual communicator, audiovisual content producer, designer, and team member in animation projects.
- In advertising: art direction, creative direction.
- In illustration: illustrator and/or team member in graphic design projects in editorial, textile, advertising, or labelling fields.
+ Basic Information
Director: Natàlia Lozano Monterrubio
Academic Coordinator: Josep Serra Virgili
Faculty: Núria Araüna Baró, Elisabet Bonet Alquézar, Àlvar Calvet Castells, Ariadna Costa Villaró, Anna Fonoll Tassier, Gerard Gil Fargas, Miquel Gómez Flores, Eulàlia Iglesias Huix, Sílvia Iturria March, Natàlia Lozano Monterrubio, Laia Quílez Esteve, Josep Serra Virgili.
Credits: 30 ECTS (240 hours)
Delivery mode: in-person
Language: Catalan
Dates: From 29/09/2025 to 15/10/2026
Schedule: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Classes end on 26 March 2026.
Location: Tarragona: at the Faculty of Arts (URV) and the Tarragona School of Art and Design
Price: €2,930
Payment plan: 10% deposit upon registration + 50% before the start of the program + 40% halfway through the program.
Funding: this program may be eligible for funding through the State Foundation for Employment Training (FUNDAE). More information at FUNDAE Funding.
Contact: Laura Castellà - laura.castella@fundacio.urv.cat
Contact phone: 977 779 964 (Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.)
+ Professional Competences
- K1 Understand and apply various lateral thinking techniques to explore topics, generate innovative ideas, and critically evaluate them in different professional contexts.
- K2 Critically analyze audiovisual communication genres and formats, considering their creative transformations and adaptation to the needs of the contemporary sector.
- K3 Master the principles of narrative and scriptwriting techniques, applying them effectively in the creation of innovative visual and audiovisual products.
- K4 Interpret and evaluate contemporary artistic movements in the field of audiovisual culture, integrating their values and influences into the development of creative projects.
- SE1 Design and manage complete processes of ideation, creation, and production of creative projects, applying innovative solutions adapted to various professional contexts.
- SE2 Interpret texts and conceptualize them to transform them into visual representations, considering the aesthetic and communicative criteria of the project.
- SE3 Select and apply appropriate analog and digital representation techniques, considering the aesthetic, communicative, and executive production aspects for creative products.
- SE4 Create original illustrations and audiovisual products aimed at diverse fields such as art, advertising, publishing, music, or experimental media, adapting them to the recipient’s needs.
- SE5 Develop creative projects comprehensively, including the phases of conceptualization, execution, and evaluation from a creativity and innovation perspective.
- ST1 Solve complex problems critically, creatively, and innovatively in multidisciplinary contexts.
- COE 1 Design and manage the formal, aesthetic, and technical aspects of graphic and multimedia projects, using appropriate tools for the effective representation and transmission of data, narratives, and ideas, integrating ethical principles and social responsibility in professional practice.
- COE 2 Work autonomously and collaboratively with initiative and responsibility, efficiently using ICT to manage information and knowledge, and to guide and evaluate one’s own learning and academic/professional development process.
- COT 1 Work in multidisciplinary teams and complex contexts.
+ Module: M1. Lateral and Creative Thinking Strategies
ECTS: 3
Duration: 24h
Languages: Catalan
- Creativity and types of thinking
- Brief history of creative thinking and types of creative individuals
- Lateral thinking and vertical thinking
- Dissecting creativity: defining elements
- The engine of innovation
- Strategies to develop lateral thinking
- Brief history of creative thinking and types of creative individuals
- Lateral thinking and vertical thinking
- Dissecting creativity: defining elements
- The engine of innovation
- Strategies to develop lateral thinking
- Visual thinking techniques: topic exploration, idea generation, and idea evaluation
- Overcoming perceptual and emotional blocks
- Storytelling
- Telling stories in audiovisual media: cross-poetics of experimental cinema
- Literalness, metaphor, allegory, and symbol in audiovisual media
- Experimental cinema as a language laboratory
- Mixing iconographic traditions, film collage
- Resemblance, association, and substitution
Questioning basic assumptions: narrative cuts, distortion of space and time, narrative layers and structures, perspectives…
+ Module: M2. Contemporary Aesthetic Currents in Visual and Audiovisual Culture
ECTS: 3
Duration: 24h
Languages: Catalan
- Introduction to contemporary aesthetic trends
- Visual culture, aesthetic currents, and new technologies
- Brief historical overview from the avant-gardes to modernity and postmodernity (or metamodernism)
- Key concepts: simulacrum, hyperreality, hauntology, and retromania
- Aesthetics and languages
- Aesthetics of globalization: visual syncretism and aesthetic hybridization
- The aesthetics of pastiche: homages, parodies, and social critique
- The aesthetics of error: glitch art, pixel art, and other emerging forms
- The \"New Aesthetic\" phenomenon
- The \"surveillance art\" phenomenon: visual critique of technological surveillance
- Queer and performance aesthetics: body, technology, and image
- Aesthetics of excess: kitsch, camp, and cute
- Immersive art: experiences through sound and light
- Aesthetic currents in contemporary design, advertising, and audiovisual media
- Emotional branding, immersive and interactive advertising
- New trends in musical formats
- Aesthetics of digital cinema
- Reels and the narratives of social media
- What aesthetics does AI propose?
+ Module: M3. Image Interpretation and Conceptualization
ECTS: 6
Duration: 48h
Languages: Catalan
- Creative process and conceptualization
- Brief vs personal project: Differences between personal and professional briefs
- Observation: Tools to develop active observation skills to capture visual references, patterns, and dynamics
- Immersion: Deep dive into the project’s context or theme to acquire knowledge enabling the integration of visual and conceptual elements in a unique and meaningful way
- Symbiosis: Combining and fusing diverse ideas, concepts, and influences to create new visual compositions
- Interpretation / translation: Tools to convert abstract ideas or complex concepts into clear and effective visual images, using a suitable graphic language to convey meaning and emotion
- Visual rhetoric: Visual rhetorical figures to persuade and influence the viewer
- Development and creative techniques
- Creative tools / Brain lab: Various creative techniques for effectively generating and organizing ideas throughout the creative process
- Composition and construction: Composition (rule of thirds, focal point), hierarchy, balance, and clarity for the representation of ideas
- Development: From the initial idea to the final visual projects
- Formal and aesthetic aspects
- Style: Search and definition of one’s own artistic style
- Form: Criteria to consider in the use of visual elements that may affect viewer perception
+ Module: M4. Experimentation with Analog Representation Techniques
ECTS: 6
Duration: 48h
Languages: Catalan
- Drawing
- Drawing: expressive value through the use of appropriate materials and techniques.
- Elements of visual language: line, form, texture, and balance, and their creative applications.
- Effective visual communication through drawing.
- Painting techniques
- Relationship between form, function, and color in image creation.
- Color and pigment: properties and practical applications.
- Pictorial expression techniques.
- Analog photographic techniques
- Image processing and manipulation.
- Formal and expressive treatment of photography.
- Experimental camera-less photography.
- Printmaking and stamping
- Printing techniques and procedures.
- Presses, tools, and materials used in printmaking.
- Paper, inks, plates, supports, and other materials for engraving and printing.
- Printmaking as a form of artistic expression.
- Application of reproduction and printing techniques in the creation of original illustrations.
- Selection of engraving and printing techniques for the creation of original illustrations.
- Traditional and experimental printmaking as a tool for artistic communication.
+ Module: M5. Experimentation with Digital Representation Techniques
ECTS: 6
Duration: 48h
Languages: Catalan
The Final Project consists of the student carrying out a piece of work that applies, integrates, and develops the knowledge and competences acquired throughout the Specialization Diploma in Visual Communication Techniques and Creativity. This project is intended to assess the competences associated with the qualification and concludes with an oral presentation and final approval.
Registration at Fundació URV