Finder #2 Visual Communication Design at Independent Campus

Bandung, UPI

VISUAL COMMUNICATION DESIGN (DKV) FPSD-UPI has reached its second year since the establishment of a new study program based on the Ban-PT Decree dated March 14, 2018. Although DKV is considered to be still very young, it has recorded track in the field of education, research, and community service. Likewise, the cooperation network with peer universities in Central Java, West Java, and Jakarta has been bound through MoU signs. Industry visits continue to be carried out over the year to keep the DKV curriculum implementation synchronized to industrial demand. Head of DKV Study Program, Dr. Nanang Ganda Prawira, M.Sn, emphasized his commitment as the core leader of the DKV-UPI to strengthen the foundation of DKV study program oriented to the needs of industry and education, especially in graphics and multimedia fields. He also underlined his determination to strive creating various innovations to embody the vision and mission of study programs that are leading and outstanding in developing Visual Communication Design disciplines in graphics and multimedia-based – which are oriented towards local wisdom by prioritizing its function in improving the quality of education in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

The learning process in DKV Study Program are interactive, holistic, integrative, scientific, contextual, thematic, effective, collaborative, and student-centered (set out in the Learning Process Standard, Minister of Education and Culture Regulation No.4 / 2020).  Finder #2 event was a DKV’s academic tradition as well as a series of study program dies natalies. The event contained a National Seminar with keynote speakers Prof. Dr. Bambang Sugiharto, and Eka Sofyan Rizal. Both presented their thoughts on “Design Paradigms in the Post-Communication Era”. Prof. Bambang, Professor of Unpar Philosophy, dissected the theme from a philosophical point of view, while Eka, a practitioner of DKV Association, emphasized his fundamental thinking based on empirical studies. The seminar was also equipped with various workshops such as digital drawing, illustrations, augmented reality, and other subjects that worth students a design insight in current industrial developments. DKV-UPI students were emphasized to always get along with the development of industrial and communication technology, accordingly every month students are participated in lecture of guest lectures from practitioners who are competent and relevant to the curriculum. Finder # 2 began on Thursday, March 12, 2020, with a carnival ceremony from all lecturers and students heading to the opening procession of the “Finder Design Exhibition #2” at the National Education Museum. The exhibition presented the designs of the results of the 2018 and 2019 student studies.

Finder # 2 implemented the concept of “Independent Campus, and Way of Thinking”. Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia campus is a place to train and develop students’ abilities as the best human beings in independent thinking, which contribute to regional development. Therefore, the DKV-UPI curriculum is implemented in an integrative, contextual, thematic and collaborative manner. The theme of curriculum implementation with the Contextual and Project Based Learning approach in this even semester is “Development of Tourism Design and Branding”. The theme is selected for it is a potential sector in developing Regional Original Revenue (PAD) and is able to provide a multiplier effect for the development of other related sectors. To reach this, some of the semester’s DKV learning programs were collaboratively implemented independently outside the campus, exactly in Kuningan, West Java. Supports from the Regional Government of Kuningan Regency, particularly from Perumda Aneka Usaha (PDAU) has greatly helped the research flow, starting from data collection, to problem identification. Research data obtained from 8 (eight) Kuningan’s tourism destinations were important first step in the design thinking process, which were then independently processed by 8 (eight) groups of students into design solutions in the form of design concepts and design making. The design thinking of DKV-UPI students in this fourth semester were expected to be a study that opened the gate to the development of the very potential tourism sector in Kuningan Regency.

The collaborative implementation of the DKV curriculum with local governments – which was similarly contextual and based on projects – has been started since 2019, under the theme “Developing Sukabumi as a Creative City through Collaborative Power of Creative Community”. Last year’s experience was a valuable lesson in developing a similar learning system this year. In the following year DKV Study Program will continue to develop collaborative learning based on this kind of project with other Local Governments both in West Java and throughout Indonesia. Through this approach, it is hoped that DKV can contribute to strengthening, maintaining and developing the quality of Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, which in 2020 ranked #250-300 in the world, and ranked #1 in Indonesia as declared in “QS World University Ranking by Subject in Education”.