A poster for a student theater festival, a proposal for the orientation system for the municipal library, a catalogue of kitchen utensils, an e-shop for luxury jewelry… All of these duties have in common what? – that they are the assignments of a concrete and real client. However also the experimental design of display clocks, the design of a digital household, the proposal of a user interface for as of yet non-existent electronic applications. Such (as well as other) assignments are taken on by students of the studio of visual communication at the Institute of Visual Art in Uherské Hradiště.

The Institute of Visual Art is a part of the Faculty of Multimedia Communication of Tomáš Bata University in Zlín. It is located in Uherské Hradiště on the newly renovated site of the former barracks. The first students of the bachelor’s degree program Multimedia and Design took a seat in the studios and classrooms in September 2006. Two independent studios exist as a part of the Institute: the studio of visual communication and the studio of 3D design. The studio of visual communication is primarily centered on designing visual pages for electronic publications (web pages, electronic applications, commercial presentations), whose leader was named M.A. Bohuslav Stánsk‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎ý. M.A. Vladimír Kovařík leads the 3D design studio, in which students are primarily engaged with packaging design and designing P.O.P. materials (stands, signs, displays) – it works thus on the design of products that we encounter mainly in the commercial realm.

The system of instruction is conceived so that students might independently and innovatively solve scheduled assignments or more extensive projects. To which modern technology is of service to them (large format printing and cutting plotters, a laser cutting machine, a 3D cutter and 3D printer for, for example, rapid prototyping, a fully equipped photography studio). High-speed connection to the internet and it goes without saying that current versions of necessary software are available. We believe that the combination of quality personnel overseeing instruction, and access to modern technology offers our graduates the knowledge and experience that prepares them to smoothly transition to the profession.

Simultaneously with work in studio instruction, students are also led to knowledge of typeface and typography, to operating graphics and 3D software, as well as to classical drawing. Emphasis is also placed on theoretical education in various areas: art history, marketing, philosophy, sociology or English language. The methods of instruction in theoretical and practical subjects take into account the needs of analytic-critical thought and students are instructed in an interest in broader cultural and social events overlapping closely within the qualified framework of their specialization. For enrichment of the instruction we also arrange during the course of the semester one-time workshops (Martin Kollár, Evžen Sobek, Miro Švolík and others), we invite to lecture experts from the areas of marketing, advertising and design, as well as other different areas.

We also strive to enrich instruction with other elements. Traditionally taking place at the beginning of the new academic year is an open-air studio for students of all three years of studies. Incoming 1st year students participate in an artistic-teambuilding period, where along with non-traditional art exhibitions they learn to effectively work with other artistic potential, available resources and above all with time. Each year we organize evaluation trips to several European countries, most recently to France. Students also participate in competitions (POPAI Student Award, Mladý obal (Young Cover), National Award for Student Design), in which they have the chance to win- and they do win- their first recognition.

We hope that the exhibited work of students of the 2nd year studio of visual communication speaks to you and leaves you with more than just a good impression. We would like to return to this exhibition space with other results of the work of our students.