Graphic Design and Communication
The course that transforms visual culture into design, combining symbols, images, interactive communication and AI
Accademia Aldo Galli
ITA
First Level Academic Diploma in Graphic Design and Communication*
Language
Italian
Start date
October 2026
Frequency
Full time
Fruition
On campus
Duration
3 Years
Credits
180 CFA/ECTS
Learn how to transform ideas into images, symbols and stories by experimenting with the three-year course in Graphic Design and Communication at Accademia di Como: your path to designing contemporary visual communication
Begin your journey to learn how to interpret contemporary culture and give it form: from the page to the feed, from the poster to the space, from the book to the screen, with the three-year course in Graphics and Communication at the Accademia di Como.
Today, images are everywhere. But knowing how to “generate” does not mean knowing how to communicate. If AI can create with a click, what really makes the difference? Your eye: visual culture, method, critical thinking. Here you will learn to transform an idea into concrete forms: an attractive poster, a recognisable visual identity, a well-curated catalogue or fanzine, a coherent social media kit, a micro-video that tells a story in 20 seconds.
In an Academy of Fine Arts, graphic design stems from visual culture: you build references (art, publishing, photography, media) and transform them into projects with your eyes, mind, hand and advanced tools. Over the three years, you will work on typography and layout, visual identity, editorial graphics, photography, illustration, video, digital and interactive projects: a comprehensive education that allows you to hybridise different languages and discover your own.
Qualification awarded
*The three-year course in Graphic Design and Communication is currently undergoing the authorisation process at the Ministry of University and Research for the purpose of recognising the qualification as a Level I Academic Diploma. Following authorisation, the qualification awarded will be equivalent to a Level I Degree in accordance with current legislation, EQF 6, ISCED6.
GIACOMO RAFFAELLI / Teacher / Grafica e Comunicazione
Information to decide
The course to become a professional capable of hybridising different languages and giving direction and realisation to contemporary visual communication.
Teaching is student-centred and quality-oriented: transparency, attention to inclusion and teamwork. The method is the one of the atelier: you learn by doing, but with guidance and vision. Each project starts with a question (a theme, a context, an audience) and grows in stages: research and references, concept, ideation, testing, prototypes, revision, production and presentation.
Critiques and feedback are regular, consistent and personalised, with clear evaluation criteria: you learn to explain your choices, listen, improve and take responsibility for what you put out into the world.
You work in laboratories with dedicated software and AI tools, supported by cultural disciplines that give depth of vision and thought (semiotics, perception, sociology, contemporary languages). Thus, technique is never an end in itself: it serves to realise a personal and credible language. Throughout the year, workshops and projects are carried out with companies, organisations, cultural institutions and public administrations: from the promotion of places and communities to communication for exhibitions, events, hospitality, services and campaigns. Opportunities for collaboration with other academic courses and with the IED Network broaden the scope for discussion and international horizons, without losing the “student-friendly” approach of Como: more time to produce quality, less dispersion.
The three-year course in Graphics and Communication is designed for those who are curious, observe the world through images and want to learn how to transform ideas and content into contemporary visual projects.
This course is suitable for students from any type of secondary school: academic, technical and vocational. You need to be curious and attracted to images, and willing to get fully involved, from pencil to digital, but you don't need to have a “perfect” portfolio: here you will build your skills step by step and enhance your existing formal and informal knowledge, repositioning it within a new visual framework. If you wish, you can bring school or personal work (even informal) - drawings, photos, layouts, videos, experiments - and start from there to develop your method, language and awareness.
Because it combines visual culture and practical work in an Academy of Fine Arts: you learn to design without losing depth, to experiment without losing rigour, and to develop technical skills and artistic sensitivity.
Because it provides cross-disciplinary training: typography, image, photography, illustration, video, publishing, new media. You will become capable of moving between different languages and bringing them together in a single project, building a rich and coherent portfolio.
Because it prepares you for the present: in the age of AI, it is not enough to know how to generate images. Here you will learn to use AI judiciously - to explore ideas and variations - but above all to direct: to choose, to give coherence, to evaluate quality, rights and impact. The final signature remains yours: your vision, your idea and your hand.
Because you study at the Academy, where your potential will be brought out and your talents enhanced, and because you study in Como, in a student-friendly environment, with Milan within easy reach: a balance that helps you work continuously and produce quality.
Syllabus
First Year
In the first year, you will build the foundations of visual culture and the alphabet of design: you will learn to see (perception), to make sense of images (semiotics), to feed on references (contemporary history and languages) and, at the same time, to create. You will immediately begin to produce work and build your vocabulary, method and awareness.
HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY ART
THEORY OF PERCEPTION AND PSYCHOLOGY OF FORM
ANATOMY OF THE IMAGE
PHOTOGRAPHY 1
GRAPHIC TECHNIQUES AND TECHNOLOGIES 1
DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING 1
ILLUSTRATION 1
ELEMENTS OF VIDEO PRODUCTION
GRAPHIC DESIGN
PROJECT METHODOLOGY OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION
SEMIOTICS OF ART
Additional training activities 1
Second Year
In the second year, the focus becomes more project-based and systemic: visual identities, brand design, publishing, production materials and techniques, image and video editing. Experimentation and method grow together: more briefings, more reviews, more choices. Elective courses allow you to develop your personal inclinations and explore your style.
HISTORY OF DRAWING AND GRAPHIC ART
PSYCHOSOCIOLOGY OF CULTURAL CONSUMPTION
PHOTOGRAPHY 2
GRAPHIC TECHNIQUES AND TECHNOLOGIES 2
DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING 2
MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY FOR GRAPHIC DESIGN
ILLUSTRATION 2
VIDEO EDITING
LANGUAGES OF CONTEMPORARY ART
BRAND DESIGN
ARCHETYPES OF THE IMAGINARY
Elective courses
Additional training activities 2
Third Year
In the third year, you will learn about art direction, integrated new media, advanced editorial graphics and complex projects, often working in teams. AI is introduced as a process tool: you will use it to explore variations and speed up testing, but above all you will learn to direct, select and ensure consistency. The thesis is the final goal: a complete project, described and presented to professional standards, with outputs ready to be put to use.
PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE IMAGE
GRAPHIC TECHNIQUES AND TECHNOLOGIES 3
GRAPHIC TECHNIQUES AND TECHNOLOGIES 4
ILLUSTRATION 3
NEW INTEGRATED MEDIA TECHNIQUES
ELEMENTS OF EDITORIAL GRAPHICS
ART DIRECTION
SOCIOLOGY OF COMMUNICATION
Elective courses
Additional training activities 3
ENGLISH
THESIS PROJECT
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