Traditional design education consists of three phases: perceptual, transitional, and professional. This study explored three independent variables (IVs) as predictors of success in the Transitional Phase of a visual communication design (VCD) program: (a) prior academic performance (as reported by GPA); (b) cognitive style (assessed with Peterson, Deary, and Austin's Verbal Imagery Cognitive Styles Test [VICS] and Extended Cognitive Style Analysis-Wholistic Analytic Test [E-CSA-WA]); and (c) learning style (assessed with Kolb's Learning Style Inventory [LSI] 3.1). To address the research problem and hypothesis, this study examined (a) the relationship between academic performance, cognitive style, and learning style, and visual communication design students' performance in the Transitional Phase; (b) the cognitive style and learning style preferences of visual communication design students as compared with other samples; and (c) how the resulting knowledge can be used to improve instructional design for the Transitional Phase in VCD programs. Multiple regression analysis revealed that 9% of Transitional Phase performance was predicted by studio GPA. No other variables were statistically significant predictors of Transitional Phase performance. However, ANOVA and t tests revealed statistically significant and suggested relationships among components of the independent variables, that indicate avenues for future study. The results are discussed in the context of style-based learning theory, and the cognitive apprenticeship approach to instructional design.

As digital technology promises immediacy and interactivity in communication, sight and sound in motion graphics has expanded the range of design possibilities in advertising, social networking, and telecommunication beyond the visual realm. The experience of seeing has been greatly enriched by sound as visual solutions become dynamic and multi-dimensional. The ability to record and transfer sight and sound with new media has granted the designer more control in manipulating a viewer's experience of time and space. This control allows time-based form to become the foundation that establishes many interactive, multisensory and interdisciplinary applications. Is conventional design theory for print media adequate to effectively approach time-based form? If not, what is the core element that is required to balance the static and dynamic aspects of time in new media? Should time-related theories and methodologies from other disciplines be adopted into our design principles? If so, how would this knowledge be integrated? How can this experience in time be effectively transferred to paper? Unless the role of the time dimension in sight is operationally deconstructed and retained with sound, it is very challenging to control the design in this fugitive form. Time activation refers to how time and the perception of time can be manipulated for design and communication purposes. Sound, as a shortcut to the active time design element, not only encapsulates the structure of its "invisible" time-based form, but also makes changes in time conspicuously measurable and comparable. Two experiments reflect the influence of sound on imagery, a slideshow and video, as well as how the dynamics in time are represented across all design media. A cyclical time-based model is established to reconnect the conventional design principles learned in print media with time-based media. This knowledge helps expand static images to motion and encapsulate motion in stasis. The findings provide creative methods for approaching visualization, interactivity, and design education.