How graphic design conclusion project is taught at PUC-Rio, Brazil

This paper is based on a master’s degree dissertation, which presented the results of a two-year research study carried out to reach the apperception and to evaluate the pedagogy of the Conclusion Project – a term project within the graphic design programme, which is offered at the Arts and Design Department of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It briefly describes some aspects of design education in Brazil, the instruments and techniques used by the researcher to capture and gather data, the qualitative content analyses methodological approach used to analyse the data and uncover evidences, and the inferences that were made possible by categorising and analysing those data. The article presents the methodological approach used to teach the Conclusion Project, the pedagogic practice used to shape the dynamics of the classes, and an appraisal of this pedagogy, innovative in terms of Brazilian design education, by answering some questions proposed by Kramer to evaluate pedagogic initiatives. The findings from this fieldwork were supported by pedagogic theories. Suggestions for further studies were presented.