Keith Robertson

Keith was Academic Leader of Communication Design in 2005 and is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Design with a background in the teaching and practice of Communication Design. Apart from Postgraduate Supervision he teaches into the Honours and Masters Communication Design programs and contributes to design research development. Keith has qualifications in both Graphic Design and Sociology, bringing both disciplines together in a PhD titled The Sign in Graphic Design: an exploration of the social meaning of graphic design in the postmodern age. The thesis explores the social context of graphic design through the semiotic analysis of a wide range of contemporary magazines and explores the social function of design through the development of the Graphic Design Code and its social origins. Key areas of interest are postmodern theory, semiotic analysis in design research, visual rhetoric, the expression of value in visual communication, the subconscious and visual language. He has published a number of articles on many of these subjects.

Keith's first training was in Graphic Design, then an Honours Degree in Sociology from LaTrobe University. After a few years involved in film production, he was a founding member of the team that established Cinema Papers where he became their founding art director. Throughout the 80's, Keith joined McPhee Gribble Publishes as their founding art director during which he won a number of design awards. In 1990 he became a full-time lecturer in Graphic Design at Phillip Institute, later to be absorbed into RMIT University where he taught Design Theory and Publication Design in the undergraduate program and was Program Coordinator of the Graduate Diploma of Graphic Design.
 

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