Abstract
The primary argument of this article arises from the need identified in fashion design
education within a South African context for a shift in the focus of theoretical curricula
content to convert from a diploma to a degree structure. This article addresses this
concern and reports on the baseline assessment of a devised and implemented tool to
advance visual literacy thinking skills of undergraduate fashion design students, applied
to the selection of images for mood boards. The inquiry adopted an action research
design and obtained data from systematically documented reflective notes, completed
student image analysis help sheets and a comparison of assessment results of mood
boards created before and after the application of the tool. While assessment results
indicate an improvement in the level of thinking skills of some students, surface
learning was identified as an underlying challenge to address for refinement of the tool.
Improved results, nevertheless, suggest that the strategic principles facilitated through
the tool and the subsequent recommendations for refinement present a potential
framework to underpin the visual conceptual design challenges of students for
consideration in a degree structure.