Graphic Design and Media ?

There are some interesting ideas here, but as a graphic designer/illustrator who now works in film theory, I’d say the primary skill is understanding how diverse humans of different cultures read visual material, whether static or moving. This would include information on the mechanisms of visual perception, how we see, how this affects the things we notice and the things we don’t, and an understanding of how humans read everything as causally structured; ‘I see this because of that, and now that then leads to this...’

In terms of a curriculum this would be applied through any of the disciplines/skills groups mentioned above. Layout/composition, use of colour, understandings of visual literacy, semiotics and aesthetics, as well as the many disciplinary technicalities. For example, in typography it is essential to understand that choice of typeface affects not merely the appearance of text but also how much of it we assimilate, or how the size of type, the leading (space between lines), page architecture such as indents and borders, and character count across a line can all affect our ability, for good or ill, to read the text.

Both of these areas are narrative to their core; they present information that users visually, in different ways, build into understanding. Without comprehending this central theme, no knowledge of software, specialist equipment or access to stock material can make someone a better designer.