The critical dimension in the processes of university teaching and learning constitutes a higher stage of the intellect and morality in teachers and students. It finds its theoretical, epistemological and methodological basis in the reconstructive and autonomous capacities of the free subject that think and create. In this research I intend to address -from the experiences as a teacher and researcher- the contextual scaffolding that places critical discourse as a necessity in the teaching and learning process of graphic design students. I will make an analysis of the curricular components that intervene in the decisions to form a critical apparatus towards the visual artistic object and answer the question: what is the point of critical education and its discourse on Visual Arts in Graphic Design students? For this, I propose to rethink the notions of criticism, in diverse contexts through which visual culture transits for the sake of a more complex education, through stories that tell the intimacies of the visual arts. Keywords: critical education, critical discourses, visual arts, graphic design, visual culture