Malang City, in addition to having a distinctive culinary meatball. Malang is also famous for its distinctive language, the language of the walikan Malang is well-developed and still preserved by the people of Malang. The application of walikan Malang language elements on the merchandise design is growing into a popular visual culture as a medium of communication. In the further development, today the language is widely used in various media information by government, business actors, and the general public. And there are also on print media and electronic social media. The focus of the study in this research is to observe the visual design using walikan Malang language elements, which today has become a popular visual culture, especially on the product design of t-shirts that are part of a typical merchandise from Malang city. This phenomenon is interesting for the study because there are visual designs that make use of local knowledge, and there is also a process of transition of art form, from the form of language (walikan language) to another art form (visual design). In a broader sense, the term may even include the conversion of various types of science into works of art. For that, the research problem proposed in this research are: (1) How to design visual by using local knowledge (language of walikan Malang); and (2) How is the concept of developing the form/formulation of intersection between visual design meanings with verbal language (walikan language) technically. The purpose of this research is to find out that visual design can be developed with local knowledge, in this case is walikan Malang language. The method that will be used in the study of visual design model by using walikan Malang language element is using qualitative paradigm by trying to build meaning about a phenomenon based on the views of the participants. Identifying a culture-sharing community, then examining how the community develops different patterns at one time (ethnography). By observing the behavior of the participants by being directly involved in their activities. Data in this research are library data and field data with the collection procedure through observation, interview, and documentation. The results and objectives of this study are expected to provide benefits for producers of T-shirt in SMEs (Small Medium Enterprise) to develop its visual design using walikan language, and can provide input for the city of Malang that in delivering the program/message to the public can be more optimal when using visual design with walikan language.