Folk culture endows many creators with rich local resources, and this paper proposes an innovative application strategy of folk culture in visual communication design education based on the inheritance and innovation of folk culture. The survey is carried out by questionnaire method, and the data of 339 recovered questionnaires are statistically analyzed by SPSS22.0. The teaching effect model is constructed, the role relationship and influence relationship of each element of the model are analyzed by the structural equation method, and the validity test of the model is carried out by using exploratory factor analysis and validation factor analysis. Using Pearson correlation coefficient for correlation analysis, the correlation coefficients of morphological plurality, elemental integration, living teaching and teaching effect are 0.263, 0.361, 0.495, P<0.05 respectively, which bring inspiration for the integration construction of folk culture and visual communication design education.