BA (Hons) - Graphic Design (with integrated foundation year)

Year one

The year is all about gaining experience and confidence that will act as a springboard onto your main degree. When you join us you’ll become a valued member of a wide creative community and from the outset, you’ll be encouraged to share your ideas, experiences and work with staff, fellow students and, eventually, the wider world.

You will have the same access to facilities as any other student in the Institute of the Arts, but with the added advantage of working very closely alongside illustration, fine art and photography IFY students, seeing how different disciplines approach visual enquiry and problem-solving. Gaining practical experience of collaboration at this early stage is a unique feature of the course that mirrors industry practice. Design is rarely a solo occupation!

• Making Images
  An introduction to a wide range of conventional and unconventional image-making processes.
• Making Objects
  Examine a wide range of 3D processes in relation to a specific project brief.
• Visual Enquiry
  Develop your knowledge and understanding to enhance your research methods, contextual awareness, and an evaluative ability.
• Environment
  Explore your local environment using a range of inter-disciplinary practices such as graphic processes, drawing, 3D, photography, moving image, and collage/montage.
• Portfolio and Progression
  Produce a professional and substantial portfolio of work.

Year two

In this year, you’ll gain fundamental knowledge and practical experience of visual communication, the building blocks of visual language and professional attitudes and practices.

• Introducing Visual Communication
  Develop effective working practices and habits.
• Cultural Contexts
  An introduction to the cultural, historical, and social contexts in which creative work from a range of disciplines.
• Multi-Dimensional Graphic Design
  Explore multiple forms and formats, from traditional print to the latest digital platforms, simple symbols to complex information and ideas, ephemeral to iconic.
• Collaborative Practice
  Work with other students to explore and practice the skills involved in creative collaboration.

Year three

This year is focused on applying the knowledge and skills you’ve gained to a series of design challenges. Testing and refining your design and personal management skills in a number of scenarios will give you confidence in your ability to tackle unfamiliar challenges. As your confidence grows through experience you’ll begin to develop your own, personal stands of interest or specialism.

• The Designer's Toolkit
  Explore the structural elements that are essential when creating any piece of graphic design - alignment, hierarchy, contrast, repetition, proximity, balance, colour, and space.
• Type & Typography
  Explore letterforms and how they can be manipulated and arranged to inform, entice, and communicate lies.
• Graphic Design Projects
  Develop conceptual skills and an individual approach to graphic design problem-solving, providing the springboard to your final year of study.
• The Critical Designer
  Explore key contextual debates which impact production and the reading of graphic design texts. Consider design as a form of social practice.

Year four

Flexibility is most evident in this final year where all of the skills, knowledge and confidence you have developed so far is brought together to produce a portfolio of design work that showcases your talents. With your career aspirations or personal research interests in mind, you’ll have a high degree of freedom in choosing what type of work you want to develop.

• Advanced Design Projects
  An opportunity to work within a design brief and explore a particular area of interest.
• Independent Research Paper
  Develop specialised and focused knowledge and understanding of a subject of your own choice.
• Graphic Design Showcase
  An opportunity to show-off the skills, knowledge, and professionalism developed throughout the course to potential employers and the wider world.