Graphic Communication Design BA and Graphic Communication Design (Top-Up) BA Welcome Pack
Welcome to Graphic Communication Design BA and Graphic Communication Design (Top-Up) BA 2023.
Hello, my name is Trevor Brown and I am the Programme Leader for Graphic Communication Design BA and Graphic Communication Design (Top-Up) BA. We look forward to meeting you online in mid-September and then face-to-face in Teaching Week 1, which starts Monday 18 September.
You are joining a vibrant course at a super supportive and future focused university that will provide the skills you need to succeed in the creative industries – come with enthusiasm and an open mind and in return we will prepare you for an exciting career.
At the heart of our programme is the creation of visual ideas that convey messages – this could be to sell, entertain or to expand awareness of an issue, or to persuade people to think about something differently.
We do this through well researched designs and use targeted technologies and channels to reach out and make a difference – the successful communication of a message is determined by its effective design; that’s how we influence, create emotion, and have impact. We explore the communication of ideas and messages to diverse and evolving audiences through a dynamic range of media that highlights the potential of what design can achieve.
Working in our studio with fellow students, lecturers and our industry contacts will develop your individual creativity whilst allowing collaboration on projects that will inspire debate about the world around us. You will develop your own perspectives on design as you experiment with a range techniques and technologies that challenge what image-making means to you and to those you are designing for.
Programme Leader
Trevor Brown BA, MA, FHEA
Programme Leader Graphic Communication Design
trevor.brown@northampton.ac.uk
Welcome and Induction Session
To welcome you to Graphic Communication Design BA and Graphic Communication Design (Top-Up) BA, we would like to invite you to attend the following webinars:
Equipment
I will talk through what equipment you will need more during the online session on the Monday 11 September, but to get you going you will need:
- SD card for using Digital cameras
- Memory Stick or External Hard Drive to back up your work
- A3 sketchbook &/or layout pads
- A3 Presentation folder
- Note pads
- Stationery – Pencils, fine liners, sharpies, coloured markers
- Any other art and design materials as appropriate to your chosen ways of working
- Laptops and power cable (if you have one – don’t worry if not, we have Macbooks you can borrow when in our studio. If you are looking to get a computer, we teach on and use Apple Macbooks – this is the industry standard. Windows based laptops are fine too, but they are not what you will use the industry)
- Phone charger if you need one.
Enhancing skills, building networks and engaging in the wider University community
Have a look at our course page for Graphic Communication Design BA and the course page for Graphic Communication Design (Top-Up) BA, and if time, I suggest you read a few of book recommendations in the ‘Reading List’ at the bottom of the page and start reading ‘Computer Art’s’ magazine – this magazine is all about Graphics and the creative industries.
Also spend some time on the Creative Bloq website – this is full of excellent articles about design, along with It’s Nice that, and Design Inspiration.
Additionally, here are some books and magazines from our Reading lists that will get your creativity flowing… if time, read a few!
Books
- Graphic design: a user’s manual – Adrian Shaughnessy
- Know your onions: graphic design – Drew De Soto
- The A-Z of visual ideas: how to solve any creative brief – John Ingledew
- The art of looking sideways – Alan Fletcher
- Design History, A Students’ Handbook – Hazel Conway
- Graphic Design: A New History – Stephen Eskilson
- On Creativity – John Hegarty
Magazines
- Creative Review
- Eye: the international review of graphic design
- Baseline: international typographics journal
- Computer Arts Magazine
- Aesthetica
- Adbusters