Graphic Communication Design BA (Hons)

Course Content

• Course Details

  Graphic Communication Design BA (Hons) provides you with the vital skills and knowledge needed to further your understanding of communication design, working in the creative industries, or even progressing onto postgraduate study. You will learn through studio practice, specialist media workshops, lectures and seminars to help you understand contemporary graphic design practice. Our dedicated studios are designed for efficient learning and practice in digital media, printmaking and photography.

  As well as active learning and studio practice, this Graphic Communication Design course delivers a selection of design briefs; some will be set by your tutors, some you will decide yourself and others will be real-­world design competitions. There will be opportunities to work on live industry projects throughout the course, attend design conferences, receive industry feedback on your work and develop portfolios, as well as the opportunity to travel with us on our international cultural trips. We regularly host visiting speakers, industry specialists and creative agencies giving you practical learning and advice from the professionals.

  Student Success

  For the fourth year in a row, our students have been listed in the Penguin Random House Design award and in 2019 our very own Toby Clarke beat hundreds of fellow designers to win the prestigious national prize.

  

  Toby was named winner of the Adult Non-Fiction Cover Award at the Penguin Random House Design Awards 2019. He was chosen as the winner by judges who were impressed with his inspired new cover design for Owen Jones’ bestseller, The Establishment and How They Get Away With It. Read the full story here.

  Students, Matthew Barnard, Elliot Lee and Carly Ayre were three of the only 30 students listed for the Penguin Random House Design award 2017 in the Adult Non Fiction Cover and Children’ Cover shortlists. Matthew and Elliot have come up with striking covers for Truman Capote’s ‘In Cold Blood’, while Carly has created a bright design for The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend. You can find out more on the Penguin Design Award Website.

  Students on this course are regularly shortlisted and commended through the multiple international design competitions we enter – including in  You Can Now (YCN), Design and Art Direction (D&AD), and Penguin Random House Design awards. D&AD also provides students with a London-based industry graduate degree show opportunity, New Blood. We have strong industry partnerships with companies such as Stocks, Taylor Benson, The Met police, Whitworths, Engine Creative, Silverstone, Verto, Toxic Creative, The NN Gallery, The Northampton Music Festival and Creative Folks.

  D&AD Pencil

  

  The New Blood Awards are an invaluable introduction to the reality of working in the creative industry and gets your work seen by some of the biggest names in the creative industry. Winning students get awarded the highly coveted D&AD Pencil. Students on our BA Graphic Communication course have been regular winners over the last four years.

  Please note the modules shown here relate to the academic year 21/22. The modules relating to the academic year 22/23 will be available from June 2022.

  • Stage 1
    • Visual and Material Culture 1 (20 Credits)
      Module code: 2DD1003

      Status: Compulsory
      The purpose of this module is to provide an introduction to design history and theory. Inquiry ranges from early industrial society progressing through time to contemporary visual cultures and so doing establishes a historiographical study of design practice and theory.
    • Professional Studies 1 (20 Credits)
      Module code: 2DD1006

      Status: Compulsory
      The purpose of this module is to develop fundamental and critical understanding of how graphic communication functions in contemporary culture and the creative industries, through exploring and developing the essential attributes needed by a creative practitioner.
    • Experimental Practice 1 (Graphic Communication) (40 Credits)
      Module code: 2DD1028

      Status: Compulsory
      This module enables students to experiment with a range of media and techniques through practice-based investigations that focus on the communication of ideas and messages in both literal and non-literal ways, exploring the progressive boundaries without the constraints of clients, audiences or other factors associated with a traditional brief.
    • Design Projects 1 (40 Credits)
      Module code: 2DD1029

      Status: Compulsory
      This module provides grounding in Graphic Design principles by exploring the creative design process from brief to final outcome through a series of projects and workshop tasks. The module focuses on creativity as a tool for problem solving, introducing methods of research, idea generation, visualisation and presentation.
  • Stage 2
    • Design Projects 2 (40 Credits)
      Module code: 2DD2004

      Status: Compulsory
      The purpose of this module is to enable students to work across a broad range of commercial, social and cultural briefs utilising traditional, new and emerging technologies, whlist addressing the relationships between designer, client and audience, through their technical skills and individual perspectives on visual language and creative problem solving.
    • Experimental Practice 2 (40 Credits)
      Module code: 2DD2005

      Status: Compulsory
      The purpose of this module is to encourage self-motivated enquiry to explore individual practice in preparation for the Final Major Project in level six, learning how various approaches to research-led enquiry can enhance their own practice, encouraging experimentation across a range of communication methods while exploring real-world issues.
    • Visual and Material Culture 2 (20 Credits)
      Module code: 2DD2008

      Status: Compulsory
      The purpose of this module is to help students become familiar with a broad range of design and culture-led research methods and approaches through engagement with critical analytical models, written responses, student-led investigation and the production presentation-based ideas and information.
    • Professional Studies 2 (20 Credits)
      Module code: 2DD2009

      Status: Compulsory
      The purpose of this module is to enable students to evaluate and explore the professional role of the designer within the creative industries, gaining understanding of professional project management and the processes involved in running freelance and live group projects whilst identifying and applying strategies to progress their career development.
  • Stage 3
    • Graphic Communication: Final Major Study (80 Credits)
      Module code: 2DD3002

      Status: Compulsory
      The purpose of this module is to enable students to work within the contexts of `designer as problem solver? and `designer as author?, producing work profiling a wide range of technical/creative skills, creating industry standard outcomes that recognise established Graphic Communication conventions for graduate employment or postgraduate study.
    • Graphic Communication: Dissertation (40 Credits)
      Module code: 2DD4002

      Status: Compulsory
      The purpose of this module is to support students in the production of their dissertation; presenting their skills in written communication, developing individual research and analysis sklls, exploring a range of knowledge bases, and expanding their capacity to present ideas effectively, whilst developing their theoretical and/or analytical approaches and interests.

  Schedule

  Your taught study will be a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops and technical demonstrations, usually for 15 hours per week, depending on your level of study. In addition, we recommend that you spend around 10 hours per week in self-directed study time. You will have access to technical facilities and studies outside of taught time.

  Assessments

  You will be assessed through a range of graphic design assignments, including portfolio presentations, essays, dissertation and self-assessment.

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• Entry Requirements

  Standard entry requirements apply. A typical offer would be BCC at A-Level or DMM at BTEC. A Foundation Diploma in Art and Design will also be accepted.

  Applicants are interviewed and are requested to provide a portfolio of their own work in Art and Design. International students may submit their portfolio electronically. Students with a relevant HND or Foundation Degree with a suitable profile of achievement may be admitted onto year two or three.

  For more more information on how to make an application, please visit our How to Apply page.

  If you are an International student and would like information on making an application, please see our How to Apply page.

  Integrated Foundation Year Entry Requirements

  Admission to this foundation programme is normally DEE at A-Level or MPP at BTEC. However, we would also like to hear from you if you have professional or industry experience instead, a range of other qualifications or self-developed subject knowledge that relates to the programme you wish to study.

  English Language Requirements

  All International and EU students applying for a course with us must meet the following minimum English language requirements:

  • IELTS 6.0 (or equivalent) with a minimum of 5.5 in all bands
    for study at undergraduate level

  For information regarding English language requirements at the University, please see our IELTS page.

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• Fees and Funding

  22/23 Tuition Fees
  

  Fees quoted relate to study in the Academic Year 22/23 only and may be subject to inflationary increases in future years.

  • UK Full Time: £9,250
  • UK Integrated Foundation Year: £9,250 for the foundation year; thereafter standard fees apply
  • International Full Time: £14,000
  • International Integrated Foundation Year: £14,000 for the foundation year; thereafter standard fees apply

  Additional Costs

  Materials, Events and Visits

  Materials for workshops and for Masterclasses, entry to competitions associated with your programme of study, and those visits that are necessary for your course are all made available at no additional charge.

  We recommend that you budget for printing costs (approximately £50 per year for laser and large format printing) and any specialist design materials that you may require (£50 or more depending on materials).

  There are optional trips, both within the UK and overseas: UK visits and Trips will cost approximately £50 per year. Overseas trips or visits will cost approximately £350 per trip

  Display and exhibition materials for end of year shows in years 2 and 3 will cost approximately £40 per year. Year 3 – Your end of year summer show additionally requires contributions [or your own fund raising activities] to the catalogue and marketing materials costing approximately £30, along with a further contribution to exhibit at the D&AD New Blood Industry Graduate Showcase in London, approximately £25. If you would like off site access to the Adobe Industry Standard software packages, you can opt to pay £15 per month (student rate) for Adobe Creative Cloud and you may want to buy a laptop or desktop computer (from £400 upwards). We have our own suite of MacBooks to use in the design studios and access to iMacs however, if able, buying your own is recommended.

  21/22 Tuition Fees

  Fees quoted relate to study in the Academic Year 21/22 only and may be subject to inflationary increases in future years.

  • UK – Full Time: £9,250
  • UK – Integrated Foundation Year: £6,780 as part of a four year programme (subsequent years will be charged at standard BA rate)
  • International – Full Time: £13,000
  • International – Integrated Foundation Year: £13,000 as part of a four year programme (subsequent years will be charged at standard BA rate)

  Additional Costs

  Materials, Events and Visits

  Materials for workshops and for Masterclasses, entry to competitions associated with your programme of study, and those visits that are necessary for your course are all made available at no additional charge.

  We recommend that you budget for printing costs (approximately £50 per year for laser and large format printing) and any specialist design materials that you may require (£50 or more depending on materials).

  There are optional trips, both within the UK and overseas: UK visits and Trips will cost approximately £50 per year. Overseas trips or visits will cost approximately £350 per trip

  Display and exhibition materials for end of year shows in years 2 and 3 will cost approximately £40 per year. Year 3 – Your end of year summer show additionally requires contributions [or your own fund raising activities] to the catalogue and marketing materials costing approximately £30, along with a further contribution to exhibit at the D&AD New Blood Industry Graduate Showcase in London, approximately £25. If you would like off site access to the Adobe Industry Standard software packages, you can opt to pay £15 per month (student rate) for Adobe Creative Cloud and you may want to buy a laptop or desktop computer (from £400 upwards). We have our own suite of MacBooks to use in the design studios and access to iMacs however, if able, buying your own is recommended.

   

  For information on the scholarships available to you, please see our scholarships page.

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• Postgraduate Opportunities

  Our postgraduate courses are a great way to enhance the skills you have already learnt. Benefit from our 20% alumni discount on postgraduate fees to give yourself a CV that will catch the eye of employers.

  Fine Art MA

  Master of Business Administration (MBA)

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• Integrated Foundation Year (IFY) 

  The Integrated Foundation Year (IFY) offers a new and exciting route into studying for a degree, attracting ambitious and driven students who are willing to learn and advance.

  If you have non-standard qualifications or do not quite meet the admissions requirements we can offer you a fantastic opportunity to study a four year programme which includes an Integrated Foundation Year. The Integrated Foundation Year will help you develop the theoretical/practical and academic skills you need, in order to successfully progress to the full award.

  Featuring a reduced tuition fee in the first year, our four-year courses will enable you to successfully follow the degree pathway of your choice while gaining essential study skills. The foundation year of your chosen degree will be studied on a full-time basis and is aimed at supporting the transition to higher education. Years two, three and four are then studied as a standard degree programme.

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• Changing Futures Week

  Every year the Graphic Communication Design team invite guest speakers, industry professionals and creatives into our studios to talk to our design students. In recent years we have had Adrian Shaughnessy, Ken Garland, Alan Moore, Jonathan Barnbrook and Malcolm Garrett to name but a few, along with practical workshops and Industry led portfolios reviews.

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• FAQs

  How will I be taught on Graphic Communication Design BA (Hons)?

  You will be taught through a variety of methods such as;

  • Project briefs (staff-set/self-set /industry/competition)
  • Workshops/demonstrations
  • Individual and group tutorials
  • Group critiques and presentations
  • E-tivities/Active Blended Learning / Online
  • Visiting speakers and Industry Guests
  • Seminars
  • Senior Lecturers, Lecturers and Associate Lecturers – this is the core team that you have contact with week in, week out. It is these lecturers that deliver the majority of your taught experience, set project briefs, assess your work and lead study visits.

  How will I be assessed?

  You will be assessed through a range of graphic design assignments, including portfolio presentations, essays, dissertation and self-assessment.

  Are there any suggested reading and resources?

  Yes, we suggest looking up the following titles for some inspiration:

  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
  • Juxtapose
  • Aesthetica
  • Adbusters

  Web:

  • Its Nice That (web)
  • Design inspiration – Design Inspiration
  • Computer Arts magazine / CreativeBloq

   

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Careers and Employability

A Graphic Communication Design degree can open up your career options. You will not be limited to one specific type of role, but rather be able to pursue numerous career paths. Our Graphic Communication Design graduates use their design skills to work in:

• Branding
• Advertising
• Illustration
• Editorial and Publishing
• Digital moving image
• Typography
• Interactive design
• Online, social media and app design
• Packaging design
• Photography
• Information design

Throughout your time on the course, as well as post-study, we offer support to ensure you receive the guidance and information needed to succeed in your field of work.