BA (Hons) GRAPHIC DESIGN (WITH FOUNDATION YEAR)

Bachelor's degree

In London

£ 9,250 VAT inc.

Description

  • Type

    Bachelor's degree

  • Location

    London

  • Duration

    4 Years

This extended course is perfect if you want a degree in Graphic Design, but don’t meet the standard entry requirements.

First we prepare you for your degree during the Foundation year, bringing you up to speed with academic skills and a firm grounding in the subject. Then you can go on to do the full undergraduate degree.

As a future talent of the graphic design industry, we’ll prepare you for the exciting new challenges this field offers. You’ll need the ability to work both individually and as part of a team, making large-scale projects happen and bringing big ideas to life.

To land the job you want in graphic design you’ll need to be a strong visual communicator in the delivery of future products, services and ideas. So we want to provide you with all the tools to experiment but also to explore and invent, as you examine where 21st-century design is heading.

Our expert teachers will help you identify where your potential truly lies. At the University of East London, we’re a team. We’ll value your ideas and we’ll give you the confidence to express and realise them.

We’ll prepare you for a rewarding future career in graphic design by looking at the practical skills involved, as well as giving you a firm grounding in academic theory. At the core of all you’ll study and create, there is an uplifting sense of the spirit of design here.

Facilities

Location

Start date

London
See map
Docklands Campus, University Way, E16 2RD

Start date

On request

About this course

We believe graphic design is changing, becoming a bridge to connect people, communities, ideas and identities. Corporate design, for instance, must be responsible to people and communities as well as responding to commercial pressures.

So new ways of working are emerging, and we’ll prepare you, as tomorrow’s designers, to engage with others to consider wider problems and issues.

Graphic designers need to be acutely aware of their roles and responsibilities. That’s why our course will prepare you to understand your subject in relation to other disciplines - principally economics, politics, psychology and ethical issues.

You’ll learn practical skills such as typographic design, classification of typefaces and their uses, and layout design. You’ll also explore book design, print production, advertising media, corporate branding and editorial design.

We’re at the cutting edge of developments in web design, motion graphics, design for social media and for communities. So you’ll examine both 2D and 3D working methodologies and media, too.

Our course helps develop graduates who are creative, innovative and going places.

Recently, two of our class of 2013, Charlotte Maeva-Perret and Francesco Tacchini, went on to study further at the Royal College of Art, where they're considered to be among the country’s leading young talents.

While some go on to postgraduate studies, others quickly start to make their names in leading design and advertising agencies, typographic design studios, corporate graphics companies and moving image production houses.

One 2012 graduate, Joe Pleass, has already had one of his co-creations selected for permanent exhibition in the design section of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Called OTOTO, it’s a musical invention kit that allows you to make anything from a drum kit of saucepans to origami that sing when you touch them!

Joe, who’s also managed exhibitions at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, never looked back after going on one of our exchange visits with students in Minnesota.

Such placements, exchange trips and ‘live’ projects with professional designers are all geared to provide you with the experience that will prepare you for a career in graphic design.

Initially, that could be, for instance, as an assistant or freelance designer, an assistant art editor, magazine designer or advertising creative.

FROM
A LEVEL
Must include passes at A2 in at least 1 subject
FROM
BTEC
Extended Diploma or Diploma
FROM
INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE
Diploma with 24 points including a minimum of 15 points at Higher Level
We would normally expect you to have Grade C in GCSE English and Maths. All applicants are required to attend an interview and submit a portfolio of their work.

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Subjects

  • Media
  • Advertising
  • Industry
  • Production
  • Works
  • Design
  • Branding
  • Market Research
  • Market
  • Teaching
  • University
  • Team Training

Course programme

WHAT YOU'LL STUDY AND WHEN

FOUNDATION YEAR
  • Found – all core
YEAR 1
  • Year 1 – all core
YEAR 2
  • Year 2 – all core
YEAR 3
  • Year 3 – all core
HOW YOU'LL LEARN

We work as a winning team in graphic design. “We’re all smarter because we work together,” as our course leader, Tim Foster, puts it.

You’ll be guided by supportive staff who’ve worked at the highest level of design practice. Lecturer Stephen Barrett has worked in the design industry for the past seven years and now runs his own design practice.

You’ll be able to take advantage of our academic team's excellent connections as you improve your skills by undertaking practical work experience.

Our visiting lecturers have included the award-winning film maker Jonathan Glazer, director of notable works in advertising, music videos and films 'Sexy Beast' (2000), 'Birth' (2004) and the critically acclaimed 'Under the Skin' (2013).

They’ve also featured top graphic designers such as Alex Cowper, Sara De Bondt and Jonathan Barnbrook, the one-time Damien Hirst collaborator, who himself was once taught by our own Tim Foster.

We’ll enable you to rehearse your future by providing you with a range of different experiences, including opportunities to study abroad and academic exchanges with great schools in Europe and America.

In 2014, we launched a fully equipped a design studio for our third-year students. It features iMacs, A3 and A4 scanners, laser printers with Riso printers and wall projectors.

And where better to study and create than in the creative hub of east London, with regular studio and agency visits arranged for you?

Guided independent study

We are investing in key areas beyond your studies including our career services, library and well-being, to be available both face-to-face on campus and online with many of these available 24/7. We have new, modern library facilities on both campuses offering inspirational environments for study and research. Libraries contain resources in print and digital formats, a range of study spaces and dedicated librarian who can assist with your learning.

Academic support

Students are supported with any academic or subject related queries by an Academic Advisor, module leaders, former and current UEL students.

If you need a bit of extra help with certain skills such as academic writing, maths or IT, our Skillzone and English for Academic Purposes we offer workshops, drop-in sessions and one-to-one appointments to help our students achieve their potential. You can receive advice and guidance on all aspects of the IT systems provided by the university from our IT Service Desks located on all three campuses. Our Student Support hubs in Docklands and Stratford feature centralised helpdesks to cater for your every need. UEL provides also support and advice for disabled students and those with specific learning difficulties (SPDs).

Workload

Each year you will spend around 300 hours of timetabled learning and teaching activities. These may be lectures, workshops, seminars and individual and group tutorials. Contact hours may vary depending on each module.

The approximate percentages for this course are:
Year 1: scheduled teaching – 300 hours; guided independent study – 900 hours.

Year 2: scheduled teaching – 300 hours; guided independent study – 900 hours.

Year 3: scheduled teaching – 300 hours; guided independent study – 900 hours.

The size of classes can vary depending on the nature of the course, module and activity. This can range from large groups in a lecture theatre setting, to smaller groups taking part in seminars and collaborative work. You will receive your personalised timetable at the beginning of the academic year dependent on your course.

BA (Hons) GRAPHIC DESIGN (WITH FOUNDATION YEAR)

£ 9,250 VAT inc.