2. BA (Hons) Graphic Arts (3 yrs)
Intake: 90
Average applications per place: 5
Entry Requirements:
A-level: BBB, art/design subject
BTEC - DDM
The Graphic Arts programme is structured around four specialist pathways: Graphic
Design, Photography, Illustration and Motion Graphics. Connections and collaboration
between these pathways is encouraged by allowing students to work alongside each other
within shared studio spaces. The course has been developed with leading industry
practitioners, with a range of opportunities to engage directly with the creative industries
at every stage of the course.
Course Structure:
Year 1
- Methods and context
- Workshops, collaborative projects, lectures
- Semester 2 – specialist pathway, ‘boot camp’
- Two modules, examining ideas and theories
- Contextual blog and ‘contemporary issues essay’
Year 2
- Assignments consolidating existing knowledge and
skills, examining emerging creative methodologies,
code based design
- Collabs with students from other pathways
- Opportunity to take part in industry project
- Optional module
Year 3
- Personalise and individual practice,
applying it to professional context
- Industry set projects, competitions,
final, personally devised research
project
- ‘Insights from the Field’ offers the
opportunity to engage with lading
agencies and practitioners from the
creative industries through a series of
lectures and workshops
- 2014/15 – AllofUs, Kin, Moving
Brands, Simon Manchipp, Accept &
Proceed etc.
Student destinations:
Mother, ustwo, Protein, Moving Brands,
Johnston Works, the Financial Times, M&C
Saatchi, the Daily Telegraph, Elle, Jack Wills,
Blueprint, the Guardian, Sony, Harpers
Bazaar, the Sunday Times and the Observer.
These graduates are working in a diverse
range of disciplines which include:
advertising, editorial design, web
development, animation, motion design, user
experience design, typography, photography,
branding and marketing.
3. Selected students from year 3 presented to creative
director of Bear, Roberto D’Andria. 3 students were
selected at the end for a 6 week work placement
4. BA (Hons) Graphic Communication
Design (3 yrs)
Entry Requirements:
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
A pass in 1 A level,
Passes at GCSE level in 3 other subjects
This course aims to develop your technical and conceptual skills and situate your practice
socially ad ethically, so that you emerge with strong technical skills, creative abilities and an
understanding of the power of the design to influence and shape human behaviour. The
course offers you’re a common introductory diagnostic experience during the first year,
followed by two years of selected and more specialised study driven by your interests and
preferences. Graphic A
Stage 1
- Introduce the landscape and languages of graphic
communication design
- Reading, writing, typography and digital – lectures,
workshops and seminars, projects
- History of design and theories of communication
- Experience different specialist areas of design
Stage 2
- Chosen specialist area, begin to collaborate with students
across the course and college
- Explore hybrid practices, different specialist areas
- Communication skills: verbally, visually, in writing
- Community of practice
Stage 3
- Problem finding, problem solving and
problem setting
- Depth of knowledge, situating practice
and student-initiated issues and themes
- Communities of practice based around
thematic areas
- Tutored by a group of staff
- External studies:
- Life briefs: LVMH, Camden council,
Sony
- Work experience, internships, study
trips, student exchanges
Industry Collaborations:
- TetraPak
- Karstadt
- Sony Music
- Beefeater Gin
- Fabriano
- Kagome
- Hewlett Packard
- Tod’s
- Fresh
- Lacoste
5. The Deer Monk
- a graphic novel adapted
from Chinese legendary
stories.
Still-Life’s, created completely by
hand, visualising the collaboration of
idioms of the Dutch and the
English language.
King's Cross Reconstruction
an illustration project about
kings cross buildings
visual identity for the CSM Degree
Show 2016 – winning design
drawn in by the strong
contrasting colour palette in
pop art works
Zhiwen Tang – Chinese Dream
6.
7. Graphic design/visual communication is the practice of visual problem
solving using image, typography, space and colour. It is essential in fields
such as branding, packaging, advertising and digital design (IU and UX
design).
The core value in graphic design is creativity and a good designer knows
how to communicate effectively to the target audience of the market/brand,
responding creatively to the client’s brief.
There are unlimited ways for the designers to express their ideas:
through pencil sketching, composing text with a design programme,
experimenting with mixed media, computer coding, visualising data
etc. as the products they create are rather diverse.
Some of the most common design softwares used include: Adobe
Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After effects, Edge Animate, depending
on the nature of the final product and each programme’s suitability.
Famous graphic designers include: David Carson, Milton Glaser, Stefan
Sagmeister, Paula Scher, Jacqueline Casey…
8. The purpose of this poster is to represent the graphic design
field, with its ‘main’ elements or principles under the title. I
wanted to keep the design simple and use the simple image
with the white frame to hint at editorial design as it is the area
I’m most interested in. The main image is quite abstract and
creates the effect with its vibrant colours. With this I wanted to
portray that graphic design can be quite ‘abstract’ in what it
represents as the limits of it are constantly being explored
further.
9. I’ve also created a second poster where I’ve represented
the most influential periods in art and design history with
one of the graphic pieces from that period. I have
arranged it in a dynamic layout and minimalistic colour
scheme.
10. David Carson (graphic designer, art director) is seen as one of the most
influential designers of the last 20 years, with a distinct and experimental
graphic style which heavily influenced graphic design in America. He graduated
from San Diego State University with honours and distinction at sociology in
1977 and it wasn’t until 1980 that he set out on becoming a graphic designer.
He broke through into the industry with his interest in surfing; working on
publications such as Transworld Skateboarding, Beach Culture and How
Magazine (all linked in with surfing.) However, his first widely recognised work
came out of Ray Gun magazine, earning him the unofficial title ‘Godfather of
Grunge’.
At Ray Gun, he experimented with his own style of design, which he could share with a much larger audience. His style often
‘broke the rules’: not complying with the standard practices of typography and abandoning all forms of grid systems, columns,
headings etc. His designs were also rarely legible which provokes the audience’s eye to study his work in greater detail and
take in the work.
David is featured in both “The History of Graphic Design” by Philip Meggs, as well as “The Encyclopaedia of Surfing” by Matt
Warsaw.
He designed a special issue of Surfing Magazine titled “Explorations” which came out in July of ’04. He also recently directed a
television commercial for the progressive UMPQUA Bank in Seattle, Washington.
David’s work continues to be subjective and largely driven by intuition, with an emphasis on reading material before
designing it, and experimenting with ways to communicate in a variety of mediums.
11. “Do what you love, trust your gut, your instincts, and intuition”
mixed messages from beach
culture magazine
- Title interpreted from the article
- visual representation of the title
combination of different fonts
- Title printed out on 4 pages, laid out
and cut, then taped together
- Experimental
- Illegible – breaking the rules
- Dark colour scheme, grunge image
- No grid system, title across the article
- Effective visual communication
David Carson –
Analysis
12. Siang Ching is a Singaporean Graphic Designer/Illustrator with a main focus on graphic design, illustration and print design. She
graduated with a first class honours BA in Design Communication from Lasalle College of the Arts in 2008.
She regularly uses digital softwares for her designs but also has great appreciation for hand-made works, often using traditional
techniques: print-making, crafts, origami.
Siang Ching also finds joy in patterns,
hence she created pattern-matters.com
which is a graphics project inquiring on
possible ways to augment the role of
pattern by looking into the design process
and tactile exploration through pattern
making.
13. Through this project, Siang Ching wanted to inspire designers to
look at pattern from every possible angle. It also aims to
demonstrate that pattern is a crucial form of design element in
graphic design and not merely a decorating tool.
This main piece represents the ‘Frequency of blood
groups in Singapore Donor Population – a tangible
paper infographic.
The main image was made by cutting card and
forming the prism like shapes, filling out the ‘blood
drop’ image.
This gives a third dimension to the image, with
different tones of red/pink, making it more visually
intriguing with the changing colours and shapes. The
background has subtle triangular pattern over it,
contradicting the ‘textured’ image. The colour scheme
connotes with blood, effectively using visual
communication.
14. There’s clear contrast in Siang Ching’s and
David Carson’s graphic works ： Siang
Ching’s editorials and posters designs are
mostly clean and have a sophisticated feel to
it. She usually uses a main image illustration
to visually communicate the idea and
combines it with simple, minimalistic
typefaces.
Whereas David Carson breaks the rules of
graphic design, as his design sometimes
appears illegible or dirty, with a very busy
layout and no grid system unlike Siang Ching.
His work looks experimental and reckless but
it is its unexpectedness that draws the
audience in to a closer look. Despite them
having completely different design styles,
they both communicate visually very
effectively, proving that there’s not only one
way to visual communication.
15. There are alternative ways to get into the graphic design industry without having to get a BA degree.
1. Shillington
Has recently arrived in UK and US – the Australian “design college with a difference”. It offers a full time course lasting 3 months or a part-time course
lasting one year. It’s an intensive graphic design course preparing the students for a career in the industry with design skills and a high quality portfolio.
The students’ works seem pretty decent and professional. There are mixed reviews of the college as some people feel that it is impossible to ‘learn’ design
in 3months period, while some argue that one can easily gain a complete conceptual understanding of design in 3 months. It is ideal for people who
already love design and would like to make it more than their hobby. Most students are aged 25-40 and many of them are graduates with degree that’s
not related to art & design, therefore this intensive, short course can act as a ‘shortcut’ for them to the industry. They would most likely not be accepted
on a MA degree since most courses require BA in creative subject.
16. 2. Work experience/apprenticeship/internships
It is possible to get into the industry through work experience and apprenticeships. Many Junior designers start out by
joining design organisations, volunteering for events and charity works to get their work out there. All of this would
help start a network base, add work into the portfolio and help you get noticed.
An internship with a good design agency/studio can offer invaluable experience and start your design career. You’ll
have a better understanding of how design agencies are run; client requests and briefings. Often, these internships can
lead to a full-time position offer at the agency.
3. Submit work to competitions
This helps building a reputation and getting under noticed by art directors/editors.
In conclusion, graphic design is one of the most competitive fields in the creative industry. The employers always look
for designers with experience and an impressive portfolio. This is why most people opt for the creative degree route as
it gives them confidence in your ability.
17. There’s far more career paths to go into after graduating with a graphic design degree, not just freelancing or designer in an agency:
Advertising Art Director
They are responsible for what the advertisements look like. They are involved in creating a campaign that has an instant, positive
Impact on the consumer in order to promote the product or brand being advertised.
Art director’s responsibilities include:
- working closely with the copywriter, generate creative ideas
- producing sketches or 'storyboards'
- gaining an understanding of the target audience
- pitching ideas to clients;
- briefing other members of the creative team;
- commissioning photographers, artists or film-makers
- visiting and assessing locations
- working on location;
- attending meetings at production houses and with other directors;
- advising new creatives
Most of the art directors have a degree in one of the following subjects: Advertising and marketing graphic design, advertising design,
illustration, fine art, graphic design.
18. Illustrator
An Illustrator produces drawings, paintings or diagrams that help make products more attractive or easier to understand, It could include books,
book jacket, greeting cards, advertisements, packaging and detailed technical diagrams. Many professional illustrators have a degree in
illustration or other art related degree subjects.
The work would typically include:
- Discussing requirements or briefs with authors, editors or designers
- Negotiating prices and time scales
- Deciding on the right style for illustrations
- Creating illustrations using hand drawing, painting or computer design packages
- Speaking with the client and changing designs if necessary
- Making sure the work is completed within set budgets and deadlines
Some illustrators also specialise in one type of illustration such as heritage illustration, designing pictures for guidebooks, fashion illustrations etc.
Many of them also work freelance as self-employed illustrators, therefore business skills are also crucial.
