Graphic Design (with Integrated Foundation Year) with Diploma in Creative Professional Development - BA (Hons)

Norwich University of the Arts

Graphic Design at Norwich University of the Arts is a contemporary ideas-led course that specialises in branding, identity design and packaging. The course is highly regarded amongst industry for its unique focus on clever and witty visual ideas, often taking a steer from the classic graphic design text, A Smile in the Mind.You will work on brands and identities for a range of organisations and businesses including designing the brands, or re-branding, within the food and drink categories. Very few courses have a reputation for doing this, and this course is rightly famous for it. You will also work on a broader range of design problems such as brand promotion and extension, editorial design and digital design.Typography, copywriting, imagery (photographic and illustrative) and print applications lie at the heart of all your work. You can also get involved in motion design as part of your solutions and/or to bring your projects to life on screen.

This course includes an integrated foundation year (Year 0), which promotes developing practical, technical and creative skills and confidence. Building on your prior experience, you will be introduced to some of our workshops to assist your skill development, with an increasing emphasis on professional standards and independent study. The course places emphasis on your personal commitment to study, while supporting you in your progression.

- Share your first year with other graphics students, and continue to work alongside each other, allowing for a unique cross fertilisation of knowledge, skills and experience - Develop skills in typography, printing, layout, photography, design research, idea generation, visual narrative and story telling - Become adept at understanding and deciphering a brief, researching and generating ideas, problem-solving, developing the most successful concept, and executing and presenting the final work - Create clever ideas-based solutions for organisations and brands, packaging, design for good/change and campaigns that aim to address the problems we face in the world - Participate in workshops and classes run by external professionals, undertake project briefs initiated and taught by designers from industry, and enter national and international design competitions judged by the design industry - Engage with industry through portfolio reviews and surgeries, talks from practising alumni focused on portfolio development and employability, interview practice and graduate portfolio showcase events

The Diploma in Creative Professional Development offers undergraduate students the chance to spend a year between Year 2 and 3 of their course exploring their employability options through a structured programme of input sessions and work-based learning. The aim of the course is to provide you with an opportunity to gain industry insight, develop your employability skills through a series of supported experiences, expand your network and build your confidence in the workplace.

You will be asked to consider the design industry in terms of the sectors you wish to work in, and the potential roles that are available to you. You will have the opportunity to create a range of employment focused tools including a CV, email/covering letter and a career overview and strategy. By the time you conclude the course you will have developed a professional portfolio and a strong sense of where you want to work within the industry. Students have found employment at some of the most prestigious design agencies including Turner Duckworth, JKR, Magpie, The Cabinet, Hat-Trick, The Chase and many more.