Five reasons to study Art and Design

If you’re unsure about choosing a creative degree or whether it’s the best route for you, we’ll give you some good reasons to choose it as your university subject.

Art and Design university courses in the UK are hugely varied. Our subject league table includes specialisms such as fine art, fashion, graphic design, and product design, helping you to find the best Art and Design degrees in the UK. If you want to know more about what to expect from a degree in this area, then read our subject guide to find out about entry requirements and more.

1. Develop your creativity

While it may be obvious, the skills you gain from an artistic degree will help you develop an approach that is unique to you. You’ll learn how your subject has developed over time, explore contemporary practice and issues, and, of course, hone your artistic and practical skills. Many degrees now integrate AI into their studies, using it as yet another tool in the creative process.

It’s a diverse and fascinating degree area, designed to stretch creative minds so they can find fresh ideas.

2. Culture at your fingertips

British culture has had a huge and distinct impact on the world. Galleries worldwide feature works from some of the nation’s most cherished artists, from J.M.W. Turner to Chris Ofili or Tracey Emin. Icons of British fashion range from Vivienne Westwood to Stella McCartney, while product designers include Tom Dixon and Yinka Ilori. You’ll learn about artistic visionaries, art movements, trends, and influences – all to feed your own creative vision.

Many universities also offer the chance to study abroad, whether for a term or a year. This helps to broaden your knowledge and skill set beyond UK culture. What’s more, a career after university, such as in fashion, may continue to take you all over the globe.

3. Entrepreneurial mindset

Benefits of an Art and Design degree include developing an enterprising spirit. Whether you plan to work as a designer, meeting the needs of clients, or to forge your own path as an artist, you will need to be business-savvy. Degrees may include modules on business, branding, or creative enterprise, and you’re likely to work on live client briefs, applying your creative skills to real-life projects.

Whether as a designer or artist, you’ll learn how to market your work, manage projects, and work independently. These are all key skills for freelancers or innovative business founders.

4. Transferable skills

You’ll gain a wide range of transferable skills from studying a creative subject at university. As well as skills in visual communication, you’ll improve your problem-solving abilities, sharpen your hand-eye coordination and use IT. You’ll also develop your ability to work independently, planning projects and meeting deadlines. The skills you learn on a creative course can set you up to succeed in many different professional roles after you graduate.

5. Careers after an Art and Design degree

You may think an artistic subject won’t lead to a highly paid job, but with many real-life applications, it can lead to a wide range of careers. Occupations in the creative sector range from illustration to TV production, teaching to museum curating. Or, with your creativity and enterprising skill set, you could also work in business management, forging a path into new fields that are still developing. If you want to find out about pay for Art and Design degree graduates in the UK, see our article on what graduates do and earn.

Hopefully, these reasons to study a degree in art or design will convince you to look further into courses in this area. If you want to narrow your choices down, use our Uniselect tool to find universities offering your subject by location, within your accommodation budget, and more.

Start by checking out Art and Design degrees in the UK!