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Graphic Design (Professional Placement Year) at Bath Spa University - UCAS

Bath Spa University

Degree level: Undergraduate

Graphic Design (Professional Placement Year)

Course options

Course summary

Combine the key areas of graphic design and illustration practice in this broad-based Graphic Design course.

  • Understand design conventions to challenge them, working across print, screen and interactive media.
  • Learn through carefully structured modules taught by supportive, experienced staff.
  • Experience working with clients and solve real production problems through Live Briefs.
  • This is a four-year course which includes a Professional Placement Year.
Graphic Design at the Bath School of Design is a well-established course with an excellent reputation and employment record. You’ll learn through a comprehensive making-based experience, designed to equip you with the full range of skills you’ll need to thrive in the dynamic and interconnected creative industries. You’ll develop works across print, screen and interactive media, and be taught by a team of full-time and visiting tutors, who are design specialists, illustrators or graphic design practitioners. You’ll be supported through excellent workshop facilities in specialist areas such as letterpress, photography, screen printing, etching, lithography and digital design, and through our course-specific lecture series, delivered by highly-regarded national and international designers and illustrators. More about the Professional Placement Year A Professional Placement Year (PPY), traditionally known as a sandwich year, is where you undertake a period of work with an external organisation for between 9-13 months. The placement occurs between your second and final years of undergraduate study. You can engage in multiple placements to make up the total time and are required to source the placement(s) yourself, with support from the Careers team. The PPY Bursary can make work experience more accessible, with students undertaking a PPY able to receive between £500 and £1,500 to be used towards placement costs such as travel, food, workwear or accommodation.

Modules

Year one – You’ll study carefully-structured studio modules examining the core aspects of graphic communications, typography and image. You’ll learn to conceptualise, produce, and critique type and images. Attending specialist workshops will help you develop practical skills. Workshops include: drawing, screen­printing, letterpress, etching and lithography, photography (analogue and digital), motion graphics, and animation (analogue and digital). You’ll gain an awareness of the industry through a Professional Contexts module, and a contextual framework through a Historical and Critical Studies module. Year two – You’ll explore interactive media in the context of type and image. You can choose to focus on graphic design, illustration or interactive media, or keep an interdisciplinary approach. A Professional Development module will help you consider and develop your professional identity as a practitioner and your Historical and Contextual Studies module will prepare you for your dissertation. Year three – This is the Professional Placement Year. Year 4 – You’ll produce of a series of portfolio projects. Live briefs will give you experience of dealing with clients, real production problems, and solutions. Portfolio clinics conducted by professional designers help you consider and prepare your portfolio before graduation, and career workshops help you get ready for career networking, opportunity finding or further study.

Assessment method

You’ll be assessed in two ways. Firstly, during your studio modules there will be critiques, advice and commentary from your tutor or peers about your work (formative assessment). Secondly, after you present your research and you final design outcomes, you’ll receive written feedback with a mark from your tutor (summative feedback).


How to apply

Application codes

Course code:
S168
Institution code:
B20
Campus name:
Main Site
Campus code:
-

Points of entry

The following entry points are available for this course:

  • Year 1
  • Year 2
  • Year 4

Entry requirements

Qualification requirements

Additional entry requirements

Interview

Applicants who meet the entry criteria will be invited to bring a portfolio of creative work to interview at our Sion Hill campus. More details will be supplied by email to those invited.

Portfolio

You’ll need to take us through your work; talk about specific projects, the problems you’ve encountered and how you went about solving them. We’re particularly interested to see your process of designing and illustrating as much as the final finished projects – research sketchbooks, prototypes, drawings (including life drawings) are important. We understand not all candidates will have had the same curriculum or access to the same resources so we anticipate variation in portfolio content.

Other

A strong portfolio is a great asset in interview, it is also important to show engagement in the visual and design arts above and beyond your current course. Research contemporary designers and artists, filmmakers, fashion designers, writers, collect graphic design printed matter that interests you, go to exhibitions and consider how you can impact the world of graphic communication.


English language requirements

TestGradeAdditional details
IELTS (Academic)6IELTS 6.0 - for visa nationals, with a minimum score of IELTS 5.5 in each element.

Student Outcomes

Operated by the Office for Students
79%
Employment after 15 months (Most common jobs)
86%
Go onto work and study

The number of student respondents and response rates can be important in interpreting the data – it is important to note your experience may be different from theirs. This data will be based on the subject area rather than the specific course. Read more about this data on the Discover Uni website.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

England £9250 Year 1
Northern Ireland £9250 Year 1
Scotland £9250 Year 1
Wales £9250 Year 1
Channel Islands £9250 Year 1
Republic of Ireland £9250 Year 1

Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .

Additional fee information

No additional fees or cost information has been supplied for this course, please contact the provider directly.
Graphic Design (Professional Placement Year) at Bath Spa University - UCAS