Course summary

Arts University Plymouth is an arts university for the 21st century, preparing students who are uniquely placed to provide creative solutions to the complex global challenges of a changing world. Formerly known as Plymouth College of Art, we were granted full university title in Spring 2022. We are now the city of Plymouth’s first and only specialist arts university, allowing us to offer our students a dynamic and unique learning experience. If you want to pursue a creative degree at Arts University Plymouth but feel you have yet to acquire the experience and range of skills necessary, our Extended BA course will prepare you for entry to one of our BA (Hons) undergraduate courses. This four-year route offers an exploratory year, developing your insight into a range of art, design and media skills and approaches, before focusing on your Interior Design & Styling degree. This course is one of a rare few in the UK devised to develop your skills in interior design and styling, emphasising the impact of colour, texture, materials, surface and ambience in a range of environments. We will ensure you enter industry as a well-rounded interiors specialist, ready to work on projects from super yachts to magazine photoshoots. Our Interior Design & Styling degree generates inspired graduates, who are both visually intelligent and well acquainted with technical drawing packages. As it cuts across a range of interior disciplines, here you’ll gain a great introduction to designing interiors for a variety of environments – from residential and commercial spaces to the public realm and even transport. Your studies will place special emphasis on trends, colour, surface, decoration and ambience in a range of interior contexts, both public and private. You’ll develop your own distinct taste in style curation, exploring lighting, furnishing, materiality and textural finishes to make your design concepts a reality. Through a variety of projects, which could range from hospitality design or styling for editorial to designing yachts or aeroplanes, you’ll find your own interior specialism. You’ll also develop a keen understanding of consumer trends and learn how to design for different levels of the market, whilst refining your presentation skills. Specialist modules cover interior project management, history of design, event planning and live design briefs. Hard skills that you will develop include technical drawing, visualisation, editorial photography and the use of CAD software. You will work in dedicated design studios, with skilled technical support staff. You will have access to our Fab Lab for digital prototyping, as well as wood, metal and glass workshops, digital print facilities, AutoCAD design software and design intelligence facilities. Our extensive photographic resources include large-format scanners as well as an infinity cove – a seamless curved studio with a solid backdrop for commercial-standard photography. On this course you’ll be taught by industry-active academics and highly specialised technicians who are responsible for some of the world’s most impressive design and styling choices in hotels, restaurants and private residences. Boasting a combined client list that includes the National Trust, the BBC, Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Sheraton, as well as multimillion-pound commissions in New York and Barbados, our Interior Design & Styling team are well connected and at the forefront of their field. This course places a high value on both local and international industry connections, encouraging students to attend the London Design Fair, Tate Modern, and the Design Museum – alongside group visits to interiors shows such as Maison&Objet in Paris and imm cologne.