This module is designed to establish a solid platform of practical skills and approaches to Graphic Design and Illustration practice, the module involves process-based workshops where students are introduced to key skills and techniques. Workshops will act as a bridging period of study to establish more a consistent level of skills and awareness among students with a mixture of prior learning experiences. Project work will be contextualised through themed projects; outcomes are presented as representations of final products, for example, as a book or poster.

This module builds upon a wide range of previous learning experiences. Typically the module begins with exploratory quick fire projects, brainstorming and problem solving. Project briefs are designed to develop critical thinking skills, design development and will focus on helping students select a pathway within graphic design or illustration. Students will be encouraged to employ divergent thinking, to stretch their perceptions of creative thinking and creative practice. Ethical issues will be considered within the discipline as students explore a range of visual languages. Projects will involve individual and group work (including two and three-dimensional design skills).

The module focuses on the communication of ideas (and thinking), and establishes good working practices in relation to the research and development of visual communication project work. Students will explore a range of visual thinking and research methodologies and basic elements of design vocabulary as a means of exploring, developing, expressing and realising ideas. The module is designed to conclude by providing students with an introduction to professional presentation skills. Students will present work selected from the projects undertaken during level 4, work which best represents the knowledge and skills (learning outcomes of the Field) developed during the year.

The module will familiarise students with the history of graphic design and illustration to enable students to begin to develop an understanding of conventions within the field. It will pay particular attention to changes in the field during the last few decades. Students will be exposed to a wide range of historical, social, political, economic and cultural contexts and will be introduced to a range of the key issues influencing some of the critical debates used to examine contemporary visual culture. The module will encourage students to reflect critically and to begin to locate their own work in a broad contextual framework. Students will be introduced to key study skills and academic protocols. Throughout levels 4, 5 and 6, subject lectures occur alongside research and writing skills seminars, which aim to provide students with the skills necessary to formulate informed arguments, and to present their ideas using appropriate methods and protocols. At level 4, these seminars focus primarily on writing skills.

This module will further develop a range of professional practical skills and approaches to Graphic Design and Illustration practice. Projects involve process-based workshops where students are introduced to advanced skills and techniques. Workshops will support a transition period of study and will develop specialist skills as students begin to specialise; projects offered will enable selection and progression to elected specialist activity; focus is placed on students developing skills related to a chosen specialism.

This module is concerned with the continued development of conceptual ability, explorative thinking and innovative communication. The module will establish ways of building a body of work and individual approach to graphic design and illustration practice. It supports the exploration of the potential for communication through a wide range of media and in diverse contexts. In fulfilling project work, students will be encouraged to employ technical skills developed in other modules. Students will document project development work, from concept to final design solution, and national and international competitions may well form the basis for project briefs.

The module explores the notion of designer/illustrator as instigator or ‘author’ and involves the establishment of an individual direction of creative enquiry. A range of quick fire assignments of varying length and emphasis will enable the student to stretch their critical thinking skills developed in earlier modules. Self-evaluation plays a critical role in project development.

The module is designed to provide students with experience of professional presentation skills and the development of key knowledge and skills involved in creative career management. Students will present work selected from the projects undertaken during level 5 (work which best represents the knowledge and skills developed during level 5) and work on a collaborative design project, a celebration of the year.

The module provides students with an opportunity to reflect critically upon their own work and to locate it in the context of contemporary practice. This module introduces students to some of the key issues informing contemporary design research. The module explores some of the psychological motivations underpinning design practice and the sublimated impulses behind consumption. Students will be introduced to some of the analytical and critical methodologies used to describe design, material and visual culture. Attention is given to the analysis of concepts, ideas and theories related to the students’ own creative practice. The module will enable students to develop conceptual and analytical skills and to deconstruct assumptions. All issues covered will be described in relation to the work of contemporary practitioners. At level 5, while writing skills remain an integral part of the curriculum, the emphasis of seminars is on critical analysis. Level 5 students are required to reflect upon key texts from their chosen discipline, with the aim of improving their critical analysis skills so that they may be prepared for compiling the literature review, which forms an important part of their work at level 6.

This module is concerned with the exploration, development and synthesis of conceptual, theoretical and practical skills to create compelling communication solutions, which communicates individual voice and point of view. The module presents a series of set and self-initiated assignments that support a critical, individual and imaginative approach to visual communication. Normally between 2 to 5 projects involving different levels of commitment, scope and ranges of media are undertaken.

This module will further develop a range of professional skills and approaches to Graphic Design and Illustration practice. Projects involve process-based workshops where students are introduced to advanced skills and techniques. Workshops will support the creative development of specialist skills as students forge their own specialist practice. Projects enable students to foreground their specialist development in design research, whilst demonstrating their capacity for creative visual resolution.

This module is concerned with the research and development of professional practice and the understanding of a range of routes and roles possible within design practice; students are required to develop and present a professional portfolio, which shows understanding of how best to promote and present their work, and skills, to potential clients within design practice. The content of the portfolio will come from negotiated projects; students define project work relevant to the practice of Graphic Design or Illustration (or both). The module includes professional practice talks by industry specialists and recent graduates from across the spectrum of communication design to support individual research, initiative and evaluation in the development of specific and relevant career routes and personal goals. The module offers the opportunity for professional placements and work experience.

The module requires students’ work independently; to exercise and deploy knowledge and skills acquired in earlier stages of the programme; to focus in depth on a specific and discrete topic in a given field; to develop and sustain a thesis, within a guiding theoretical framework. The preparation of a dissertation proposal, is to be approved by the Module Leader. At level 6, students are involved in intensive research training. In Level 6 seminars and tutorials, students explore ways to define and refine research questions, identify and employ appropriate texts in the formulation and support of arguments, critically analyse texts and artefacts, assess the value of sources, and structure their own responses.