Graphics

Why study with us?

To see much more of what we do please visit our website

www.cumbria.ac.uk/graphicdesign

and our course blog

http://grillust.blogspot.co.uk/

It’s a sad truth that at many other institutions, students rarely see their tutors due to huge group sizes and often have limited access to studio space, technology and resources – happily we’re very different! We know that small year groups are best and so we recruit around fifty students each year. This means that you see us regularly and receive a massive amount of regular tutor support and feedback. We also believe that you should work from a studio base. In our case this is a huge, modern, dynamic, well equipped, multi-functioning space in which all years of our course happily mix, share ideas and inspire one another.

Our course is carefully structured, starting at first principles, allowing you to develop rapidly using innovative project briefs, technical workshops, frequent studio lectures, practical demonstrations and visits from professional designers.

We love graphic design and, after studying with us, we’re sure you’ll feel the same. More importantly, you’ll be using that passion to produce exciting design across a wide range of traditional and digital media, showing your skill, commitment, versatility and creativity to potential employers.

What can this course lead to?

Our purpose is to help you graduate as a flexible, fully prepared, highly motivated, professional designer. In fact, just the type of person the creative industries are crying out for.

Our graduates go on to work for national and international design and advertising consultancies, new-media agencies, TV companies, publishing houses and newspapers.

Our reputation for excellence in the teaching of typography and magazine design means that each year a number of our graduates are head-hunted by the major magazine publishing houses including Future Publishing, IPC and Condé Nast.

Others graduates have established themselves as self-employed designers or developed design-related careers in marketing, styling and design management. For example, Dan Sutherland was grabbed by MTV upon graduation, producing many outstanding examples of animated motion graphics. He was subsequently head-hunted by RED Design in Brighton and now has his own company The Desire Path.

Upon graduation Fredrik Öst and Magnus Berg returned to their native Sweden to start their own multi-disciplinary design company Snask. Only two years after graduation they recently won the contract to produce all of the graphic design work for Sweden’s capital city, Stockholm.

Rick Banks joined London agency SEA Design, moved to This Is Real Art and now runs his own company Face37, but more importantly, he is the genius behind the typographic card game Type Trumps – sold in famous museums and galleries around the world.

2012 news, awards and jobs

This year we were visited by no less a figure than Kevin Roberts, CEO of the world’s biggest advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi! Just as enjoyable were visits from former students Ryan Young of Sell! Sell!, Gemma Rice of White Space and Sally Henderson of Media Clash. Also, freelance illustrator Lucy MacLeod came by to offer professional advice to our third year students.

As for awards: Rachy McKenzie and Ben Barrow were both winners in the YCN design awards.

Kelcey Braine was also a winner in The Creative Times Student Design Brief and Claire Wood was the winner of Cancer Research’s Race for Life T-shirt Design Competition.

Third year student Jenny Cox was shortlisted for the prestigious Folio Society Illustration Award.

We are also celebrating the fact that many third year students had illustrations commissioned by publications as diverse as Computer Arts and Singletrack. This gives them the huge advantage of graduating with published work in their portfolio.

In the toughest financial climate for years, our students have proven their worth with many already in full-time employment by September 2012 (only two months after graduating).

Sarah Gill is now working at Matter & Co.; Grace Neal at Singletrack; Mica Connelly is employed at RF Design; Sarah Swanton is at Exporta Group; Lee Freeman works for Sell! Sell!; Kelcey Braine is at Mesh Marketing; Petra Bláhová works for Lavahouse and Gary Nicholson is at TakeOff Creative. Many other students are reporting back with good news about placements, internships and agency interest.

Resources and facilities

We are immensely proud of our fantastic, huge and well-equipped studio space. It contains over eighty Mac workstations, small tutorial and lecture spaces, staff offices, and lots of space for student work bases. It also has the advantage of having an in-house reprographics department for all your printing needs. The benefits to you of working alongside students from all years of the course are immense and the mix creates an inspiring, dynamic, stimulating and continually changing environment.

Unlike most other universities, we also believe you should be able to exploit any technical areas your project work may require. We make sure you have access to computer training labs, animation suites, printmaking studios, moving image editing suites, wood, metal and plastic workshops, textile studios, photography studios and even our ceramics department! One of our students even converted a caravan into a travelling contemporary design gallery...

Please feel free to browse the photos in our course gallery of the studio, campus and resources our students use and enjoy on a daily basis.

Teaching, Assessment and Learning

We believe that assessment is not the end but the beginning of the process of learning. Feedback can come not only from lecturers, but also from their peers, or the student themselves. We have our own website with more information about teaching, learning and assessment in graphic design and illustration: www.grillust.com/tal.

Have a look at our learning resources for Graphic Design.

What our students say

“I loved the ‘art college atmosphere’ at Brampton Road and instantly felt at home there when I went to an open day. My course taught me excellent design skills especially in typography, which meant I was able to compete for jobs in London. My career ambition was to work my way up the career ladder in graphic design, which I have managed to get myself onto last year and I am so happy for doing so.”
Stuart Dowson, BA (Hons) Graphic Design graduate, Graphic and Web Designer,Youth Music Theatre UK based in London.

“The tutors are attentive and get to know you and the resources are brilliant, much better than most places.” – Year 1 student (2012 anonymous feedback survey)

“The projects are really inspiring and help you grow creatively and as a person. It’s also amazing value for money – we’re always working and therefore always learning.” – Year 1 student (2012 anonymous feedback survey)

“The briefs are always interesting and the tutorials and 1 to 1 sessions are really helpful.” – Year 2 student (2012 anonymous feedback survey)

“We have excellent facilities, the studio is a great place to work and we have lots of contact time with tutors who are really passionate.” – Year 2 student (2012 anonymous feedback survey)

“The course content is well structured and helps me stay focused and working more independently meant that I learned the things I wanted to and was able to prepare for a real job more effectively.” – Year 3 Student (2012 anonymous feedback survey)

“During the year I had support and regular tutorials which made a lot of difference to my progress.” – Year 3 Student (2012 anonymous feedback survey)

Entry requirements

240 UCAS points.

Find out more about equivalent qualifications on the UCAS tariff table.

Please check any additional selection criteria below.

Credit and UCAS requirements UCAS code: W210 UCAS points: 240 Selection criteria You can see what we’re up to right now by visiting our course Blog and Flickr account. Costs

Click to view information on your study type and home location

Full-time students

Home

The tuition fee for the 2013/14 academic year has been set at £8,250 (including an automatic £750 fee discount).

As a full-time UK student, you are entitled to a tuition fee loan which doesn’t have to be repaid until you start earning £21,000 per annum (if you're from England) or £15,795 (if you're from Scotland). You may also be eligible for a maintenance loan (up to £5,500) and a maintenance grant (up to £3,354). For more information about student loans and grants, visit our student finance page.

Additional funding

National Scholarship Programme

The National Scholarship Programme is designed to support students with a household income of less than £25,000. Full-time students may be eligible for one of 110 NSP awards for full-time students worth up to £6,000.

Cumbria Bursary

The Cumbria Bursary is an annual cash award of £1,000 for up to three years of study. There are 300 Cumbria Bursaries available in 2013.

More financial support

Access to financial support doesn’t end at registration. We have several awards and support funds available to our current students, including:

• Achievement scholarships
• Outstanding performance awards
• Access to Learning Fund
• Utilities trust

EU

The tuition fee for the 2013/14 academic year has been set at £8,250 (including an automatic £750 fee discount).

As a full-time EU student, you are entitled to a tuition fee loan which doesn’t have to be repaid until you start earning £21,000 per annum (or the equivalent in your country). For more information about student loans, visit our student finance page.

Additional funding

National Scholarship Programme

The National Scholarship Programme is designed to support students with a household income of less than £25,000. Full-time students may be eligible for one of 110 NSP awards for full-time students worth up to £6,000.

Cumbria Bursary

The Cumbria Bursary is an annual cash award of £1,000 for up to three years of study. There are 300 Cumbria Bursaries available in 2013.

More financial support

Access to financial support doesn’t end at registration. We have several awards and support funds available to our current students, including:

• Achievement scholarships
• Outstanding performance awards
• Utilities trust

International

The tuition fee for the 2013/14 academic year is £9,960.

Fees are billed annually and may be paid by the student or a sponsor. 75 percent of the annual tuition fees must be paid before or at registration. For students requiring a Tier 4 Student Visa, a deposit of £3,500 is expected as a minimum before a CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies) will be issued. For more information, visit our international student finance page.

Early payment discount

If you are paying your own fees, you may be eligible for an early payment discount of £1,000. This discount is awarded to students who pay in full before registration.

International scholarship

If you are studying a full-time bachelor's degree (excluding teacher training and NHS-funded courses) or a top-up degree, you may be eligible for an international scholarship. The university has nine scholarships available. Find out more on our scholarships page.

Additional financial support

Our money doctors will be on hand throughout the year to help you manage your money while you’re in the UK. However, if you do happen to run into financial difficulty during your time here, you may be able to access a small emergency support fund.

Part-time students

Home

The tuition fee for students starting study in the 2013/14 academic year is £8,250 (including an automatic £750 fee discount). This fee is billed annually. For part-time students, the annual fee is calculated based on the number of years you take to complete your course. For example, a student studying part-time for six years may expect to pay £4,125 per year.

As a part-time UK student, you are entitled to a tuition fee loan which doesn’t have to be repaid until you start earning over £21,000 a year (if you're from England) or £15,795 (if you're from Scotland). For more information about student loans and grants, visit our student finance page.

Additional funding

National Scholarship Programme

The National Scholarship Programme is designed to support students with a household income of less than £25,000. Part-time students may be eligible for one of 40 NSP awards worth up to £3,000.

More financial support

Access to financial support doesn’t end at registration. We have several awards and support funds available to our current students, including:

• Achievement scholarships
• Outstanding performance awards
• Access to Learning Fund
• Utilities trust

EU

The tuition fee for students starting study in the 2013/14 academic year is £8,250 (including an automatic £750 fee discount). This fee is billed annually. For part-time students, the annual fee is calculated based on the number of years you take to complete your course. For example, a student studying part-time for six years may expect to pay £4,125 per year.

As a part-time EU student, you are entitled to a tuition fee loan which doesn’t have to be repaid until you start earning over £21,000 a year. For more information about student loans, visit our student finance page.

Additional funding

National Scholarship Programme

The National Scholarship Programme is designed to support students with a household income of less than £25,000. Part-time students may be eligible for one of 40 NSP awards worth up to £3,000.

More financial support

Access to financial support doesn’t end at registration. We have several awards and support funds available to our current students, including:

• Achievement scholarships
• Outstanding performance awards
• Utilities trust

UCAS Link

Visit UCAS

Modules

For detailed summary of all course content please read our programme specification for this course (PDF).

Course summary

Put simply, our aim is to give you the experience, confidence and creative skills to allow you to stand out from the crowd when you graduate. We’re good at what we do and we have a fantastic record of getting students into work. You’re with us for three years, but it’s what you achieve after you graduate that’s really important.

During Year One, working closely with staff in a professional studio environment, we build your confidence and help you develop your ideas by looking at all aspects of design through a series of imaginative briefs that address core themes, issues and technical skills. These themes are further explored in an integrated design theory module. We are renowned for our teaching of drawing (including life drawing) and typography and you also develop your two-dimensional and moving image skills using our state-of-the-art digital resources and technical workshops.

We are radically different from most universities as we provide you with extensive feedback and advice while your project work is ongoing (not simply waiting until a module has finished) and by running projects that reflect the pace of the ‘real world’. For example, our first year students complete around ten studio projects per semester and receive feedback on each one as it is presented. Most students have to make do with a sector average of only three projects per semester.

To see what we’re up to right now please visit the Course blog.

In Year Two, you tackle a series of wide-ranging design problems, gaining specialist skills as you cover corporate identity, illustration, marketing and promotional work, information, book, magazine, film, TV and web design. This includes designing and building your own online portfolio – crucial in the transition from study to employment. You also work with professional designers, travel to design studios and visit relevant exhibitions. By the end of the year your experience, skill and ambition should ensure you have developed a strong sense of your chosen area of graphic design.

Year Three allows you the freedom to explore a personal approach to design, which helps you build a portfolio appropriate to your career goals. Work will include a range of international competitions, tutor-set projects and live outside briefs. Ultimately you develop self-negotiated projects giving you the opportunity to show the design world just how good you are. A professional development module supports your transition from student to professional and includes a work placement, which can help you to successfully launch your career as a practicing designer.

You can see lots of current student work on our Flickr Site and also on our ISSUU Site.

Programme specification

Find out more about graphic design, including what our interviews are like (very friendly) and the kind of work we would like to see in your portfolio (wide-ranging).

Not quite ready for Year 1?

Many of the students we accept on to Year 1 of the course have normally studied for a Foundation Diploma or a National Diploma in Art and Design (or equivalent). Some applicants from other backgrounds (for example school leavers or people returning to education) may need further time and support to help them progress to degree level education – this is where the Foundation Entry (known as ’Year 0’) comes in.

This specialist, preparatory year, will provide you with an extensive range of underpinning practical, technical and theoretical skills. You experience a wide range of project work and have extensive inductions into virtually all of our technical workshops. The pace is fast, the projects are fun and successful completion of ‘Year 0’ gives you automatic progression to Year 1 of the BA (Hons) Graphic Design course. Find out more.