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Summary:
Course Code: W211
Course Code: W4FY
Where Are You Applying From?
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Why choose the School of Arts and Creative Industries
Artist, designer and course leader Noel Douglas has 30 years' experience running a design studio. His work has been exhibited in The Design Museum and the V&A Museum, and is in the collections of the V&A Museum, the Museum of London, and British Museum.
Staff team includes designers, illustrators and animators educated at the Royal College of Art and the National Film School.
Expert talks and insights from celebrated agencies, Barnbrook and Studio Dumbar, known respectively for having worked with Rihanna and David Bowie, and curating DEMO Motion Graphics Festival.
About the course
Combining practical design skills with creative problem-solving, this course offers a solid foundation in contemporary forms of visual communication. It explores all contexts where graphic design is found such as digital content; interface design; web and social media; editorial design; print and publishing; moving image; visual identity; typography; and graphic illustration and engages with important themes like the climate emergency and social justice.
Facilities and specialist equipment
- Spacious studios and facilities in Alexon House, the previous home of the Alexon and Eastex fashion company
- Excellent studio facilities including screen printing, large format printing and RISO printing, and photo studio
- Mac computers with access to Creative Cloud, Dragonframe and TB Paint software
- Creative Cloud for personal use
- Equipment including drawing tablets; cameras; C-stands; and coloured gels
- 360° green-screen room with motion-capture suit
Industry links
The course partners with a graphics arts course at MSA ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ in Cairo, Egypt, for international student collaboration.Ìý
Projects collaborations include with Luton Town Football Club, the NHS and Luton Council.
Student experience
Develop a reflective, outward-looking approach to design challenges, and become adept at using a variety of platforms from digital to print, moving image to illustration.Ìý
Gain a solid knowledge of the cultural, critical and creative contexts of contemporary practice including how social media has transformed the role of the graphic designer.Ìý
Take the opportunity to work on live projects through national competitions and awards such as D&AD, RSA Student Awards and Penguin Design Award, alongside local collaborations and ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½-wide initiatives.Ìý
Intern at our in-house alumni-led studio, Guildford Street Press, and get live experience working on projects for external clients.Ìý
Attend weekly World of Work guest talks from a wide range of creative-industry professionals, who share insights into finding your first job in graphic design and establishing yourself as an independent creative. Ìý
Enhance your studies with regular field trips to Somerset House, Tate Museum and the Design Museum.Ìý
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Our Animation and Graphic Design students team up with alumni music artists to create vibrant pop videos. Check out one such collaboration with Fready's "Soft Life" .
with Professional Practice Year
This course has the option to be taken over four years which includes a year placement in industry. Undertaking a year in industry has many benefits. You gain practical experience and build your CV, as well as being a great opportunity to sample a profession and network with potential future employers.
There is no tuition fee for the placement year enabling you to gain an extra year of experience for free.
*Only available to UK/EU students.
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with Foundation Year
A Degree with a Foundation Year gives you guaranteed entry to an Undergraduate course.
Whether you’re returning to learning and require additional help and support to up-skill, or if you didn’t quite meet the grades to pursue an Undergraduate course, our Degrees with Foundation Year provide a fantastic entry route for you to work towards a degree level qualification.
With our guidance and support you’ll get up to speed within one year, and will be ready to seamlessly progress on to undergraduate study at Bedfordshire.
The Foundation Year provides an opportunity to build up your academic writing skills and numeracy, and will also cover a range of subject specific content to fully prepare you for entry to an Undergraduate degree.
This is an integrated four-year degree, with the foundation year as a key part of the course. You will need to successfully complete the Foundation Year to progress on to the first year of your bachelor’s degree.
Why study a degree with a Foundation Year?
- Broad-based yet enough depth to give you credible vocational skills
- Coverage of a variety of areas typically delivered by an expert in this area
- Gain an understanding of a subject before choosing which route you wish to specialise in
- Great introduction to further study, and guaranteed progression on to one of our Undergraduate degrees
The degrees offering a Foundation Year provide excellent preparation for your future studies.
During your Foundation Year you will get the opportunity to talk to tutors about your degree study and future career aspirations, and receive guidance on the most appropriate Undergraduate course to help you achieve this; providing you meet the entry requirements and pass the Foundation Year.
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Course Leader - Noel Douglas
I’m an internationally recognised Artist and Designer with over 30 years experience teaching and running my own studio. I have worked for a large range of commercial clients and creating my own art work for exhibition.
I work across a range of media and spaces from Street Art, Posters and Graphic Identities to Videos, Augmented Reality and Web based work, both for my own Art and with groups who need my Design skills, most I recently I have worked with the group - a group of the bereaved survivors of the Grenfell Tower Fire - to develop large scale publicity campaigns for them.
Course Leader - Noel Douglas
I’m an internationally recognised Artist and Designer with over 30 years experience teaching and running my own studio. I have worked for a large range of commercial clients and creating my own art work for exhibition.
I work across a range of media and spaces from Street Art, Posters and Graphic Identities to Videos, Augmented Reality and Web based work, both for my own Art and with groups who need my Design skills, most I recently I have worked with the group - a group of the bereaved survivors of the Grenfell Tower Fire - to develop large scale publicity campaigns for them.
Course Leader - Noel Douglas
I’m an internationally recognised Artist and Designer with over 30 years experience teaching and running my own studio. I have worked for a large range of commercial clients and creating my own art work for exhibition.
I work across a range of media and spaces from Street Art, Posters and Graphic Identities to Videos, Augmented Reality and Web based work, both for my own Art and with groups who need my Design skills, most I recently I have worked with the group - a group of the bereaved survivors of the Grenfell Tower Fire - to develop large scale publicity campaigns for them.
What will you study?
ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ing our Graphic Design BA (Hons) course will equip you with the in-depth knowledge and skills to creatively use communication design skills, in graphics, illustration and animation on exciting taught and self-driven projects in a beautiful old factory in Luton’s Hat District located in the Creative Quarter, that is 20 minutes from Central London. With a particular focus on graphic visual design, you will have various opportunities to express your creativity in our Communication Design: Exploring Materials and Methods unit. Here, you will get to explore a range of skills, methods and material processes for communication design and subsequently use these technical skills for image making and storytelling. You will then get to practice this knowledge in our Communication Design: Developing Materials and Methods unit by researching, testing and experimenting with creative production methods and material processes for communication design. This is closely linked to our Thinking Through Making unit that will encourage you to take creative risks and develop a graphic aesthetic sense through using various technologies, software, print, RISO, web, AR and different work processes and ideas.Ìý
In core areas of art study, you will be introduced to key theories on art and design as well as its effect on culture and society in our Context and Ideas unit. To further deepen your insight on contemporary art and design practices, our unit in Critical and Creative Contexts will allow you to explore issues and critical debates in the field which will be particularly useful for your Final Major Project: Graphic Design. This unit is a brilliant opportunity for you to pursue your creative interests and channel it into a piece of work for public display. Another area of project work involves our Collaborative Enterprise unit, where you will work to apply your knowledge and expertise gained throughout this course into a collaborative interdisciplinary project. To help you with the research and analytical skills needed for project work, our unit in Context and Meaning will allow you to critically examine a range of texts on art, design and visual culture while placing this theory and practice into global contexts.ÌýÌý
To diversify your skill set, our unit in Introducing Studio Practice will allow you to develop discipline-specific skills and experience such as independent learning, self-confidence, collaborative working and reflection, and apply them in other areas of study. To prepare you for your career, our unit in Creative Futures will provide you with the skills and knowledge you need for a professional creative role. Whether you aspire to become a freelance designer or to pursue further study, this unit will support you in developing a career that suits your ambitions and interests. Furthermore, this unit will encourage you to participate in live projects, competition briefs and other group work while developing your creative persona online, in exhibition and elsewhere. To add to this, our unit in Developing Professional Practice will teach you to incorporate independence and professionalism in the presentation of your work while also developing your confidence to take creative risks through live projects solving real world needs, from local community engagement to global problems, such as the climate emergency.ÌýÌý
How will you be assessed?
A range of appropriate assessments will enable you to grow in confidence and demonstrate your acquisition of knowledge and skills. The formative and summative assessment methods used across the course include:
Coursework to include examples of Graphic Design visual communication possibly 3-D work or installation research portfolios notebooks research assignments essays contextual writing.
- Assessments based on individual and group presentations.
- Portfolio reviews are a key means of assessing but they are also important for collating work for a professional portfolio. This instils the right attitudes towards professional work whereby you can use your portfolio to promote yourself in professional contexts.
- Essays and reports feature in developing writing skills helping you to express ideas in a - variety of ways and styles and to develop academic writing skills that are of particular benefit in producing the final year contextual rationale for your major project.
- A midpoint Formal Formative Assessment to review all work in progress
Key Skills are embedded in the teaching and learning of the course and will be taken into account in all assessments. The assessments will develop incrementally across the course and allow you to gain skills confidence and knowledge receive feedback and develop thus allowing you to implement this knowledge and feedback into subsequent assessments. At the end of the course completion of the assessments will demonstrate your ability to analyse current design practice in relation to Graphic Design and communicate this in both written and visual formats as well as demonstrate a range of transferable skills relevant to your professional employability.
Careers
Employability skills are integrated into the course and provide you with an awareness of the real-world context of the creative industries in general and graphic design in particular. You will be helped to develop a strategy for obtaining appropriate employment at the end of your course.
Professional practice is also embedded into learning with a work-related unit that will especially help you to become more focused on managing your career. You will be helped with the preparation of a professional portfolio including a CV and taught the social-media skills needed to promote yourself in a social-mediated art and design world.
Typical graduate destinations for Graphic Design students include various roles within the design and creative industries: graphic design; digital and interactive design; advertising; editorial and book publishing; animation; television and video; public or community arts participation; museum and exhibition work; arts education; freelance creative practice; and teaching.
You may also like to progress to further study at Master's level in a related field for example graphic design; visual communication; and web digital media or motion graphics.
Entry Requirements
Entry Requirements
Entry Requirements
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £9,250 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees. You can also apply for a maintenance loan from the Government to help cover your living costs. See
Excellence Scholarships
Worth £2,500 per year of study over three years when you score a defined number of UCAS tariff points from specified qualifications*
» If you don’t qualify for an Excellence Scholarship but have 120 UCAS tariff points, you have enough points for one of our Achievement Scholarships offering £500 per year of study**
» Other scholarships, bursaries and financial support packages are available
* Points requirements vary depending on type of qualification.
** Threshold is 120 UCAS tariff points across all awarding bodies and qualifications.
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International
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the academic year 2025/26 is £16,900 per year.
There are range of Scholarships available to help support you through your studies with us.
A full list of scholarships can be found here.
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £9,250 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees. You can also apply for a maintenance loan from the Government to help cover your living costs. See
Excellence Scholarships
Worth £2,500 per year of study over three years when you score a defined number of UCAS tariff points from specified qualifications*
» If you don’t qualify for an Excellence Scholarship but have 120 UCAS tariff points, you have enough points for one of our Achievement Scholarships offering £500 per year of study**
» Other scholarships, bursaries and financial support packages are available
* Points requirements vary depending on type of qualification.
** Threshold is 120 UCAS tariff points across all awarding bodies and qualifications.
Ìý
International
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the academic year 2025/26 is £16,900 per year.
There are range of Scholarships available to help support you through your studies with us.
A full list of scholarships can be found here.
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £9,250 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees. You can also apply for a maintenance loan from the Government to help cover your living costs. See
Excellence Scholarships
Worth £2,500 per year of study over three years when you score a defined number of UCAS tariff points from specified qualifications*
» If you don’t qualify for an Excellence Scholarship but have 120 UCAS tariff points, you have enough points for one of our Achievement Scholarships offering £500 per year of study**
» Other scholarships, bursaries and financial support packages are available
* Points requirements vary depending on type of qualification.
** Threshold is 120 UCAS tariff points across all awarding bodies and qualifications.
Ìý
International
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the academic year 2025/26 is £16,900 per year.
There are range of Scholarships available to help support you through your studies with us.
A full list of scholarships can be found here.
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