Graphic Design [with Foundation Year] BA (Hons)

Anglia Ruskin University

Develop your understanding of graphic design and visual communication, solve challenging design briefs and prepare for a career as a designer with our BA (Hons) Graphic Design degree.

With its vibrant studio culture, our Graphic Design degree will encourage you to push boundaries and challenge existing thinking by developing innovative design solutions as well as a keen understanding of professional practice. You’ll experiment with print-based design as well as digital commercial practices including site-specific, interactive, motion graphics, mobile media, app design (UX/UI), web and multimedia work.

While studying our BA (Hons) Graphic Design degree, you’ll develop your skills in information design, visual identities, packaging and promotion, cross-platform advertising and design for the web, as well as experience design systems. Working in our dedicated Graphic Design Mac suites and base room, you'll bounce ideas off other student designers while receiving guidance and support from the course team, all of whom have worked in the design industry for clients including Tesco, Lotus Cars, Manchester United, Saatchi & Saatchi, The NUS, and the UK Film Council.

You’ll also work closely with a number of graphic design studios, including Cambridge University Press, CPL, The District, and Onespacemedia, who will set your live briefs as well as providing lectures and one-to-one feedback, ending with a final review that can often lead to work placements, internships and long-term professional relationships. Our students recently took part in a live brief with the University of Cambridge Museums (UCM), creating an identity for their relaunched Bridging Binaries LGBTQ Tours across online and offline promotional platforms.

You’ll also enter design competitions, including Penguin Random House Student Design Awards and D&AD.

Industry-standard facilities

As a Graphic Design student at ARU, you’ll have access to all our creative facilities including:

• Dedicated Mac and PC suites with the latest software including Adobe Creative suite
• Wide-format printers and scanners
• Ruskin Gallery, a professional digital art gallery
• Life drawing studio
• Specialist printmaking workshop including etching, screen-printing, and lithography
• 3D workshops for physical media including wood, plastic, metal, and clay
• Photography and media facilities including darkrooms; studios; film processing; digital printing suite; video editing; and professional equipment loans.

Careers

The creative industries are booming in the UK, employing more than two million people. Our BA (Hons) Graphic Design will prepare you for a career as a graphic designer, as well as for design-related roles in digital graphics, online media, communications and marketing, publishing, and advertising.

Our previous students have gone on to work with design studios or media and communication companies, producing advertising, corporate identities and promotions, packaging and branding, informational design, editorial and book design, web designs and interactive media.

You’ll have many opportunities to generate a strong portfolio of graphic design projects that will help you secure a job in this rewarding, vibrant and growing industry. These include getting involved with regional design agencies and national design networks such as D&AD and YCN, engaging in ‘live’ projects or commercial briefs and building your industry contacts. All of these can lead to freelance projects, work experience and internships, which could result in offers of work before you even graduate.

Cambridge is the perfect place to gain experience – a creative hotspot that’s home to thousands of established businesses and start-ups. Our students have gone on to work with the likes of Drench, Filofax, Nash Matthews, Onespacemedia, Coast Digital, Workshop Creative Agency and Piranha Designs.