Graphic Design with Foundation Year BA (Hons)

Canterbury Christ Church University

The foundation year will introduce you to study at university and your chosen subject. It also provides a highly supportive environment where you can develop your self-confidence.

Graphic Design involves developing your individual skills as a professional designer from the moment you arrive at our purpose-built studios.

Throughout the course, you’ll put your skills to use by working with practising designers completing live briefs and entering national competitions.

To capitalise on your design work, you’ll learn the business and entrepreneurial aspects of the industry through working with a professional design agency. The course is taught in specialist graphic design studio spaces where you'll hone your software proficiency in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, AfterEffects, XD and Acrobat, learn the basics of coding for web and make data visualisations using Tableau to communicate global stories.

Although this is primarily a practical course, you'll also study the history of design, analyse the contributions of global key designers, assess the sustainability of existing design methodologies and develop new ones for an emerging world.

Top reasons to study with us

You’ll work in specialist graphic design studio spaces, in our dedicated creative arts building, on a mixture of focussed and open-ended briefs, similar to how graphic design typically functions in a professional environment.

Tutors and professionals will challenge you to design with intent and purpose as opposed to producing something simply because it looks good.

100% of our Graphic Design students were satisfied overall with their course. National Student Survey 2022

You’ll learn business and entrepreneurial aspects of the industry through working with a professional design agency.

1st in the UK for student satisfaction with the quality of teaching in the subject area of Art and Design. Complete University Guide Subject League Table 2023

Specialist facilities

You’ll have access to a range of excellent facilities, including our dedicated creative arts building, Daphne Oram, which houses:

Graphic design workshops fitted with the latest digital resources.

Projectors for showing films and presentations on a big screen

A print room with a wide variety of materials and equipment, including a print press, HP printer, fume cabinet and heat mat.

Study areas that allow you to work independently or as a group, creating a vibrant digital learning culture.

Location

This course is run at our Canterbury Campus in Kent. Canterbury is just 50 miles south-east of London and less than an hour by high-speed train from St Pancras. Located on a UNESCO World Heritage Site the campus offers state-of-the-art buildings, right in the centre of a vibrant and world-famous cathedral city. You’ll benefit from a campus with excellent learning and teaching resources, music venues, a superb sports centre, a well-stocked bookshop and plenty of coffee bars and places to eat. A short walk away is Augustine House our award-winning library and home to a vast range of learning resources and student support teams.