Modules

On this Visual Communication course, you'll hone practical and theoretical skills in graphic design, photography, video, illustration and animation to create innovative visual content for a range of platforms.

You’ll develop complex problem-solving and ideation skills, enabling you to experiment, and become comfortable taking risks to produce innovative visual solutions to briefs and weekly tasks.

Your creative practice will be underpinned with a solid understanding of visual communication techniques and contextual awareness. You'll graduate with a professional portfolio, a creative business plan for your future, entrepreneurial skills and a high level of industry awareness and reality to help sustain your creative career post-graduation.

Stage one
Through practical work and critical investigations, you'll be encouraged to experiment with and disrupt visual practices and processes. Working within an immersive community culture, you'll develop your understanding of audience, explore all areas of the creative process and learn core visual language skills, including type & image, storytelling, craft and production.

As you work on live briefs, you'll be introduced to branding, consumer culture, typography and information hierarchy, the ethics and responsibility of creative practice, design for society and the importance of collaborative practice. You'll also gain an understanding of the history and theories of visual communications.

Modules:
Play
Industry
Relay
Form

Stage two
You'll work on a range of projects to challenge your emerging fields. Throughout these projects you'll hone your core skills, reflect critically on your strengths and explore alternative models of practise to help define your design future beyond the Visual Communication course. Undertaking self-selected briefs, technical learning activities and presentations, as well as collaborative exercises and independent research, you'll continue to strengthen and provoke speculative, experimental and industry process models.

Modules:
Shape
Find
Break
Share

Stage three
Finally, you'll refine the detail and depth of existing projects, or work on new initiatives to cement your final visual communications identity, so you're ready to head into industry or go to further study. You will underpin your final portfolio through undertaking a reflective research project and exploring alternative models of practice to give you the essential skills you need for a successful career in the creative industries.

Modules:
Jump
Sprint
Launch
Reach

The modules above are those being studied by our students, or proposed new ones. Programme structures and modules can change as part of our curriculum enhancement and review processes. If a certain module is important to you, please discuss it with the Course Leader.

Assessment methods

The BA(Hons) Visual Communication degree employs a variety of assessment strategies over the course of the year. These include the submission of portfolios of practical work, presentations, verbal reports and a major practice project.

Your summative (final) assessments occur at the end of each module, usually at the end of the study block. You may also have interim formative assessments part way through a module as well. These assessments help ensure that you remain on track with your work.

You will receive continuous written and/or verbal feedback on all your work throughout the year. At the end of the module you will receive detailed feedback in written form.

You'll be able to check in with your online tutor to discuss your progress and ask any questions you have about your course.