BA (Hons) Graphic Communication
Institution code: N39Course 3 Year UCAS code: W213Course 4 Year UCAS code: W214Course length: 3 or 4 year optionsWork-based learning opportunities: Creative Professional Development Year (Level 5 diploma) available between years 2 & 3
Our BA (Hons) Graphic Communication degree is closely aligned to industry and you will work on a wide variety of briefs set by staff, professional design agencies and external competitions.
You will engage in work that explores traditional formats as well as emerging digital technologies such as augmented and virtual reality. Your knowledge and skills will grow in branding, identity, advertising, motion graphics, interaction/UX design, whilst developing strong skills in creative thinking and ideas-led communication solutions.
Design solutions to real world problems
You’ll be challenged to engage with real-world problems, controversies and commercial briefs through research, design and technology.
Your original ideas are as likely to play out through an app, website or augmented reality experience as a printed poster, pamphlet or journal.
Design industry skills
As you hone your craft, you’ll get to meet leading practitioners from the creative industries and work on commercial briefs.
We’ll help to prepare you for a successful career as you compile your professional portfolio based on your own design interests.
Thanks to our strong links to industry, recent graduates are highly-employable and have found full-time employment in leading design studios, working in areas such as branding and digital, motion and cross-platform advertising.
You will be taught by passionate and experienced tutors, as well as many visiting professional designers, whose reputation for nurturing talent means that leading design groups and agencies actively recruit graduates from the course.
Graduates work in a broad range of careers including
- Graphic Designer
- Digital Designer
- Website Designer
- App Designer
- Branding Designer Advertising Creative
- Promotions Designer
- Brand Strategist
- Copywriter
- Printmaker/Printer
- Filmmaker/Animator
You’ll also get specialist creative careers advice from our team in the Ideas FactoryNUA to help support you as you plan your career.
Graphics at NUA
All courses run as a blend of on-campus and digital teaching and learning, and follow current UK government safety advice. Applicants and students will be notified directly if any changes need to be made.
- Course specifications
Three year degree
Four year degree - Course costs
Ask a Student
Course content
- Year 1
- Develop skills in typography, printing, layout, photography, design research, idea generation, visual narrative and storytelling
- Learn technical skills in various design-related digital media such as InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator
- Explore print, paper, material, format and hand-craft/making skills
- Develop your ability to design solutions for presenting complex data and information through editorial design and infographics.
- Year 2
- Focus on branding and identity, advertising and promotion, digital/screen design, app design, film and animation, corporate communications, infographics, design within the environment and large-scale graphics (super graphics), exhibition design and experience design
- Explore printed and digital formats, including books, journals and magazines, brochures and reports, as well as websites, apps, user interface design and user experience design
- Collaborate with others in a competitive presentation and/or pitch environment, and across courses with other NUA students.
- Year 3
- Create a professional portfolio of work
- Explore new territories for graphic design, including new and traditional media
- Advance your core skills in 2D and 3D design, specifically in typography, layout, image usage and editing, print/physical and screen based digital technologies
- Take part in projects, including competition briefs and other professionally-focused projects
- Complete a Research Report that provides broad contextualisation to your practice.
Entry requirements
Portfolio guidance
Fees & funding
Work-based Learning Opportunities
Four year degree
Typical UK offers
A / AS Levels – GCE
GCE A/AS Levels 3 A-level qualifications at grades BBB. Where candidates are not taking 3 A-levels, NUA will consider combinations of A-level/AS-level and other Level 3 qualifications.
BTEC Extended Diploma (QCF or RQF)
Distinction, Merit, Merit in an art, design or media related subject
BTEC Diploma (QCF or RQF)
Distinction*, Distinction* in an art, design or media related subject
UAL Extended Diploma
Merit
UAL Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Merit
UAL Level 4 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Pass
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Merit
Access to Higher Education Diploma (Art and Design)
Pass
International Baccalaureate Diploma
A minimum of 27 points
NUA welcomes applicants of all ages from all backgrounds. Your application will be primarily assessed through your portfolio, responses to questions asked and personal statement, so even if you have no formal qualifications or do not meet our typical offers it can still be worth applying.
If you are studying at the time of your application and your application is successful it is likely that you will receive a conditional offer.
If the qualification that you are studying is not shown, do not worry as we are able to accept other pre-entry qualifications as well as combinations of different qualifications. Please do contact our Student Recruitment Team if you have any queries.
International applications
We accept qualifications from all over the world. To find our entry requirements from a specific country, please check our dedicated international pages.
Most international students are required to hold an English language qualification. Applicants are required to have a minimum UKVI approved IELTS exam score of 6.0 overall, with a minimum of 5.5 in each section. Equivalent English language qualifications are acceptable such as, IB English language syllabus A or B/English Literature (Grade 4).
We also accept some alternative English qualifications. Learn more about our English entry requirements.
You can email us on international@nua.ac.uk if you’d like to discuss your application individually.
BA (Hons) Graphic Communication degree portfolio guidance
Your portfolio should be relevant to this course, but you can include a wide range of work that shows your creativity, technical competence and understanding of innovative communication.
You may wish to include some of the following:
- Visual identity, logos and branding
- Digital, motion design and interactive design
- Advertising projects/ campaigns
- Work created using Adobe Creative Suite or other appropriate design software
- Web design
- Typography
- Photography
- Editorial work and poster designs
- Drawing Skills
- Suggestions for context: branding, corporate communications, advertising, digital/interactive design
Further portfolio advice and tips
Get more advice on presentation formats, layouts, and when to submit your portfolio in the application process.
2022/23 University fees for new entrants
NUA will assess students’ tuition fee status using the guidance provided by the UK Council for International Student Affairs
Students from the UK or Ireland and EU students with ‘Settled’ or ‘Pre-Settled’ status will be charged ‘Home’ fees if they meet the relevant residency requirements. They will usually be eligible for a tuition fee loan from the UK government, meaning that they won’t have to pay NUA’s tuition fees up front.
Students who do not meet the necessary residency requirements will usually be charged ‘Overseas’ fees and will not be eligible for the UK government tuition fee loan. Since 2021/22, this includes new entrants from the EU, EEA, and Switzerland who do not have ‘Settled’ or ‘Pre-Settled’ status, because the UK has now formally left the EU.
Fee status | Course | Fee |
---|---|---|
Home | Undergraduate degree (full-time three and four year degree) | £9,250 |
Overseas | Undergraduate degree (full-time three and four year degree) | £17,500 |
In subsequent years inflation may be applied to the fees of those who started in 2022/23, at no more than the Office for Students’ recommended measure based on forecast RPI-X.
Financial support for UK students in 2022
Tuition fee loans and loans for living costs are usually available to UK and some EU students, as well as non-repayable NUA bursaries based on family income. Find out more about applying for funding.
Creative Professional Development (1 year, Level 5 Diploma)
The Diploma in Creative Professional Development has been developed to offer undergraduate students the chance to spend a year, between the second and third year of their course, exploring their employability options through a structured programme of input sessions and work-based learning.
Not just an ‘industry sandwich year’ —
The Level 5 Diploma in Creative Professional Development is:
- Designed around your needs as a creative student, particularly if your personal network does not currently reach creative industry.
- Based on our award-winning Profile skills framework.
- Co-delivered with industry partners who share our approach.
- Supporting you with carefully planned interventions and activities before and after their placements, so that you are ready to undertake placement learning and then equipped to derive the maximum insight from the experience afterwards.
- Opening a wide range of creative roles that you may not imagine you would be able to apply for after your study at NUA.
It has been designed for:
- Students who want to work in creative industry but have not yet decided the sort of role they would like.
- Students who do have a clear sense of career direction but need to develop a structured plan to achieve it.
- Students who do not have relevant work experience, and want to graduate with a fuller CV.
- Students who think that business start-up or freelancing may be their preferred option and want to explore it further.
Find out more about the Level 5 Diploma in Creative Professional Development
Four year degree – BA (Hons) Graphic Communication
Four year degrees offer students a chance to build on their experience within their undergraduate course of choice.
Year 0 will help to build confidence and develop subject specific practical, creative and conceptual skills – making full use of University studios and workshops.
Typical UK offers and entry requirements for Year 0 entry
GCE A/AS Levels
2 A-level qualifications at grades CC or higher.
BTEC Extended Diploma (QCF or RQF)
Merit, Merit, Pass in an art, design or media related subject
BTEC Diploma (QCF or RQF)
Distinction, Merit in an art, design or media related subject
UAL Extended Diploma
An overall Pass
UAL Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
An overall Pass
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Pass
Access to Higher Education Diploma (Art and Design)
Pass
International Baccalaureate Diploma
A minimum of 24 points
NUA welcomes applicants of all ages from all backgrounds. Your application will be primarily assessed through your portfolio, responses to questions asked and personal statement, so even if you have no formal qualifications or do not meet our typical offers it can still be worth applying.
If you are studying at the time of your application and your application is successful it is likely that you will receive a conditional offer.
Lecturers
-
Mette Ambeck
-
Emma Bailey
-
Bryony Birkbeck
-
Christopher Challinor
-
Martin Devenney
-
Maria Fletcher
-
Helen Furness
-
Mike Harrington
-
Neil Hedger
-
Andrew Johnson
-
Professor Laura Jordan Bambach (Visiting Lecturer)
D&AD -
Sean Perkins and guests
North -
David Pearson
David Pearson Design -
Jonathan Gibson
-
George Payne
Need help? Chat to our friendly recruitment team
Call: +44 (0) 1603 610561
Email: studentrecruitment@nua.ac.uk
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