Graphic Design - BA (Hons)

London Metropolitan University

Critical and Contextual Studies 2 continues to orient and critically engage students in the history and theory of their discipline, its extent and conventions, and its broader social and material context in culture and contemporary practice. It builds on studies undertaken in Level 4 and prepares students as independent thinkers, capable of selecting an appropriate topic and producing a sustained piece of independent study in the form of a dissertation in Level 6. The module continues to situate the student within the process of constructing knowledge about their discipline, its history, context, and its professional and ethical dimension. It rehearses the analytical and discursive skills students need to become knowledgeable about the authorities, objects and methods in their field; to understand the roles, locations and responsibilities of important players whilst examining the broader ethical questions relevant to their discipline; and to become conversant with current debates across the subject area. This process may be approached from the point of view of the producer or consumer, the critic or the professional, the academic or the practitioner.

This module exposes students to specialist graphic practices in design for print, screen, branding, interaction, animation, illustration or photography. The module asks students to conceptualise, plan and produce design outcomes that challenge and innovates the areas of graphic design, illustration, animation and publishing. Design practice for print, screen and environments have a vital historical importance in global culture where they have been adopted; and due to the constantly changing nature of contemporary communication, they retain their validity as ways of imparting and exchanging information. Here, students are encouraged to consider the particular role and possibilities offered by the forms of design methods explored in the module.

This module encourages graphic designers, publishers, illustrators and animators to gain experience and understanding of ?narrative? as a key element within creative practice. The principal purpose of this module is to explore understanding of how found or individually generated narratives can be utilised imaginatively within design practice. Narrative within design practice regularly employs fictional devices as stimuli. Thoughtful reflection on storytelling conventions will enable you to enrich and extend the range of creative expression. Within this module, students will be encouraged to construct, deconstruct and reconstruct narrative to inform or subvert the reading of design practice for public dissemination. Intelligent, creative selection of media and process will enable students to enrich and extend the range of practice, developing confidence in communicating through narrative studio themes.

This module is intended to enable graphic designers, publishers, illustrators and animators to gain experience and understanding of working practices within their respective creative industries. Work related learning projects, work opportunities and competition opportunities that reflect real-world situations, enable the consolidation of both disciplinary and creative skills, develop professional confidence and navigate individual-entrepreneurialism and collaborative approaches to working. Projects will provide the opportunity to explore in-depth professional ways of working, encouraging students to foster creative imagination and critical judgement, and to develop individual and team-working skills to real-world problems and opportunities.

Critical and Contextual Studies (CCS) Level 6 results in an independent dissertation. It builds on two years of undergraduate study that critically engages students in the history and theory of their discipline, its extent and conventions, and its broader social and material context in culture and contemporary practice. Students undertake an enquiry into a topic of their own choice and, based on this enquiry, develop a sustained critical study in support of their practice, building on techniques and knowledge developed in previous years. This study demonstrates the students ability to thoroughly research a topic, use appropriate methods of investigation, and work in a methodical and organised way to develop a coherent argument. It affords a sophisticated instrument for interrogating, testing and presenting ideas, and encourages the student to deploy and develop a variety of skills to show how well they can conduct and present a critical investigation.

This final project module enables graphic design students to prepare for independent practice in the workplace or to move onto higher studies. In this module, students will utilise skills and ideas conceived and developed in the parallel 'Project Design and Development' module, fully realising a self-directed final project brief in appropriate form by the end of the module. Students will exercise and display their conceptual and creative abilities through selecting, analysing and applying knowledge, skills and understanding. They will negotiate and complete a fully researched project in order to properly understand their strengths, interests and position in the field of graphic design and their potential for future professional development.

Together with their final project realisation module, this module is intended to prepare graphic design, publishing and illustration and animation students for independent practice, entry into the professional workplace, or for higher studies. Through independent and studio-based knowledge of visual communication fundamentals, skills, elements, processes and principles, students will facilitate, design and develop a series of self-directed studio projects. This will naturally require in-depth research, a well-constructed visual communication process, and the exercise of practical and thinking skills, resulting in a significant body of creative work for public and work related exhibition.

Graphic design, illustration, publishing and animation are complex fields, encompassing a range of ways of working and patterns of professional engagement. Succeeding within these professional practices requires specific skills in pitching, presentation methods, management, innovation and communication. This module helps you to develop your experience of the professional workplace and the legal and ethical frameworks surrounding them through participation in live competition or exhibition and/ or work placement. The module looks at formal models for concept innovation, creative thinking and entrepreneurial skills, alongside developing individual responsibility as a practitioner and critical self-reflection. Through professional submission, pitching and presentation to potential employers, participation in real-world competition briefs or exhibition opportunities, students will develop and test their design approaches and professional strategies for differentiation and self-promotion within a highly competitive field.