BA (Hons) Graphic Design

COURSE OVERVIEW

Programme Specifications BA (Hons) Graphic Design UCAS CODE W211 UCAS TARIFF 96 - 112 BA (Hons) 3 YEARS

The BA (Hons) Graphic Design Programme encourages distinctive voices in communication practice. Alongside our sister programme, Digital Design & Advertising, our projects and programme ethos goes far beyond the aesthetic of design layout and typography. To be a graphic designer from The Northern, is to be a design communicator, a visionary and design specialist. The world and the way we understand, inhabit and navigate it, is changing and it’s the very nature of this that requires our students to rethink, question and constantly challenge the purpose graphic communication serves in society.

Our programme, promotes changemakers, we rethink what we know, we question what we do, and we challenge the world as we know it, through cutting edge design, through expansive experimentation, through new ideas and through our community. Collectively, as a design studio from the moment our students arrive, we make work that matters.

COURSE DETAILS
MODULES
ALUMNI
INDUSTRY LIAISON
PORTFOLIO ADVICE

This programme emphasises mixed-media experimental work as well as real-world creative problem solving. Through a varied range of exciting briefs you will develop industry relevant digital and analogue skills. As well as offering a conceptual approach to design through mixed-media, analogue and digital technology we offer areas of specialties including:

• Visual communication
• Image-making & illustration
• Printmaking (letterpress, risograph & screen printing)
• Editorial design
• Branding
• Advertising
• Typography
• Packaging
• Motion design

You will have access to a wide range of industry standard equipment and software including a print studio and several large design studios with easy access to a suite of iMacs.

You will be working in a creative community surrounded by fellow designers, image makers, creatives and artists where you will engage in regular workshops, technical demonstrations and critiques with tutors. You will be encouraged to submit to national and international competitions, such as Design & Art Direction (D&AD), Royal Society of Arts (RSA), International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD) and Creative Conscience. Regular live projects and guest speakers from industry will enhance your portfolio and learning. Collaborative projects and placement opportunities are encouraged during your study to establish yourself as an emerging designer within this growing and fast paced industry.

As you progress through the programme you will have the opportunity to shape and form your design direction - adding specialist skills to your base knowledge. This culminates in your final year where you build your portfolio through independent and self directed projects - developing your individual creative voice as an exciting contemporary designer.

Awards
D&AD Student Award Winner Graphic Design - 2022
D&AD Best of Graduate Portfolio Graphic Design - 2022
Best of Graduate Portfolio - Revelry Distillery, Artist Series - Student Winners
Creative Conscience Awards - Human Rights Category Winner 2021
Creative Conscience Awards - Impact Category Winner 2022
Creative Conscience Awards - Graphic Design Category Winner 2022
Creative Conscience Awards - Mental Health Category Winner 2022
Creative Conscience Awards - Service Design Category Winner 2023
Creative Conscience Awards - Human Rights Category Winner 2024
Creative Conscience Awards – Equality & Justice Category Winner 2024
Creative Conscience Awards – Education & Learning Category Winner 2024

Our school engages with a wide range of partners working across each creative sub-sector to ensure that teaching and learning are in line with the latest developments in and requirements of industry, including:

Studio Dumbar
Based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Studio Dumbar are driven by curiosity and ambition, exploring new possibilities in creative coding, motion, sound, AI and the creation of proprietary tech tools with the forward thinking notion of ‘what’s next’. Voted ‘Agency of the Year’ at the European Design Awards 23, Studio Dumbar are a diverse group of nationalities, personalities, and specialists; from creative coders to sound designers, project managers, motion designers, strategists and visual designers brought together by the passion to make a difference. They work for a variety of clients, from leading global tech companies, to local businesses, NGOs, governments, non-profit organisations and cultural institutes. Our students recently visited their studios and were offered the opportunity of internships during an educational visit to the Netherlands.

Jimmy Turrell
Jimmy Turrell is a graphic artist and video director, born in Newcastle and raised in the Byker Wall. Growing up in Newcastle he went on to study at Central St Martin’s. He combines a love handmade collage, drawing, screen printing and painting with digital techniques to produce visually exciting work for a plethora of global clients including; Universal Music, Nike, Channel 4, The Guardian, MTV and Chanel, to name a few. Jimmy has worked with The School and its students for several years and has offered valuable experiences such as live projects for national magazines and placements.

Dom Bailey - Baxter & Bailey
Dom is a cheerleader for the power of design to make change. Cultural change, organisational change, perception change: design can positively affect all of these things. He has been applying design to help clients make positive change in arts and culture, education, architecture and technology for 25 years. It’s a commitment he has put into practice for organisations including Oxford University Press, London Symphony Orchestra, NSPCC and as trustee of Theatre for a Change, a rights charity committed to social change around the world.

Music
Based in Manchester, Music create brands from scratch. They evolve brands to better compete and engage and bring existing brands to life across multiple platforms. They do this by unearthing, supporting and collaborating with unique talent across the UK.

Through a varied range of work including; branding, advertising, UX and UI, copywriting and film creation, their work reaches into everyday life by creating and developing the brands that shape our culture. From street food to bike rides, front row fashion to football folklore, galleries to gigs - Music design British culture.

Dave Sedgwick - Studio DBD
StudioDBD are an independent design studio based in Manchester who specialise in creating and nurturing brands.Dave has worked in the design industry for over 20 years. Starting out as a junior designer, he worked his way through the ranks at various agencies before founding his own practice in 2011. He has won awards for his design work, including a prestigious D&AD pencil. He has lectured at a number of Universities and design events, he has also had his work published in magazines and books.

The studio focuses mainly on brand design, which includes the creation of typography, illustration, logo design, print work, digital work and various other forms of design. Dave believes the most important thing is to be able to enjoy your work, connect with nice, decent and honest people and not take yourself too seriously.

Guest Speakers
Jimmy Turrell Newcastle
Baxter & Bailey Brighton
Burberry London
Greater Goods London
Studio DBD Manchester
Kelly Anna London
Graham Wood London
Music Agency Manchester
Fiasco Bristol
Better Studio Middlesbrough
Mike Lemanski Leeds
Pann Lim Singapore
Spin London
Studio Dumbar Netherlands
Ensemble Manchester
GF Smith London

Student Voice

Watch now to find out more about what it's like to be a student on this degree programme!

STAFF

OLIVIA BURTON

Director of SAR / Head of Faculty Olivia joined The Northern School of Art in 2017, after working in industry for over twelve years. Olivia’s dual role as Director, focuses on the School’s approach to Research and Scholarly Activity while overseeing the leadership of the Visual Arts Faculty. Olivia is a specialist in higher education with her doctorate research focusing on Creative Art School pedagogy. Prior to join the School, Olivia's career began working with a number of leading graphic design and advertising agencies. Olivia’s most recent industry role focused on internationalising a design and interior company. Olivia led the brand campaign in the Middle East, managing a design team and leading international design projects for the hospitality industry. Furthermore, operating freelance, Olivia developed and led an award-winning ecommerce design business to promote local and emerging design practitioners. She is a regular guest speaker at Digital Leaders and Woman in Digital and had worked as an enterprise mentor. Olivia’s own practice has a digital focus and expertise is in research-driven, commercially orientated design. Her keen interest is in the area where design meets business. Olivia’s skills lie in developing the student’s ability to design commercially aware graphic and digital solutions. Qualifications: BA (Hons), MA, (Studying PhD), CIM, FHEA

PAUL CLAY

Senior Lecturer Paul Clay joined The Northern School of Art 2009 after working in industry for over ten years. Paul is currently a senior lecturer, working across both the Graphic Design and Digital Design & Advertising programmes. Prior to joining The Northern, Paul worked for a wide range of design agencies and high profile clients as an in-house senior graphic designer across the North East, bringing with him a wealth of experience upon joining The Northern School of Art. Paul’s current work is occupied with design research and practice, focusing on community history and design for social good. Paul develops his portfolio working with local charities, in both raising awareness and proceeds to challenge social issues and promoting design for change. Qualifications BA (Hons) PGCE, FHEA, MA Design

OWEN WADDINGTON

Lecturer Owen joined The Northern School of Art after working in multiple industry roles for almost 5 years. Owen is currently working across both the Graphic Design and Digital Design & Advertising programmes. Owen works with a social conscious - using creativity in order to create real world change. Prior roles in industry have allowed Owen to explore commercial graphic design with an ethical and social focus for Newcastle based Sail Creative, Sail’s focus was to work with clients that are on the forefront of change and collaborate with those who recognise the value of creativity and partnerships in order to elevate their impact. During his time at Sail they were recognised in Creative Boom’s top 15 places to work as a graphic designer in the UK, alongside the likes of Accept and Proceed, Spotify and DixonBaxi. Owen is co-founder of [blank spacecraft] an experimental creative studio. Works include graphic collections, experimental typographic image making through creative destruction and also developments into 3D and motion. He has also researched the meanings of limited edition and ways in which the design process can be challenged beyond the concept of a final outcome. Qualifications: BA (Hons), MA

KATHRYN BELL

Technician/Demonstrator Kathryn Bell is an artist and print technician working in the North East of England, where she graduated with a first-class honours degree in Fine Art. Kathryn is an experienced print technician who demonstrates print techniques to students in Graphic Design, Illustration and across the school. Her own work mostly includes relief, screen print and cyanotype, often combing a mixture of these processes to create hybrid prints. Kathryn is active in keeping up to date with printmaking trends and opportunities and uses this information to support students to access exciting opportunities. Kathryn is a member of People of Print, a community of printmakers, illustrators and graphic designers who are outstanding in their field. She regularly exhibits and sells her work around the UK and permanently in a store in Durham City. Kathryn is a featured printmaker with Green Door Printmaking Studio (International Print Exchange) and regularly participates in the Cascade Print Exchange (USA). Qualifications: BA (Hons)