Graphic Design with Foundation Year BA (Hons)

Want to make your passion for design, branding and the art of storytelling you career? Our BA (Hons) Graphic Design course could be the right fit for you. With the support of our industry-savvy teaching team, you’ll be encouraged to push boundaries and experiment across a variety of media. 

You’ll master the fundamentals of graphic design. From typography and layout to narrative structure and conceptual thinking, you’ll graduate with a stand-out portfolio, that’ll blow employers away. 

Why study BA (Hons) Graphic Design at BNU?

A diverse degree

Graphic design shapes nearly every aspect of our daily lives, influencing our choices—from the food we buy at the supermarket to our fashion choices and the styles we wear. This vibrant field is always evolving, adapting to engage with audiences and respond to emerging trends across economic, political, social, and cultural landscapes. As a graduate of this degree, you’ll have the skills to respond to briefs by creating compelling designs. 

This BA (Hons) Graphic Design course is also offered as a four-year programme, including an initial Foundation Year. The Foundation Year will allow you to develop your academic study skills and build confidence in your abilities, identifying your own strengths and development needs for progression onto an undergraduate programme.

Industry Connections

With a history of delivering industry-standard graphic design education for more than 30 years, this established course is well-known within the industry. Many of our course alumni are now making waves within the design world, both nationally and internationally, and often come back for guest visits, talks, workshops and even to set a brief or two! 

Led by our enthusiastic and dedicated team of design practitioners and experienced academics, you’ll benefit from their industry knowledge, as well as the network of professionals they bring to the course. You’ll benefit from direct access to guest lectures and live project briefs, master classes, and plenty of networking chances. As well as this you’ll have the opportunity to enter a range of industry-established competitions.

Facilities

Our Graphic Design course is situated in an open plan studio alongside the creative advertising and illustration courses, meaning you get to experience how a working advertising and design agency would run in the real-world.

 The course is located within the School of Art, Design and Performance, giving you access to a community of creative learners and diverse resources to help you achieve your creative outcomes. You’ll be encouraged to explore both traditional and current mediums to craft your design solutions, you can do this through our:

  • silkscreen equipment
  • plotter cutters
  • letterpress equipment
  • photography studios
  • litho equipment
  • laser cutting
  • 3D printing technology
  • iMac Suites with Adobe Creative Cloud

You also benefit from our specialist technicians and demonstrators on site, who can support you in bringing your ideas to life.

Location

As a Graphic Design student, you are only 30 minutes from the hustle and bustle of one of the worlds’ most exciting designer community, London. With the course you’ll get the opportunity to visit design agencies, industry events and museums and galleries. 

What will I study?

On this graphic design course, you’ll develop your individual for individual visual and creative problem-solving skills, whilst also gaining the knowledge and confidence to enter and negotiate your career in this challenging, but exciting field.

Over the course of the graphic design degree, you'll be given lots of opportunities to explore the diverse world of graphic design and its practice, including vital skills in creative image making, research methods, team working, project management, presentation skills, design strategy, art direction and independent learning. 

Through practical hands-on, project-based learning you'll explore the fundamental core aspects of the subject like typography, narrative structure, hierarchy, layout and composition, information design, image creation and conceptual thinking skills.

You’ll also develop your historical perspectives, research, and writing skills and gain the academic grounding on which to develop critical understanding and practical application. 

During your studies you’ll be encouraged to take risks in your work and learn to challenge established languages and processes through questioning and individual experimentation. All our modules on this course reflect this ethos, they’re in place to help you form and consolidate presentation, critical and strategic thinking, and complex problem-solving skills, whilst at the same time developing and refining practical design abilities.

BA (Hons) Award
February, September Start
Full-time Study Mode
4 years Duration
W564 UCAS Code

Entry Requirements For This Course

Please visit the course page for entry requirements.

Upcoming Open Days at Buckinghamshire New University

18
JAN

Undergraduate Open Day

18 Jan 2025, 09:30 AM - 18 Jan 2025, 15:00 PM High Wycombe Campus, Queen Alexandra Road, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP11 2JZ
Visit Website
Join us for our open day at our High Wycombe Campus and find out what it is like to study at Buckinghamshire New University. You can view our state-of-the-art facilities, discover more about our career-focused courses and take a tour of our accommodation. You'll be able to talk to staff and current students and get all your questions answered.
15
MAR

Undergraduate Open Day

15 Mar 2025, 09:30 AM - 15 Mar 2025, 15:00 PM High Wycombe Campus, Queen Alexandra Road, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP11 2JZ
Visit Website
Join us for our open day and find out what it is like to study at Buckinghamshire New University. You can view our state-of-the-art facilities, discover more about our career-focused courses, take a tour of our accommodation and get all your questions answered. If you're interested in studying our nursing and midwifery courses, we will take you to our Uxbridge Campus by bus from our High Wycombe Campus. You'll be able to see our realistic nursing wards and facilities on campus as well as chat to staff and students. We'll then take you back to our High Wycombe Campus.

Location of Buckinghamshire New University