Graphic Design Universities

Hi! I am also very interested in graphic design so I've looked at pretty much every university that offers a degree in it. So far, my choices are Loughborough, Leeds, Falmouth, Southampton and Edinburgh. I wouldn't worry too much about money at this point (you are given a higher grant if you're studying in London anyway), just look at student's work at the university and see which one you like the most. The reason I've chosen Leeds and Falmouth is because they both have a very high percentage of people going into employment when you graduate. I have a friend that job 5 job offers immediately after graduating from Leeds, so I'm certain that Leeds offers particularly good teaching. They also offer optional work experience/opportunity to study abroad for a year, something that CSM and Kingston don't really offer. Finally, they don't have portfolio interviews (not sure if that is a good or bad thing) so I don't need to complete a foundation diploma.

Sorry if this disappoints you, but I hear CSM is a very bad university that relies on reputation alone to get undergraduates. The thing with CSM is that they will not allow students to be creative at all; the lecturers basically shove their ideas down your throat and you must do them whether you like it or not. If you want to do something that they don't like, well you just can't do it. Have you seen the work created on their website? Absolute ***! And for being the 'best institute in the world' for fashion, they haven't won a single Fashion Week for over 10 years. Just not an institute I recommend anyone going near unfortunately.

Having said that, I hope this helped :smile:

I recommend you look into doing a foundation diploma as well. It's not compulsory, but both Kingston and CSM prefer you to have one before you apply.

Reply 2

OP

Hey! Thank you for the reply!

I'm actually studying graphic design full time now (National foundation diploma course, as I knew what I wanted for a career at gcse, despite getting A*'s in maths and science :L I just love graphic design.) I have also started to upload some of my portoflio pieces to my personal website, as I'm practising webdesign outside of my course because I'm also quite interested in that.
I'm under the impression that it's better for a university to want to see your portfolio as part of an interview to be honest... I've found that grades alone can be quite deceiving.... Because how do you mark creativity effectively? With a criteria? One person's judgement? It's just difficult :L

Yes, I've read similar things about csm, however I've also read quite the opposite. Nonetheless I'll still see if I can manage to get an open day visit booked (I don't think they have any left).... Thank you so much for pointing out to look at their current student's work though... For it being great, the work is quite frankly, almost at the level my college is at :s-smilie:

Where as I like some of the work from Kingston's, although I'm not sure how recent that is.

I will look further into Loughborough, Leeds, Falmouth, Southampton and Edinburgh. I did come across Falmouth, but I'd been told that the area isn't the best, or safest to be in..

-Benjamin Sterling

Reply 3

I wish you luck in your studies! I've always loved graphic design too as it's the only thing I really enjoy. I'm also interested in web design but since I don't have fancy programmes such as dreamweaver, I'm going to leave that until I get to university. I probably won't know how to use it anyway xD

I'd love to see your work! I don't have my own website but I have a portfolio on DeviantART. At the moment, there's only anime stuff since that's what people want to see but I might make a new one for my design work. I sorta hate this portfolio anyway :s-smilie:

Yeah, at first I was a bit cautious about the fact that Leeds didn't have portfolio interviews because they can just accept anyone (even people qho can't draw and got good grades or were one of those people that didn't really like it and just applied for anything). But after seeing the work created there, it seems really like good place for graphic design! The teaching there must be really good or the right type of people applied. Leeds is also a very nice place and a lot of graphic design companies are based there, which is why I want it to be my firm choice.

I'm going to apply to CSM as well but only because my family want me to :/ Falmouth isn't actually that bad, it's by the seaside so the area is rather pretty and inspiring. I'm not sure about the people though, I guess it depends on what type of people the college likes to accept. Anyway, you have 3 more slots on your UCAS left so you might as well give it a go :smile:

Reply 4

OP

The CAD Suite in my college has dreamweaver. I tried it, I hated it. It's an awful program... I just code by hand.

I like your manga work :smile:

I always struggle with feet and hands, also with creating manga from my own imagination, I tend to copy and distort other things I see; which can be argued has no point, but I find it fun.
I need more portfolio work for my webdesign, so if you'd like, I could help you create a portfolio site? My personal site is here (not all of my work is uploaded yet, a lot of it needs to be photographed)

Yeah, looking at the work created by students is fantastic advice. I think my first option is going to be kingston, it appeals to me more. CSM will follow along with leeds... I think my positioning of these will change if I get the chance to visit the open days though.

-Benjamin Sterling

Reply 5

I tried using DreamWeaver(old Macromedia version) at GCSE but not beyond that, I don't know how to make websites at all. Coding sounds rather difficult, I would never try it unless I had to for an assignment. You must have a ton of patience!

Thank you! I love drawing other things such as flowers and life drawing too, but they never come out as nice. I guess anime and manga is the only thing I'm good at XD
Really, you would do that for me? ; o ; That would be amazing but I hope it doesn't bother you from your own website. You don't have to work on it if it takes too much time :smile:

Kingston is a very good choice for graphics design, I hear a lot of employers look out for graduates from there! Unfortunately I don't think I can fund living in London, otherwise I would say I'll see you there :frown:

Good luck anyway!

Reply 6

km353

Original post by Ben_sterling

I will look further into Loughborough, Leeds, Falmouth, Southampton and Edinburgh. I did come across Falmouth, but I'd been told that the area isn't the best, or safest to be in..

-Benjamin Sterling

Just a quick reply incase you havent heard the other side..
Falmouth is probably the safest place in the country and the people are awesome. If you're a country kid looking to escape to the big city then its probably not the place for you, but I came down from london a bit worried it would be too small and havent looked back. None of us ever want to leave. Good luck with your choices!

Reply 7

J4YK

I have been searching around as I am incredibly keen to be into a credible university to do graphic design because if you don't then work after can be quite hard with it been such a competitive industry, I am applying to Edinburgh and Northumbria for definite. Edinburgh for its outstanding reputation and the big city life whereas Northumbria ha just had a brand new state of the art design building built that is fantastic also the quality of teaching a Northumbria looks great when I attended an open day they had graduate work on and I have to say I was shocked by the high quality and professional look of all the work. However I have also looked at Loughborough and Bath Spa. Good Luck in applying and perhaps we could end up at the same university!,

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 8

OP

Original post by km353

Just a quick reply incase you havent heard the other side..
Falmouth is probably the safest place in the country and the people are awesome. If you're a country kid looking to escape to the big city then its probably not the place for you, but I came down from london a bit worried it would be too small and havent looked back. None of us ever want to leave. Good luck with your choices!

Thank you, I've been wanted to hear from someone who actually lives their themselves as opposed to rumours!

Original post by J4YK

I have been searching around as I am incredibly keen to be into a credible university to do graphic design because if you don't then work after can be quite hard with it been such a competitive industry, I am applying to Edinburgh and Northumbria for definite. Edinburgh for its outstanding reputation and the big city life whereas Northumbria ha just had a brand new state of the art design building built that is fantastic also the quality of teaching a Northumbria looks great when I attended an open day they had graduate work on and I have to say I was shocked by the high quality and professional look of all the work. However I have also looked at Loughborough and Bath Spa. Good Luck in applying and perhaps we could end up at the same university!,

As I'm quite close to northumbria university I've already visited them, and attended a summer school thing... From my personal experience, the work and the teaching is not the best; they do have a huge positive outlook towards everything, I mean everything, but the quality is rather poor.

Original post by KaminKuru

Kingston is a very good choice for graphics design, I hear a lot of employers look out for graduates from there! Unfortunately I don't think I can fund living in London, otherwise I would say I'll see you there :frown:

Good luck anyway!

For london, I think that if I can get accommodation that kingston is offering, it will be quite cheap... It's £99.25 a week (you get 6 other people to live with, your own room and shower, and a shared kitchen) so that would be £3,970 a year, not including holidays.... plus you get a small grant and a low interest loan. Here's the site for a rough guide for what kingston offers

Original post by KaminKuru

Coding sounds rather difficult, I would never try it unless I had to for an assignment. You must have a ton of patience!

That would be amazing but I hope it doesn't bother you from your own website. You don't have to work on it if it takes too much time

It sounds difficult, but it's really not, it takes around 1-2 weeks to learn HTML and CSS, and I'm always trying to improve my knowledge as CSS3 (Hopefully IE will actually support it soon ¬_¬) because then I don't have to bother with the complicated JavaScript stuff to get web pages dynamic...

Also, time is one of the things I have the most of at the moment. A few of my friends and I finished college 4 weeks earlier than most other people because I'm doing a graphic design course it's quite free flowing and people are allowed to work at their own pace, and we could leave if we finished all the work we had to do for the course... Some people just seem to come into college and do no work though :s-smilie:

I find it difficult to update my own site as I have no new work to show on their.... You may have noticed that a few of the links lead to no where, this is because I don't have enough uploaded work to justify dedicating a whole page to... I may start writing my own articles, no idea about what though.. It's possible I'll start a thread on here asking people for ideas..

Reply 9

Original post by Ben_sterling

For london, I think that if I can get accommodation that kingston is offering, it will be quite cheap... It's £99.25 a week (you get 6 other people to live with, your own room and shower, and a shared kitchen) so that would be £3,970 a year, not including holidays.... plus you get a small grant and a low interest loan. Here's the site for a rough guide for what kingston offers

Thanks for the info! :smile:

£99.25 a week is pretty good for London, but the rooms are rather small. I guess you're not going to be there for long so it shouldn't really matter XD My cousin told me that accommodation at Kingston is a lot cheaper than that of universities in the core city (thankfully!).

Original post by Ben_sterling

It sounds difficult, but it's really not, it takes around 1-2 weeks to learn HTML and CSS, and I'm always trying to improve my knowledge as CSS3 (Hopefully IE will actually support it soon ¬_¬) because then I don't have to bother with the complicated JavaScript stuff to get web pages dynamic...

Also, time is one of the things I have the most of at the moment. A few of my friends and I finished college 4 weeks earlier than most other people because I'm doing a graphic design course it's quite free flowing and people are allowed to work at their own pace, and we could leave if we finished all the work we had to do for the course... Some people just seem to come into college and do no work though :s-smilie:

I find it difficult to update my own site as I have no new work to show on their.... You may have noticed that a few of the links lead to no where, this is because I don't have enough uploaded work to justify dedicating a whole page to... I may start writing my own articles, no idea about what though.. It's possible I'll start a thread on here asking people for ideas..

Really? I just watched a video on youtube and it sounds like a lot of hard work. I was actually very interested in web design on time. I bought a lovely book from Hong Kong and the illustrator has such a beautiful 'basic' (no flash and stuff) website http://www.dreamergo.com/ I hope that I can make a website along the lines of that one day :smile:

So I take it you've finished your A levels? I have a lot of time on my hands as well; no school, no job, no homework. I should probably use this time more effectively like you, making these websites and stuff (plus I need to make a decent portfolio if I want to go to uni).

You could try making posters for a made-up event? Identity, book and CD covers, advertisement, illustration, vector art, photography. Making your own typeface sounds interesting. At the moment I'm in the process of making my own tarot cards as well as the above. As for articles, you could write about your inspirations? I don't really know what else you can write about other than your work or tutorials, sorry :s-smilie:

Reply 10

OP

I prefer to be in a smaller room, I don't need much space, so long as I've got enough for a bed a laptop(which I hope to get soon so I can work from my room instead of having to go to a pc suite... Also I like to work during the night mostly, so...)
Yeah, accommodation for CSM is something stupidly high like £7,000 a year :s-smilie:

I love the illustrations from that site, however the web design is quite outdated... He's using only html, and he's doing it the complicated way... Basically, he's just tiled images together...

I went straight into the national diploma for graphic design because I knew I wanted to do a BA(Hons) course in graphic design, so A levels would have been a waste of two years... Although, I'd have liked to have done physics because I enjoyed it along side art, but two extra years put me off...

I may try some of those ideas, the problem is that I usually do something when it needs to be done, for example when I have to do it for my course, or if a friend asks me to do something.... Otherwise there's something in my head that just tells me not to :s It's a thing I really need to not do if I'm going to be able to get together a portfolio that doesn't just consist of college work :/

I was actually thinking about making some html + css tutorials, but another thing that put me off is that there are so many already out there on the internet and in books at libraries... I may still do it... My back up job if for some reason I can't get any work is going to be teaching, but at a high level, like a degree level, because I love it when I'm helping people that want to be helped...

I'm looking into AUCB.. and so far I'm liking it a lot, the only downfall is that it's at the very bottom of the UK...

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 11

I've just finished my second year at Norwich University College of the Arts and would advise you to look into going there.

The course is excellent, all the tutors have so much experience working at top agencies, such as Pearlfisher, so they all have really good contacts when you want placements There's always visiting tutors from industry (from like DesignBridge and The Chase). Hat-trick are run by ex-NUCA and some of their work is amazing IMO.

So many agencies this year have been looking for NUCA graduates exclusively. The course has a great reputation and you don't miss out on opportunities by not being in London. It's also a lot cheaper to live in Norwich.

Our graduates this year got D&AD NewBlood Best in Show, DesignBridge Winner, runner up and 13 honorable mentions and quite a few commendations from YCN.

UCLAN, Norwich and Falmouth seem to be the ones that every one talks about.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 12

Jiyeon

7

Gonna just throw this in there like PinguN18 did :smile:

I have also completed my first year at the University of Cumbria 2 years in total including a foundation year. This is pasted from another thread:

Have you considered Cumbria? I know a lot of people frown upon it as the UoC has had a bit of a bad reputation. I visited a lot of Uni's (some of the top ones for graphic design too) and UoC was by far one of the best courses I'd seen with amazing staff and facilities. I never see anybody on the creative art forums applying here which is a shame it's really one of graphic design's hidden gems *shameless plug*.

We also have had a lot of GD/IL competition winners (http://www.cumbria.ac.uk/graphicdesign/awards.html). We also get lecturers in from all areas of graphic design and illustration, most recently Saatchi and Saatchi's Kevin Roberts who might I add was an inspiring and fantastic man. I could go on and on about how much I love UoC as originally I wasn't even going to stay on at the University after my foundation but the course made such an impression I decided to complete my degree here and I have no regrets.

Reply 13

Original post by Ben_sterling

I prefer to be in a smaller room, I don't need much space, so long as I've got enough for a bed a laptop(which I hope to get soon so I can work from my room instead of having to go to a pc suite... Also I like to work during the night mostly, so...)
Yeah, accommodation for CSM is something stupidly high like £7,000 a year :s-smilie:

I love the illustrations from that site, however the web design is quite outdated... He's using only html, and he's doing it the complicated way... Basically, he's just tiled images together...

I went straight into the national diploma for graphic design because I knew I wanted to do a BA(Hons) course in graphic design, so A levels would have been a waste of two years... Although, I'd have liked to have done physics because I enjoyed it along side art, but two extra years put me off...

I may try some of those ideas, the problem is that I usually do something when it needs to be done, for example when I have to do it for my course, or if a friend asks me to do something.... Otherwise there's something in my head that just tells me not to :s It's a thing I really need to not do if I'm going to be able to get together a portfolio that doesn't just consist of college work :/

I was actually thinking about making some html + css tutorials, but another thing that put me off is that there are so many already out there on the internet and in books at libraries... I may still do it... My back up job if for some reason I can't get any work is going to be teaching, but at a high level, like a degree level, because I love it when I'm helping people that want to be helped...

I'm looking into AUCB.. and so far I'm liking it a lot, the only downfall is that it's at the very bottom of the UK...

Yeah, accommodation in the heart of London is so much more expensive but on the plus side, you get more grant and loans to pay for it (though it means you have to pay more of it back than students not living in London). I found a room for only £92 in the Camberwell campus, but it's a shared room. Still cheaper than the other rooms, I suppose. Most of the halls are miles away from CSM for some reason. About an hour's bus ride to the college for half of them.

I know it's a little outdated but at least it'll be an easy website to make as opposed to using lots of CSS. I actually tried making my own website using tutorials on youtube and I just wouldn't get the hang of it. I have no idea what I was doing wrong... but I got really frustrated with it :s-smilie:

You'll have to teach me how to make one sometime! :smile:

I was very interested in the National Diploma in Graphic Design at one point but because I had a particular interest for astronomy, I decided to take A levels instead. The physics exam was rather difficult, you honestly didn't miss much. XD I'm just hoping that my decision didn't leave me at a disadvantage for uni. My art and graphics grades are okay, but maths and physics is another story... And I understand what you mean. I rarely ever get motivation to do anything these days either. Hopefully I'll get to work in the next few weeks so I have something to show for when I go onto A2 in September.

Bournemouth is a really good university college for art and design, I've been hearing a lot from it (I don't understand why they do both a graphic design and visual communications honours, they're essentially the same thing). Have you also looked at Ravensbourne as well? They're both institutes that specialise in creative arts so they won't be high in the league tables, most of those at the top of the league tables do science and engineering courses.

Original post by Jiyeon

Have you considered Cumbria? I know a lot of people frown upon it as the UoC has had a bit of a bad reputation. I visited a lot of Uni's (some of the top ones for graphic design too) and UoC was by far one of the best courses I'd seen with amazing staff and facilities. I never see anybody on the creative art forums applying here which is a shame it's really one of graphic design's hidden gems *shameless plug*.

I've looked at the website and it is pretty amazing! Thanks for sharing :smile:

I looked at some of the websites students have made and they look incredible. I hope it's part of the course, for the reasons mentioned about (coding is not my speciality, I must say).

I must ask, do you think that I will need to take a foundation because I am doing A levels? Would I be at a disadvantage when applying to uni just because I don't have one? I don't really want to spend over £1000 + accommodation, without a student loan as well, unless it was completely necessary :s-smilie:

I'm confident I have the skill, but most likely not the qualifications that some universities want.

Wow, sorry for the incredibly long post!

Reply 14

Original post by KaminKuru

Bournemouth is a really good university college for art and design, I've been hearing a lot from it (I don't understand why they do both a graphic design and visual communications honours, they're essentially the same thing). Have you also looked at Ravensbourne as well? They're both institutes that specialise in creative arts so they won't be high in the league tables, most of those at the top of the league tables do science and engineering courses.

There is a specialist institution league table. It includes drama schools and stuff as well, but you can pick out the art ones. Glasgow School of Art, Bournemouth UC and Norwich University College of the Arts are the top three.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/table/2012/may/22/university-league-table-specialist-2013

Original post by KaminKuru

I must ask, do you think that I will need to take a foundation because I am doing A levels? Would I be at a disadvantage when applying to uni just because I don't have one? I don't really want to spend over £1000 + accommodation, without a student loan as well, unless it was completely necessary :s-smilie:

I'm confident I have the skill, but most likely not the qualifications that some universities want.

You don't need a foundation. It helps you out with the creative process used on the degree, but people mange with out them. You can get them where you do the foundation at the same uni as the degree and if you pass you automatically get a place on a related degree at the uni. Student Finance give funding for these so you don't have to pay yourself. Also, if your under 19, I don't think you have to pay for them in some instances.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 15

Jiyeon

7

I've looked at the website and it is pretty amazing! Thanks for sharing :smile:

I looked at some of the websites students have made and they look incredible. I hope it's part of the course, for the reasons mentioned about (coding is not my speciality, I must say).

I must ask, do you think that I will need to take a foundation because I am doing A levels? Would I be at a disadvantage when applying to uni just because I don't have one? I don't really want to spend over £1000 + accommodation, without a student loan as well, unless it was completely necessary :s-smilie:

I'm confident I have the skill, but most likely not the qualifications that some universities want.

Wow, sorry for the incredibly long post!

Indeed we do in our second year we have a whole module dedicated to multimedia for designing our websites. I am very excited to make my website. UoC has taken A level students on, one of my friends was straight from A Levels it really depends on your portfolio :smile:

Even if you did go into foundation it's soooo much fun and really worth doing. UoC the foundation year is included in your student loan it makes the course 4 years instead of 3. I had full funding and accommodation as a year 0 student. Also it helps that with UoC being in the North West rent is quite a bit cheaper than down South.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 16

Original post by PinguN18

You don't need a foundation. It helps you out with the creative process used on the degree, but people mange with out them. You can get them where you do the foundation at the same uni as the degree and if you pass you automatically get a place on a related degree at the uni. Student Finance give funding for these so you don't have to pay yourself. Also, if your under 19, I don't think you have to pay for them in some instances.

Thanks for the website :smile:

I honestly didn't know that they had their own league table, I've only seen league tables for individual subjects for all universities.

I was told by my teacher that I had to pay for my own fees, now I am really confused. The closest art-related university to me that does a foundation is Birmingham but BIAD even states on the website that you have to pay for your own tuition fee of around £1200 with no student loan available. And with no loan available, it is not likely I can pay for accommodation myself as well :s-smilie:

Original post by Jiyeon

Indeed we do in our second year we have a whole module dedicated to multimedia for designing our websites. I am very excited to make my website. UoC has taken A level students on, one of my friends was straight from A Levels it really depends on your portfolio :smile:

Even if you did go into foundation it's soooo much fun and really worth doing. UoC the foundation year is included in your student loan it makes the course 4 years instead of 3. I had full funding and accommodation as a year 0 student. Also it helps that with UoC being in the North West rent is quite a bit cheaper than down South.

Thanks, I think I'll definitely visit an open day :smile:

I'm still thinking about a foundation though, it sounds fun but my parents don't want me to apparently 'waste' a year if it's not necessary plus funding reasons above. If I mess up my AS levels, I have no other choice than to do a foundation or year 0. Most of the universities I was originally going to apply to are elite/Russell Group universities so I haven't really done myself any favours there... I am hopeful though.

Reply 17

Original post by KaminKuru

Thanks for the website :smile:

I honestly didn't know that they had their own league table, I've only seen league tables for individual subjects for all universities.

I was told by my teacher that I had to pay for my own fees, now I am really confused. The closest art-related university to me that does a foundation is Birmingham but BIAD even states on the website that you have to pay for your own tuition fee of around £1200 with no student loan available. And with no loan available, it is not likely I can pay for accommodation myself as well :s-smilie:

Thanks, I think I'll definitely visit an open day :smile:

I'm still thinking about a foundation though, it sounds fun but my parents don't want me to apparently 'waste' a year if it's not necessary plus funding reasons above. If I mess up my AS levels, I have no other choice than to do a foundation or year 0. Most of the universities I was originally going to apply to are elite/Russell Group universities so I haven't really done myself any favours there... I am hopeful though.

I only know about it because my uni made a big thing of it, 2012 table we were second, making us the top art college in England.

I'd look into the student finance paying your fees more. I know some people on here know more about it I do. I know NUCA had it funded, tuition fees and maintenance loan/grants and went straight into a relevant course. They also got to be freshers twice! Its set down as a 4-year course so everything's included.

You can also do foundations at colleges. I know when I was doing my National Diploma my college did them, so I'd look to see if there's any college closer to home that do them. If you're under 19 at the start of the course, you don't have to pay, which is the same for all education. Its why you get A-levels free, if you do them straight away.

It really doesn't matter if you don't go somewhere that is elite/Russell group, its much more important to go somewhere that's well respect in industry or you won't get anywhere. I've said before the ones, from my experience, that industry look to for graduates is UCLAN, Falmouth and NUCA

Reply 18

OP

Original post by PinguN18

I've just finished my second year at Norwich University College of the Arts and would advise you to look into going there.

The course is excellent, all the tutors have so much experience working at top agencies, such as Pearlfisher, so they all have really good contacts when you want placements There's always visiting tutors from industry (from like DesignBridge and The Chase). Hat-trick are run by ex-NUCA and some of their work is amazing IMO.

So many agencies this year have been looking for NUCA graduates exclusively. The course has a great reputation and you don't miss out on opportunities by not being in London. It's also a lot cheaper to live in Norwich.

Our graduates this year got D&AD NewBlood Best in Show, DesignBridge Winner, runner up and 13 honorable mentions and quite a few commendations from YCN.

UCLAN, Norwich and Falmouth seem to be the ones that every one talks about.

Thank you! I've looked into NUCA and I really like what I see! the work and teaching seems to be great. However I'm not too enticed by UCLAN, just my personal thoughts...

Original post by Jiyeon

Gonna just throw this in there like PinguN18 did :smile:

I have also completed my first year at the University of Cumbria 2 years in total including a foundation year. This is pasted from another thread:

Have you considered Cumbria? I know a lot of people frown upon it as the UoC has had a bit of a bad reputation. I visited a lot of Uni's (some of the top ones for graphic design too) and UoC was by far one of the best courses I'd seen with amazing staff and facilities. I never see anybody on the creative art forums applying here which is a shame it's really one of graphic design's hidden gems *shameless plug*.

We also have had a lot of GD/IL competition winners (http://www.cumbria.ac.uk/graphicdesign/awards.html). We also get lecturers in from all areas of graphic design and illustration, most recently Saatchi and Saatchi's Kevin Roberts who might I add was an inspiring and fantastic man. I could go on and on about how much I love UoC as originally I wasn't even going to stay on at the University after my foundation but the course made such an impression I decided to complete my degree here and I have no regrets.

Gahh! I'm finding it difficult to decide between NUCA and UoC now! The work from UoC looks fantastic!

Original post by KaminKuru

I know it's a little outdated but at least it'll be an easy website to make as opposed to using lots of CSS. I actually tried making my own website using tutorials on youtube and I just wouldn't get the hang of it. I have no idea what I was doing wrong... but I got really frustrated with it :s-smilie:

You'll have to teach me how to make one sometime! :smile:

I was very interested in the National Diploma in Graphic Design at one point but because I had a particular interest for astronomy, I decided to take A levels instead. The physics exam was rather difficult, you honestly didn't miss much. XD I'm just hoping that my decision didn't leave me at a disadvantage for uni. My art and graphics grades are okay, but maths and physics is another story... And I understand what you mean. I rarely ever get motivation to do anything these days either. Hopefully I'll get to work in the next few weeks so I have something to show for when I go onto A2 in September.

I must ask, do you think that I will need to take a foundation because I am doing A levels? Would I be at a disadvantage when applying to uni just because I don't have one? I don't really want to spend over £1000 + accommodation, without a student loan as well, unless it was completely necessary :s-smilie:

I'm confident I have the skill, but most likely not the qualifications that some universities want.

First of all, using XHTML and CSS together, is WAY simpler than trying to fathom out a whole site using only HTML and the table tags that you have to use when creating a site in only HTML. I may begin making tutorials for webdesign just so I have something to update my site with :/ I'll message you if I ever put any up.

I found GCSE's to be stupidly easy (asides spanish; I failed that with a D haha. I cannot learn languages, it's probably because I don't want to, but my school as a language school so we had to take at least one language :| ) So I would have been hoping for a more difficult exam at A-level.

I think the main reason universities are asking for a foundation is because of the teaching style and experience. It's quite different to academic work because you're given a brief, and left to do it in your own way, rather than being taught "this is the way to do it" and then repeat that in an exam...
So my thinking is that if you just create a series of briefs for yourself and include all of your research, initial ideas, development, etc within your portfolio; you should be fine without a foundation. It just means a lot of hard work into creating a full portfolio along side your A-Levels.

Original post by PinguN18

It really doesn't matter if you don't go somewhere that is elite/Russell group, its much more important to go somewhere that's well respect in industry or you won't get anywhere. I've said before the ones, from my experience, that industry look to for graduates is UCLAN, Falmouth and NUCA

I agree with this entirely.

(edited 11 years ago)

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