BA graphic design :D

anybody know what the timetable is like for ba graphic design year 1, as in how many days/hours per week you do.. also im totally unaware of what the transition from college to uni will be like, how are things taught and how much of an involvement do you have with your tutors?? :smile:

Reply 1

username181178

Original post by johnedwardbooth

I did BA Graphic Design for my first year, so I can tell you about the timetable. However, I didn't enjoy or feel motivated by the course and I transferred after first year to BA Design for Digital Media instead.

You're usually in approximately 3-4 days a week; though they could be half days, and not a full timetabled day. I think I was in Monday morning, Tuesday all day, and Thursday all day (I can't quite remember, seems so long ago!)

The classes are quite large; there were about 150+ students within the first year. The year got split into half, and each half had a slightly different timetable.
Due to the large amount of students, you don't really get one-on-one time so often. It often takes place as group seminars - you sit around a table, and you discuss your work. You then get a bit of feedback, and then it carries on.

The year attempts to give you a broad view of what Graphic Design is. You'll do a bit of illustration, bit of stop-motion, bit of advertising. You have a few software sessions with Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Final Cut.
There's not so much digital-based stuff though; you don't touch on web design within the first year.

A lot of people were quite surprised at the Art and Design History element of the course. This is known as 'Contextual Studies' - and so you'll write essays and do presentations - as well as doing practical projects.

What is nice is getting visiting speakers - so people will come in from the art and design industry and talk to you about what they do. This is always a good thing. Sometimes they'll also run little workshops as well, so you can actually experience the speaker's way of working, etc.

At the end of first year, you have to choose a pathway for the remainder of your degree. You either choose Illustration, Motion & Interactivity, or Communication Design. Thus, the class will then get split up into 3 for the remaining 2 years.

Apologies for the long ramble, and if there's anything you'd like to ask/want more detail, ask away :smile:

University of Salford

Salford

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Reply 2

johnedwardbooth

cheers for that :smile:

helped me out quite alot. The course sounds alright (except from the essay part but thats just life i guess)
I dont really know where all my strengths are in graphics cos i can do a mixture so i guess i shouldve done a foundation year.. but it just seemed too much extra fuss to worry about.
Also do you live in salford? If so do you have any recommendations on any accomodation? ( I have IQ in mind) i just want to have the best social one to stop myself being a loner when i go!!

Reply 3

username181178

Original post by johnedwardbooth

cheers for that :smile:

I didn't do a foundation course (took a gap year and worked instead), and to be honest, your first year is pretty much like a foundation course. It doesn't count towards your degree marks. (Obviously still do the work and so on) so you can experiment with your styles and find where you want to go.

I don't live in Salford, as I commute in as it isn't too far away.
However, I know people that do live in.
IQ has the en-suite bathrooms and is quite newer; it's a little bit farther away from the campuses, but there's a free student bus that runs through the campus til quite late - so that's handy. I've stayed over in people's flats, and I can honestly say that IQ looks the nicest.

A lot of people talk about Castle Irwell being the best for partying and so on, but they're not that nice really...
IQ is decent.

You're really close to Manchester, so that's great - plenty of nights out and stuff, taxi fares are fine, and there's lots of buses too.

Oh! Also, the Graphic Design course is in the small building - Allerton Studios. There are only 2 other courses ran in that building, which are BA Visual Arts, and MA Contemporary Fine Art. There is a library on the Allerton Campus, but when you're looking for books for essays/research, the Adelphi Library is best. That's on the Adelphi Campus, where all of the other Art, Design and Creative courses are. It's about 15-20mins walk away from the campus where you'll be, but you'll most likely need to visit there from time to time.

If you want to have a look at what some of the current Graphics students are doing, they've linked/featured some of the student blogs here: http://www.artdes.salford.ac.uk/our-courses/graphic-design-ba/blogs.html
You may get an idea then of how they document their work, and the sort of stuff they're up to.

I don't think I can think of anything else to tell you! If you think of anything else to ask, then go ahead :smile:

Glad I could be of help.