UAL BA Chelsea Textile Design or CSM Graphic Communication Design

I have been offered a place in both Chelsea Textile and in CSM graphic design and I don't know which one I should go for! I'm currently studying in the UAL CCW foundation course, majoring in illustration. Growing up I always thought I would become an illustrator, but after I came to this foundation course and chose the illustration pathway, I suddenly realised that it can be very boring and tiring to draw all day. Although I still draw well and enjoy drawing, I'm just not that interested in it anymore. Around this time I found interest in textiles, and the process of preparing my textiles portfolio was fun and not tiring at all. But now that I actually got into both textiles and graphic design I'm kind of torn in between. The CSM graphic design course has always been my goal and my dream school for a long time, I have came all the way here just to be in that course. I love their beautiful campus and motivating atmosphere, however, part of me really want to do textiles and I'm not sure if I will be happy choosing csm graphics. I love chelsea too, but I prefer the csm atmosphere much more. Something that I also worry about is that I did not have any previous experiences or knowledge in textiles, I'm afraid that I will be surrounded by students that are more experienced than me. But I also feel that it is right to take this risk and go for textiles. At the same time I feel that it would be stupid to give up on such a great chance to study at csm. I'm just afraid that my passion for textiles is temporarily, and once I get into textiles I will regret my decision. But I'm also scared if graphic design and illustration is not what I really want to do, and maybe illustration is not my true talent. Please help me!!!

Go to CSM it is the better choice. Reasons 1- it is your main dream 2- Better job chance. 3- You can always collaborate with Textiles students in CSM 4- The name on your CV

Pursue the course/location you think you will enjoy more as this will probably have a more noticeable effect on your performance in the course. You may want to see if CSM can offer you a place on their Textiles course, if you strongly prefer that university but would also prefer to pursue the textile angle.

You may have opportunities in the Graphic Design course to do work in e.g. print design for textiles - where you'll focus less on the technical/material aspects of the textiles and more on the actual design process itself, I would assume. You could also contact CSM to ask about this as well as/rather than enquiring on the possibility of them changing your application - alternately your tutor at CCW might be able to advise you, or have colleagues at CSM they can ask.

Additionally as I understand, graphic design and illustration are fairly dissimilar, with the latter much more strongly focused on narratives than standalone design. This is based on what I've gleaned of my sisters experiences on the ARU Illustration (& Animation) course however, and the courses may well differ in scope and focu, so take this with a grain of salt.

I was thinking of majoring in the illustration section of the course within graphic design. However, I'm really not interested in graphics, the only reason I applied for that course is because it is the closest course to illustration in CSM. I applied for LCC illustration course too, but I don't think I want to go to LCC. Also, my application for CSM textiles was sadly declined because it wasn't "competitive enough". I was only offered chelsea textiles.

When did you have your CSM interview for graphic design??

Hey!

I'm a first-year Graphic Communication Design student @ CSM! I've just posted a blog post talking all about my experience so far, might be helpful to you

Find me on

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/liliphillipsgraphics/
Blog: https://justonedesignstudent.wordpress.com/




Lili x