Course outline
When it comes to graphic design, you need an establishment that offers the latest equipment and resources. You also need a working environment that lets you make the most of your skills, as well as encouraging you to develop your knowledge and training further. We are happy to say that we can provide all this and more. Working in small year groups (around 50 each year), you will get regular feedback and support from your tutors, and by giving you a huge, modern, dynamic, well equipped, multi-functioning space, you'll have room to expand your studies in a way that suits you.
You'll mix with students from all years in our studio spaces, working alongside people who are as passionate about graphic design as you are, inspiring you to even further heights. We will help you produce exciting designs across a wide range of traditional and digital media, building your portfolio to best display your skills for future employers. From first principles onwards, you will develop your technique rapidly thanks to innovative project briefs, technical workshops, frequent studio lectures, practical demonstrations and visits from professional designers. We promise that you will be given everything you can to produce the best results.
To see much more of what we do, please see our course blog.
Many of our full-time programmes can be studied over a longer period on a part-time basis. Please contact the course enquiries team for further details.
Course Study Options
We also offer this course with an integrated foundation year.
Integrated Foundation YearCourse outline
Course summary
We aim to give you the experience, confidence and creative skills necessary to stand out from the crowd when it comes to job searching. We realise that the most important thing is what you achieve after you graduate, which is why your course will provide you with a wide variety of projects to help you discover what suits you best, allowing you to focus on your specialities.
You will receive extensive feedback and advice at every step of your project, allowing you to finish with the best results. Our projects reflect the pace of the 'real world'; you will complete around 10 studio projects per term, receiving feedback on each one as it is presented. Our purpose is to help you graduate as a flexible, fully prepared, highly motivated, professional designer. In fact, just the type of person the creative industries are crying out for.
Modules
Year one
Compulsory Modules
- Design Fundamentals
- Design in Context 1
- Communicating Ideas
Optional modules (subject to availability and demand)
- Life Drawing
- Thinking through Drawing
- Traditional Photo Techniques
- Pictures for Publication
- Visual Arts at the 21st Century
- Fibre Arts 1
- Advertising Practices
- Creative Writing
- Embroidered Textile Decoration
Year two
Compulsory modules
- Principles of Graphic Design
- Principles of Multimedia
- Exploration of Graphic Design
- Design in Context 2
Year three
Compulsory modules
- Graphic Design Application
- Professional Context
- Graphic Design Practice
- Professional Practice
Programme Specification
Programme specification
For detailed summary of all course content please read our programme specification for this course.
Entry requirements
2017 entry
96-112 UCAS tariff points. Potential to succeed can be measured in a number of ways including academic qualifications and skills obtained outside academic study such as work experience. We have a points range so we can take into account all of the information on your application form and adjust the offer from the evidence provided.
You can find out more about the tariff and qualification options from the UCAS tariff table.
Please check selection criteria for any additional entry requirements.
2018 entry
112 UCAS tariff points.
Please check selection criteria for any additional entry requirements.
Selection criteria
- All places are offered subject to successful interview and submission of a portfolio.
Application information
Full-time courses
Apply online through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), between September and January; they will send your application on to us. Applications submitted after this date will be considered late and the course you have applied for might be full by this time; however, we will consider you for alternative suitable courses.
Their website provides all the information you need about universities, courses, locations, entry requirements and financial support. You are allowed to select up to five course choices. You need to use the correct UCAS campus and course codes as not all courses are offered at every campus. You will be asked for the following information when you apply online:
Institution code name: UoC
Institution code: C99
Campus location:
- A Ambleside
- B Brampton Road, Carlisle
- E University of Cumbria at Energus, Workington
- F Fusehill Street, Carlisle
- L Lancaster
- T University of Cumbria in London
- Y University of Cumbria at Furness College, Barrow-in-Furness
Part-time courses
Applications should be made online directly to the university; visit our website or contact enquirycentre@cumbria.ac.uk for details and guidance. There is no official closing date but we would encourage you to apply as early as possible, as many courses are competitive.
What makes a good application?
We consider all aspects of your application, not simply your qualifications and grades. We look at your academic background and performance, relevant experience (particularly for professional courses where some voluntary or paid experience is required) and your reference. Above all, we look for motivation, commitment and potential-evidence that you can benefit from study at higher education level.
Make sure you include:
- Relevant qualifications/evidence of ability: check our website for the specific entry requirements required for each course. Tell us your previous academic results and your projected grades.
- A supportive reference, from an employer or your school or college.
- A good personal statement.
- Explain clearly what attracts you to the course and tell us about your wider interests and experience. If you are applying for a course that incorporates professional training and placements, you should include any relevant experience or visits you have made in the workplace. Highlight your individual strengths and qualities, personal skills, capacity for teamwork, contribution to the community and your enterprise, originality and determination. Select some activities which bring out these qualities.
What next?
When we receive your application, we will send you an acknowledgement and if you are successful at this stage you will get either an offer (with an invitation to visit the campus to which you have applied), or an invitation to interview on a particular date. If we are not able to offer you a place on your chosen course we will usually try to offer you a place on a similar course and will contact you to discuss this. Alternatively, if we think you are suitable, but cannot offer you a place on your preferred campus because of the level of competition, we will offer you a place at another campus if one is available.
And if I accept?
The admissions team will contact you and send further information from February onwards about accommodation, and from May/June onwards about preparing to join the university. If you have any other queries, please telephone the admissions offices for information and advice on 0845 6061144.
Deferred entry
We welcome applications for deferred entry on some courses. If you have specific plans during your year out, indicate these on your personal statement as they may be relevant to your course and could enhance your application.
International students
Applications for full-time undergraduate study are made through UCAS. Please see the international pages of our website for full details of our entry requirements (including English-language skills) as well as contacts for advice and support.
From 2009 the UK Border Agency introduced a Points-Based Immigration System (PBS) for students coming to the UK from outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Students entering higher education will need to obtain a Confirmation of Acceptance (CAS) plus finance confirmation to obtain a Tier 4 student visa. UK education providers are licensed by the UK Border Agency. When students apply for their visa (or entry clearance) they will need a valid Certificate of Acceptance of Studies from the university. Please note that a CAS is not a guarantee that a visa will be issued.
See the following websites for further details: www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/studyingintheuk
Additional costs
All students will need to purchase stationery, course books and personal equipment. Extra costs may also be applicable to cover field trips, membership fees etc. The following PDF link below provides an overview of these costs for this course.
Additional costsGraduate destinations
Upon graduating, you will have the skills necessary to complete work for national and international design and advertising consultancies, multi-media agencies, TV companies, publishing houses and magazines.
Thanks to our reputation for excellence in the teaching of typography and magazine design, each year a number of our graduates are head-hunted by the major magazine publishing houses including Future Publishing, IPC and Condé Nast. We feel this shows the high standard of graduate we turn out, and are confident we can help you get started in a rewarding role as a graphic designer.
Resources and facilities
We are immensely proud of our fantastically well-equipped and spacious studio space. Containing over eighty Mac workstations, small tutorial and lecture spaces, staff offices, and lots of space for student work bases, it really offers everything a graphic design student could need for the best results. It also has an in-house reprographics department for all your printing needs. The mix of students from all years of the course creates an inspiring, dynamic, stimulating and continually changing environment that will help you get the most out of your degree.
Unlike most other universities, we also believe you should be able to exploit any technical areas your project work may require. You will have access to computer training labs, animation suites, printmaking studios, moving image editing suites, wood, metal and plastic workshops, textile studios, photography studios and even our ceramics department! No matter what you require, we give you the option to create it. Please feel free to browse the photos in our course gallery of the studio, campus and resources our students use and enjoy on a daily basis.
Awards and recognition
We have also had great success in the world of multi-media design - two of our students gaining highly prized jobs at MTV as designer/animators and Ryan Young and Lee Freeman are now working at the innovative London advertising agency Sell! Sell!
Fredrik Öst and Magnus Berg returned to their native Sweden to start their own, highly individual, multi-disciplinary design company Snask, a design studio which is now so successful and famous, you can buy a book about them!
