Graphic Design, Advertising and Marketing BA (Hons)

Teaching

An experienced team of lecturers and design practitioners will be teaching you throughout the course and facilitating a student focused, practical and skills-based approach to learning, with a multi-disciplinary experience as a key factor of the student experience.  

Studio Practice and Interactive Workshops will equip you with all the practical skills you need from a creative perspective. Lectures and Seminars will equip you with all the theoretical skills needed from an academic perspective. Live Briefs allow for an agency style group project, bringing both creative and theoretical application together.  

This blended, inclusive approach creates a challenging, but exciting learning experience. It fosters the development of students who take responsibility for their own learning, becoming increasingly independent and autonomous as they progress through their studies. This helps promote a professional, lifelong approach to learning. As you progress through each level, the criteria assessed become more demanding, searching and challenging.  

A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support from Student Services and Library Services as well as the personal academic tutoring system enables students to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will help them towards their goals. Activities and materials will be available through Blackboard virtual learning environment and/or module websites.  

Meetings with personal academic tutors are scheduled on at least 4 occasions in the first year and three occasions in each of the other years of a course. Scheduled meeting dates will be provided in the course planner.  

Contact time

In a typical week, a student will have around 12 contact hours of plus individual or group tutorial teaching.

The precise contact hours will depend on the modules being studied. In the final year students will normally have slightly less formal teaching time in order to do more independent study and develop work related opportunities which are supported by bespoke individual support and tutorials. Typically, class contact time will be structured around:

• 3 hours of (large group) lectures/seminars/client-brief
• 6 hours of interactive workshops, large and small group discussion, computer skills
• 3 hours of (small group) presentations/group critiques/tutorials

Class sizes will be around 20-25. Where larger lectures take place, learning is supported with group-based approaches or online activities.

Independent self-study

In addition to the above contact time, students are expected to engage with around 25 hours of personal study per week. Typically, this will involve individual and/or group work on projects and tasks, preparing for assignments, trips to see work and going to the library. Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent facilities, including the Hive library, the virtual learning environment, extensive access to vast electronic learning resources and purpose-built contemporary design and media studios.  

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources. 

Duration

• 3 years full-time
• 4-6 years part-time

Timetables

Timetables are normally available one month before registration. Please note that whilst we try to be as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week; and some classes can be scheduled in the evenings.

Teaching staff

Students will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes academics, specialist professionals and experienced practitioners.   Teaching is informed by the research and consultancy, and many course lecturers have or are studying for a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. You can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles. 

Assessment

Assessment takes the form of formative (informal) and summative (formal) assessment.

Formative assessments carry no weighting but are really important, designed to help you achieve your best in the final summative assessments. Formative assessment can take different forms such as student support teams, informal peer assessment or rehearsed presentations. It is also embedded in your ongoing engagement with tutors’ and is part of the individual tutorial system.

Each module has summative assessment which normally requires a combination of practical work, critical reflection and written assessment that can vary and might require different forms such as essay, contextual analysis, blog, creative writing or learning journal. There is also one formal written examination in the third year.

The following gives an indication of the types of assessment you might expect across any year. This is only an indication and will vary depending upon your choice of modules.

Year 1

• 4 x practical projects
• 1 x critical reflection writing tasks
• 1 x individual presentation
• 1 x group presentation
• 1 x essay
• 1x report
• 1x portfolio

Year 2

• 4 x practical projects
• 1 x critical reflection writing tasks
• 1 x individual presentation
• 1 x group presentation
• 1x report
• 1x portfolio

Year 3

• 3 x practical projects (including 1 independent major project)
• 1 x critical reflection writing tasks
• 1 x individual presentation
• 1 x group presentation
• 1x portfolio
• 1 x essay

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback on examination performance is available upon request from the module leader. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate.

We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.

Programme Specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification document.