Graphic Design (Extended Degree)
Entry requirements
UCAS Tariff
Although many of our students do come in with top grades and high UCAS points, these aren’t necessarily essential for entry. We typically ask for a minimum of 104 UCAS points, but we understand that talented artists, designers and makers can have a wide range of relevant strengths and skills beyond formal qualifications. We’re just as interested in exploring your portfolio as we are in seeing your grades.
You may also need to…
Present a portfolio
About this course
Arts University Plymouth is an arts university for the 21st century, preparing students who are uniquely placed to provide creative solutions to the complex global challenges of a changing world. Formerly known as Plymouth College of Art, we were granted full university title in Spring 2022. We are now the city of Plymouth’s first and only specialist arts university, allowing us to offer our students a dynamic and unique learning experience.
If you want to pursue a creative degree at Arts University Plymouth but feel you have yet to acquire the experience and range of skills necessary, our Extended BA course will prepare you for entry to one of our BA (Hons) undergraduate courses. This four-year route offers an exploratory year, developing your insight into a range of art, design and media skills and approaches, before focusing on your Graphic Design degree.
**There’s never been a more exhilarating time to study graphic design as a discipline, as companies strive to cultivate culture and connect with their audience
in new and unexpected ways. Discover what it takes to influence public conscience, capture imagination and provoke discussion through effective visual communication.**
On this course you’ll become part of a new breed of professional designers and communicators – empowering brands, inspiring community action on a global scale and taking timeless traditional methods of practice and merging them with more contemporary approaches. If you’re interested in the role of graphic communication as a vehicle for change and idea transfer, this degree will equip you with the practical skills and theoretical knowledge necessary to succeed at the forefront of industry. From print publications to large-format advertising, user experience to data visualisation, you will learn how to make your ideas an online and offline reality.
Early on you will be encouraged to adopt the mindset of a design professional grounded in a critical awareness of societal and cultural contexts. With the support of our expert academics and industry-practising technicians, you will forge your own professional journey within an ever-evolving international landscape of motion, print, imagemaking, illustration and social and interactive media design. You’ll learn how to respond to current design needs, from research and concept through to prototype and design, strategising packaging and campaigns that inform, entertain and persuade. Your studies will also equip you with progressive problem-solving skills needed by future employers, addressing themes of ecological sustainability, emerging technologies and user-centred design.
The content of this course has been designed in close consultation with industry professionals so that you can be confident your learning will future-proof you for a dynamic and competitive job market. Our award-winning students have been celebrated through international competitions, gaining internships and industry recognition from D&AD (best in show), Sky Arts, New Designers, JDO RAW, Creative Conscience and South West Design Award.
Your studies will also be underpinned by our enviable programme of visiting lecturers. Recent industry contributors to the course include: Getty Images, Mother London, Design Bridge, Bellow Studio Bristol, Little Brown, Edenspiekermann, Hoefler&Co, Dalton Maag, Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv, Jones Knowles Ritchie, Radim Malinic, B&B Studio, Home Bristol, me&dave, NoDesign Paris, Atlantic Youth Creative Hubs, Saatchi and Anthony Burrill.
Our graduates either go on to establish their own freelance practices or collaborative studios, or find rewarding work as in-house designers in publishing, branding and consultancies. Whether you aspire to work for an independent studio, advertising agency, household name brand or for yourself – a world of opportunity awaits you on our Graphic Communication degree.
Modules
The first year of an Extended Degree is not a qualification in its own right, but when you successfully complete it you are guaranteed a place on our full undergraduate programme.
You’ll develop confidence in your use of drawing, visual research, contextual studies, digital imaging and design methods, and you’ll have the chance to experiment with a range of materials, equipment, processes and software.
As the year goes by you’ll specialise in your chosen undergraduate subject (illustration, graphic design, fine art, etc.), helping you to become a confident, independent and creative artist, designer or maker.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
Arts University Plymouth
Arts, Design and Media
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Design studies
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
We don't have more detailed stats to show you in relation to this subject area at this university but read about typical employment outcomes and prospects for graduates of this subject below.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Design studies
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£13k
£16k
£18k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.
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This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.
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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.
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Course location and department:
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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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