Program Overview

• Learn to become a technical artisan who can turn sketches into blueprint drawings across a whole range of industries
• Combine your left-brain creativity with your right-brain analytical thinking as an in-demand CAD professional
• Make your second home in our superbly equipped Digital Design Studio, fitted with 3D printers, motion capture software and virtual reality systems
• Take Adobe Certified Associates courses in Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Animate, among others
• Create an interactive online portfolio of work to showcase your achievements in a dynamic way to future employers
• Focus on teamwork and collaboration, mimicking industry practice and increasing your employability

Computer Aided Designers are now essential to many industries. Fields such as architecture and interior design, construction, fashion, animation and manufacturing are dependent on creative and proficient software technicians. Our three-year programme embraces all the key areas of computer aided design (CAD), from drafting, concept design and prototyping to marketing and sales, developing imaginative and technically-gifted professionals who are increasingly in-demand in the rapidly-growing digital economy.

Our versatile three-year programme offers a hands-on and aesthetic perspective on the design industries. It is anchored around our superbly equipped Digital Design Studio, where you develop competency with a range of software packages and confidence in creating, modelling and showing new ideas within a production team. You are also encouraged to challenge current design practices and styles in order to develop your own personal approach to design informed by, and responding to, the latest ideas.

Throughout the programme, you develop the ability to understand the imperatives of designing for the design industries in terms of the user experience, incorporating look, feel, narrative and aesthetic qualities from the user's perspective.

Year 1 covers key areas, from CAD and Conceptual Sketching to Ergonomics and User Interaction. And you complete two intensive six-week projects, developing confidence and competence in concept design and prototyping.

Year 2 focuses predominantly on the practical side of computer aided design. You take core modules in Design Sustainability, Design & Technology Practice and undertake client-based projects which give you the sort of experience that employers really value.

In Year 3, you study a major research project in a specialist area of your choosing and conduct a work placement with a leading design organisation. You build an interactive online portfolio of work to showcase your achievements in a dynamic way to any future employer.