Program Overview

The course aims to get you industry-ready, whether that means joining a design business or starting up your own. During the course you will develop an all-round grasp of graphic design and a bespoke portfolio of work that suits your personal career aspirations.

The course aims to offer you:

• A comprehensive design foundation: the course equips you with key design principles and experience across a wide range of design contexts. Through an intensive exploration of today’s vast graphic design landscape and crucial design theory you’ll delve into branding, advertising, packaging, mapping, editorial design, web design, font design and app design.
• Creative ownership: the course empowers you to shape your learning alongside preferred routes. Through select modules you will get to choose your own briefs, practice skills you’re passionate about and formulate your own views on design.
• Expand your portfolio: your aim will be to develop a strong portfolio of work, and proactively define and pursue your own interests and long-term goals.

Why you should study this course

Graphic designers harness the power of visual language to shape our perceptions of the world. With this kind of power comes responsibility. Graphic Design at Coventry University isn’t just about making ‘pretty pictures. Instead, the course enables you to practice graphic design as a means of making meaningful contributions to the world. Here is how:

• Exploration: the course fosters ways of working that encourage creative discovery. Play and experimentation with analogue and digital mediums, methods and techniques is embedded in all modules. The course is attuned to industry standards, but it does not aim to replicate the working world; instead, it provides a safe space for innovation and uninhibited imagination.
• Employability: the course prepares you to be a productive force within industry. You will gain confidence and key professional skills by working on authentic design briefs, with real clients, taking part in studio visits and portfolio reviews, attending guest and alumni talks and showcasing your work through participation in renowned competitions such as D&AD2. (All opportunities are subject to availability.)
• Technical Skill: the course wants you to take pride in the work that you make. Attention to detail and industry standard designs are developed through practiced skill and iteration. Craftsmanship is considered just as important as a clever idea.
• Critical Thinking: the course believes that an inquisitive and investigative mindset leads to original designs. You will learn to gather data, ask questions and draw conclusions to justify design decisions. In a world of questionable news and misinformation, an informed, inquisitive designer can begin to make a change in local, national and global communities.
• Storytelling: the course channels the power of design to connect and engage with people. Not only will you use design to solve problems, but through storytelling methods you will also access design's ability to enchant and activate emotions.