Program Overview

Got a passion for creative design? Not quite ready to undertake a full honours degree? Solent University’s Design Foundation Programme is perfectly suited to students who may not be from an art-related background or whose qualifications do not meet the admissions requirements for BA (Hons) Illustration.

To help get you up to speed, this one-year foundation course provides all the creative, technical and study skills needed. Upon completion, you will be able to progress onto the three year BA (Hons) Illustration degree here at Solent.

In dedicated studio space at our Below Bar campus, you’ll have the room, equipment and academic support to reach your full potential. You’ll study a variety of modules such as Orientation, Concepts and Themes, Visual Language, Critical Discourse, Editorial, The Society of Superstition and Phobias and Research and Authorship; with options to specialise in your preferred area of creativity.

You’ll also propose, plan and produce a body of work that will draw together your technical and conceptual skills and demonstrate competence in studio protocols and proficiency in applying methods, materials and technologies. This innovative degree explores the art of illustration and visual communication in children’s and adult’s narrative, together with editorial and journalistic illustration which explores new approaches to contemporary illustration.

You will be encouraged to experiment and develop your own voice in an environment where you will feel free to take risks, and be ambitious in developing your personal approach to visual art as either a practitioner or critic and theorist. To underpin creativity and encourage understanding of transferable skills and management of learning, emphasis is placed on gaining hands-on practice, from working in the print room to drawing on the streets, and working on projects and case studies to gain experience of working on live briefs.

In previous years, students have been given the opportunity to exhibit, both in Southampton and London, and to have their work seen by a collection of art directors and agencies. Past students have also been encouraged to enter industry competitions to gain exposure for their creative work and have also been able to publish and print their work through our in-house printing organisation to sell at artists’ book fairs.