External summary

Graphic Design has a continuously expanding visual vocabulary. It sorts and differentiates, it informs and promotes and the process is purposeful and offers huge potential for a variety of creative endeavours. Balancing pre-determined project parameters alongside personal expression is the exciting mix of this subject as is the interchange of traditional and contemporary technologies. Graphic Design must challenge the status quo, cross boundaries, think backwards from the future and develop powerful and novel solutions. Designers should observe and be culturally and historically aware in order to demonstrate understanding, openness and receptivity. At Edinburgh College of Art we encourage bold, lateral thinking coupled with a clear understanding of process, technique and business. Our aim is to produce innovative, emotive, enduring and of course aesthetic design from graduates who learn through intense sustained involvement with the design process.

Educational aims of programme

The main programme aims are:

• To promote a commitment to excellence as the prevailing standard for each activity within Graphic Design;
• To develop in students the ability to research and generate ideas relevant to the solution of Graphic Design problems through specialist subject provision;
• To develop in students a strong visual vocabulary in order to externalise ideas;
• To develop in students a spirit of initiative and adventure both in developing their own work and in serving their client(s)/audiences;
• To develop in students the capacity for both independent and group enquiry and research at a level expected of first degree study;
• To develop students’ ability to make informed value judgements by which to assess their work and the work of others;

• To develop in students sufficient manual skills and technical knowledge to control production processes related to Graphic Design;
• To develop in students the communications skills, both verbal and written, appropriate to their studio work;
• To develop students’ understanding of the cultural, historical, commercial and professional contexts of Graphic Design;
• To develop students’ understanding of the ethical and professional principles involved within Graphic Design.
• To improve the exploration, curiosity, ambition, depth and breadth of creative practice in a systematic and insightful manner;
• To encourage students to conceptualise and review their creative process and take incisive control over the direction of their practice;
• To critically evaluate and employ contemporary debates regarding practice-based research, practice-led research and cognate creative methodologies;
• To provide students with requisite knowledge and research skills to creatively contextualise their practice and imaginatively demonstrate its wider validity;
• To continually meet the rapidly changing needs, expectations, aspirations and experiences of today’s graduate students by improving their professional attributes.

Programme outcomes: Knowledge and understanding

Students will be expected to demonstrate a knowledge of:

• key theories, practices, contexts and debates in relation to Graphic Design.
• a range of appropriate creative methods, techniques and approaches in response to Graphic Design project briefs.
• contemporary creative practice and user/audience needs.
• appropriate methodologies and strategies for the professional presentation, distribution and documentation of work
• the use of a range of appropriate materials, methodologies and strategies in relation to individual Graphic Design practice.

Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of:

• issues-based approaches to creative and intellectual endeavour
• the appropriate use of materials and processes and their development through  transparent iterative methodologies
• how practitioners personally conceptualise briefs.
• the philosophical and professional context for the discipline
• the role of the evaluation of original creative concepts in response to research findings through critical assessment

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in research and enquiry

Graduates in Graphic Design will be expected to demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of:

• a range of appropriate research methods.
• the use of a variety of practical and theoretical approaches to demonstrate an investigation of set and personally initiated research themes
• critical enquiry that leads to the visual, verbal and written communication of ideas in an analytical manner.
• the role of critical analysis and reflective appraisal in the context of set research themes.
• issues arising from research and its role in challenging established precepts and assumptions

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in personal and intellectual autonomy

Graduates in Graphic Design will be able to:

• adopt a broad-ranging and flexible approach to study, identifying their own learning needs and pursuing activities designed to meet these needs in increasingly autonomous ways.
• with minimal guidance,  manage their own learning using a wide range of resources appropriate to subject/profession,  seeking and making effective use of feedback.

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in communication

• communicate in a clear structured and concise way, in writing and orally, in formal academic and professional styles.
• confidently communicate, present and demonstrate ideas, both formally and informally, in a variety of contexts at the threshold of professional practise.

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in personal effectiveness

Graduates in Graphic Design will be able to:

• clearly demonstrate an ability to independently define and analyse self-initiated project proposals for specific design contexts.
• confidently select and apply a range of facts, concepts and elements in a cohesive, independent manner to produce new solutions to both externally set, and self-initiated proposals.
• confidently apply their own criteria and support independent judgements in a fully autonomous way.
• be increasingly independent, confident and flexible in identifying and defining complex problems and in the application of methods appropriate to their solution, at the threshold of professional practice.

Programme outcomes: Technical/practical skills

The range of technical and practical skills which may be acquired in the programme, both analogue and digital, is potentially very wide. Students have considerable choice in how they build their technical and practical skill set which is developed over their period of study.

Graduates in Graphic Design will be able to:

• clearly demonstrate confidence, independence and professionalism in the application of software/hardware to specific contexts.
• clearly demonstrate appropriately personalised use and application of information retrieval and networked communications within specific contexts.

Programme structure and features

Programme structure
The programme follows a well-defined structure in which, in common with other programmes in the Design sector, only the results from the final year of study are used in calculating the degree award.

1st Year

Exit Award: Certificate of Higher Education (120 credits)

2nd Year

Exit Award: Diploma of Higher Education (240 credits)

3rd Year (Semester 1)

3rd Year (Semester 2)

Exit Award: Batchelor of Arts (360 credits)

4th Year

Exit Award: Batchelor of Arts with Honours (480 credits)

Teaching and learning methods and strategies

The student journey in Graphic Design is characterised by sequential, experiential and iterative learning and pedagogically follows a constructivist model, subscribing to the view that: knowledge and understanding are not acquired passively but in an active manner through personal experience and experiential activities; and that learning is based on problem solving and/or an exploration of a particular line of enquiry and active engagement with ideas.

Assessment methods and strategies

For the majority of their studies students will not encounter prescriptive assessment where the absolute answers are known in advance of setting the assessed task. Assessment however is rigorous and robust and depends upon significant involvement of whole programme teams to ensure objectivity, accuracy, consistency and fairness to the students concerned.

Students receive regular formative feedback on their progress which is related directly to the published learning outcomes in their Course Descriptors and in their coursework material, such as project briefs and course handbooks. The method of assessment used is appropriate to the learning outcome(s) being assessed and the student’s performance for each individual learning outcome can be effectively examined and graded. Students are made fully aware of how they are being assessed and what is being assessed, against the published criteria.

Career opportunities

Graphic Design graduates work in a wide range of creative career paths. The variety of projects, approaches and opportunities on course enable graduates to apply their knowledge and experience of the design process and their considerable skills onto many disciplines. Typically graduates leave to become valuable members of a graphic design agency. There are extensive links with the professional world built through industry-led projects and staff research. This coupled with a range of visiting speakers, ensures that graduates are aware of the full range of career possibilities and are provided with a strong footing from which to develop their chosen career.

Previous career paths have included experiential design, packaging, advertising, digital design, interaction design, exhibition design, design research, marketing, retail design, exhibition design, multimedia, design management, education. Graduates may freelance or seek employment within a company they also, of course, may wish to continue their studies at postgraduate level.

A specific scheme within the undergraduate programme is the Design Agency project which, in 2013, won a Guardian University Award for Employability. Design Agency is a flagship initiative that enables graphic design students to graduate with an honours degree and, more importantly for this industry, three years of work experience. Each year, senior students have the opportunity to form their own design agencies. They create their own brand for the agency and advertise vacancies at all levels, from interns to senior designers, for which students in junior years are interviewed and appointed. It is rare that students work across the different year groups of a university undergraduate programme; although the rewards that are gained from peer feedback is undoubted. Within Design Agency, students work collectively towards a common objective based on ability, regardless of age or experience. Edinburgh-based design agencies act as ‘mentor partners’ to the student agencies and support them with the many client-led live briefs they work on.

Other items

Student/ Staff Liaison

Student representatives make a significant contribution to Programme Committees. They are responsible for canvassing the views of their fellow students on agenda items and, most importantly, informing them of the content and outcome of Programme Committee Meetings. Students are advised to make use of EUSA help in training for their role as representatives and in Committee procedures.

Student representatives are appointed annually. Invitations for nominations, seconded by at least two other students, are posted in the studio at the beginning of each year. A secret ballot is held if more than the requisite number of nominations is received by the closing date.

International Study/Exchange Programme

The School of Design believes that the addition of an international dimension to our degree programmes provides significant educational and social benefits for our students. We therefore encourage our students to participate in Erasmus and other international exchanges with approved partners, usually in Year 3 (Level 9).

Personal Tutors

All students are assigned a Personal Tutor on admission to the degree programme, who oversees the course of the student’s degree programme, offers advice on academic matters and should be the student’s first point of contact for course-related worries or concerns.