Art In Graphic Design

Revised and overseen by Vanessa Weaver

Course overview
The course is modular, with an introductory range of studies based on developing a broad range of art and design skills. These include basic drawing, composition, lettering and typography and the process of design.
On completion of the mandatory study units, students are able to specialise by choosing a minimum of four further areas of study from a varied selection of options. In this way we provide a tailor-made course, enabling students to focus fully on their preferred areas of interest.

Why do students choose Art in Graphic Design?
Students who study on this course have a variety of aims:

1. To improve drawing ability. The course offers a comprehensive guide to basic drawing techniques complemented by practical exercises.

2. To learn about or improve in specific areas, including composition and layout, techniques with specific media (pen & ink, pencils, paints), and how to generate and develop suitable ideas towards successful design solutions.

3. To learn how to design successfully and be able to apply that knowledge to personal work in the future, including designing using a computer. Students tackle realistic design briefs and are guided through the design process. They will gain experience of creating and developing successful design solutions that can then be applied to their own leaflets, posters, cards, and other personal work.

4. To learn more about different aspects of art and design including drawing, colour, lettering and typography, and to choose specialist subjects to study further such as poster design, book jackets/ CD design, illustration, packaging design, life drawing, portraiture, cartooning, advertising and logo design.

5. To create a portfolio of work to apply for further or higher education courses.

Support
All our courses are written to be complete in themselves. However we realise that students may appreciate being able to get clarification about various things as they work through their programme as well wanting reassurance that they are putting techniques into practice effectively. The Administration Centre is available seven days a week and the Course Artist provides the technical support to deal with relevant queries.

Most courses have their own dedicated Course Artist. The Course Artist keeps the course up to date and relevant to today's students. They are available to the individual student for advice and encouragement. Each course has regular exercises and assignments that are constructed in such a way as to give the student the opportunity to practice the techniques learnt on the course and to test themselves as they go along. The student is encouraged to submit the assignment work to the college for the Course Artist to critique. The student's work will be returned together with the Course Artist's personal critique. On many courses the assignment work may be suitable for inclusion in a student's Portfolio of Work that could be very useful later. The college will use the assignments submitted as the basis for any award of a Diploma or Certificate.

Vanessa moved on to work as a lecturer at Gloscat (Gloucestershire College of Arts & Technology) in Gloucester, where she taught all aspects of Graphic Design, with a particular specialism in Typography.

Vanessa's college training and early career work was based on traditional methods, producing marker visuals for client presentations. More recently she has produced design work using Apple Macintosh software, as well as teaching Computer Studies to Graphic Design students.