Illustration with Graphic Design

This Illustration with Graphic Design course aims to develop your image making, design and illustration skills, allowing you to develop and refine your own visual voice. You will work on a diverse range of projects that allow your creativity and talent to thrive over digital, motion and print platforms.

Through the course you will learn how to interpret briefs, identify and solve problems to create innovative illustration and design solutions, you will also be able to work on a diverse range of industry and competition briefs, supporting your professional practice and understanding of the industry.

The course is designed to support a career as an illustrator and creative practitioner: In year one, you will focus on understanding the fundamentals of drawing and design principals; in year two, you will begin to locate and develop your individual voice by applying your illustration through creative projects and varied workshops; in year three, you will position your creative practice through professional preparation and real world experiences, supporting your individual aspirations for entering the creative industries.

The Illustration with Graphic Design degree is taught in conjunction with the BA (hons) Graphic Design course, with some shared module-specific teaching, allowing you to build both your professional illustration skills alongside core graphic design knowledge and a supportive community of creative students.

*Key features
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• Access one-to-one support from the Leicester Media School Drawing Centre to perfect your drawing skills and meet like-minded artists.

• Benefit from our Gurus and Grasshoppers peer support mentoring scheme – final-year students mentor new students on formal assignments and additional areas, as needed.

• Develop your practical and professional skills through live project briefs set by real clients from the design industry.

• Enter high-profile competitions such as D&AD, RSA, Macmillan Children’s Books, Batsford, Penguin and Creative Conscience.

• Explore the world with DMU Global, our international experience programme. Graphic Design students have previously researched the Bauhaus art movement in Berlin and visited museums and galleries in Amsterdam.

• Exhibit your work at the week-long DMU Degree Show, one of Leicester’s biggest art and design shows, where final-year students have the chance to meet talent scouts and win industry prizes.

• Benefit from Education 2030, where a simplified ‘block learning’ timetable means you will study one subject at a time and have more time to engage with your learning, receive faster feedback and enjoy a better study-life balance.

Year one
Block 1: Exploration and Ideation for Graphic Design and Illustration

Block 2: Applied Idea Development for Graphic Design and Illustration

Block 3: Visual Communication for Graphic Design and Illustration

Block 4: Creative Resolution for Graphic Design and Illustration

Year two
Block 1: Design Process for Graphic Design and Illustration

Block 2: Design Process Progression for Graphic Design and Illustration

Block 3: Design Communication for Graphic Design and Illustration

Block 4: Year 2 Personal Practice for Graphic Design and Illustration

Year three
Block 1: Independent Practice

Block 2: Independent Practice 2

Block 3: Professional Practice

Block 4: Professional Practice 2

Teaching
Teaching, learning and assessment on BA (Hons) Graphic Design will take place through modules with well-established strategies and patterns of delivery. Here, students are provided with an opportunity to develop an intellectual and visual awareness of historical and contemporary practices, integrating, practices across a range of media. Learning and teaching strategies also encourage students to collaborate with one another and to work across creative disciplines (interactive design, illustration, photography, printmaking etc.).

The multidisciplinary approach requires a range of deliveries, such as: workshop demonstrations, studio work, lectures, seminars, tutorials, group project work, screenings, external visits, visiting professionals, independent learning, research and self-directed studies all inform practical areas of study. Lectures and seminars, research and self-directed study deliver the contextual and historical information students need to inform their thinking around theoretical issues, and their analytical writing skills.

Assessment
Formative reviews of work take place on a continuous weekly tutorial basis preceding formative assessments each semester and summative assessments in May. Assessment strategies adhere to subject benchmarks and applicable professional requirements.