BA (Hons) Visual Communication

Year One — You’ll be introduced to the core principals of design and communication within graphic design, photography and film, printmaking and illustration. Through practical briefs you will be introduced to a range of communication processes including persuasion, narrative, documentary and reportage, where your own interests will inform the content of your work. You will have the opportunity to collaborate with other students, work with businesses and communities in the city, exhibit your work and move towards independent learning and self-directed projects.

Year Two — You will begin to develop one or more specific forms of practice, and apply your skills to real life-projects (whether self-directed, client-based or competitions). During the year you will start to investigate the professional world that relates to your emerging practice and develop a portfolio of work to help secure work experience.

Year Three — You’ll develop professional and entrepreneurial skills in an area of practice to which you feel passionately committed, supported by a research project and facilitated through external links, exhibitions and conferences. On graduating, you’ll have a bespoke skill set and a clear strategy for moving on to employment, self-employment or further study.

Work experience covers a broad range of activities and students are encouraged to undertake work placements during their time at University. As well as guidance from the course team our Careers, Employability and Enterprise team offer support that enhances employability skills and underpins engagement with industry.

Students have a strong track record in winning design awards. Recent successes include:

• Eleven Creative Conscience Awards 2014-2018
• YCN Awards 2018
• Wool Gather Art Prize
• 2.8 Days Later Film Award

Click here to view the course specification

Undergraduate degree programmes at Leeds Arts University are delivered and supported through a range of teaching and learning strategies. Programmes are made up of modules, these are elements of study that are taught and assessed separately. Each module carries a clearly identified credit value, the accumulation of which will allow you to progress to the next level of the programme. 100 hours of learning are expected for every ten credits of the programme. Each level (year) of the programme is made up of 120 credits and therefore requires 1200 hours of learning. This equates to 40 hours of study per week throughout the academic year.

For every 100 hours of learning, approximately 25 hours are delivered as taught or supported sessions and remaining hours are allocated for studio/workshop access and independent learning. Individual programmes have their own learning cultures based on their specific use of the teaching and learning methods listed here. These methods feature differently depending on the programme, level, aims of module, content of the sessions and progress through an academic year.

For further information see our Undergraduate teaching & learning at Leeds Arts University document.

Our alumni work in a huge variety of fields. Graduate employers include: Aardman Animations, BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Topshop, VICE Magazine (New York), Wallpaper Magazine, Saatchi & Saatchi, Tate Modern, Design Museum, the White Company, We Are Fallon, Liberal Democratic Party, Marks & Spencers, Ilkley Literature Festival, David Oldham Photography, Bloomsbury Publishing, Sonar Festival, LBi London, Glastonbury Festival, I-am Associates, ASDA Marketing, Dubit Ltd, Red Star 3D, East Africa Playgrounds, Omobono, Kontra Oslo, Rapha Racing Ltd, Opera North, Left Bank Leeds, TNR Communications, OMD UK, 10 Associates, Haaretz, and New Era Cap.

We’re looking for students with the best potential to succeed - irrespective of their background. That’s why we welcome a wide range of qualifications and experience.

Click here to view our entry requirements

A well presented portfolio says a lot about an applicant and their work. Our guidance is not meant to limit your creative statement.

• Examples of drawings.
• Examples of design/idea development.
• Sketchbooks/notebooks.
• Critical diary, notebook, essay etc.
• Examples of personal/work interests.

We do not need to see all the work you have produced – around 15-20 samples in your main portfolio would be ideal.

In general terms however we regard the portfolio as a means to discuss with you your ideas and where you see yourself going.

Be prepared to talk about yourself.

We also run a range of daytime and evening portfolio development courses specialising in preparation for further and higher art and design education. For more information on current courses please click here.

When you arrive at reception you will be met by a student from the course who will take you to the studio where you will be asked to lay out your work.

You will be shown around the department and have the opportunity to ask questions. We will explain the interview process and give you a copy of our year book. You will then be given a brief written exercise (it is not a test) that you can do in our studio. Whilst you have been doing this the course staff will have been looking at your work. You will then have a 15 minute personal interview with two members of staff and one of our current students with your work.

Since we interview several students in one half day session, you should be prepared to be in the University for up to three hours. If you have had to travel long distances and have a train pre-booked, please let us know in advance and we will try to arrange the timing of your interview so you can get away in time.

Tuition Fees

Our current fees are listed here.

Other Costs

Further costs of study are related largely to the costs of materials and depend very much on how individual students choose to respond to University briefs. The costs below are the result of asking our students to state how much they spend during the year and creating an average, as such they are indicative only.

Equipment & Materials

You do not need to purchase any equipment or materials prior to starting. You may wish to purchase a laptop and/or hard drive later on, but we can advise you about this. You will also receive a pack from us that will include key equipment you will need. During levels 5 and 6 you will need to produce practical work within your modules. The costs involved in production will vary dependent upon the nature of the work you choose to do. On average students report they spend around £200 in each year. You will also need to back-up your digital work in some way to keep it secure, either on external hard drives or cloud storage, this will cost around £50-100 each year.

Trips

We organise two residential trips for first year students to attend. The first is an overnight study visit within the UK and the cost of the trip is subsided by the course and will leave you with £25 to pay. This includes your return travel, accommodation and breakfast. The second is an overseas study trip in spring. The cost of the trip is approximately £360 and includes your airfare; return travel to the airport, accommodation and breakfast for the duration of the trip. Both visits are integral to your programme of studies and are a great opportunity to get to know your peers.

Each year level 5 students take part in the GIDE (Group for International Design Education) workshop and/or we may run a small level 5 trip later in the year with a cost of up to £200.

Our Terms & Conditions are here.

If you would like to download the Key Information on this course click here.

We are delighted to welcome undergraduate visiting and exchange students from Europe and around the world who would like to spend a semester or a full academic year taking credits from our exciting range of courses. You will be fully integrated into the academic and social life of the University during a period of full-time supervised study and your credits transferred back to your home institution.

You can join us through programmes such as Erasmus+, individual university partnerships or as an independent applicant. Please see here for more information and how to apply.

Leeds Arts University students interested in spending some time overseas can find information on the international opportunities available during your course here.

Questions? Contact international@leeds-art.ac.uk