BA (Hons) Graphic Design
- Industrial Placement
- International students can apply
- Overseas study available
- Work placement opportunity
Graduates work in many areas of graphic design, including design for print, corporate identity, editorial design, illustration, interactive design including app design, ezine and e-book design, online marketing and web design, as well as motion graphics. Students also move into careers in marketing, branding, social media, account handling and the creative industries.
Graduates wanting to pursue further research can progress to our Master’s programme in Art and Design with pathways in Communication Design and Creative Technology.
Graduates work locally, nationally as well as internationally at companies such as Love Creative, Vault 49 New York, Typo com, Raw, Great Fridays, Mainframe, Code, Office, TBWA, GQ, Harpers & Queen, Showstudio, Skaggs Advertising in New York, Sha-La-La workshop, Hong Kong and Zietgiest in Germany.Graduates work for the creative industries, as well as freelance, and others pursue careers in teaching.
Alumni Profile
Antony Conboy
Graphic design graduate Antony Conboy (2009) designed and made an App for in his final year called “Lookinglass”, available on iTunes. Within a year of graduating Antony was working for Wired on their App and this won Magazine App of the year http://digitalmagazineawards.com/. Antony then went on to freelance as a video editor at “Made Within”, as an art director at the Natural History Museum and as digital application director at The Ride Magazine. He is currently working as Senior Digital Application Designer at for Vogue Magazine, which has attracted the following awards:
- Digital Magazine Award WINNER 2011 - Magazine of the year
- Digital Magazine Award WINNER 2011 - Fashion magazine of the year
- Digital Magazine Award WINNER 2011 - Technology magazine of the year
- Digital Magazine Award FINALIST 2011 - Designer of the Year
David Ryan Robinson
Graduated in 2011 after studying on the Illustration pathway. He was already picking up commissions in his final year, notably his artwork for the Allie Moss album “Late Bloomer”. The Guardian also commissioned Ryan to draw Manchester types for their Manchester Festival supplement inspired by his series of prints of the creative spaces of Salford developed while at the university for the “Information Exchange” at Hub for Chapel Street Open studios. Ryan currently runs his illustration practice whilst working as a designer at Cartoon Network (Turner Enterprises).
Clients include the Guardian, the Times, Cartoon Network [adult swim], EDF Energy, Becks Beer, BBC, TBA Magazine, Sports Relief, Allie Moss, The Cornerhouse, Afflecks Palace, Islington Mill.
Matt Frodsham
Graphic Design Graduate Matt Frodsham’s work has been featured in a number of subject specialist periodicals and websites such as Motionographer and with Sparkle in Computer Arts Projects. He has undertaken a number of placements including Seveer Media, a three-month placement at Man vs Machine in London. Matt has now secured a job with Zietgiest in Germany. He was awarded 'Best Digital' at the Designers Northern Alliance event in Manchester and his Cartoon Network YCN award brief was chosen as one of 3 commended winners.
www.mattfrodsham.com/blog
Industry Links
We offer many opportunities to engage with industry and the programme has close links with a range of design companies and industry networks locally and nationally.
Industry experience is also integrated into module delivery with live briefs and other opportunities such as zine fairs and exhibitions at internationally acclaimed venues such as the Cornerhouse in Manchester and Bluecoats Gallery in Liverpool.
Live projects include Decode Recode as part of the official Opening of the University Building at MediaCityUK, this ran for 24 hours project with 24 countries, a live media Jam. Students designed branding, marketing and exhibition design for a networking event, DNA Carnival at Islington Mill, Salford. Other live briefs include Magma store promotion, album cover and merchandising for Ali Moss Late Bloomer (BT Ad) and ‘Sharing the Making’, a group that interacts with artisans in Peru to connect them with companies in the UK to offer fair trade. Another project was with BBC21CC, students worked alongside BBC media trainers teaching digital media skills to produce content for the BBC Big Screens.
Students are encouraged to undertake live briefs work placement, usually at the end of level 5 (year 2) and to enter competitions for which we have a number of winners each year!
Students gain work experience at a broad range of companies including Code, Design by Day, Creative Lynx, Hallmark, Every Last Pixel, True North, Dr Me, Like A River, Creative Lynx, Doodledo and Unconvention.
The Graphic Design programme delivers a popular professional speakers’ programme of leading design professionals, from a broad range of disciplines, to present their individual philosophies and portfolios. Speakers include Si Scott, Peter Saville, Pete Fowler, John Burgerman and Trevor Johnson. Their presentations can take the form of studio-based workshops as well as lecture sessions