A skills-based course with strong commercial links to the creative industries, focusing on professional and practical skills development and design studio work. BA (Hons) Creative Industries: Graphic Design (Work-based) builds upon and extends the work-based learning ethos of the Foundation degree. The programme has been designed to enable you to further develop your creative ability, whilst acquiring essential professional skills such as management, marketing, negotiation, business and freelance skills which are relevant to your creative practice and will increase your career opportunities within the creative industries sector. The programme combines work-based modules and subject specific modules in order to enhance your commercial awareness and professional experience of the graphic design industry. During this Honours level programme you will play an important role in the management of your own learning by:

• building on the transferable skills developed during your Foundation degree (or equivalent qualification) such as critical evaluation, time management, presentation and IT skills;
• gaining research techniques and proposal writing skills by carrying out a planning and research methods module;
• undertaking a work-based learning project related to the Art and Design industry which will equip you with project management and decision-making skills;
• undertaking a creative freelance management module in which you will learn how to operate as a freelance professional and manage your freelance practice;
• undertaking a creative theory and practice module in which you will develop a portfolio of work clearly demonstrating your creative practice and target audience as well as diversifying your practice in order to work with other sectors.

Taught sessions for the BA (Hons) Creative Industries: Graphic Design (Work-based), will take place at Weston College. These will include seminars and tutorials as well as workshops from industry practitioners. Additional tutorials may be arranged to suit your individual needs. Other learning will take place in your work-based setting. You will be assigned a project supervisor from the course team who will provide you with guidance and support for your work-based modules. You will have the support of a personal tutor throughout your studies and you will also need to obtain a work-based mentor to support your professional development.

• You will be expected to have successfully completed a Bath Spa University Graphic Design (Foundation Degree).
• Applicants who do not hold a Bath Spa University Foundation degree in Graphic Design may be considered as follows: There is evidence of curriculum matching of the learning outcomes of the course with those of the Bath Spa University Foundation degree in Graphic Design and produce a portfolio of evidence demonstrating relevant and recent work experience equivalent to Foundation degree level.
• All applicants to the programme will normally have achieved a minimum average grade profile of 50% in year two of their Foundation degree or equivalent qualification.
• Applicants may be subject to interview.
• It is a condition of entry onto the programme that all students will have secured a suitable work-based learning setting* by the time of admission. The suitability of the work will need to be agreed with the programme leader.
• Applicants will need to be employed or self-employed within some aspect of the creative industries either working as an employee for a creative company relevant to individual practice full or part-time or acting as a self-employed sole trader or freelancer (evidence of self-employment will need to be provided).
• Applicants will need to identify a work-based mentor in order to undertake the work-based modules of the programme.

• Planning and Research Methods
• Practice within the Creative Industries: Work-based Project
• Creative Theory and Practice: Graphic Design
• Creative Freelance Management