Creative Direction Welcome Guide

Preparing for your course

We're delighted to have you join us at Arts University Bournemouth, and hope that your time here will be rewarding, challenging, creative and enjoyable.

Welcome to BA (Hons) Creative Direction

This welcome pack is designed to give you an idea of what to expect during the first weeks of your course. Please take the time to read it carefully and take particular note of the pre-course preparation. We hope that you'll enjoy a happy and productive time with us, and we look forward to meeting you in October.

A message from your course team

Congratulations on securing a place on the BA (Hons) Creative Direction course at AUB. We look forward to welcoming you in a few weeks to begin a journey in Bournemouth that we hope will be both inspiring and challenging.

Creative Direction is an exciting subject to study; whilst with us, you'll develop your skills in developing your own creative vision as well as the knowledge and skills to communicate and implement that vision.

As a Creative Director, you'll never work alone; with this in mind the course is designed to support you in developing collaborative networks through opportunities to work with students in other disciplines across AUB as well as with specialists in the creative industries through live briefs, competitions, events and other opportunities.

The information below will help you prepare to join us in the autumn. Enjoy your summer, we look forward to meeting you in September.

– The BA (Hons) Creative Direction course team

Before you join us

Find the work of a Creative Director who interests you (could be from any creative industry – fashion, film, design, etc) and shoot three images on your phone that are inspired by their work. You’ll be asked to show the images and the work that inspired you during the first week. It’s not an assessment, just to begin a conversation about what you find visually interesting.

Harrell, A. (2017). Creative Direction in a Digital World: A Guide to Being a Modern Creative Director. CRC Press: London

Many of these magazines are expensive – you aren’t expected to go out and buy them all, but if you come across an independent magazine store these are some to look out for:

Aesthetica
Aperture
Dazed
Elephant
I-D
Holiday
Pop
The Beauty Papers
The Gentlewoman
The Fantastic Man
Vogue (UK, US, FR, IT, CN, IN)

www.nowness.com
www.showstudio.com (Nick Knight, the founder, is an AUB alumnus)
https://www.vice.com/en

Some influential classic films you may not have seen – we’ll add to this list when you're here…

A Clockwork Orange (1972)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
Metropolis (1927)
The Wicker Man (1973)
The Virgin Suicides (1999)
Grey Gardens (1975)
Blade Runner (1982)

What to bring on your first day

On your first day bring along:

Notebooks, pens and pencils
Your summer project
Your ID and documents for face-to-face registration (see the "Next Steps" tab for more details)
Your Temporary ID card from your Welcome notebook inside cover if you have one