Graphic Design Welcome Guide

Preparing for your course

We're delighted that you've chosen to join our creative community at Arts University Bournemouth. We can't wait to see what you'll create.

Welcome to BA (Hons) Graphic Design

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 Leader

Welcome to BA (Hons) Graphic Design.

Please take the time to read this information. It gives you insight into what to expect during the first few weeks of your course, and some pre-course preparation. The team and I are excited by the prospect of working with you later this year.

During the first week, you'll be introduced to academic staff, Students’ Union, Student Services and various departments of the University who support you and your learning.

– Marion Morrison, Course Leader

Before you join us

Ask: what else can I do with this? Take a simple everyday item and challenge the assumption that it can only function in a certain way. Discover and imagine what else it could be used for.

Record your ideas (lots) as line drawings or photographs, group and save these as single page PDFs in a named folder.

How to submit your summer project

During the first week share your ideas with avella@aub.ac.uk. We'll collaborate to create a virtual wall of ideas in the studio and use this as a great opportunity to meet each other and share work.

Visit exhibitions, listen to TED Talks and podcasts, cook a nice meal, make some music, read a good book, spend some time daydreaming.

The Library at AUB is extremely well resourced and includes all key texts that you will need. The list below indicates the key texts that will be useful to read during your studies. All of these are available from our Library. Reading lists will be supplied in your course handbook and at the start of every unit.

Berger, J. (1972) Ways of Seeing, Penguin Books, London.
Dunne, A. and Raby, F. (2013) Speculate Everything. London. The MIT Press.
Data Flow 2 (2010) Visualising Information in Graphic Design. Berlin, Gestalten.
Fletcher, A. (2001) The Art of Looking Sideways, Phaidon, London.
Fry, T. (2008) Designing Futuring. Sustainability, Ethics, and New Practice. Berg.
Hara, K. (2010) Formations. Lars Muller Publishing.
Klein, N. (2018) No is Not Enough. London, Penguin.
Nobel, I. and Beistely, R. (2016) Visual Research. Research Methodologies in Graphic design. AVA London.
Rawsthorn, A. (2018) Design as Attitude. JRP Ringier, Zurich.
The Royal Society (2018) Portrayals and Perceptions of AI and Why They Matter. London.

Over the summer, check out these magazines:

Computer Arts
Creative Review
Wallpaper
Form

Over the summer, please try to look at these websites, pages and videos:

Current student work

Have a look through some of the work our current students are producing to get an idea of the type of work you may be making on our course.

Inside a packaging design for Lush, showing a deck of cards, plus various Lush products.

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A series of posters with various large-print typography displayed on a wall.

A packaging design open with its contents laid out of a table, including a notepad, cards and stamps with musical instruments on them.

A visual mood board or mind map showing different ideas on the theme of Passwords.

A deck of cards splayed out on a plain surface. The cards have a colourful check pattern and cartoon vegetables in the centre.

Two BA (Hons) Graphic Design students viewed from the back; one of them is pointing at a screen with a colourful mood board on it.

A packaging design for Lush, with a black and purple colour scheme, open with its contents on display.

A promotional poster for a product called Top It. The poster shows a point of sale and six varieties of packaging for the product.

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Two images showing a piece of packing from different angles (the front and underneath). Text reading "Every challenge you face today makes you stronger tomorrow" appears on the left-hand image.

Typographer E Beveratou working with BA (Hons) Graphic Design students on AUB campus.

Mood board showing various colourful illustrations of animals and branding designs. Two blocks of text appear in the top-left corner of the page.

Packaging design for a Lush product called "Muddy Buddy" with its contents out on display.

Packaging design for a Lush product called "All you need is Lush". Its contents are laid out in front of the open packaging box.

Packaging design for a Lush product called "Rootin' for You". The box is open showing various Lush products, with a deck of cards laid out in front of it and a poster. Text reading "Blossom in your own way" appears on the poster.

A deck of cards with colourful designs laid out on a plain surface.

A packaging box design for a Lush product called "Quilted Comfort".

Two images showing Lush product designs. The left image is a close-up of a deck of cards showing a colourful bubble character in various poses. The right-hand image shows the product packaging with all its contents on display.

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BA (Hons) Graphic Design students at the front of a seminar room giving a pitch presentation in front of their peers.

Several images of the packaging and contents of a Lush product called "Social Lite".

Packaging box design for a Lush product with some of its contents on display, including instructions to make an origami butterfly.

What to bring on your first day

On your first day bring along:

Sketchbook and pens/pencils or laptop to take notes
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

Digital capabilities

This course uses Apple computers.

You're encouraged to bring their own laptop and mobile device to AUB to support online learning, collaboration and communication whilst at university.

This course includes the use of Adobe Creative Cloud Suite software. We recommend a computer capable of running this.