Mode of Study

Full-time

Start Date

25th Aug 2025, 2 years

Location

City Campus

Applications from International Students Welcome

Overview

This course prepares you for a career in the exciting and constantly developing area of graphic design. You will develop your creative ability and technical graphics skills, mainly through practical projects in the studio.

The course also encourages you to take responsibility for your own development. You'll build on your own creative concepts through research and development in the sketchbook, before producing finished work digitally.

The emphasis of the course is on the layout of type and image, for both print and screen and the development of creative concepts.

This course is placed on the Scottish Credit Qualifications Framework at Level 8. 

Entry requirements

Minimum entry requirements

• HNC Graphic Design OR
• First-year of HND in Graphic Design.

Submission of Digital Portfolio

Create a single document that contains 5-10 images and save it as a PDF. Include your best and most recent work, we would rather see quality over quantity. Under each image, write a short sentence that explains the work. 

We want to see your work, rather than work you have collected by other people. We want to see your ideas rather than designs or characters that you have copied from other people. Include any projects from your course or professional work that shows us your understanding of Design. Include some of your personal work that you have made outside of college or school. 

Submit a portfolio of your own art and design work that contains:

• 2-3 examples of finished art or design work that could include 2D or 3D work 
• 2-3 examples of research for art or design work that might include observational drawing or photography. 
• 2-3 examples of development work for art or design work where you show us sketches, thumbnails, experiments and developments. 

Photograph your work carefully, preferably in natural light. Crop the image so that we can see it clearly. You can include more than one image on each page, especially if it is from the same project. 

Successful candidates will be invited for a course information session.   

Additional selection requirements

• You'll be invited for a group and/or individual interview where you can find out more about the course and tell us why you're interested in this subject area or we'll make an offer based on your application form.
• You'll be asked to provide examples of your art and design work.

ESOL entry requirements

Applicants whose first language is not English should have minimum SQA ESOL National 5 or equivalent for NC/NQ courses and ESOL Higher or equivalent for HNC/D courses.

What you study

• Design Production.
• Motion Graphics.
• Web Design.
• Typography Project.
• Preparing a Professional Portfolio and CV.
• Graphic Design Projects.
• Client-Initiated Design Project.

After the course

Careers

After completing the HND you can apply for jobs in the Communication Industry, including design consultancies, advertising agencies, newspaper and magazine publishing, web design and motion graphics for the screen, or in-house design studios.

You may eventually become self-employed as a Graphic Designer.

Continuing Study

On successful completion of your HND you can apply to:

• Year three of either the BSc Digital Design (Graphics) at Glasgow Caledonian University, or the BA (Hons) Digital Art at UWS;
• Year two of BA (Hons) Visual Communication at Dundee University, Communication Design at Glasgow School of Art, or Graphic Design at Edinburgh College of Art.