Professional Practice
MODULE CODE
CREDIT VALUE
Module Aims
Aim 1
Expose students to the variety of work available as a design graduate
Aim 2
Realise the relationship between their own design practice and the marketplace
Aim 3
Prepare students and their portfolio for presentation at a professional level
Module Content
This module contains a series of sessions that are specifically designed to prepare students for a career within their chosen field of study, as well as highlighting the options available to them within the broader field of graphic communication and the creative industries.
Sessions will explore key aspects of current professional practice relating to graphic design and include discussions surrounding the student’s own career path and aspirations, peer to peer evaluation, mock interviews and portfolio sessions. Visiting professionals, including renowned alumni, will discuss their own work, career path and experiences.
Over the course of the module, students will continually evaluate and refine their body of work for presentation either as a traditional and/or digital portfolio.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module, a student will be able to:
Teaching Methods
Teaching and learning on this module will consist of preparation for a career within the graphic communication industry. Students will learn to prepare and present their body of work, with a focus on their own personal direction.
This module will be delivered in the form of introductory talks and small group seminars, lectures by visiting professionals, peer-to-peer evaluations and portfolio surgeries.
This module will provide students with an insight into the current graphic communication industry and associated professional practices.
Teaching in the form of feedback is conducted in a variety of ways throughout the module: studio-based activities; group discussions; one-to-one tutorials; critique sessions. Each project will have an interim and a final critique session where formative feedback provides the opportunity for students to respond by refining or rethinking and crafting the work up to the best possible standard for the final module assessment. Staff contact will be followed by guided self-study where students will be expected to begin independent study and make informed decisions relating to their project solutions.
At the end of the module students also receive Summative Feedback following assessments. Feedback is verbal (through tutorials, reviews and critique) and written.
Students will also be supported via other University learning resources: Apple Mac computers and relevant software; internet access; library; workspaces. Graduate skills are intrinsic to all project briefs and involve analysis, critical thinking and problem-solving. Verbal communication and interpersonal skills will develop through studio-based activities, group critiques and tutorials with both staff and peers. Written communication skills are encouraged as an understanding of language in visual notebooks and copy often plays a part in project briefs. Time management and organisation are fundamental in meeting critique and project deadlines. Independent study underpins this and allows for students to develop their self-learning skills. Self-initiated reading and looking at visual language is of paramount importance, as students must keep up to date with current affairs, technology and contemporary visual language.
Submission of all projects typically include visual notebooks showing research and development of ideas, along with the final solutions presented in a portfolio. Presentation is a major part of the graphic communication industry and therefore students learn to develop both verbal and visual presentation skills within all modules.
Assessment for this module is based on 100% coursework that is made up of the students’ portfolio. This must be attempted and completed in order to pass the module. All coursework is assessed and graded at the end of the module.
Assessment is evidenced through solutions that test the learning outcomes, which are examined through the ideas presented for a range of visual communication. A breakdown of the assessment requirements and criteria appears on each assignment brief.
The final module mark is based on a weighted aggregate of all project marks.
Assessment Methods
This module is assessed through one Contextual Portfolio.
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Compulsory
