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BA (Hons) Graphic Design: Advertising and Branding
Key information
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Typical offer:
Entry requirements -
Fees: See below
Full details -
UCAS code: W215
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Institute code: H36
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Study abroad option
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Work placement option
Find out more
Why choose this course?
- Ranked 1st in the UK in the World Brand Design Society, Student Design Awards 2022-23
- 95% satisfaction for organisation and management (NSS, 2024, based on the average of Q17-18)
- Our students have won D&AD New Blood pencils every year since 2011.
Creativity, collaboration, tech and big ideas. If you think you want to work in advertising or branding, but you love graphic design, this could be the course for you. Design is the (not-so) secret weapon behind every innovative brand, beautiful magazine, eye-popping piece of print and jaw-dropping digital interface. Learn its secrets and carve out an influential career working with the biggest firms or apply your talents to make a positive impact on the world around you. This pathway lets you focus on the specialist skills you’ll need to work in the industry, learn the latest software and make lifelong friendships with like-minded creatives.
The teaching team have worked at the top end of the design, advertising and branding industry and now want to pass on their knowledge, expertise and connections to the next generation of creatives. In recent years, our students have worked on live briefs with the likes of Lacoste, Sky, Mini and collaborated with students from Yale University is the US on a brief set by Prada. We’ve also partnered with some of the world’s leading creative agencies including Droga5 and DesignStudio (the designers of the Premier League, Airbnb and Deliveroo branding).
It’s a powerful mix of freedom, inspiration and support that prepares you for an incredible career. In fact, it’s earned our students over 100 major awards in recent years, including at least one D&AD pencil every year since 2011. So, join our community and turn your creativity into a career you love. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be next.
What are the facilities like?
Amazing. Learn in our vibrant, dedicated studio spaces and Mac labs. Do your research in our 24/7 library. Use our professional-quality photography, TV and motion capture studios. And borrow all the tech you need to create mind-blowing work.
What's the course about?
Teaching is mainly project-based, supported by skills-based workshops. You’ll tackle a huge variety of briefs ranging in complexity and time scales. We encourage a competitive, demanding yet light-hearted atmosphere and pride ourselves on providing a lot of direct contact between staff and students. We also organise an annual international study trip, as well as visits to agencies, museums and galleries in London.
You’ll spend your first year immersed in our studio, getting a solid grounding in print and digital projects, working alongside our Illustration students. You’ll be constantly challenged, supported and encouraged as you learn technical skills, experiment, take risks and push new boundaries.
You’ll begin by learning the understated power of typography, logo design, brand identity and layout – fundamentals that will underpin your craft, whatever direction you take. With them under your belt, at the end of the year you’ll have the option to continuing with Graphic Design: Advertising and Branding or switching to the regular Graphic Design pathway.
In your second year, you’ll take more of a professional focus, working on live briefs, developing your portfolio and building a CV. You’ll learn about art direction, copywriting, campaign development, brand strategy and how to design dynamic visual identities. Fancy exploring motion graphics in more depth? Want to build your online presence? We’ve got you.
There’s the chance to explore everything today’s tech has to offer, crafting your website, building your social media profile and creating a unique narrative that shows top design employers what an amazing designer you are. You’ll learn how to approach agencies and visit studios. Throughout the course we’ll help you to investigate, understand and critique the history of the subject, the theories behind what’s happening in contemporary design as well as looking into future trends.
Work placement/study abroad option: Between your second and final year, you’ll have the option to study abroad or do a work placement for up to a year. Not only will this give you an amazing experience to talk about but will also give your CV a boost. If you’d rather go straight to your final year, that’s absolutely fine too.
By the time you start your final year, you’ll have a solid understanding of design and the specialisms that fire your imagination. You’ll pick from a huge range of creative projects, workshops and live briefs as well as developing your own self-directed projects — building a completely personal, standout portfolio. We’ll encourage original thinking, but we’ll also give you tons of support, inspiration and encouragement.
And we won’t be the only ones. Throughout your course, we’ll invite amazing designers to lead workshops, set projects and become your mentors. Our proximity to London means it’s easy for us to invite people doing the most innovative and exciting work with us.
It’s a powerful mix of freedom, inspiration and support that prepares you for an incredible career. In fact, in recent years it’s earned our students award wins in all the most coveted competitions including D&AD yellow pencils, Creative Conscience Gold medals and YCN awards. So, join our community and turn your creativity into a career you love. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be next.
Your main campus is College Lane
This is where the creative arts, science and health-related subjects are based. This means you’ll share the campus with future nurses, scientists, artists and more. You can use the common rooms to relax with friends, work out in the 24-hour gym or have a drink in our on-campus pub or cafes. We also have restaurants for you to eat in or grab something on the go. Our Learning Resources Centres are open 24/7, which means you can study whenever suits you best. Want to pop over to the other campus? You can take the free shuttle bus or walk there in just 15 minutes.
What will I study?
Degree programmes are structured into levels, 4, 5 and 6. These correspond to your first, second and third/final year of study. Below you can see what modules you’ll be studying in each.
This course played a huge positive role in my overall development. I found that my skills evolved greatly over the three years. Being exposed to live briefs, 1-2-1 sessions with lecturers and learning the contextual side of design are just some of the benefits I got to experience first-hand on this course. I also learnt about how vast the creative industry is, which is what made me pursue my career within advertising.
Alumni Stories
Sam Sampson
Meet Sam Sampson who utilised the flexibility of his degree to discover his passion. Since graduating in 2017, he has been working as a Junior Creative at Wasserman Experience.
Read more stories| Current job role | Junior Creative |
|---|---|
| Year of graduation | 2017 |
| Course of study | BA (Hons) Digital Media Design |
Flexible studying opportunities
When Sam came to study at the University, he was a Philosophy student but ended up changing his major to Digital Media Design. 'Luckily, the humanities department provided a major/minor split in my studies. This meant whilst I was studying philosophy, I could pick from a range of other courses that I had not considered. I chose "New Media Publishing" and found that it was much more aligned to my personality, so I changed to a full creative degree. If it had not been for that system, I would not be in my current role.'
Flexibility is a key way in which the University supports students to tailor their studies to fit their lives and best suit their skills and career aspirations. This is part of our commitment to recognise potential and nurture talent, providing students with fantastic opportunities and experiences. Sam says, 'the University of Hertfordshire truly shaped me personally as well as my career. I can guarantee that no other University would have provided me with the same opportunities they did and I can confidently say that if I had not studied here, I wouldn’t be as happy in my career as I am today.'
Supporting athletes
Sam is also an athlete and was fortunate enough to qualify for the sport scholarship programme due to his involvement in judo. Extracurricular activities such as these enhance the student experience, giving students multiple ways to develop and uncover their potential. Sam says, 'The performance gym (Performance Hertfordshire) is a truly spectacular facility for all athletes. The staff are very highly qualified and provided me with ongoing support via specialised training regimes, nutritional advice and physiotherapy that was imperative to my performance as an athlete. I could not recommend Performance Hertfordshire enough.'
Sam began his studies uncertain of what he wanted to do or how his future career would unfold. However, through the support and ingenuity of the University’s degree programmes, Sam has been able to discover potential he hadn’t previously recognised and enter an industry that suits his skills and interests.
Alumni Stories
Elise Robinson
Meet Elise Robinson who has used her degree and creativity to propel her career. Elise currently works as a Marketing Project Senior at Marshall Amplification plc.
Read more stories BA (Hons) Graphic Design| Current job role | Marketing Project Senior |
|---|---|
| Year of graduation | 2014 |
| Course of study | BA (Hons) Graphic Design |
Currently, it’s Elise’s job to ensure smooth communication between the design and communications teams and other parts of the business. 'It's a bit like being an account manager for a design agency but in-house, where the other departments are your clients. I've taken a slight sideways step from a creative role to a management role, but it's my creative background and experience that helps me make informed decisions for the business.'
Embracing a different path
Having studied Graphic Design at Herts, graduating in 2014, and originally intending on leading a creative career in a commercial area, Elise soon embraced the opportunity of changing course and pursuing a more meaningful pathway.
Her degree provided her with a very broad understanding of cross platform campaigns and what it takes to deliver them. While she may not be in a creative role now, that broad understanding means she can confidently represent the creative teams and make strategic decisions.
Elise says she chose to study at Herts as the Graphic Design course reflected her career ambitions. She thinks choosing a Graphic Design course is a very personal choice because they vary so much. Some are very fine art focused, and some are much more commercial/business orientated. She wanted the latter, and Herts offers a very practical, business-orientated course that suited her and reflected the type of career she wanted to go in to.
Commercial experience
The commercial elements of the course alongside the industry exposure Elise received during her studies enabled her to develop an impressive wealth of experience and contacts which she could take with her into the professional world. 'The contacts I made whilst at university (printers, artists, clients and more) have been invaluable in my career so far. As the course was mostly practical design projects you had to go out and find suppliers and people to collaborate with.'
A wide set of skills is always attractive to an employer, especially when entering a creative role. Possessing a comprehensive skill base will make you even more employable. Elise encourages students hoping to follow a similar career path to diversify their skillset by exploring related disciplines. 'If you can do graphic design, why not also brush up on your photography, web design or illustration?'