Typography & Graphic Communication

Learn to think creatively and to express your design ideas with confidence. Our course equips you for a career in design by combining a strong practical base with an understanding of what makes good design succeed.

Why study at Reading?

  • This is a unique BA Graphic Communication programme which is recognised as excellent both for its high quality teaching and for preparing students for exciting careers in design.
  • A small yearly intake and excellent staff/student ratio of 1:11. This means our approach is a personal one and that staff and students get to know each other well.
  • Practical studio sessions and seminars.
  • The emphasis throughout is on individual and small-group learning rather than on class teaching.
  • Professional practice.
  • You will gain experience of dealing with clients by taking on live design briefs as part of the course.
  • Know your subject. The focus of the course is on practical work but you will also learn about the history and theory of the subject. This will help you to become a well-rounded, creative and versatile designer.
  • Transferable skills.
    You will develop a wide range of skills including written and oral communication, information-handling, problemsolving skills, and the ability to analyse both written and visual material.
  • The Department was ranked second in the UK for the excellence of its research
    in the latest Research Assessment Exercise and was also recently awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize.

Student experience and employment

As well as project work you will undertake professional assignments, which will involve you working with real clients, real budgets, and the management of resources. You will also work closely with our in-house Design & Print Studio, which has an up-to-the minute digital studio designing and printing for the University. By the time you graduate you will have gained invaluable experience of dealing with clients and printers and compiled a portfolio that includes professionally-printed design work and working websites.
There are opportunities to spend time abroad during your second year studying at one of our partner institutions where leading design courses are taught in English. You may also undertake work placements both within and outside the Department. After graduating you can choose to stay on and study for an MA in Book Design, Information Design, or Typeface Design.

Career prospects

Our course designers who can think for themselves, with the skills to manage graphic communication in any environment. Potential employers think very highly of students graduating from our BA because of our reputation and because our students have some experience of designing in the real world. Our students are offered jobs with a variety of companies and work in different fields of design including publishing and branding, information design, web design, and broadcasting. Others set up their own design businesses straight after graduation. Companies where our graduates work include: Oxford University Press, Penguin Books, BBC Online, Microsoft, Palgrave Macmillan and The Brand Union to name a few.

Course description

In the first year we introduce you to practical design projects and the history and theory of design and also provide direction in the use of relevant digital technology. In the second year you engage with more practical design, both project work and professional practice, supported by teaching of theory and history. In the final year your practical skills are further developed and you specialise through your choice of dissertation topic, options, and self-directed project. Practical project briefs and professional assignments investigate a wide variety of design problems - our students design books, catalogues, posters, banknotes, signage, CDs, exhibitions, websites, interfaces for mobile phones and other hand-held devices, and much more.

 

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Testimonial

'I enjoyed every moment

of my undergraduate

course at Reading. The

practical projects

helped me develop

skills in a wide variety

of design disciplines

across digital and

print media, including

branding, editorial

design, wayfinding and

interaction design.

After completing my

degree I went on to

study MA Information

Design, which helped

me develop further as

a designer and gave me

the skills I needed to find

a job straight away after

completing my course.'

James Dunford

AIG London

 

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