Graphic Design

BA (Hons)

UCAS code: W214

Start dates: September 2025 / September 2026

Full time: 3 years, or 4 years with a work placement

Part time: 6 years, maximum 8 years

Location: Headington

School(s): School of Arts

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Overview

If you want to push the boundaries of graphic design, discover its problem-solving solutions and explore its ethics, you can do just that at Oxford Brookes University.

Each module on our Graphic Design BA blends design, practice and theory, and you’ll build a portfolio of work ready to start your career after graduation. We invite you to apply your talent in multiple creative and experimental ways. And you’ll find an inspiring mix of analogue and digital techniques to learn.

Live briefs with external and in-house clients give you real-world experience. With a focus on ethical practice and sustainability, our partnerships have included work with Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion. New clients each year provide opportunities to grow your professional network.

This is design with a conscience. Modules integrate the ethics of design practice. And, keeping up with the times, sustainable materials are very much part of the conversation.

Take a closer look at our students work on Instagram

Order a Prospectus Ask a question Attend an open day or webinar

Example of student work

Why Oxford Brookes University?

  • Top 10 in the UK

    Graphic Design is ranked 3rd in the Guardian Graphic Design subject league ranking 2025.

  • Keeping it real

    Learn how to meet clients’ needs and expectations. Respond to live briefs from the likes of WeGlimpse, Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion with your design solutions.

  • It’s not all digital

    We want you to understand design in the round. You’ll spend time away from the computer exploring practical skills including letterpress, bookbinding and more.

  • Definitely planet aware

    We’ll show you how to design with green credentials, how to work with recycled materials and the environmental costs of 21st century design.

  • Go your own way

    Discover your own approach to visual problem solving. You’ll graduate with technical, critical, and conceptual skills highly valued by the creative industries.

  • Learn a language

    Our university-wide language programme is available to full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students on many of our courses, and can be taken as a credit on some courses.

Course details

Course structure

This is your destination to learn how to create, experiment and shape your style. You’ll investigate a range of design approaches and techniques: typography, animation, user experience and social design among them.

Year 1 is your general grounding in the theories, practices and processes of graphic design. Apply and develop your chosen creative strengths from a broad range of disciplines. As you push in new directions you’ll be fully supported by our in-house expertise.

With its practical modules, Year 2 is about developing your personal voice. Take risks, be a disruptor. You’ll produce innovative and imaginative solutions. And you’ll collaborate too, working in project teams drawn together from your cohort.

In your final year you’ll consolidate your practice and develop work based on your own career planning as you prepare for those next steps.

Follow the work of current students @oxford_graphics on Instagram.

Student working with screen printing

Learning and teaching

Your work will be project-led and practice-based. To prepare you for the creative challenges and pressures of the professional world, you’ll work in a professional studio environment.

Teaching is enhanced by visiting industry professionals. You will have the chance to enter industrially recognised competitions. As well as work on live projects with real clients.

Assessment

Assessment is 100% coursework.

Your final year prepares you for either employment, self-employment or further study.  You will:

  • Create a self-promotional branding package. You'll use a range of platforms and business and career planning techniques. This helps you to prepare for employment, self-employment or postgraduate study (Entrepreneurial practice).
  • Respond to live and competition briefs individually or collaboratively. This enhances your professional portfolio (Collaboration) (Professional Practice).
  • Produce a final practical project. You'll combine a written research project with a range of practical portfolio pieces. This allows you to display your own creative and academic voice. (Final Negotiated Project).

Study modules

Teaching for this course takes place face to face and you can expect around 12 hours of contact time per week. In addition to this, you should also anticipate a workload of 1,200 hours per year. Teaching usually takes place Monday to Friday, between 9.00am and 6.00pm.

Contact hours involve activities such as lectures, seminars, practicals, assessments, and academic advising sessions. These hours differ by year of study and typically increase significantly during placements or other types of work-based learning.

Year 1

Compulsory modules

  • Critical Thinking: Research skills & methods

    This module serves as an introduction to the fundamental research methods and offers valuable insights into the ever-evolving field of critical thinking. Through engaging in critical analysis of various works and presenting your findings to peers, you will sharpen your research skills and develop a research journal or blog. Additionally, you will undertake the task of producing a comprehensive literature review, which will deepen your understanding of the subject area. 

    By the end of this module, your ability to critically analyse your own creative practice and the works of others will be greatly enhanced. Moreover, this module will foster independent thinking and encourage you to contribute with informed ideas and well-considered opinions, empowering you to actively participate in academic discourse and collaborative environments.

  • Design Practice: Principles (15 credits)

    Immerse yourself in the fundamental principles of graphic design with the module "Design Practice: Principles." As a central part of Level Four, this module provides a comprehensive understanding of the languages, methods, practices, and contexts associated with graphic design. Through a program of practical study, you will embark on a journey of exploration, discovering a wide range of approaches to creating impactful design work. Throughout the year, you will also have the opportunity to engage in workshops focusing on diverse topics such as Letterpress, bookmaking, and Photoshop.

    By the end of this module, you will have built a solid foundation in the principles of Graphic Design. Develop your skills in research, concept development, and visual experimentation, nurturing your ability to effectively communicate and express your creative ideas. Embrace a range of media processes and techniques, refining your artistic craftsmanship and shaping your unique design voice. 
     

  • Design Process: Strategies & Techniques

    This module covers how to generate your ideas and develop them imaginatively; a creative skill that is greatly sought after in the workplace.
  • Critical Thinking: Theory & Practice

    The module aims to foster a deeper understanding between the theories in semester one and contemporary design agencies, roles and practices. A fusion of historical and current evolving practices. This module will encourage independent proactive thinking and further develop your ability to respond to a broad range of work making connections between your own work and the work of others through contextual analysis.

  • Design Process: Context, Communication and Audience

    This module will have you working collaboratively as a group with your fellow students to design and execute a creative project. Working as a team is a must have skill for any workplace. 
  • Design Practice: Application

    This module aims to confirm understanding of design processes and principles. It allows you the opportunity to apply some of the skills and processes taught in semester one. You will respond to projects individually and learn more about basic production techniques exploring digital and analogue skills. Towards the end of this module you will have the opportunity  to personalise your application, informed by your independent  research in critical thinking modules.

Year 2

Compulsory modules

  • Critical Thinking: Design & Society

    Building upon your previous engagement with Critical Thinking at level 4, this module will help you cultivate a profound understanding of the historical and cultural influences on design, engage in stimulating debates, and unravel the intricate relationship between theory and practice. By critically evaluating the profound impact of social, political, cultural, and technological contexts on design practices, you will gain a holistic perspective, enabling you to comprehend the multifaceted nature of the field and make informed contributions to its discourse.

    By the end of the module, you will emerge as a perceptive and discerning thinker, equipped with the tools to critically analyse design's impact on society and navigate the evolving landscape of design practice.

  • Design Practice: Integrated Projects 1

    This module aims to cultivate both a deeper critically reflective approach to your learning and an opportunity extend the skills and processes you have learnt in Level 4. The module will provide opportunities for you to undertake research and further explore processes and applications through studio-based projects which enable you to begin to work with a design process that reflects external professional practice, from briefing to delivery. 

    The module will have tutor led briefs with an emphasis on learning through experimental approaches and the development of your own voice supported by workshop & tutorials. 

  • Visual System

    One function of Graphic Design is to synchronise and co-ordinate different kinds of material and content in order to communicate a coherent and comprehensible flow of information. This module explores ways of constructing systems of rules, scripts, specifications and templates to constrain and focus graphic expression. Such visual systems can range from typographic grids, which can be designed in such a way as to permit a designer to produce a wide variety of layouts, to a tightly defined system of rules that generates graphic outcomes independent of any further engagement by a designer. 

    As part of your exploration of visual systems you will consider the role of hierarchy in structuring information by categorising, sequencing, and prioritising content, as well as the way in which systems unify content across a range of different media and sites of display. 

  • Design Process: Issues, Ethics and Social Responsibility

    The aim of this module is to extend your group learning and deepen your understanding of a designers’ social responsibility and the term discuss the term ‘Design Activism’. Working in teams you will respond to an issue that affects society at either a local, national or global level and explore how as designers you can make a positive impact. You will continue to develop your creative and production skills throughout.

  • Design Practice: Integrated Projects 2

    This module aims to establish a framework for specialist practice, brief analysis and project management. The module will allow you to further explore independent and collaborative processes, skills and methods and work towards the development and distribution of content driven design solutions whilst continuing the ethos of risk-taking and experimental approaches to practice. 

    Your will identify, research and engage with specific/appropriate audiences and external contexts in the production of a creatively and professionally relevant body of work around a given theme/s.

  • Professional Practice

Year 3 (placement year)

Optional modules

Career Development Placement

The aim of this module is to develop your professional profile and professional confidence of through experiential learning opportunities and engagement with external organisations by undergoing work placements, internships and industry experiences. It aims to enable you to manage their own learning and self-direction through identifying opportunities that align to their disciplinary ambitions, situating your practice in a professional context. It offers a range of options including an Enterprise Residency where you can operate as a freelancer and develop ideas for a start-up business with the full support of Brookes Enterprise Support.

Year 4 (or year 3 if no placement)

Compulsory modules

  • Final Negotiated Practice

    This module will provide you with the opportunity to deepen your understanding of the context of your practice through practical and theoretical research, critical writing and debate. The module is designed to enable you to initiate, research and construct a topic of your own choice and explore a range of different research strategies and methodologies.

    The module will require you to engage in key debates in current and emerging design practice.

  • Collaboration

    This module aims to foster greater awareness and understanding of working in teams and is the final module that cultivates a collaborative approach and aims to signpost the increasingly interdisciplinary modes of working. Collaboration may manifest on a local level within the community or across the faculty or university. What you choose to pursue should be informed by your career development planning in Entrepreneurial Practice. Students can work together within the course or seek out partnerships and collaborations through other means.

    Students are encouraged to develop a deeper understanding of project and people management.

  • Entrepreneurial Practice

    This module  aims to develop a range of external communications in a contemporary professional context, that contextualise your learning in preparation for professional career aspirations. This outward facing module spans two semesters and allows you to develop your professional profile and gain understanding of basic business skills. It will build on the skills and behaviours you have acquired in previous modules and prepare you for the next stage in your journey.

    These will be presented alongside your portfolio of work, forming a complete self-promotional package. You will be required to critically reflect on your work and devise an appropriate strategy for your brand. It will support you to identify your target market to promote your creativity in readiness for employment, self- employment or postgraduate study.

  • Professional Practice

    This outward facing module allows you to develop your professional profile. You will be invited to respond to Live and competition briefs: D&AD, ISTD, YCN, RSA, Design Museum are examples. It will build on the skills and behaviours you have acquired in previous modules. Graphic Communicators have tremendous potential power in collectively shaping the visual environment of a whole culture, affecting its social, moral and linguistic framework. Visual communicators are able to make public the thoughts, ideas and aims of any organisation that consults them. This is an opportunity to work in a commercial context responding to the needs of an organisation or brand.

Please note: As our courses are reviewed regularly as part of our quality assurance framework, the modules you can choose from may vary from those shown here. The structure of the course may also mean some modules are not available to you.

Careers

This broad-minded course is the right choice for multiple careers. Animation, social, digital and editorial design are among its disciplines, alongside campaign and identity design.

Our tutors and associate lecturers know their industry. Helped by them, and through your own contacts, you’ll join and grow your creative network and experience.

This course opens up a wide range of careers that includes branding consultancies, digital design, illustration, publishing and advertising. Graduates freelance for a broad sweep of sectors or are employed in design agencies or larger organisations.

You’ll find your creativity, critical thinking and complex problem-solving skills are highly transferable and contribute to your employability.

You might also consider roles such as:

  • publisher
  • creative director
  • animator
  • art director
  • curator
  • type designer.

design-software-in-use-on-a-mac-by-a-graduate

Student profiles

Entry requirements

Wherever possible we make our conditional offers using the UCAS Tariff. The combination of A-level grades listed here would be just one way of achieving the UCAS Tariff points for this course.

Standard offer

UCAS Tariff Points: 112

A Level: BBC

IB Points: 30

BTEC: DMM

Contextual offer

UCAS Tariff Points: 88

A Level: CCD

IB Points: 27

BTEC: MMM

Further offer details

We welcome applications from candidates with alternative qualifications, and from mature students.

International qualifications and equivalences

Tuition fees

Please see the fees note
Home (UK) full time
£9,250

Home (UK) part time
£1,155 per single module

Home (UK) sandwich (placement)
£1,600

International full time
£15,950

International sandwich (placement)
£1,600

Home (UK) full time
£9,535

Home (UK) part time
£1,190 per single module

Home (UK) sandwich (placement)
£1,700

International full time
£16,750

International sandwich (placement)
£1,700

Questions about fees?

Contact Student Finance on:

Tuition fees

2024 / 25
Home (UK) full time
£9,250

Home (UK) part time
£1,155 per single module

Home (UK) sandwich (placement)
£1,600

International full time
£15,950

International sandwich (placement)
£1,600

2025 / 26
Home (UK) full time
£9,535

Home (UK) part time
£1,190 per single module

Home (UK) sandwich (placement)
£1,700

International full time
£16,750

International sandwich (placement)
£1,700

Questions about fees?

Contact Student Finance on:

+44 (0)1865 534400

financefees@brookes.ac.uk

Please note, tuition fees for Home students may increase in subsequent years both for new and continuing students in line with an inflationary amount determined by government. Oxford Brookes University intends to maintain its fees for new and returning Home students at the maximum permitted level.

For further information please see our 2025-26 tuition fees FAQs.

Tuition fees for International students may increase in subsequent years both for new and continuing students.

The following factors will be taken into account by the University when it is setting the annual fees: inflationary measures such as the retail price indices, projected increases in University costs, changes in the level of funding received from Government sources, admissions statistics and access considerations including the availability of student support. 

How and when to pay

Tuition fee instalments for the semester are due by the Monday of week 1 of each semester. Students are not liable for full fees for that semester if they leave before week 4. If the leaving date is after week 4, full fees for the semester are payable.

  • For information on payment methods please see our Make a Payment page.
  • For information about refunds please visit our Refund policy page

Additional costs

Please be aware that some courses will involve some additional costs that are not covered by your fees. Specific additional costs for this course are detailed below.

Information from Discover Uni

Full-time study

Part-time study

Programme changes:
On rare occasions we may need to make changes to our course programmes after they have been published on the website. For more information, please visit our changes to programmes page.