BA (Hons) Design
This award is one of six BA (Hons) Design Pathways which are all part of the same scheme that has been created to parallel the multidisciplinary nature of contemporary design practice and the employment opportunities that have developed around emerging design disciplines.
Please note that you need only apply to one of the scheme’s Pathways, even if you have an interest in more than one, since it is possible to transfer between Pathways throughout the course. Your final award title will be agreed prior to graduation such that you graduate with the title most appropriate to your personal design practice.
With the rise of branding, digitisation and complex approaches to design for environmental and social benefit, the design profession has increasingly stressed its interdisciplinary nature. Employers may look for designers with technical skills in specific disciplines, however there is increasing demand for individuals who understand the intersections of disciplines. This requires designers who have experience in working across traditional boundaries and who are able to see the relationships and relevance of different artefactual platforms within a defined problematic.
The BA Design course has notable track record of student projects that integrate furniture, product, spatial or digital design. Key to this is placing at the centre of all projects the issues and contexts that define them. This means that students are invariably ‘media agnostic’. The type of visual or material outcome is not predefined but emerges as most appropriate to the problematic in hand. The course team itself is configured so that a range of intra-design disciplines are represented. This allows students to work freely across platforms. Students may therefore begin to engage deeply in a specific discipline or, through an interdisciplinary approach, continue to range across media. It also allows them to configure innovatory relationships between disciplines, for example, by relating bespoke furniture design to online retail systems.
A number of students have progressed to careers that demand interdisciplinary skills. This is particular the case where they have moved into employment as design clients and commissioners such as curatorship, retail, community engagement and design management. Careers in teaching and journalism also demand an open understanding of design.
Studying alongside students on the scheme’s other Pathways, the course introduces you to design principles and approaches fostering an investigative and experimental approach to resolving design briefs through creativity, an awareness of human needs, and the generation of new insights and ideas. We encourage reflection, flexibility and the independence to take increasing responsibility for focus of work, leading to self-initiated projects by the end of the course.
You have the opportunity to tackle ‘live’ briefs working with industrial partners and design consultancies, to study abroad as part of our exchange programme, and enter design competitions. Practical skills covered include applied textiles, graphic communication, multimedia design, ergonomics, copywriting and video, workshop experimentation and virtual modelling. An integrated programme of critical and contextual studies underpins the practice-based elements of the course. Through this you will gain knowledge of historical and contemporary design issues, engage with critical debate and develop research skills that enable you to rationalise, justify, promote and better develop design ideas.
The course has an optional fourth Masters year with exit points after one or three semesters offering Postgraduate certificate in design and Masters in Design respectively. This year includes a work placement and the potential for exploring the commercial potential for design projects.
There are various opportunities to visit Leeds Metropolitan University on Open Days which are held throughout the year. This is an opportunity to meet representatives from the course and see facilities. Click here to find the next open day.
Applicants who are invited for interview will meet staff and students at interview and have a guided tour of course specific facilities and studio space.
For further information contact our course administrator on 0113 812 3193 or or S.M.Ratcliffe@leedsmet.ac.uk
The general public can also see examples of student work by visiting the degree exhibition in Leeds, part of the University’s Arts Festival, and at the annual New Designers exhibition in London.