Motion Graphics BA (Hons) drafted

Program Overview

This Motion Graphics BA Hons course at NTU offers a blend of technology, creativity, and graphic design fundamentals. Students explore motion graphics as a tool for communication, acquiring technical skills, and developing their individual design style. Through industry partnerships, live projects, and a final bespoke showcase, graduates are equipped for a wide range of roles in the creative industries.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

This Motion Graphics BA Hons course offers a diverse and engaging ideas-led curriculum where students will be challenged to think broadly, combining technology, creative thinking, and graphic design fundamentals to test, craft, and shape their individual identity as a motion-based thinker and designer. Working independently, collaboratively, and alongside industry, students will acquire the skills, knowledge, and understanding to fully embrace the expanding possibilities of this exciting industry and will graduate with a distinct showreel of practice that aligns to their future goals and ambitions.

Outline:

Year One

• The Fundamentals of Graphic Design (100 credit points): Learn about, and begin to practice, the process behind effective graphic design.
Focus on topics such as typography, image-making, branding, packaging, editorial design, illustration, and film or animation. Throughout this module, students will be developing a portfolio of work that demonstrates their ability to document a design process: including evidence of design research, ideas generation and exploration, as well as appropriate presentation skills.
• Design in Context (20 credit points): Explore the historical and theoretical issues relating to graphic visual culture on a global scale, which will help students to develop their own critical opinions about the role graphic design has played in the wider social content.
• Exploring Motion Graphics (60 credit points): This module will provide students with the opportunity to further develop and apply the fundamentals they have acquired in their first year to an exciting range of motion-based project briefs and workshops.
Students will investigate and interrogate the possibilities and opportunities of motion graphics as a creative tool to communicate a variety of content to a defined audience. Through exploration and experimentation, students will evidence their design thinking and problem-solving skills using motion and movement as the primary tool for communication. A varied range of technical workshops will support students in developing and honing the knowledge and skills required to deliver their ideas and outcomes to industry standard. Students will have the opportunity to work alongside industry on live project briefs set by a variety of creative agencies, ensuring their understanding of the professional context of the subject. By the end of the module, students will have developed their individual visual style, approach, and technical acuity and will be able to identify its location within the context of contemporary motion graphics practice.
• Motion Graphics in Context (20 credit points): This module introduces and explores the wider social, theoretical, political, and cultural contexts, narratives, and debates influencing and informing the subject.
Students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to research, evaluate, and analyze a range of topics and present their observations and findings in both verbal and written form. Students will further develop the knowledge and skills acquired in their first year and will hone their critical writing skills in preparation for their dissertation in year three.
• CoLab Research, Exploration, and Risk-Taking (20 credit points): Through active participation with team-based problem-solving, students will work together in mixed teams on a project where they will use their creative ideas to generate solutions to the challenge or brief.
Their project will allow them to explore how creativity can make an impact in society, as they choose a theme of sustainability, social justice, enterprise and innovation, or community. This collaborative learning experience will expose students to a range of new processes and approaches that will develop their creative thinking.
• Optional Module: Students will also choose one optional 20-credit module from:
• Model Making: Object and Narrative
• Publishing: Experimental Formats
• Typography: Use and Expression
• Telling Stories
• Ethical Design (online and in person)
• Digital Marketing and Communication
• Exploring Creative Coding
• Music Video

Year Two

• Optional Placement Year (Sandwich): Students have the option to undertake a placement year (Sandwich) and decide whether this is right for them once they have completed years 1 and 2 of their course.
This time spent working in industry provides students with crucial work experience, which is highly prized and much sought after by employers upon graduation. If students are successful in securing a placement, they will have the chance to gain an additional Certificate or Diploma in Professional Practice, dependent on duration. If students choose to take the sandwich route option, they will still need to apply for this course with the full-time UCAS code: W212.
• Developing a personal showcase (100 credit points): This module provides students with the opportunity to personalize and negotiate their final year of study in line with their future goals and ambitions.
Students will be encouraged to explore, experiment, and innovate, challenging the conventions and perimeters of the subject. The sequential nature of the module supports the development of their practice, and through on-going reflection and analysis, students will define and apply their distinct style and approach to a variety of challenges. Students will select project briefs from a range of sources including international and national competition briefs and assessment schemes, staff briefs, industry projects, and self-initiated briefs. Students will showcase their design thinking, problem-solving, technical acuity, and creativity through the realization of an individual bespoke showcase of practice that is unique to them. The structure of the module supports students in becoming an autonomous thinker and practitioner who can articulate their thinking both verbally and visually and can manage their time and projects effectively - all these transferable skills will ensure they are ready for their professional future. Students will leave the course fully prepared for their next step, whether that be professional practice or further study.
• Motion Graphics Dissertation (20 credit points): In this module, students will build on the research and writing skills they have acquired in Levels 4 and 5 by producing a referenced and illustrated written study.
Students will have the opportunity to select a visually based issue of their choice to investigate. Their dissertation will demonstrate their ability to independently research appropriate source materials and develop a critical viewpoint on the topic selected through a reasoned and structured argument that encompasses and evaluates relevant artefacts, issues, and contexts. The skills of analysis and research developed on the dissertation module will also help students with their studio work.

Assessment:

• Year 1: coursework (100%)
• Year 2: coursework (100%)
• Year 3: coursework (100%)

Teaching:

Teaching and learning experiences will include:

• Lectures and briefings
• Studio workshops
• Seminars
• One-to-one tutorials
• Group tutorials
• Peer and self-evaluations
• Verbal and visual presentations
• Teamwork
• Live projects
• Study trips
• Personal development planning
• Collaboration across courses
This course offers a new innovative collaboration module. This gives students the opportunity to work collaboratively with their contemporaries from a range of different art and design subjects and beyond. Students will be working alongside artists, designers, photographers, illustrators, animators, and filmmakers on daring and creative projects that prepare them for a rewarding career in their chosen industry. Their project will allow them to explore how creativity can make an impact in society, as they choose a theme of sustainability, social justice, enterprise and innovation, or community.

Exchange opportunities:

If students are thinking about studying part of their degree abroad, the course has exchange agreements with a number of institutions around the world. Exchanges take place in Year Two of the course. Students will receive guidance from the University about where they can study, and help in completing their application and arranging their exchange.

Showcase:

Students will be given the opportunity to exhibit their work during their time at NTU to members of the creative industries.

Careers:

Students will graduate with a bespoke professional showcase of motion-based project work that demonstrates their abilities as an agile independent creative thinker and problem solver. Students will be equipped with the distinctive intellectual, technical, and professional knowledge and skill set required to undertake a wide variety of roles within the creative industries. Areas include broadcast design, exhibition and brand experience, music and entertainment, brand creation, advertising, information design, UX/UI, web and app design, VR/AR/XR, gaming, VFX design and compositing, art direction, creative direction, and production design.

Connecting with industry and work placement opportunities:

Industry professionals will visit the course to guest lecture and share their experiences. Live projects and competitions will help students to gain real experience of the industry, make contacts, and build their portfolio and CV. Students will be encouraged to undertake short periods of work experience alongside their studies. Students will normally complete these placements during holiday periods, but they will have the option of taking up to two weeks out of term time, which they can negotiate with their tutor. In addition, students will also have the opportunity to complete a longer work experience or placement, with the chance to gain an additional Diploma or Certificate in Professional Practice, dependent on duration.

YouFirst – working with the Employability team:

Studying a creative degree in a large university has many benefits, none more so than having access to a large employability team. The friendly, experienced careers consultants will work closely with students at every stage of their career planning, providing personal support and advice. Students can benefit from this at any time during their studies and for up to three years after completing their course.

Creative Industries Federation:

NTU is a member of the Creative Industries Federation (CIF), which means students in the Nottingham School of Art & Design have the opportunity to sign up to free student membership.

Other:

• NTU is in the UK’s Top 15 for Art & Design in the Complete University Guide 2024 (Ranked 11th).
• Students will be based in the new Design & Digital Arts Building, opening for 2024 admission.
• The new Design & Digital Arts Building will place Nottingham as a UK hub for film, television, animation, UX design, games design, graphic design, and more.
• Students will have access to industry-standard facilities which include a virtual production studio, an in-camera VFX studio, and a black box studio, as well as collaborative studio spaces, future technology suites, and exhibition spaces.