Nottingham Trent University - 7 March Open Day
7 Mar 2026, 09:00
Nottingham
This foundation degree in Graphics and Digital Design is geared towards creating ambitious graduates for the graphic design industry. Studying in a creative technologies institute, you'll gain valuable skills and experience that reflect current and future industry practice, building a professional portfolio tailored to your aspirations. After successful completion, you'll have the option to go straight into a career or top-up to a full honours degree.
Our aim is to develop and create ambitious graduates for the graphic design industry.
Working on a modern campus in our multi-million pound digital media hub, you’ll have the opportunity to gain advanced knowledge and skills in industry-standard design software packages including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and InDesign, accessing s range of modern studio spaces.
Through live project briefs, we’ll push you to develop your research, critical discussion and presentation skills in seeking to solve a challenging design problem, whilst you’ll get an insight into how work is commissioned with the graphic design industry. We’ll develop your project management skills through collaborative projects, and you’ll be encouraged to take an experimental and creative approach to your work.
By the end of the two-year Foundation Degree, successful graduates will leave with a wide range of valuable skills, experience and knowledge, alongside a professional portfolio tailored to their career aspirations.
Key features
Gain hands-on industry experience while you study, with industry opportunities built into the course to ensure you graduate with the practical skills needed to make it in the industry.
Use industry-standard equipment: Learn how to use specialist tech and equipment including Cinema 4D and Wacom drawing tablets.
Work on live briefs: set by industry giants to boost your CV and industry connections. Previous students have worked on briefs from big names including John Lewis and The National Trust.
Study in the heart of Nottingham: One of Europe’s top 25 student cities, and home to over 75,000 learners.
Employability
After completing your foundation degree, you’ll have the chance to top up to BA (Hons) Graphic Design or go straight into industry.
Employability is a key focus of this course, with modules including initiatives such as live projects and the opportunity to exhibit your work, to help enhance your future career.
This course will prepare you to work in creative industries in specialist technical roles, in areas such as feature films, television, and advertising.
You can also move straight into your career, in areas which might include:
Graphic designer
Animator
Illustrator
Website designer
Artworker.
Facilities
On this course you’ll study across various facilities located on our City Campus.
You’ll have access to:
Industry Spec Workstation PCs
Bookable Green Screen studio space
Motion capture studio
Adobe Creative Cloud
Autodesk suite.
Level Four (120 Credits)
• Graphic Design Development 1 (40 Credits)
• Design Techniques and Technology 1 (40 Credits)
• Theory and Context 1 (20 Credits)
• Exploring Industry (20 Credits)
Level Five (120 Credits)
• Graphic Design Development 2 (40 Credits)
• Design Techniques and Technology 2 (40 Credits)
• Theory and Context 2 (20 Credits)
• Industry Practice (20 Credits)
Assessment is 100% through coursework. You will receive feedback throughout each module and will be awarded a grade.
The following entry points are available for this course:
We also consider equivalent qualifications and combinations. Please contact Nottingham Trent University Admissions team for further information.
NTU makes contextual offers for this course to give everyone a fair chance to access their chosen degree.
Contextual offers are lower than our standard entry criteria or may be an unconditional offer for courses that require a portfolio. We also take individual circumstances into account when we receive results and may accept grades lower than our published criteria.
We use a range of data from UCAS to make our offers and more information on our approach is available at the link below.
This section shows the range of grades students (with UK A-Levels or Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diplomas) who received offers were previously accepted with (learn more). It is designed to support your research but does not guarantee whether you will or won't get a place. Admissions teams consider various factors, including interviews, subject requirements, and entrance tests. Check all course entry requirements for eligibility.
We are unable to show previous accepted grades for this course. This could be because the course is new, it's a postgraduate course, there isn't enough historical data, or the provider has opted out of sharing their entry grades data for this course - learn more.
| Location | Fee | Year |
|---|---|---|
| England | £9790 | Year 1 |
| Northern Ireland | £9790 | Year 1 |
| Scotland | £9790 | Year 1 |
| Wales | £9790 | Year 1 |
| EU | £18700 | Year 1 |
| International | £18700 | Year 1 |
Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website.
The tuition fees above are subject to parliamentary procedure. They haven't been confirmed yet, but we expect them to be finalised by May 2026. The level of tuition fees for the second and subsequent years of your undergraduate course may increase in line with inflation and as specified by the UK government.
50 Shakespeare Street
Nottingham
NG1 4FQ
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Phone:+44(0)115 848 4200