BA (Hons) Interior Design with Foundation

Graduates from our course are adaptable and flexible and are working at major design consultancies, running their own businesses, working as freelance designers, or have moved into education or postgraduate research.

Our design projects and program of employability and creative industry skills creates graduates who are skilled, knowledgeable and professionally aligned to today's job opportunities.

What can you do with your design degree?

This course is an integrated part of the BA (Hons) Interior Design degree at the University of Plymouth. Successful completion of your foundation year (Year 0) will not lead to a separate award or qualification in its own right but provides progression onto Year 1 of BA (Hons) Product and Furniture Design or BA (Hons) Interior Design, or one of the following visual communication-related degree programmes after a successful interview:

• BA (Hons) Fine Art
• BA (Hons) Creative Media
• BA (Hons) Photography
• BA (Hons) Illustration
• BA (Hons) Graphic Design with Typography
• BA (Hons) Digital Media Design
• BSc (Hons) Digital Media Design
• BA (Hons) Game Art and Design.

Your foundation year will:

• Prepare yourself for your dream career: our graduates are working for companies such as Tangerine, Lego, Dyson and Foster & Partners.
  
  
• Draw on support from committed tutors with long-term industry and academic experience.
  
  
• Join alumni and current students who have won national and international competitions such as the Royal Society of Arts.
  
  
• Engage with live client briefs from clients like Benchmark and Vitra, giving your creativity real-world impact.
  
  
• Explore our range of resources including wood, metal, ceramics, castings, digital fabrication labs, printmaking and photography.
  
  
• Work in our open plan studios in the centre of Plymouth, a city at the heart of art and culture in the South West.
  
  
• Hear from leading speakers from industry including Tom Raffield, Kenneth Grange and Sebastian Conran.

• Welcome you to an engaging, experiential learning environment with a focus on active exploration, experimentation and discovery across a wide range of material, methods and media.

• Help develop your practical, technical and creative skills through studio and workshop-based projects.

• Provide training in key learning skills for further undergraduate study and build an awareness of practise, context and theory.

• Introduce you to the accessible community of experienced academics, practitioners and technical staff that will support you on your studies.

• Give you access to a wide range of enviable specialist workshops, laboratories and facilities across the campus and become part of our vibrant student community through the various opportunities available within the School of Art, Design and Architecture.

• Enable you to explore and develop your personal interests and strengths as a creative practitioner.
  

• Foundation year

• You'll become part a vibrant creative community through an engaging learning environment with a focus on active exploration and discovery across a wide range of methods and media. Working in our open-plan studio, you'll learn by doing, putting teaching into practical outcomes. Upon successful completion of this year, you'll enter the first year of the BA (Hons) Product and Furniture Design or BA (Hons) Interior Design.

• Year 1

• In your first year, you’ll explore the discipline of Interior Design with shared modules alongside the Product and Furniture Design course.

  You’ll learn how to develop and create innovative, practical and contemporary spaces through gaining a hands-on understanding of material, processes, construction and model making methods.

  By developing your own robust ideology, you’ll gain confidence to develop ground-breaking concepts, backed by high levels of CAD visualisation skills.

  You’ll learn how to design, expand your knowledge and skills in practical design projects and develop teamwork and project skills across your discipline. You’ll interact with other design disciplines and explore links between design, art and expression, comprising culture, materials, process and market. You will develop design and employability skills and explore the limits of design of your pathway.

• Year 2

• In your second year, you will develop your creative identity within the discipline of Interior Design. You will begin to shape your career path by working on design projects that deepen your understanding and experience and expand your skills and capabilities.

  You will establish your skills as a designer, exploring methods, ideas and themes, and can choose to go on exchange programmes in Europe and Asia. You'll also set up your own exhibitions and build a portfolio of special interests, becoming proficient in design processes, Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and communication methods.

• Final year

• In your final year, you will take your specialism deeper and develop an individual philosophy to design and create a strong portfolio to demonstrate your skills. You’ll engage in real-world projects and can enter international competitions. You’ll work on your major project and dissertation with a focus on negotiated, self-directed study and managing your own work. You will exhibit your projects at our Degree Show and national events such as New Designers, taking advantage of our links with art and design institutions and the craft and design industry across Europe.

  Our employability workshops help you look beyond graduation and prepare for employment or further study.
  

UCAS tariff

32 - 48

This programme offers access to study at university for those students who may not have the standard entry profile for BA study. Equally, it is designed for those returning to study who have relevant work/professional experience but not the required academic profile for Level 4 entry. It is also suitable for Level 3 learners whose subject choice does not include the necessary background but who are otherwise academically capable.

We will accept other pre-entry qualifications or combinations of different qualifications. Applications may also be considered from candidates who do not meet these minimum entry requirements. We welcome individuals from a wide range of backgrounds and previous educational or professional experiences, including those with non-standard qualifications.