Graphic Design

Graphic design shapes virtually everything you see in the built and digital environment, from the typeface on a street sign to the interface of an app, from the layout of a magazine to the identity of a global brand. It is a discipline that combines visual thinking with precise craft, requiring designers to solve communication problems in ways that are clear, compelling and appropriate to context. The field has been transformed by digital tools, but its intellectual core remains what it always was: understanding how visual elements carry meaning and using that understanding with intention.

At the University of Portsmouth you will study this three-year full-time programme with a sandwich year, a year abroad and embedded work placement opportunities, making it a particularly practice-rich degree. The course encourages you to develop a personal visual style and to work with confidence in both digital and traditional media, from screen-based design, typography and motion graphics to hand-drawn work and print processes. Portsmouth's teaching staff are active in industry and research, which means your learning is connected to current professional practice rather than confined to the studio.

The year abroad adds an international perspective on design culture, exposing you to different visual traditions and ways of working.

You will develop skills in visual problem-solving, typography, image-making, brand design, layout and digital production. Critical reflection on your own work and on the history and theory of design is also part of the experience, giving you the ability to contextualise what you make and to articulate your creative decisions clearly.

Graduates work as graphic designers, typographers, art directors, brand designers, UX and UI designers, motion graphics artists and illustrators. Many move into advertising agencies, design studios, in-house creative teams, publishing and digital media companies. Others go on to postgraduate study in graphic design, design research, illustration or design leadership, or build freelance practices.

The combination of studio experience, placement time and an international year means Portsmouth graduates typically enter the profession with a strong portfolio and genuine work experience.