During your time on our BA (Hons) Graphic & Media Design course, you’ll become a professional Graphic Designer learning from industry experienced lecturers. We will support you in gaining work experience with local and national creative media companies, as well as giving you the opportunity to work with professional designers and live clients.

This course will equip you with key skills for launching your exciting career in the creative industry including: editorial design, branding, motion graphics, packaging design, graphic arts, interactive design, graphic illustration, web design, app design, information graphics, book arts, animation and advertising.

As the teaching team are all industry experienced Graphic Designers we are able to impart real-world knowledge, ensuring that you are taught to the standard that the industry will look for in a graduate. We will encourage you to express yourself through distinctive, creative, commercially savvy and ambitious ideas, working on projects individually and collaboratively with students from other disciplines across Hereford College of Arts. You will work in a professional but relaxed studio environment with plenty of individual work space and access to all the latest tech and software.

Our smaller group sizes mean you can receive support and creative challenges from industry-active tutors and technicians – as and when you need it.

You will be encouraged to personalise your journey throughout the course based on your passions and aptitudes, and to develop your own, unique graphic style and apply it to the many career choices available to you.

The role of craft is continually evolving. As society rethinks our relationship with the planet and the impact of throwaway culture, the origin, quality and meaning of objects in our lives have never been more significant. Be part of the crafts resurgence that is committed to shaping a better future. Develop a personally sustainable practice, rooted in material understanding, drawing the best of the past but passionate for innovation. Think with your hands as well as your brain.

You will be encouraged to challenge the traditional notions of design craft, by investigating a wide variety of processes and exploring new ways of working with materials, objects and ideas. We support collaborative working across a range of disciplines, understanding how this can lead to exciting innovation and prepare students to forge new paths as independent makers, designers and entrepreneurs or carry craft values and practice into different fields of employment.

This course blends new design principles and an innovative approach to process, together with material knowledge and craft skills developed through hands-on making.

You will explore an ongoing dialogue between materials, process and ideas whilst advancing your skills within our specialist workshops. With regular sessions in wood, metal, ceramic and textiles you will develop expertise in key making practices.

You will be invited to respond to a rich and varied range of subjects including cultural, ethical and environmental issues. By taking part in a series of external projects you will improve your ability to create objects within a professional and critically reflective framework.

Explore your creative potential and form a strong, creative foundation for your future on this exciting course.

This is an intensive programme for post A-Level students who have a passion for ideas and creative solutions. You will experience the buzz of being part of a dynamic community based in the Foundation Studios. You will explore HCA’s specialist workshops and develop work in a variety of media including:

- Image manipulation/mixed media
- Film/Animation
- Printmaking
- Small Metals
- 3D Fabrication
- Ceramics/Plaster/Glass
- Interactive/Digital Media
- Photography
- Textiles
- Drawing/Painting

This highly progressive and dynamic course allows you to explore and develop your skills in art and design. You will experiment with a variety of exciting techniques and processes, and gain a range of contemporary and traditional skills through studio and workshop practice.

You will build your knowledge of artists, designers and makers, whilst visits to cultural venues such as Bristol, Oxford, Manchester and London will give you an exciting overview of contemporary international art and design practice.

Studying an Extended Diploma in Art and Design at HCA provides you with the space, understanding, and opportunities you need to develop.

Channel your passion into a rewarding year of personal and creative development.

This course is ideal for students who want to further their experience of art, design and media, and develop their ability and confidence. The majority of students use this course as a stepping stone to aLevel 3 Diploma in Art and Design, though others may choose alternative further study pathways or full-time employment.

A one-year Masters programme aims to bring together early-career theatre practitioners to develop new theatre and performance work.

Please note, this programme is undergoing periodic review during the 2022-23 academic year and is therefore subject to change.

This one-year Masters programme aims to bring together early-career theatre practitioners to develop new theatre and performance work. These practitioners include:

- Designers
- Sound Designers
- Lighting Designers
- Production Managers
- Stage Managers
- Video Designers
- Directors
- Writers
- All-round theatre-makers

Students work together in creative teams on an exciting and varied array of theatre projects. The programme is not intended to deliver core technical skills, but rather to develop your theatre making abilities, exploring your potential as a creative artist and enabling you to work with other students on a series of collaborative projects.

Reasons to study Scenic Arts (Construction, Props and Painting)
• Gain construction skills in wood and metal; using hand tools and machinery. Learn scenic painting techniques and explore prop making in a range of materials.
• Gain advanced skills with Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and 3D modelling using resins and silicon
• Learn in our spacious workshop which includes CAD facilities, paint frame and specialist fibreglass and plaster room.
• Hone your craft, through manufacturing scenic elements to a brief for staged productions in College and London venues, collaborating with other programmes as part of a creative team.
• Develop your own areas of specialism through individual project work, productions and work placement preparing you for a career in the theatre and performance industries.
• Share classes and projects with students from other programmes to learn about the performance, arts and events industries and how to use experimentation, enquiry and creative research in your work, and prepare to build a successful career.

Career opportunities
Our graduates have gone on to work as freelance scenic painters, prop makers, carpenters and engineers, and to work for scenery construction companies for theatre, film, television, entertainment, museums and themed attractions.

You may also be interested in:
Design for Theatre and Performance, BA (Hons)

“It is challenging but when you finish the show you can say “Yes, I built that!” It’s an enormously satisfying feeling.” Gareth Shippen Scenic Arts, 2017 Graduate

Location: Sidcup

Costume Production BA (Hons)
Reasons to study Costume Production
• The Costume Production programme will provide you with the understanding and skills needed to pursue a successful career in the production and management of historical and contemporary costumes and accessories either based in-house or as a freelancer.
• Learn about period and contemporary costume construction, pattern-cutting, running wardrobe and dressing, specialist skills in corsetry, dancewear, fabric breaking down, millinery and wig dressing.
• Work on live performances within the College, in London and beyond. As a vital member of the collaborative team, you will work with designers, directors and performers.
• Work on a module for Film and TV to understand the costume department’s role within this ever growing industry.
• Develop the skills to supervise and manage wardrobe departments in large and small theatres including budgets and time management.
• Share classes and projects with students from other programmes to learn about the performance, arts and events industries and how to use experimentation, enquiry and creative research in your work, and prepare to build a successful career.

Career opportunities
Our graduates have gone on to work as costume makers and supervisors in wardrobe departments, for theatre, opera companies, circus, film and cruise liners companies.

You may also be interested in:
Design for Theatre and Performance, BA (Hons)

“I’d recommend Costume Production as it’s a really unique course. It’s very realistic as to how the actual industry works.” Rachel Woolcott, Buyer & General Assistant, Royal Opera House

Location: Sidcup

The Production Arts and Design programme has been designed to create a high-level conservatoire learning environment for aspiring scenic artists, prop makers, stage carpenters, costume makers, and set and costume designers.

Welcome to Production at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Production consists of both the BA Production Arts and Design and the BA Production Technology and Management programmes. Production students will work very closely with each other in the classroom and on RCS productions.

The Production Arts and Design programme has been designed to create a high-level conservatoire learning environment for aspiring scenic artists, prop makers, stage carpenters, costume makers, and set and costume designers. You will learn in an environment where your technical knowledge is as important as your creativity and individuality.

You will be accepted based on your profile in one particular area, taken from the five subjects on offer (scenic art, set construction, costume construction, prop-making, and set/costume design). You will follow an individually-negotiated pathway based on a major and minor study to ensure a quality learning experience and afford you the opportunity to engage with the broad and diverse range of performance programmes.

The opportunity to work with film-makers, dancers, musicians and actors is unique and the facilities in which we do this are second to none. The Wallace Studios at Speirs Locks has purpose-built production workshops and design studios and the Renfrew Street building houses five public performance spaces including a fully-equipped proscenium arch theatre and a black box studio theatre. The combination of professional venues, extensive workshops, construction spaces, design studios and the latest stage and workshop technologies provide a fantastic learning environment.

As our standards are rooted in industry practice we have exceptionally strong links with professional partners from across the UK and beyond. We have very close relationships with the key Scottish national companies, such as Scottish Opera, the National Theatre of Scotland and Scottish Ballet as well as the majority of regional theatres such as the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, Pitlochry Festival Theatre and the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. We work closely with industry to ensure the expertise you acquire is current, competitive and of the highest professional standard.