Course summary

Specialist pathways in Lighting, Set and Costume, Digital Content, Visual Design for Public Spaces, or Virtual Technologies. Design is Art with function and communication, which is at the core of all our endeavours and enhanced by exploring common languages rather than different techniques and technologies. Experiencing workshops, projects and classes in all areas, you will gain an understanding of design in its broadest sense, leading to a focus on your specialist practice, equipping you for a career in live and recorded performance, including gaming and virtual reality. Designers from this course will go on to work in the traditional and evolving creative performance and entertainment industries. Course Summary Design is integral in all parts of live or virtual experiences. This cross-disciplinary course allows you to explore and then specialise in design for set and costume, lighting (live events, festivals and performances), film, virtual production, gaming or virtual reality experiences. Working collaboratively on group projects, you will explore a wide range of techniques and processes to develop your skills and understand more about the career paths you are interested in. You will be taught by a wide range of subject experts and build an understanding of how designers fit into the wider context of a project team. Developing your communication and collaboration skills to ensure that the design process from concept to delivery is as smooth as possible. In the first year, you will not only pursue the craft and techniques of your chosen discipline but constantly share projects and collaborative learning. By the start of the second year you will focus on your selected discipline, working towards a degree in Design for Performance in your chosen pathway. Each design pathway has clear and specific ideologies while also embracing a collaborative ethos that will allow you to fully explore the field of Design and make informed choices about developing your own individual career specialisms.

• Digital Content This pathway is focused on exploring a wide range of digital content creation and media formats (photography, videography, 3D modelling, animation, motion capture, illustration, live camera… ) and its application on live performance or recorded media (e.g. Projection Mapping, Film, Online…).

• Lighting Design This pathway is focused on Lighting Design. Lighting Designers control how we see the world, whether on screen, on a stage or walking down the street. They create stories and inspire emotions. This course’s design-led approach underpins hands-on learning, which defines the practical and technical craft needed for a career in Lighting.

• Set and Costume This pathway focuses on the physical qualities of design for performance, and the crafts needed to communicate your ideas. We will consider the qualities of set and costume design and how they inform and support the stories they are telling. Projects will explore the elements of set, object and costume, to equip you with the skills for a broad range of careers in performance and recorded media design.

• Visual Design for Public Spaces This pathway explores how we use visual design to enhance, shape and enrich public spaces. You will learn about the use of lighting and digital technologies in the build environment, for example the design of exterior lighting systems to enhance a city scape, or the impact lighting has on airport terminals or museums.

• Virtual Technologies This pathway is focused on devising and creating immersive experiences using digital platforms (exploring the creative aspect but also the complex technology behind it) including Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, game engines, motion capture technology and Virtual Production.