Art and Design

Subject area - Art 

Create and explore a range of image making techniques within the school of art utilising heat press, print, syntype and photography to create new types of imagery.

Subject area - Art 

Explore Abstract sculpture. Students will create their own abstract cardboard form and then be taken to different stations throughout the school of art to experiment with transforming their form using interdisciplinary approaches. Utilising photography lighting, print as well as other art forms.

Subject Area: Product Design

Product and Furniture Design at Birmingham City University focuses on the design and development of creative, contemporary, sustainable, and innovative products and furniture. During this Explore Day, staff will deliver a short talk introducing Product Design at undergraduate level - including exemplary projects from current students and discussing the diverse range of opportunities available within this industry. Students will then participate in a day of practical sessions that reflect the nature of working in a creative studio environment. These sessions foster cross-disciplinary skill sets including abstract form generation techniques, sketch work, structural exploration, and model making. As part of this Explore Day we also offer portfolio reviews and a tour of the workshops and facilities.

Your students will be introduced to what graphic communication is, how students work in Illustration and what it takes to be a good photographer. Students will learn about working in the sector and see our excellent facilities first hand.

Your students will be introduced to Visual Communication, encompassing three distinct practice areas: Illustration, Graphic Design, and Photography. This course will provide them with an understanding of how these areas contribute to the industry and an opportunity to see our exceptional facilities first-hand. To gain practical experience, they will undertake a small-scale collaborative poster project that combines elements from all the areas presented that will be Risograph printed and ready to take away on the day.

Subject area - Product Design

Product and Furniture Design at Birmingham City University focuses on the design and development of creative, contemporary, sustainable, and innovative products and furniture. Students will participate in a practical exploratory session that reflects the nature of working in a creative studio environment, tasked with exploring the creative possibilities of structural investigation as a generative method in design. Considerations will encompass material properties and manipulation, structural elements, visual aesthetics, stability, weight, and fastenings. This activity will incorporate cross-disciplinary skill sets including abstract form generation techniques, sketch work, structural exploration, and model making. As part of this session, we will also showcase examples of various projects created by students on our course and discuss the various opportunities that this industry offers.

Subject area - Visual Communication

In this session, students will be introduced to the Visual Communication industry and gain an understanding of how different areas of practice overlap and support each other. The focus will be on the disciplines of illustration and graphics, with an explanation of their critical differences and insights into potential career paths and other industry opportunities.

Subject area - All arts based subjects

Learn about all of the careers a creative course can lead to. The perfect talk to support students in their choices of creative courses and inspire them to take on a creative course. Students will learn about different creative careers, what they involve as well as how much they can earn.  

Subject areas - creative and technology courses

STEAM: the integration of the Arts and STEM. This talk engages students to think about the variety of new emerging pathways in creative technologies, ranging from stage design to AI, from creative media to engineering. We discuss possible career paths as well as the degrees that can take you there, with examples of student work and alumni stories throughout.