Program Title
Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Design

Career Prospects
Graduates are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary in the professional design practice to help sustain a competitive economy and improve the world in which we live. They will be able to consider a wide choice of careers as designers, in the mainstream design industries or in other creative industries, as their design thinking competencies will include knowledge of media, company management, trend forecasting, and social and economic planning skills.

Professional Recognition
Graduates are eligible for Diploma Membership of the Chartered Society of Designers, UK.

Aims
This program provides students with the framework necessary to experiment with new concepts and develop creative thinking to challenge preconceptions about an increasingly designed world. It nurtures students in their development into innovative problem solvers and independent thinkers, and equips them with the intellectual, technical and managerial skills necessary to become professional designers capable of shaping desirable futures.

Characteristics

Students applying for the program may choose between four different design disciplines:

• Advertising Design,
• Environment and Interior Design,
• Industrial and Product Design, and
• Visual Communication Design.

The program provides students with multiple learning environments to assist them in their development of specific design competencies and general transferable skills. While students will be given the flexibility to choose from different learning pathways, emphasis will be placed on interdisciplinary thinking and teamwork.

The School also encourages the development of creative thinking through independent learning, experimentation with creative and contextual research processes, and the questioning of existing design paradigms.

The program networks with other leading design schools around the world to provide students with the opportunity to participate in international collaborative projects and enroll on student exchange programs.

Overseas study visits, which students organize in concert with faculty, are offered as Electives.
The School’s close relationship with the design industry allows students to engage in work-integrated projects with input from clients, as well as summer industrial placements.

Within the program, two disciplines (Advertising Design and Environment and Interior Design) offer study options that lead to double degrees. The double-degree option in Design (Advertising) and Marketing must be applied for immediately after admission, and the double-degree option in Design (Environment and Interior) and Surveying must be applied for by the end of Year One. Students who pursue double-degree options must satisfy the entrance requirements of both programs, as their selection is administered by both the departments offering the double degrees. 

Program Structure
Year 1 provides a broad-based foundation of conceptual thinking and visualization skills in a particular design discipline. Students are exposed to other design disciplines, covering design culture, theory and interactivity, through class activities such as lectures, workshops and group work.

Year 2 is the design skill-building stage. Students spend most of their time working in studios to sharpen their skills. Lectures and group work keep them informed about their own and other design disciplines.

Year 3 is a concluding stage which refines students’ professional knowledge and skills to prepare them to work in the design profession or for further study at the postgraduate level. To finish their chosen learning pathways, students are expected to initiate their own projects and collate professional design portfolios. 

 * For JUPAS applicants, please note that the number shown after ‘JS’ or ‘JA’ in the JUPAS Catalogue Number equals to the PolyU program code.