Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Design for Publishing (Year 0)

at Norwich University of the Arts United Kingdom

Develop the creative and technical skills behind the latest Hollywood blockbusters and learn from award-winning studio professionals on our BA (Hons) Animation and Visual Effects degree course.

Our Animation and Visual Effects degree reflects NUA’s success in both disciplines. Our approach to teaching visual effects evolved from advice from professional bodies like ScreenSkills and UK Screen Alliance and the majority of the UK’s VFX industry, including:

• Double Negative (DNEG)
• Framestore
• MPC
• Industrial Light & Magic (ILM)
• The Mill.

We are part of Access:VFX – the industry’s initiative to create the widest possible pool of future talent and host a number of workshops and events with invited industry guests

You will explore the mechanics of playful interaction on our BSc (Hons) Games Development degree as you develop skills in prototyping and user testing.

You are a games designer, developer, or coder who wants to learn the end-to-end process of making games and prepare for a successful career in a dynamic and rapidly-evolving industry.

You will work with different technologies and platforms, including console, web, mobile, PC, augmented and virtual reality.

How you think, make decisions, and develop ideas will evolve as you learn to code games that give users an exceptional experience. And you will be part of the NUA Games community, interacting and collaborating with your peers on our sister course, BA Games Art and Design.

Workshops, technical demonstrations and live briefs will help prepare you for a career in the games industry.

NUA Games is a member of the Sony PlayStation First Academic Partnership Programme, and was ranked as the UK’s best educational institution in 2017. The Rookies, a global panel of games industry experts, ranked NUA in the world’s top 50 in 2020.

Games development – your way

You will be exposed to a variety of industry-standard platforms and technologies – including virtual, augmented, mixed and extended reality – but will always focus on your own personal and professional interest.

Applying computer science, and knowledge of emerging technologies to the creation of prototypes, you’ll create different types of game for different audiences, based on evidence gathered through research, observation and practical experimentation.

You’ll evolve how you think, make decisions, and develop ideas, to ultimately code games that give users an exceptional experience.

Taking Year 0 at the beginning of your degree course will get your studies at Norwich University of the Arts off to a flying start. The extra year of study will help you explore creative ideas and begin to develop the practical skills, research techniques and ways of thinking that are essential to undergraduate success.

You will be making films from week one and set-ready by the time you graduate when you join our BA (Hons) Film and Moving Image Production degree, accredited by ScreenSkills.

We will encourage you to explore a variety of filmmaking mediums and platforms to become an accomplished and creative storyteller.

You’ll learn by doing as you become a flexible, multi-skilled collaborator with technical and craft skills highly-prized by industry.

You’ll explore how the production skills you use and creative choices you make can shape and change the story you are telling.

Our BA (Hons) Animation degree course will encourage your individual creative exploration and development helping you choose which specialism to focus on.

You will master the magic of bringing characters and stories to life through a range of animation techniques at NUA – from 2D, 3D CG to stop motion.

Interactive lectures and practical workshops will help you explore character design and sculpting.

You will learn the fundamentals of animated storytelling through workshops and masterclasses in dynamics, storyboarding and character creation.

What you will learn

• Explore the three major animation techniques: hand drawn and digital 2D, stop motion and digital 3D
• Gain understanding of the principles of animation: dynamics; character design; storyboarding; animatic production; animation production; sound design; skills of observation and life drawing; acting for animators; editing; compositing and show reel design
• Explore theory in character analysis and narrative structures
• Develop an understanding of media roles and practices
• Work collaboratively through a series of projects designed to allow you to establish a good practice, essential for the animation industry
• Explore your chosen areas of specialisation and develop your skills, with the potential to combine techniques
• Develop an understanding of audience, context, film language, and the elements of compelling storytelling
• Bring together all your learning and experiences to create a personal portfolio with a great showreel
• Engage with a collaborative project with either your peers or external collaborators, allowing your creative skills to be tested in an industry-standard practice
• Produce a personal showcase of your specialist skills and an original, animated short film.

BA (Hons) Acting will give you expert training as a performance artist who can represent the human condition through the roles you play.

You are passionate about performance and expressing ideas through your voice, movement, and emotions.

You will develop as a practitioner who can work across a range of artistic disciplines: from stage to sound and camera work to emerging performance practices in digital media.

At NUA you not only get professional training as an actor in preparation for work in a variety of traditional platforms, but you are also trained as a creative practitioner in your own right.

Taking Year 0 at the beginning of your degree course will get your studies at Norwich University of the Arts off to a flying start. The extra year of study will help you explore creative ideas and begin to develop the practical skills, research techniques and ways of thinking that are essential to undergraduate success.

Develop the creative and technical skills behind the latest Hollywood blockbusters and learn from award-winning studio professionals on our BA (Hons) Animation and Visual Effects degree course.

Our Animation and Visual Effects degree reflects NUA’s success in both disciplines. Our approach to teaching visual effects evolved from advice from professional bodies like ScreenSkills and UK Screen Alliance and the majority of the UK’s VFX industry, including:

• Double Negative (DNEG)
• Framestore
• MPC
• Industrial Light & Magic (ILM)
• The Mill.

We are part of Access:VFX – the industry’s initiative to create the widest possible pool of future talent and host a number of workshops and events with invited industry guests

Our BA (Hons) course has a global reputation for producing graduates who are creative thinkers with accomplished technical skills and a strong grasp of the latest technology.

The course benefits from close links to some of the leading names in the design industry.

You’ll follow a proven path that has led to NUA graduates securing roles at some of the UK’s leading design studios, branding and advertising agencies.

Design ideas that work

Our course has a strong emphasis on commercial work and you’ll be challenged to generate high quality creative solutions, including:

• Visual identities
• Packaging
• Websites
• Cross-platform advertising campaigns.

Briefs are designed to inspire you to generate original, innovative and – crucially – effective design solutions.

You’ll learn how to question a brief using research techniques that will help you develop a thorough understanding of each client, their challenges and target market.

Our BA (Hons) Games Art and Design degree has an international reputation for producing graduates who excel in a constantly evolving industry. The Rookies ranked NUA in the global top 16 for Concept Art and Illustration and in the top 50 in its world rankings — thanks to the reputation of the Games course.

The course is a member of the Sony PlayStation First Academic Partnership Programme and is accredited by ScreenSkills and the games industry body TIGA, which also crowned NUA the best educational institution in 2017.

Our BA (Hons) Fashion Communication and Promotion degree will offer you insight into the technical expertise and creative strategies that successful fashion businesses use to grab attention.

As you build your knowledge of fashion marketing, you will develop skills that will make you attractive to employers, including:

• Market segmentation
• Branding and brand development
• Promotional strategies
• Competitor analysis and more!

And you will follow in the path of graduates who are set up for successful fashion media and marketing careers after work experience, live projects and internships with brands like Adidas, Vivienne Westwood and Vogue.

Our BSc (Hons) in User Experience Design is rooted in NUA’s traditional strength in graphic design, design thinking, and creative problem-solving.

The User Experience Design degree gives you the essential skills to become a successful UX designer – shaping how people engage with digital products and services.

Your learning will focus on applying user experience and digital design principles that are highly prized in today’s fast-changing design industry.

You will use industry-standard technologies and prototyping techniques to develop professional solutions for a range of contexts.

In each case, you will move from research to the creation of user journeys to the design of user experiences that work across multiple digital environments: from desktop to mobile.

Responding to one of the fasting growing sectors of the visual communications industry, this course will allow you to use design, problem solving, research and psychology to test and create better digital products and services.

You are curious about how design can influence human behaviour – guiding people’s actions and decisions.

You are eager to learn how to test your ideas and work through versions towards the most effective creative solution to whatever problem you’re trying to solve – whether you’re designing an app, website, or physical product.

You’ll learn research and analytical skills that will help you to understand how people react in the face of different design experiences online and in the physical world.