BA(hons) Communication Design Programme
A warm welcome to Glasgow School of Art and the School of Design
Whatever your chosen programme of study this programme handbook will be a valuable tool in assisting you orientate yourself and settle into your studies. It will help signpost advice and provide useful information, alongside our online resources and your tutors and peers.
Each of our specialist design departments and their programmes of study make up the wider community of designers and makers that collectively is our School of Design. At the heart of our learning experience is our studio culture and we want you to make the most of our facilities and resources safely and with confidence!
Together we form a vibrant community of both academic staff and students supported by technical, administrative, and service colleagues. The handbook is a useful guide to how to make the most of your time with us in a new supportive and collaborative environment. Please make time to read it and inform your studies ahead of you.
I wish you a productive and inspiring start to, what I am certain will be, an enriching and exciting creative journey of learning, researching, designing, and making.
Professor Stephen Bottomley Head of the School of Design
Welcome to the undergraduate programme in Communication Design here at GSA
Over the course of your studies we will offer a rich set of educational experiences that will test and push your your concepts, better develop your sense of ethics and introduce you to a range of visual, textual, moving and sonic approaches that will hone your practice and identity as a Communication Designer
As a programme we are deeply engaged in the historical and the socio–economic impact of politics, culture and technology upon design. It is our role to both critique and contribute to how society expresses itself and the role that language and media have on communication
We encourage an inclusive studio ethos in which we hope you will make life-long friends. You will find that Glasgow is a vibrant city with a very active creative community. We would encourage you to immerse yourself in this whilst studying at GSA; to look beyond the confines of the Art School and explore the breadth of activities that will help develop and expand your knowledge during your study
We look forward to getting to know you all as your journey progresses
Steve Rigley Programme Leader
The BA (hons) Communication Design programme within The Glasgow School of Art provides a creative learning environment that aims to produce skilled and confident graduates, able to either enter the profession as accomplished practicing communication designers or progress onto a Masters or beyond to PhD.
Graduates develop the knowledge and understanding to undertake sophisticated research and visual problem solving. They acquire the skills to contribute to the broader international context of communication design, whilst sensitively responding to social and cultural implications of contemporary design practice. The curriculum for each year is structured into courses that are project-based. These vary in length within and across the two academic semesters each year. Project-based enquiry is core to the curriculum.
The contemporary relevance of the curriculum is maintained and directly informed by the research, scholarly activity and the professional practice of full-time or part-time staff. The programme promotes a culture that recognises both independence and teamwork and interdisciplinary peer learning as essential elements in the effective practice of Communication Design
In year three and four, we have defined three defined pathways: Graphic Design, Illustration and Lens-based practice. To encourage interdisciplinary activity and collaboration, years one and two are designed to allow students to find their own focus and avoid former preconceptions of these disciplines. Students elect at the end of year two which pathway is the most appropriate for year three and four, based on the individual student experience, tutor advice and guidance.
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The programme is comprised of a number of ‘courses’, which are sometimes refered to as modules. Each course carries a set number of credits, which total 120 for each year or level of study. You need to pass each course to complete the year, though you may be able to carry over up to 20 credits for completion the following year should you wish.
We would always advise that you discuss any plans to carry credit with your studio staff and programme leader.
Further details of each course, including their aims and Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) can be found in the Com Des Community Canvas, just click on the course titles below.
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The programme has a number of Aims, which are written from the perspective of the staff team and articulate what we expect the programme to achieve:
• Equip our graduating students with the curiosity and skills to sustain life-long learning
• Encourage initiative, innovation and risk-taking within their practice
• Develop technical skills and critical approaches to challenge presumptions, provoke new insights and to expand the discipline of Communication Design
• Build personal and professional skills to enable independent and collaborative learning
• Develop professional communication skills to present ideas and engage with a variety of audiences
• Engage with complex ethical, societal and environmental challenges
Alongside the Aims, the Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs), outline what we would expect our graduating students to be able to do. They are:
• Inform and enrich their practice through primary and secondary research
• Speculate, through structured experimentation and innovation, generating ideas and employing critical reflection
• Employ the technical skills and critical approaches appropriate to their communication design interests
• Manage their time and learning, working both independently and in collaboration with peers, staff and partners
• Efficiently communicate to a range of audiences, including peers and staff, engaging with feedback
• Critically engage, through the lens of their practice, in complex ethical, societal and environmental challenges
Academic & Technical Staff
Academic and technical staff may work part-time, full-time, across disciplines and year groups.
It is not always possible to see staff at points other than timetabled sessions due to meetings or other GSA business.
If you need to speak to a member of staff urgently, please make contact via email to arrange an appointment (see next page for email addresses)
It is not appropriate to contact staff by personal email or mobile numbers unless the staff member has agreed to give the student this information for a specific purpose. In these instances the contact information may not be used out with the agreed usage and should not be passed on to any other individual or posted online.
Administrative Staff
Design School administration staff can usually help you locate the help you need. Our programme admin officer is Margaret McAleer, you can email her at:
m.mcaleer@gsa.ac.uk
Steve Rigley Programme Leader s.rigley@gsa.ac.uk
Michael Dancer Year 1 Lecturer mi.dancer@gsa.ac.uk
Emma Keogh Year 1 and Lens-based Lecturer e.keogh@gsa.ac.uk
Susan Roan Year 1 and Illustration Lecturer s.roan@gsa.ac.uk
Seonaid Mackay Year 2 Lecturer s.mackay@gsa.ac.uk
Alastair McClymont Year 2 Lecturer a.mcclymont@gsa.ac.uk
Kimberley O’Neill Year 2 and Lens-based Lecturer k.oneill@gsa.ac.uk
Edwin Pickstone Year 2 Lecturer and Technician e.pickstone@gsa.ac.uk
Jo Petty Year 3 & 4 Graphics Lecturer j.petty@gsa.ac.uk
Colin Faulks Year 3 & 4 Graphics Lecturer c.faulks@gsa.ac.uk
Kat Loudon Year 3 & 4 Graphics Lecturer k.loudon@gsa.ac.uk
Marc Baines Year 3 & 4 Illustration Lecturer ma.baines@gsa.ac.uk
Ross Hogg Year 3 & 4 Illustration Lecturer r.hogg@gsa.ac.uk
Andy Stark Year 3 & 4 Lens-based Lecturer a.stark@gsa.ac.uk
Katy West Co-Lab Course Leader k.west@gsa.ac.uk
Fiona Anderson Designed Objects Course Leader f.anderson@gsa.ac.uk
Ellie Herring Year 2 DH&T Lecturer e.herring@gsa.ac.uk
Mitch Miller Year 2 DH&T Lecturer mi.miller@gsa.ac.uk
Helen McCormack Year 4 DH&T Lecturer h.mccormack@gsa.ac.uk
Stephen Keane Haldane Studio Technician s.keane@gsa.ac.uk
Ruth Kirkby Caseroom Technician r.kirkby@gsa.ac.uk
David Farrar Printmaking Technician d.farrar@gsa.ac.uk
Ross Finnie Photographic Technician r.finnie@gsa.ac.uk
Tinsel Edwards Reid Bulding Studio Lead t.edwards@gsa.ac.uk
Location
GSA’s Glasgow Campus is located right in the heart of the city - home to one of the best metropolitan art galleries and museum collections in the UK and many of Scotland’s performing arts companies, including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and The National Theatre of Scotland.
The Glasgow School of Art also neighbours Glasgow Film Theatre, the Centre for Contemporary Arts, the Tron, Tramway, Transmission, Street Level, The Lighthouse Centre for Architecture and Design and Glasgow Science Centre, each of whom we consider part of our expansive Creative Network of graduates and institutions with whom we regularly collaborate.
The location of the various buildings within the Glasgow Campus can be found on the map on the following page, whilst details of opening hours for studios and facilities - including the library and workshops - can be found here.
1 Reid Building 3D Making Workshops, Fashion + Textiles Workshops, Laser Cutting, Media Studio + Store, Photo Print Prototyping Workshop, School of Design Studios, Silversmithing & Jewellery Workshop, Directorate, Reid Cafe, Reid Gallery, Window on Heritage
2 Assembly Building GSA Students’ Association, The Vic 3 Library Library and Learning Resources
4 Bourdon Building Grace and Clark Fyfe Gallery, Mackintosh School of Architecture Studios, Mackintosh School of Architecture Workshops
5 Haldane Building School of Innovation and Technology Studios, School of Design Studios
6 No. 30 Hill Street Student Support Services
7 Barnes Building Design History and Theory, Interaction Design Studios
8 Margaret MacDonald House Halls of Residence
9 Rose Street Policy & Governance, Development, Finance, Health and Safety, HR, Information Technology, Registry, Estates Office, Open Studio
10 No. 26 Rose Street Counselling Service
11 Fleming House Open Studio
12 Blytheswood Offices Careers Service, Exhibitions, International, Marketing & Communications, Research and Enterprise, Widening Participation, Recruitment
13 Blytheswood House Halls of Residence
14 Stow Building 3D Making Workshops, Drawing/Life Studio, Fine Art Critical Studies, Fine Art Photography workshops, Print Archives, Printmaking Workshops, School of Fine Art Studios, Stow Cafe 15 65 West Regent Street School of Innovation and Technology and Workshops
Studios
Central to life at GSA is the studio. The first year Communication Design studios are based in the Haldane Building (see map on previous page), whilst years two to four can be found in the Reid Building. Within the studios, each of you are allocated a desk, which is yours for the duration of the year. With the exception of the Design History and Theory courses, most teaching takes place within the studio or in dedicated ‘crit spaces’ nearby.
We believe that studio-based learning is more than just producing work in a studio space; rather it is a concept of learning that happens through the process of thinking, making, doing and discussing in a shared learning space as part of a creative community. Further thoughts on this approach can be found here.
There are a number of benefits to studio-based learning, including a location to gather and leave your work, a space to display and review your progress and the platform to see the work of fellow students as it develops.
Not surprisingly, we always encourage students to make the very most of this valuable resource.
Here is a list of links you may find helpful
Helpdesks (to log an issue)
Estates
Library
TSD
IT
Services (for information)
Academic Registry
Archives & Collections
Careers Service
Centre for Advanced Textiles
Exhibitions
Finance
Health & Safety
IT
Library
Student Support
Sustainability
TSD
GSA Calendar
GSA Showcase 2025 GSA
Student Handbook
Additional Quick Links:
Appeals
Assessment & Feedback
Associated Costs
Attendance & Absence
Campus Locations
Canvas
Careers Advice
Connect 2
Counselling Service
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
Extension Requests
GSASA
Good Cause Applications
Internal Transfer Requests
Leave of Absence
Library Catalogue
Online Payments
Opening Hours
Planet eStream
Printing
Reasonable Adjustments RARs
Report & Support
Semester Dates
Student Gateway
Student Intranet
Student Policies
Study Abroad
Student Exchange
WiFi
Withdrawal Requests
The following terms are often used by teaching staff and are listed here to provide clear definitions:
Academic Integrity
Is a term used to describe the expectations for the development of your own independent academic work. Work or behaviours which would be described as not having academic integrity would include plagiarism, academic misconduct or collusion. For further information about academic integrity see this video by the Quality Assurance Agency
Assessment
Is the judgement of work against predetermined criteria, can happen in formal and informal contexts and does not necessarily result in feedback or a mark. Feedback should be informed by the Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
Assessment Criteria
Assessment criteria are the criteria used to assess a student’s learning and performance against the intended learning outcomes. Assessment criteria can be the intended learning outcomes for a course or specific criteria. ILOs for each course in the programme can be found via the links in the programme section
Assessment
Period
Is the timespan required for staff to assess your work
Attendance Letter
Attendance letters are issued by the GSA Registry when a student is not meeting work requirements or attending timetabled sessions. Further details of GSA’s attendance policy can be found here
Briefing
A briefing takes place at the beginning of a project or a course. It provides an opportunity for you to raise questions and to clarify details, such as key contact points and expected outcomes
Contact Points
Are scheduled events in the timetable in which you are expected to attend. These may include workshops, briefings, tutorial groups, seminars and presentations.
External Examiners
External Examiners are members of academic staff at other universities and art schools who review the assessment process on your programme. This ensures that assessment and feedback are fair and comparable to the standards and practices across the higher education sector. See How am I assessed? for more information.
Feedback
Comprises the information, advice and guidance given to you to help improve your work or provide direction for next steps. Feedback may be given as a result of a formative or summative assessment, or through a range of ongoing teaching activities including, but not limited to, tutorials, reviews, and in class discussions
Formative Assessment
Formative Assessments are designed purely to inform both staff and students of the students’ progress, allowing the students to reflect upon and improve their work in time for summative assessment. Formative assessment does not contribute to the final grade of a course. See Assessment & Feedback Explained for more information
Good Cause
Is a situation in which your ability to meet the assessment requirements for your course, or your performance in your assessment has been negatively impacted by illness or other personal circumstances
GSA Grading Scheme
The GSA Grading Scheme sets out generic criteria by which your performance and final grade can be determined. You can access the full Grading Scheme is available in Section 2.9 of the Code of Assessment available on the GSA website
Intended Learning Outcomes
Often referred to as ILOs, these define the learning you will acquire and be able to demonstrate upon successful completion of a period of learning, a course or a programme
Indicative Grade
Indicative grades are grades provided during formative assessment which indicates your level of performance at that point within a course of study. This is not an indication of your final grade, and your final grade for the course may be different from your indicative grade
Internal Examiners
Internal Examiners are members of GSA staff responsible for marking work for assessment and providing feedback to students
Moderation
Moderation is the process use to ensure that marking is fair and consistent on a course or programme. Internal moderation is the process by which your tutor marks your work and then their marking
is reviewed by another tutor. This process is most often carried out on a sample of assessed work or double marking of all work
Notional Learning Hours:
Is the expected total number of hours that you will require to achieve the specified Intended Learning Outcomes within the specified course. It may include contact hours, directed learning, independent study and assessment
Peer Assessment
Peer assessment is where students are asked to review each other’s work and provide constructive feedback
Self-Assessment
At Summative Assessment points, you will be asked to complete a Self-Assessment form and submit this alongside your completed work. This offers an opportunity to reflect on your progress and achievements against the Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs). It also helps ensure a focused discussion during feedback sessions
Summative Assessment
Summative Assessments are used to determine your performance in relation to the Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) and assessment criteria. Summative assessment contributes towards your overall grade; however, it also has a formative purpose, providing feedback to support reflection and improvement in your future learning. See Assessment & Feedback Explained for more information
Technical Induction
Is a session that will enable you to use technical facilities safely and responsibly.
Technical Workshop
Is an interactive group session that focuses on the development of a particular technical process or skill