BA in Fashion Branding and Communication
Birmingham City University
Key Information
Campus location
Birmingham, United Kingdom
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
3 - 4 years
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
GBP 9,250 / per year *
Application deadline
Request info
Earliest start date
Sep 2024
* UK students: £9,250 per year | international students: £13,980 per year
Scholarships
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Introduction
Do you want a fashion degree that will enable you to pursue a career within the industry, specifically fashion communication and branding?
Then this course is for you. Its unique mix of both fashion communication and branding will give you the skills you will need to be a creative, confident, well-informed fashion communicator, ready for the industry.
What's covered in this course?
You will be taught by an industry-experienced teaching team and by visiting fashion professionals. There is also the opportunity to participate in live industry-based projects and competitions, working with all types of fashion, media and beauty brands.
You will develop visual and written communication skills across a broad range of creative media (creative direction and styling, art direction and graphics, print and digital design, branding strategy and journalistic writing) associated with the fashion industry. There will also be the chance to showcase your final-year work to industry leaders, at events such as Graduate Fashion Week in London.
Based at our City Centre Campus, you will have access to photography studios and equipment, relevant software and computer equipment, as well as a faculty of creative students to collaborate with. You can also choose to follow our four-year professional placement option, which features a one-year industry internship.
Professional placement year
This course offers a professional placement year. This allows you to spend a whole year with an employer, between the second and third years of your degree and is a great way to find out more about your chosen career. Some students even return to the same employers after completing their studies.
The University will draw on its extensive network of local, regional and national employers to support you in finding a suitable placement to complement your chosen area of study. If you do not find a suitable placement, you will be automatically transferred back to the standard, non-placement version of the course.
Please note that fees are payable during your placement year, equivalent to 20% of the total full-time course fee for that year (£1,850 for UK students).
Why choose us?
- You'll get to work on international industry competitions, such as Vogue New Talent.
- You'll enjoy a vast archive of fashion publications dating back to the 1930s.
- You'll have the opportunity to showcase your final-year work to industry leaders at events such as Graduate Fashion Week in London and our Arts, Design and Media (ADM) Faculty degree show in Birmingham.
- You'll have the chance to visit international fashion cities such as London, Berlin, Copenhagen and New York.
- You'll collaborate with other students from across the ADM faculty.
Curriculum
Year one
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete all the following core modules (totalling 80 credits):
- Fashion Writing and Design for Publications
- Trend Forecasting
- Visual Literacy
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete the following optional module (totalling 40 credits):
- Creative Fashion Branding Communication
Core modules are guaranteed to run. Optional modules will vary from year to year and the published list is indicative only.
Year two
Year two modules build upon your knowledge and skills gained in year one, and apply this to a more external focus, including industry competitions and internships, thus allowing you to focus on your professional and career goals.
In order to complete this course you must successfully complete all the following core modules (totalling 100 credits):
- Industry Competition Briefs
- Fashion Practitioner Case Study
- Brand Generation
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete at least 20 credits from the following list of optional modules:
- Work Placement
- Collaborative Practice
Core modules are guaranteed to run. Optional modules will vary from year to year and the published list is indicative only.
Year three
In your final year, you will focus on the area of the fashion industry you intend to work in. You are able to tailor your final-year projects to an area of the industry you're most interested in and support your career ambitions.
In order to complete this course you must successfully complete all the following core modules (totalling 120 credits):
- Major Project
- Independent Final Project
- Self Branding and Promotion
Career Opportunities
Enhancing employability skills
Employability is embedded throughout the course with relevant skills, such as Adobe InDesign and Photoshop, being taught as well as professional skills such as copywriting, creative narrative, trend forecasting and brand strategy.
Graduates from this course have gone on to work in roles that use these skills within the creative industries.
Placements
Students have taken internships within a wide range of fashion companies, such as fashion publications GQ, InStyle magazine, Grazia magazine, The Daily Mail and Suitcase magazine. Others have gained experience with Selfridges, ASOS and Topshop.
Live projects
Fashion Branding and Communication students have previously partnered with Birmingham company, Lounge Underwear for an exciting live brief aiming to empower women and support Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Collaborations like these give students an insight into the day-to-day running of a large online retailer and a chance to explore the job roles at the organisation. It also provides potential links for placements and graduate jobs.
Graduate jobs
The type of industry job roles that graduates would move into could include art direction and creative direction, styling, photoshoot production, magazine production and editorial content, brand management and fashion graphics, social media content creation and management, trend forecasting, journalism and copywriting for brands and magazines, and fashion film creation.