BTEC Art and Design (Specialist options in 3D Design, Fashion and Graphic Products)

Nurturing intellectual, imaginative, creative and intuitive responses

Exam Board

Pearson

Why should I study Art and Design?

You should choose this course if you want to demonstrate your creative approach to problem solving, enhance your practical skills whilst developing your knowledge and understanding in a range of media specific to your chosen specialism of 3D Design, Fashion or Graphic Products.

Graphic Products

You will develop ideas for graphic designs based on your exploration and experimentation. You will review and reflect on the results and make plans for skills development. If you are interested in developing your skills in image editing, digital manipulation, layout, presentational and editorial techniques, printing, mark making, collage and construction, then this is the course for you.

Fashion

Fashion is an exciting and innovative world, both creative and technical. As well as creating innovative designs for clothing and accessories, there are important technical skills involved in areas such as pattern cutting and fashion manufacturing. Fashion techniques and processes are also increasingly combined with other art and design disciplines, including textiles, graphics, photography, and interactive media for job roles in fashion media, forecasting, styling, illustration, marketing, and promotion.

3D Design

3D Design will introduce you to a range of 3D materials, techniques, and processes through a thorough, in-depth investigation. You will use 2D and 3D ideas generation when responding to a brief and apply your 3D skills to produce a body of work that reflects a deep knowledge and understanding of material techniques and processes.

Our passionate and experienced staff will help you tailor the course to suit your individual strengths. We provide you with excellent facilities including well-equipped design studios, workshops, and industry standard computer aided design facilities.

This qualification gives a coherent introduction to the study of art and design, allowing students to focus on one of the three specialist areas of Design Technology. As a design student you will develop your understanding of the creative process and fine tune your practical skills. You will study visual recording and communication, critical analysis, and production skills to produce art and design outcomes.

What will I study?

Equivalent in size to one A Level.

There are 4 units, of which 3 are mandatory and one is a specialist unit.

Mandatory Units

1 Visual Recording and Communication (external)

2 Critical and Contextual Studies in Art and Design (external)

3 The Creative Process

Specialist Unit – students will choose one from:

10 Graphis Materials, Techniques and Processes

13 3D Design Materials, Techniques and Processes

15 Fashion Materials, Techniques and Processes

There will be opportunities for you to take part in workshops with working artists and designers, visit galleries and university design departments.

How is BTEC Art and Design assessed?

You will complete 2 externally assessed units and 2 internally assessed coursework units. The external units are project-based and both conclude with 3 and 5 hours respectively of supervised conditions. You will spread these assessments over Y12 and Y13.

What can I study with Art and Design?

The Art and Design BTEC combines well with a wide range of subjects due to the variety of skills required to be successful, from the technical and analytical to more creative skills. It most naturally links with other creative subjects such as performing arts, photography, or media, but it equally complements subjects such as maths and physics because of the close associations with the engineering and architecture industries.

Where does a qualification in Art and Design lead?

The course provides secure foundations for progression onto a wide variety of specialist design-based degree courses, such as for:

Fashion - clothing/textile technologist, colour technologist, interior and spatial designer, and fashion designer.

3D Design – product design, furniture, jewellery, the engineering sectors, exhibition designer, architecture, and interior design.

Graphic Products – Advertising art director, animator, artworker, concept artist

creative director, graphic designer, and illustrator.

It is a well-established and popular creative subject that provides transferrable skills which will cross over to many professions or degree courses. Employers and university admissions tutors alike welcome the skills that studying these specialisms provides, such as independent learning, creativity, problem solving, working to a brief, evaluation, communication and working to deadlines.

Subject specific entry requirement:

Grade 5 in either design technology or art.

If you have not taken a design qualification in year 11, do not worry. We can assess your creative and design ability and understanding at interview. So long as you have evidence of your ability to sketch and or design, we will make sure we cover the rest at the start of the course in Unit 1: Visual Recording and Communication.