Art & Design Taster Sessions (several choices on offer)

Sessions include:

Careers in Creative Industries
The University’s 3,000 creative industries students call our vibrant Cardiff Campus their home. In this session, students will learn more about the courses on offer – from drama, graphics and fashion design, to TV and film set design, music business and documentary photography - and how our state-of-the-art facilities and impressive industry links ensure that our students are ready to embark on a career in this billion-pound industry after graduation.

Become a Fashion Instagram Influencer
This session will look at how brands and influencers are working together to reach audiences through Instagram. You will learn how to write an effective bio, create and share compelling content, style and take pictures, create and manage a posting schedule, and how to engage with audiences.

Flipbook Workshop
Students will learn the skills and techniques required to create their own flipbook animations.

Storyboard Workshop
Students will be given an overview of our BA (Hons) Advertising Design course, and will then develop a storyboard for a television advertisement in a fun and interactive workshop.

Why Animation and Games?
Students will meet members of our academic staff who will introduce our course portfolio, the employment opportunities this exciting industry offers and answer any questions you may have about animation and computer games. Students will get an overview of our specialist facilities and student and graduate work - including TV shows, commercials, films and games. All this will offer an insight into the skills they'll develop during their time with us and the exciting potential careers that this can lead to.

Pitching Workshop
In this two-part workshop, USW staff will set the students an advertising brief based on a well-known brand (examples include Cadbury's, Pringles, Fanta and Ben & Jerry's). In a follow-up workshop 1-2 weeks later, the students will pitch their ideas and receive valuable feedback. This work can also be used as part of their portfolios for entry onto a higher education course.

Design Sprint
Students will work in teams on a design brief. They will challenge their skills in visual communication and problem solving. This workshop encourages students to investigate an existing communication problem and propose innovative ideas, design concepts and solutions.

Real Industry Experience: Responding to a Brief
In this two-part session, students will be set a real-life creative brief from one of USW's many industry partners. USW staff will deliver a workshop to help students develop the skills required to tackle the brief and will arrange a follow-up session where students will receive valuable feedback on their work. This session will offer a real insight into the work and industry practices for students interested in pursuing a career in the creative industries.

Could you be a Production Designer?
This session will explore the role of the production designer and other roles within a professional art department. Students will find out what it takes to establish a career in the industry, discover the range of work placements that students have experienced with productions such as; Doctor Who, Disney’s Aladdin, Mission Impossible 6 and Luther, and learn more about how USW creates graduates who are ready for a career in the industry.

Could you be an Interior Designer?
Do you know what an interior designer does? Using student projects and live briefs - focusing on redeveloping and re-purposing community spaces, nightclubs and other old buildings - this session will bust the myths surrounding this dynamic and exciting career.

Sustainable Fashion Workshop
Loved clothes Last. Running out of space for the clothes you can’t stop buying? This workshop explores our love affair with fashion, and how clothes are much more than garments. Learn what you can do to develop your sense of style over fashion.

Branding & Visual Identity for Fashion Brands
When we say ‘fashion’, we often think clothes. But fashion is much more than that, it’s also design, branding and visual identity. Create a fashion brand from scratch; write your brief, use research to inspire new ideas, sketch logos and final create your graphic pathway (you will need access to a computer and Adobe software for this workshop).

Introduction to Fashion Styling
Styling is an artform which combines imagination, fashion and photography to create unforgettable images. What does a Fashion Stylist do? Learn about the different roles of a fashion stylist. Identify Trends and conceptualise ideas. Create Vision boards. Shoot your look.

Art Direction for Fashion
Ever wondered how Fashion Adverts, Socials Posts or Magazine shoots are created? In this workshop you will learn the creative process behind fashion campaigns from the concept to the final image. Learn the project methodology, teamwork and why you just can’t beat a good idea.

Creative Idea Generation
Where do ideas come from? How do I get started with ideas? What is my creative process? These are all questions that are addressed in this workshop, which will help students with techniques that they can use to begin to meet a brief. Students will participate in creative idea generation exercises and have a short brief that they will begin creative concepts for, and will receive feedback on these.

Storytelling on Behalf of Brands
Students will be given a presentation on storytelling for brands, and will then participate in creative copywriting exercises and develop some draft copy of their own in this interactive and inspiring workshop. Students will have the opportunity to receive feedback at the end of the session, and be given some resources to continue learning.

Creative Writing for Professional Purposes
In this workshop, will share tips and tricks for using visual cues and exercises to start the creative writing process for professional purposes, whether it be for social media or for campaigns, and explain the crossover between creative writing and copywriting, art direction and creative direction. Students will have an opportunity to participate in creative copywriting exercises, and produce some draft copy which they'll receive feedback for from the faciliator, and be given some resources to continue learning about this subject.

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