Online learning at the Open College of the Arts provides a significant degree of flexibility in how and when you study the arts. Instead of being tied to a physical campus or rigid timetables, your learning happens where you are – whether that’s your home, studio, or any comfortable space – and you can access your course materials whenever best suits your personal schedule, allowing you to create a study plan that integrates with your existing commitments. Each 40-credit unit has a 12-month timeframe for completion (including an initial induction period) to ensure a focused and progressive learning experience. You’ll also join a diverse and inspiring global community of students, and gain access to a dedicated department space where you can engage with webinars and workshops in addition to your core learning materials.

Our online student platform, OCA Learn, becomes your central hub after registration, providing all your course materials and a space to connect with others. Through OCA Learn, you’ll conveniently submit your completed assignments online. Throughout your studies, you’ll receive expert guidance from a dedicated tutor, a practicing artist, who will offer constructive feedback on your submitted work. This feedback is designed to help you grow, highlighting what you’re doing well and  areas for improvement, often delivered through a mix of detailed written notes directly on your digital submissions within OCA Learn, and the chance to connect with tutors via video.

Stage 1 comprises three 40-credit units that must be studied in order. 

Unit 1.1 The Elements of Design is the first unit, and provides you with a grounding in the basic skills of visual research and idea development. Throughout, the basic elements of design will be investigated and practiced, this may include; shape and line, colour and texture, space and contrast, volume, and light and perspective. Students will keep both an analogue and digital sketchbook, aimed at developing skills in the visualisation of ideas and the solving of simple design problems. You will also explore current practice in the subject area, through written and illustrated case studies, and reflection on current trends and contexts that inform graphic design, and an appreciation of the historical and contemporary contexts of graphic design will be developed by reviewing the work of other designers and creative practitioners.

To move on to Unit 1.2, you’ll first need to successfully pass the assessment for Unit 1.1. Please be aware that this initial progression step might involve a slightly longer gap between unit enrolments compared to the transition between subsequent units. 

Unit 1.2 Research for Practice, the second unit, begins to identify the relationship between key contexts and research methods in devising design solutions. The notion of audience and demographics will be explored through case studies of current design, and follow-up projects will require you to create research and visual development strategies to solve various audience-specific communications. Projects will include simple branding and packaging briefs, posters and publication designs, and require you to research key historical movements in design. These projects will require a variety of outcomes, for example exhibition posters, leaflets, websites and social media, or a combination of each.

Unit 1.3 Consolidation Project is the final unit at Stage 1, and explores your personal creative interests by choosing briefs which enable you to either further develop existing strengths, or to revisit areas of the design process which you feel need further investigation. This approach supports your choice and the development of a personal design profile. Projects will begin with content which may be used to create design outcomes in distinctive ways; for example, as websites, editorial design, information design, advertising and publicity or other self-negotiated outcomes of a suitable standard. Each project will continue to require further development of explicit practical and theoretical skills, and at this stage a higher standard of finished artwork is required

Stage 2 comprises three 40-credit units that must be studied in order. 

Unit 2.1 Professional Practice is the first Stage 2 unit, and includes projects that pose more complex and varied design problems, requiring more in-depth research to be undertaken into markets, consumers and the end-user experience. You will be asked to consider and respond to current social, cultural and political issues and contexts. Visual Identity (VI) comprises the widest possible scope of professional design practice. By researching the background of current and past VIs, you will begin to understand the many component parts behind the companies, brands and logos that you see on the high street, in magazines and websites.

Unit 2.2 Design Futures explores various ways in which design has been used to inform, educate and foster change, and will investigate how new forms of media have affected changes in information design and distribution. You will create your own digital media to explore your ideas about the future of design and your future design practice. You will be encouraged to critically reflect on your own work, make connections to wider contexts and begin to identify your own personal voice within your work.

Unit 2.3 Self-Directed Project takes note of how easy to access, and simple to use, digital technologies have opened up many new opportunities to graphic designers of delivering digital content alongside traditional print formats. It is important for new designers to understand the advantages that moving image and interactivity can provide, and so this unit will provide opportunities to investigate and apply the design of sequenced type and image, consolidating your learning through a self-directed project. 

Stage 3 comprises three 40-credit units that must be studied in order. 

Unit 3.1 Practice and Research, the first Stage 3 unit, aims to synthesize your creative practice and research interests across a self directed body of work and critical thinking assignment, allowing practice and research to inform the other. It provides room to build on your learning, test new ideas, and to identify areas of interest you may want to develop. You’ll establish self-directed projects, critically evaluate your work, research and reflect on contemporary contexts, and consider how you can best present your practice. You should demonstrate your creative voice through outcomes that will include a portfolio of self-directed work, including a reflective learning log, and a critical thinking assignment. This can be written, and can form the basis of a dissertation or take an alternative presentational format. 

Unit 3.2 External Projects encourages you to locate your emerging practice within a deepening knowledge of external contexts through a choice of outward facing projects, and an appropriate written assignment or presentation. You will be asked to consider the relationship between your work and other people, how contemporary practices and debates might shape your creative approach and ideas, and how you can effectively propose, develop, and communicate intentions, ideas, and outcomes. The aim of the unit is to lay the foundations for the long term sustainability of your creative practice, whether this is through professional practice, enterprise activities, further study, or other forms of meaningful engagement. The scope and ambition of this undertaking will be shaped by your interests, motivations, and location. Consequently, the shape and format of projects can vary, including student, tutor, or client-led projects, one sustained project or any number of shorter ones, but should all have an external facing aspect. The written or presentation project provides an opportunity to either extend the critical thinking assignment, undertaken in the Practice & Research Unit, into a dissertation, or to produce case studies, project reports, or business cases to support your chosen external activities.

Unit 3.3 Major Project, the final unit at Stage 3, provides the opportunity to demonstrate all that you have learned over the previous units and levels by undertaking a self-directed project, and reflecting on your experiences through a presentation. The Major Project offers a platform to focus on a specialist area of inquiry and to undertake a substantial and sustained body of work. You will devise a project that allows you to explore a field of interest and to further develop your emerging practice, and will be showcased in an appropriate self-managed way, through physical or online exhibitions, contributions to publications, performances, trade shows or other commercial contexts, portfolio presentations, or other platforms. To support this you will produce self-promotional, marketing, and other outward facing material, and continue to apply increasingly professional personal and graduate skills in your dealings with other people.

When you complete a unit, you are invited to submit a portfolio of work and critical essays to the next available assessment event. There are three undergraduate assessment events held each year, and when you complete your unit which decide which assessment event you submit to. In some instances, you will require your assessment results before progressing onto your next unit.

You have a total of 12 months to complete each 40-credit unit, starting with a two-week induction.

You will arrange your assignment submission dates with your tutor directly so you can study at your own pace within the unit timeframe (although it’s important to note that full-time study is not available). This means that the course completion time varies depending on the study hours dedicated, and when you submit to assessment.

After successfully finishing a unit, you have a six-month window to enrol for your subsequent unit of study. This six-month period begins from the date you receive your assessment results.

Programme Specifications

Programme Specification

The BA (Hons) Graphic Design course was updated in 2021. Students who enrolled before the update will continue with the previous version (the “Teach Out” programme) until they progress to a new stage of their studies. At that point, they will switch to the updated course.

Teaching Out Programme Specification

New students cannot enrol to the Teach Out programme.

Accessibility Guides

Accessibility guides give an indication of the type and format of content, teaching, and learning activities on the course, and how these are ordinarily delivered.

Review Accessibility Guides Here

Curriculum changes

We regularly review our curriculum; therefore, the qualification described on this page – including its availability, its structure, and available units – may change over time. If we make changes to this qualification, we’ll update this page as soon as possible. Once you’ve registered or are studying this qualification, where practicable, we’ll inform you in good time of any upcoming changes. If you’d like to know more about the circumstances in which OCA might make changes to the curriculum, see our Academic Regulations or contact us. This description was last updated on 14 December 2022.

The Academic Regulations for Subsidiary Institutions of The Open University are applicable to all taught courses offered by the Open College of the Arts (OCA).

Academic Regulatory Framework

The Academic Regulatory Framework (ARF) regulations are applicable to all taught courses offered by the Open College of the Arts (OCA). As of January 2024, this will lead to an undergraduate award of The Open University (OU).

You can review the ARF through the link below:

Academic Framework

Based on 2024/2025 academic year fees, the approximate cost of a BA (HONS) is:

• £18,558 for UK based students
• £21,258 for international students.

Students pay for one unit at a time. UK students pay £2,062 per 40-credit unit, and international students pay £2,362 per 40-credit unit.

Unit fees are reviewed annually therefore the total cost of a degree will vary and may increase over time, however we aim to keep any increases to a

Based on 2025/2026 academic year fees, the approximate cost of a BA (HONS) is:

• £20,412 for UK based students
• £23,382 for international students.

Students pay for one unit at a time. UK students pay £2,268 per 40-credit unit, and international students pay £2,598 per 40-credit unit.

Unit fees are reviewed annually therefore the total cost of a degree will vary and may increase over time, however we aim to keep any increases to a minimum where possible and in line with our Student Fees Policy.

[Updated 23/04/25]

Other costs you may encounter will include software subscription, books, materials and equipment. These can be around £400 – £600 per stage of study, though costs will vary depending on your choice of medium and whether books are bought or loaned from a library. Most reading materials can be accessed through the digital library services and eBooks, or sent to you in the post if included within the course materials, and degree students also have access to The Open University online library.