Got a passion for creative design? Not quite ready to undertake a full honours degree? Southampton Solent University’s Design Foundation Programme is perfectly suited to students who may not be from an art- design- or fashion-related background or whose qualifications do not meet the admissions requirements of their chosen course.  To help get you up to speed, this one-year foundation course provides all the creative, technical and study skills needed for entry onto a degree-level art, design or fashion course. Upon completion, you will be able to progress onto a range of art-, design- and fashion- related courses here at Southampton Solent. The course begins with a five-week group project. This enables students to mix with like-minded peers and helps them to settle in quickly. This project also helps students to decide which area they might like to follow at a later stage. The following ten weeks are spent introducing students to the world of art, design and fashion. This includes design history, vocabulary, methods and academic foundation. This ten-week block will also give students the opportunity to learn and apply two-dimensional and three-dimensional visualisation techniques, giving them the tools required to conduct their final project. This final project takes place in the last fifteen weeks of the course and is based around the specific discipline that the student will go on to study. The project will be supported by tuition in visual presentation techniques, enabling students to communicate their concepts, development processes and final proposals. Students will also receive instruction in verbal communication and presentation techniques, increasing their confidence in pitching design ideas. Successful completion of the Design foundation year will provide a pathway to the BA (Hons) Architectural Design Technology degree. The architectural design and technology course is professionally accredited by the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists, meaning that the curriculum meets the specific needs of the architectural technology industry. Solent architectural design and technology students have the opportunity to showcase their final-year projects to employers and the public at our end-of-year built environment show, and in the past students have secured graduate employment as a result. Students also have the opportunity to work in our built environment studio. This modern studio space was developed to give a sense of the feel and atmosphere of a working professional studio, bringing students together from various built environment courses to collaborate as they would in the real-world workplace. Solent students will study in the heart of an exciting city undergoing significant development, from the royal pier project, the new cultural quarter and Watermark West Quay to Solent University’s own Spark building.