UDREDSFY - BA (Hons) Retail Design (including foundation year)

BA (Hons) Retail Design aims to provide students with the knowledge and skills for entering the design profession in the following areas: interior design, retail design brand identity, immersive digital environments, visualisation for retail environments, retail and commercial exhibition design, and for entry to interiors courses at MA level.

Consideration has been given to the following: the Subject Benchmark Statement (Art and Design 2017), the HE Qualification Framework, the University’s Strategic Plan and Student Charter, the University’s Undergraduate Regulations, the views and feedback of students, external examiners and employers/ clients, developments within the subject area, and the changing needs of the cultural/ commercial sectors and professions. Due consideration has also been given to inclusivity in course and assessment design, and specifically to the transition from the Level 3 year to the Level 4 – 6 BA programme.

Embedded in the Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design, the course draws on the strengths of teaching staff from across the School and the wide circle of academic and cultural contacts and collaborators attached to the School and University.

The course seeks to provide and foster:

• learning through direct experience, connecting academic and creative studies;
• student choice in subject and style of learning;
• understand the connections between physical and digital environments
• develop an understanding for brand identity and customer spatial experience
• a culture of independent and critical thought, encouraging the challenging of received ideas and practice;
• employability attributes, through live projects engaging with external partners, institutions and companies that create a realistic environment of professional expectations for students, preparing students for graduate-level employment;
• engagement across the School and University, providing opportunities for collaborative project work during study;
• individualised learning and study support opportunities, that cater for different learning styles;
• awareness of the duty of all to understand the impact of their decisions and actions as interior designers and to strive to act responsibly.

The foundation year provides a programme of study in widely applicable and design-specific skills, knowledge and contextual awareness that prepares students for level 4 study, including expectations of assessment and preparation for assessment in higher education. The foundation year offers a safe and managed transition from the directed learning of secondary education and regular contact with the staff and students of the level 4-6 cohort through workshops, critiques, exhibitions and cluster and School-wide events.

The course operates within a programme of related interior design undergraduate awards, bringing together best practice from related fields. Cognate BA awards (currently Interior Architecture and Design, Interior Design, Interior Design and Decoration, Retail Design) enable students to explore the fundamental aspects of design for interiors, through the particular lens of the built environment, the client, and/or decoration and detailing.

The learning and teaching strategies of BA (Hons) Retail Design aim to inspire vision and enable effective learning through progressive development of relevant digital, practical and intellectual knowledge and understanding of industry practice and process, providing an environment that encourages critical engagement within a meaningful context. Our philosophy embraces experiential learning. This process of discovery and progressive development through the stages and levels of degree studies encourages students to fully understand their discipline through reflection, peer review and self-assessment.

Students work through assignments and projects, steadily building on existing skills, developing and realising new ideas and concepts. This approach ensures that the student is guided through the acquisition of key knowledge, skills and critical development, as the course progresses.

Each year in levels 4 – 6, the course comprises four year-long modules in the areas of design concept and realisation, interior technologies and production, and cultural and contextual studies and professional practice. ) Throughout the preparatory foundation year, students are prepared with the skills and knowledge in research and development for design, a range of realisation techniques and contextual awareness to enable a secure and confident transition to level 4. The foundation year is designed as three stages.

Stage 1 introduces and establishes a common ground of new experiences, values and practical skills. It lays the foundation for the course and serves as a base from which more independent work can be developed. Classes, workshops, inductions and tasks are relatively short and focus on substantial production and skills acquisition.

Stage 2 is more open-ended, with a series of longer projects and more choice and decision making for the student who is encouraged to apply, reinforce and develop effective practices from Stage 1 to establish a personal perspective, responsibility for time-management, self-knowledge and a sense of direction for their own creative practice. Direct experience of possible choices for subject-area of study ahead are through Cass subject-area tutors involvement in Stage 2 studio projects generally and from specific subject-area studio projects run by Cass undergraduate subject-area tutors that include use of subject area studios, workshops, technical facilities and expertise. Students experience what is shared across creative practices as well as what is specific to a subject-area’s culture.

Stage 3 helps the student undertake a sustained, focussed and resolved study with a longer, final project that is perceived as ‘under their control’. The emphasis is on increasing/focussing their subject-area knowledge - testing their commitment, and the production and organisation of coherent and resolved work - as they devise the brief, manage the process and outcome, and are participants in the process of evaluating their work.

As a common basis of engagement, the design studio encompasses lectures, seminars, study visits, critiques, workshop activities, group and individual tutorials with tutors, industry professionals and subject specialists. Project work and theoretical studies offer opportunities for presentation: visual, spoken and textual, using digital technologies, blogs, videos, photography and websites. The course seeks to foster development across a range of learning styles.

Teaching methods include: lectures, seminars, tutorials, external visits, live briefings and feedback from partners, group critiques, workshops and opportunities for studio practice. Teaching and learning adopts a student-centered approach that identifies individual learning styles and accommodates them.

Lectures provide and encourage a critically informed view of a topic, contextualising the subject and illustrating applied approaches. Lectures provide students with a managed introduction to a theme, enabling them to continue with suggested or directed self-study.

Seminars enable students to debate and explore subjects, questions and assignments with peers and tutors, encouraging an open and collaborative approach to shared learning.

Tutorials support individual learning, allowing for individual approaches to study, and catering for individual interests. Tutorials can be diagnostic or can support specific assignment or project-related questions, and support differing student paths to achievement of learning outcomes.

External visits offer opportunities for vital direct experience with objects and sites of study, and to communicate with and learn from experts and specialists attached to partner institutions and bodies.

Live briefings and feedback are an important aspect of work-based learning, exposing students to experience of professional ways of working, of professional expectations of standards, and of the most current professional practice.

Critiques allow students to benefit from feedback on their own and others’ work, to contribute to that feedback, and are a valuable part of the peer-to-peer learning that is a core expectation and reason for University study.

Workshops offer students opportunities to engage in creative practice. Opportunities will be available to students to undertake workshop and studio practice relevant to their assignments or collaborative projects. The objective is to apply knowledge and/or acquire technical competence, to think critically and creatively, to master technique and develop the capacity to work independently and within teams.

Blended learning utilises the University’s VLE platform to support and reinforce reflective learning, to monitor progress through assignments, to foster peer-to-peer communication and collaborative research activity ,and to facilitate tutorial support for students and flexible approaches to learning

Project briefs develop from year to year in accordance with contemporary practice and opportunities for engagement with external partners that arise. Disciplinary research skills are embedded at the beginning of the course, and are built upon each academic year to ensure the maximum exploitation of the learning opportunities that projects and assignments offer.

REFER TO COURSE HANDBOOK

The course aims are aligned with the qualification descriptors within the Quality Assurance Agency’s Framework for Higher Education Qualifications.

The course aims to provide a high quality design education relevant to commercial retail and exhibition design. It seeks to ensure that its graduates are knowledgeable, creative, flexible, culturally and environmentally aware, technically proficient and of value to future employers. The course fosters individual curiosity and a sense of enquiry, competence in research, analysis and presentation, independence of thought, self-reliance, confidence and openness to professional development. Furthermore, the School is committed to design practice that is actively engaged with the socially orientated and ethical dimensions of design through linking with local and wider communities in design activity.

The course aims to:

1. promote risk-taking, exploratory and innovative strategies for designing spatial environments and control their narrative, function and experience, through evidence-based design;
2. encourage penetrating research and analysis, developing a rigorous and professional approach to the practice and challenges of the retail design profession that will develop entrepreneurialism and career opportunities;
3. ensure responsible ethical practice in relation to cultural, environmental, material and social circumstances and the needs of peoples and communities;
4. develop understanding of the working practices, roles and regulatory environment of the sector;
5. foster critical enquiry and understanding of the cultural, psychological, emotional, political, technological and economic factors related to the design, production, and use of aspects of the built environment and its component artefacts;
6. develop curiosity, independent enquiry and capacity to reason, critique and reflect upon practice through an integrated approach to practice and theory, research and analysis;
7. through working with 2D and 3D material/s in both traditional and digital processes and platforms, develop design and realisation skills for professional practice aligned with sector requirements.
8. combine intellectual processes, personal creative vision and technical skills in detailed design resolutions to test proposals for retail and exhibition spaces with peers, clients and agencies;
9. develop confident and persuasive presentational and communication skills utilising multidisciplinary approaches and production techniques;
10. produce graduates who can work independently, manage their own time and tasks and those of others, reflect objectively on their own performance, and plan effectively for the future, including for their careers;
11. support the growth of the individual; fostering self-reliance and commitment to personal and professional development, ensuring that graduates remain well-informed about current and developing thought and practice, and therefore maintain their employability.

On completion of this course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding:
1. recognise the relationship existing between design, culture, environment, manufacture and the economy (both historically and contemporaneously) and their relevance to design intention and critical theories (CA 5,6);
2. describe, understand and explore a range of interior retail and exhibition design concepts and contextual theories associated with design intention, process, dissemination and users/ communities (CA 1,2,5);
3. apply principles and techniques (including ethical and regulatory issues) that are required for the conduct of professional practice and management (CA 3,4);

Cognitive Intellectual Abilities:
4. apply intellectual skills to resolve design problems; utilising observation, research, independent critical appraisal, articulate reasoned argument, selection, organisation, structure (CA 2,6,8);
5. develop and challenge design concepts through understanding of contextual and critical issues and make decisions based upon social, ethical, environmental and economic issues (CA 2,3,8);
6. consider the needs and views of the client, user, brand, community and/or wider public in response to specific projects; investigating physical, practical, functional, experiential and sensory needs of people within interior environments (CA 3,8);

Transferable Skills:
7. independently and collaboratively present and communicate concepts and design proposals to ‘design teams’, associated industry professionals, clients, invested communities and the general public, through effective use of appropriate production technologies (CA 7,9,10);
8. communicate ideas, principles and concepts effectively by oral, written and visual means with clarity and confidence (CA 4,9);
9. exercise independently led project management skills, including time management, team negotiation and collaboration, reflective practice and self-promotion (CA 10,11);

Subject-Specific Practical Skills:
10. generate complex design concepts, narratives and proposals suitable for retail and other multidisciplinary design projects, through sketching, model making and digital processes (CA 1,7,8);
11. develop confident industry-led and entrepreneurial skills to effectively communicate, present, publish and exhibit projects to the interior and retail design profession (CA 2,9);
12. exhibit understanding of the roles and expertise of the extended team within the design and construction industries and work effectively in that context, enabling continuous self-development (CA 4,10,11).

Module Title Module Code Learning Outcomes

Project AA3001 LO7, LO8, LO9, LO10, LO11
Techniques AA3002 LO7, LO8, LO10
Formats AA3004 LO4, LO6, LO7, LO8, LO10
Critical and Contextual Studies: Foundation CP3010 LO1, LO2, LO4, LO5, LO7, LO8

CCS 1 CP4015 LO1, LO5, LO8,
Retail Strategies and Techniques DN4017 LO3, LO4, LO7, LO8, LO12,
Spatial Design Development DN4015 LO1, LO2, LO4, LO7,
Design Principles for Interiors DN4009 LO1, LO2, LO7, LO10, LO11,

CCS 2 CP5015 LO1, LO5, LO6, LO8,
Interiors Technologies and Production DN5010 LO2, LO3, LO4, LO6, LO7, LO8, LO12,
Human Scale DN5002 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO5, LO9, LO10,
Design Details DN5004 LO3, LO9, LO10, LO11, LO12.

CCS 3: Dissertation CP6015 LO1, LO5, LO8, LO9,
Integrated Design Practice DN6029 LO3, LO4, LO6, LO8, LO12,
Project Design and Development for Interiors DN6020 LO1, LO2, LO4 ,LO5, LO6, LO9, LO10,
Major Project Realisation: Retail Design DN6036 LO2, LO3, LO6 , LO7, LO9, LO10, LO11,

Subject Benchmark Statement: Art & Design (2017)
Subject Benchmark Statement: History of Art, Architecture and Design (2017)

The assessment strategy for the course has been designed holistically, to ensure manageable timing, workloads and clarity of expectations for students, and to avoid duplication of assessment of learning outcomes.

The assessment regimes for the modules and tasks are designed together with the briefs, prior to the start of the year, taking into account student, external examiner, professional collaborator and colleague feedback from previous instances. The requirements of briefs and their components, the assessment criteria, grading scheme and descriptors are published and explained to students at the start of the year and are designed to be used as consistently as possible, to avoid unnecessary complication. Assessment is related to the achievement of learning outcomes; qualification frameworks and subject benchmark statements are consulted to ensure clear language that is appropriate to level of study. Students are informed of the procedures for first, second and parity marking, and external examiner scrutiny of the assessment process and marks, to ensure that they understand and have confidence in the probity of the process and security of the final marks.

In every case, there is required formative assessment and feedback prior to summative assessment at set points. This is recorded so that it can be used by both students and staff to track further progress and engage support where it is required. Feedback follows good pedagogic practice in that it is constructed as ‘feed-forward’, with a focus on specific actions and strategies as to how to improve, not only on what requires improvement. Challenge to students is managed, so that students performing well in-year are encouraged to strive for excellence, while those performing less well experience clear, targeted and structured guidance, including notice of where they are doing well or are showing potential.

The course adheres to the University’s requirements for assessment and feedback turnaround times and to academic regulations for marking and second making sampling. Additionally, the course engages in Subject and School parity exercises to ensure that assessment standards are consistent. This is especially important in relation to studio delivery through which students on the same modules will be undertaking differing projects.

• Assessment and feedback practices are informed by reflection, consideration of professional practice, and subject-specific and educational scholarship.
• Staff and students engage in dialogue to promote a shared understanding of the basis on which academic judgements are made.
• Students are provided with opportunities to develop an understanding of, and the necessary skills to demonstrate, good academic practice.
• The volume, timing and nature of assessment enable students to demonstrate the extent to which they have achieved the intended learning outcomes.
• Formative assessment supports students in developing for summative assessment.
• Feedback on assessment is timely, constructive and developmental.
• Processes for marking assessments and for moderating marks are clearly articulated and consistently operated by those involved in the assessment process.

Work- related learning is embedded in the course both formally in DN5010 and throughout the course through live projects, industry visits, visiting speakers and events such as ‘Making a Living’ and ‘Celebration’ weeks.

Work-related learning is an integrated and mandatory part of the course, in line with the University’s policy of securing a work related learning opportunity for each undergraduate student during their studies, with at least 70 hours working on live projects for real organisations delivered through placement, live briefs, real entrepreneurial activities or short in term work placements built into the course. Students will experience a competitive recruitment process or pitching for opportunities, and they will be required to reflect on their experience of the project or placement and undertake forward career action planning.

The majority of tutors and lecturers on the course are practitioners and share their knowledge and experience with students throughout their course of study. The studio delivery of the course means that opportunities for work related learning through collaboration with external companies, agencies, institutions, competitions and professionals can be taken up as they arise, if appropriate to the programme of study.

Studios function as simulations of professional workplaces, with expectations of professional standards, conduct and delivery building as students progress from level to level. During their final year, students are expected to work independently towards completion of professional portfolio of projects, culminating in exhibition of these in the annual summer show and associated events.

ACADEMIC PROGRESSION: As a condition of progressing from level 3 to 4, level 4 to 5 and level 5 to 6, students are required to have gained 120 credits per level, that is, by achieving pass marks (40%) in all four modules in the preceding level of study.

COURSE COMPLETION
Level 6: In order to achieve an honours degree award on this course, students must have completed and passed each Level 6 module at 40% or above.

PART-TIME MODE OF STUDY
Part-time study is defined as 60 credits per year. Consequently, in part-time mode, the duration of study for a 480-credit degree will be 8 years. The pattern of study in CASS degrees shall be as follows:

Year 1 – AA3001 & AA3002 or CP3010 & AA3004
Year 2 – AA3001 & AA3002 or CP3010 & AA3004
Year 3 – DN4015 & DN4009
Year 4 – CP4015 & DN4017
Year 5 – DN5010 & DN5002
Year 6 – CP5015 & DN5004
Year 7 – DN6020 & DN6036
Year 8 – CP6015 & DN6029

• CP3010 Critical and Contextual Studies: Foundation
• AA3001 Project
• AA3002 Techniques
• AA3004 Formats

• DN4015 Spatial Design Development
• DN4009 Design Principles for Interiors
• CP4015 Critical and Contextual Studies 1 (Interiors)
• DN4017 Retail Strategies and Techniques

• DN5002 Human Scale
• DN5010 Interior Technologies and Production
• CP5015 Critical and Contextual Studies 2 (Interiors)
• DN5004 Design Details

• DN6020 Project Design and Development for Interiors
• DN6036 Major Project Realisation: Retail Design
• CP6015 Critical and Contextual Studies 3: Dissertation (Interiors)
• DN6029 Integrated Design Practice

The School’s studio system of curriculum delivery embeds reflective learning and personal development planning throughout the course.

Most summative assessment is at the end of year-long modules, with several formative assessment points formally instituted in the course of the year. At these interim formative assessment and feedback points, students reflect on their progress to date with their peers and course staff (with the benefit of feedback from professional partners), seek help where they identify the opportunity for improvement in learning strategies and outcomes, and make recommendations to themselves for future development. The feedback and student reflection is recorded and forms an action plan for the next period of study.

This system is highly individualised, but also benefits from peer engagement in studio critiques. The School’s programme of employability events and embedded work-related learning within the curriculum supports students’ personal development planning. Through these initiatives, students are increasingly able, as they progress from year to year, to understand the professional environment of their disciplines, the various opportunities available to them, and how to shape their learning according to their ambitions.

Throughout the modules and the course therefore, in this way, students build bodies of work, including reflections on progress and achievement, and planning for their future achievement of targets.

In the foundation year the main outcome of the course is contained in the student’s portfolio of projects containing edited and organised versions of all the work the student has undertaken during the course. It is used both for the purposes of self-reflection and evaluation, formal assessment and, in various versions, to apply for jobs or courses. Building the portfolio is a continuous enterprise. Every project, practical or intellectual exercise can be represented in the portfolio but also has to contribute to the document as a whole and in its parts. Students learn to reflect on their work both as a specific item and in the context of their own developing profile in their portfolio.

British Institute of Interior Design Code of Conduct and Professional Ethics

Careers advice is integral to the course. Design related employment agencies are invited to lecture and support the review of student CVs and portfolio surgeries are carried out through which the student is given encouraging and specific advice in regards to their presentational focus. Students are mentored by industry professionals throughout their final year and students are encouraged and supported to seek internships and work experience. Competition, exhibition and publicity opportunities exist throughout the course and external exhibitions and trade fairs enable students to develop further career opportunities. Students are supported throughout to reflect upon their own practice so that they are able to progress successfully to their chosen field within the professional retail or interior design sector.

Successful completion of the course offers enhanced career opportunities in the design industry. Students leave with a high quality portfolio of work and a range of practical, professional and academic skills, providing an excellent base for both work and further study. Most of our graduates go on to practice in retail and interior design, interior architecture, design more generally or are employed within architectural practices or progress to postgraduate study. Graduating from the BA (Hons) Retail Design is the start of lifelong learning and an exciting and varied career in design. It provides graduates with core and transferable knowledge and skills that enable individuals to seek work in a wide variety of areas connected to the built environment and other related professions.

Students can also benefit from support and guidance from the Careers and Employability services and the University’s business incubator unit, ‘Accelerator’.

This course will open up a range of opportunities for you in retail design, ranging from high streets and shopping malls to restaurants and coffee shops.

You’ll also graduate with tools to help you find employment in fields that champion sustainable design for community prosperity and regeneration.

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

• at least one A level (or a minimum of 32 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification, eg BTEC Subsidiary/National/BTEC Extended Diploma)
• English Language GCSE at grade C/4 or above (or equivalent)

You will need to attend an interview with your portfolio of creative work. If you live outside the UK, you will be required to submit a small portfolio of work via email.

To study a degree at London Met, you must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. If you require a Tier 4 student visa you may need to provide the results of a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. For more information about English qualifications please see our English language requirements.

If you need (or wish) to improve your English before starting your degree, the University offers a Pre-sessional Academic English course to help you build your confidence and reach the level of English you require.