Fashion Design BA (Hons)

This module will introduce you to the fundamentals of fashion design through four key specialisms: Fashion Collection, Fashion Product, Fashion Technology, and Fashion Knitwear. In addition, you'll be encouraged to explore other creative hubs in and outside of the school to personalise your experience and enhance your projects. The aim is to equip you with the essential knowledge and skills needed for the future of fashion while fostering your creativity and awareness of sustainability, inclusivity, and emerging technologies. You'll gain a core understanding of each specialism through a series of lectures, tutorials, and hands-on workshops, and guided by your tutors, you will begin to uncover your strengths, interests, and career aspirations. This module will also prepare you for potential placement opportunities in your second year with the support of our NTU Employability team.

This module will introduce you to the fundamentals of design practice, including concept development, drawing techniques, colour theory, and material investigation. Additionally, you will use future thinking strategies to imagine new worlds and possibilities for design. The aim is to encourage further exploration of these fundamentals so you can personalise them in your work and lay the foundation for your growth as a responsible designer. This will help you see that the future is something you can shape, rather than something that just happens to you. Working in multidisciplinary teams with other students from across the Fashion, Textiles, and Knitwear (FTK) courses, you will build on this knowledge and test your essential employability skills. Regular reflection in seminars, tutorials, and workshops is also a key part of this module and will enable you to track your professional development.

This module will introduce you to the fundamentals of industry practice through a live menswear project. The brief will be set by an external industry partner, and you will work in collaborative teams to meet specific criteria. The aim is to equip you with the essential knowledge and skills needed for menswear design, including market and trends, while critiquing the current fashion system and its position on sustainability, masculinity, inclusivity, and ethics. Through a series of lectures, tutorials, and hands-on workshops you will build on strengths gained in Level 4, expanding the knowledge and skills of your chosen specialism: Fashion Collection; Fashion Product; Fashion Technology; or Fashion Knitwear, and refining other areas of creative interest. You will be exposed to industry processes, timelines, and standards and a high level of professionalism will be expected throughout. This experience is designed to prepare you for industry engagement at the end of the module and potential placement opportunities at the end of the year.

This module will help you consolidate your learning from previous modules while providing opportunities for further self-discovery and community building. At the beginning of the module, you will identify broader social, cultural, and/or environmental themes that align with your values. These themes will then serve as a springboard for 'world-making' and launch your personal project. The aim is to prepare you for your final year, by enhancing your confidence with academic sources and supporting you to push the boundaries of your creative experiments or prototypes. Emphasis will be placed on sustainable design strategies and the integration of both traditional and emerging technologies from Indigenous practice to ethical AI. Through a series of lectures, tutorials, and 'new skills' workshops, you will be encouraged to hone your chosen specialism: Fashion Collection; Fashion Product; Fashion Technology; or Fashion Knitwear, and expand its potential.

Through active participation with team-based problem solving, you will work together in mixed teams on a project where you will use your creative ideas to generate solutions to the challenge or brief. Your project will allow you to explore how creativity can make an impact in society, as you choose a theme of sustainability, social justice, enterprise and innovation or community. This collaborative learning experience will expose you to a range of new processes and approaches that will develop your creative thinking.

This optional module offers the opportunity to personalise your learning and collaborate across disciplines while exploring slow making and craftsmanship in textile design. Through hands-on workshops, contextual research and storytelling, you'll examine ethical and material considerations in design. You'll finish by proposing a practice-based research project informed by your creative and critical exploration.

Explore the art of hat making and millinery in this optional module, rarely taught in higher education and relevant across performance and cultural industries. You'll examine the meaning of objects through semiotics, develop a personal design brief, and create 3D outcomes. Studied in mixed-course groups, the module encourages collaboration and allows you to personalise your learning.

This optional module introduces you to trend forecasting and its influence on fashion communication and promotion. You'll develop research, analysis and storytelling skills to predict future trends across industries. By choosing this module, you can personalise your course and work alongside students from other disciplines, encouraging collaboration and a broader creative perspective.

This module explores Web3 technologies, ideologies, and culture through individual and group projects. Students research NFT projects, develop and launch original NFT collections, and engage in a creative Web3 community. Topics include blockchain, smart contracts, NFTs, AI, and agile methods. Emphasis is on hands-on experience, community building, and preparing for emerging careers in the Web3 creative industries.

This Year 2 optional module introduces fantasy prop design for industries like film, TV, theatre, and games. You'll learn 3D CAD and traditional making techniques to create imaginative, functional props. The module covers concept development, digital modelling, prototyping, and final production, culminating in a tangible artefact and a portfolio developing both creative and technical skills for industry application.

This module provides a detailed exploration of Virtual Production, a cutting-edge filmmaking technique that integrates live-action footage with digital environments in real-time. Students will explore a range of advanced technologies such as CGI, augmented reality, motion capture, and LED walls in order to shoot content using immersive and realistic virtual sets. The module will introduce students to the workflow of Virtual Production, from pre-visualisation and real-time engine integration to in-camera visual effects and performance capture.

This optional module allows you to personalise your course and collaborate with students from across the Nottingham School of Art & Design. You'll gain hands-on experience in fashion styling, exploring personal and cultural identity while responding to global trends. Through creative image-making and critical reflection, you'll build a portfolio that demonstrates how styling can communicate powerful narratives and challenge social norms.

This optional module explores sustainable creative practices using natural materials for colour, image-making, and 3D construction. Through hands-on workshops, you'll learn techniques like natural dyeing, eco-printing, and biomaterials while considering environmental impact and well-being. The module builds a foundation in sustainable design and results in a portfolio of innovative, nature-inspired visual research and experimental work.

We have an option for all of our students to undertake a placement year and allow you to decide whether this is right for you once you have completed years 1 and 2 of your course. This time spent working in industry provides our students with crucial work experience, which is highly prized and much sought after by employers upon graduation. If you are successful in securing a placement you will have the chance to gain an additional Certificate or Diploma in Professional Practice, dependent on duration.

The additional placement year incurs a fee. For international students considering the transfer to the 4-yr SW route it's important to seek advice from the International Student Support team and the Home Office regarding any potential visa implications and costs. For UK students, advice should also be sought regarding SLC eligibility, if applicable.

* If you choose to take the sandwich route option, you will need to apply for this course by using the full-time UCAS code.

If you're studying on our sandwich route you can also opt to study abroad for a full academic year, or for a semester, during Year Three. This is an optional and additional period of study that complements your degree at NTU as an alternative to taking a work placement.

This is an exciting opportunity to experience a different national culture, teaching and learning styles and subjects in an international environment. The destination university must be a year abroad / exchange partner of NTU or member of a formally recognised scheme such as the International Student Exchange Programme (ISEP).

Our NTU Global and student mobility team will support you in finding the right opportunity from one of the many international partners available around the world.

Successful completion of a period of international study will earn you a standalone award an International Study Certificate (minimum six weeks) or the International Study Diploma (minimum 36 weeks).

This module supports you in completing an individual research project that builds on your critical and contextual understanding of contemporary world issues from Levels 4 and 5. Your project will be presented as an illustrated dissertation or in an alternative format, encompassing skills in research, analysis, and communication. The aim is to identify a relevant aspect of design and/or the wider cultural context and explore it in depth. You will develop viable research questions and conduct appropriate primary and secondary research to answer those questions. Analysis of academic texts, along with your own first-hand observations, will inform your critical thinking and contribute to your creative practice. The themes you explore might directly impact the outcome of your specialism or enhance your overall understanding of the broader context in which your career will develop.

This module will enable you to develop a deeper understanding of contemporary world issues. Building on your Level 5 proposal, you will refine your chosen topic and expand your research skills through seminars, tutorials, and independent study. A series of formative assessments will scaffold the development of your work, including presentations outlining the starting points of your research and planned structure, and a draft assignment, before the final submission. This blend of activities will enhance your knowledge of world issues, theories, and debates related to 20th and 21st-century design and/or culture relevant to your topic. You will also develop skills in primary and secondary research, analysis, organisation of information, written and visual communication, and peer and self-assessment.

This module is designed to initiate your final year project and build on the knowledge and skills gained from previous modules at Levels 4 and 5, including Optional and Co-LAB. You can choose to work individually or collaboratively in physical and/or digital formats, but you must have a clear rationale for this project following your proposal presentation at Level 5. The aim is to expand the scope of your specialism: Fashion Collection; Fashion Product; Fashion Technology; or Fashion Knitwear, and other areas of creative interest through extensive prototyping and refining of technical processes via advanced research methodologies, design development, and design translation. This work should also connect to broader social, cultural, and environmental themes raised in your parallel Creative Practice and Theory module to underpin the purpose and potential impact of your project.

This module focuses on the resolution of your final year project and emphasises the importance of effectively communicating your work to intended audiences and industry networks. You will refine the prototypes and technical processes developed in your Creative Practice and Intention module and build on them to create a coherent outcome based on your specialism: Fashion Collection; Fashion Product; Fashion Technology; or Fashion Knitwear, and other areas of creative interest (including internal/external competitions). The aim is to support you in developing creative and impactful visual and/or digital content that resonates with diverse audiences and enhances the reach and influence of your project. In addition, you will evaluate your statement of intent from your previous module and reflect on how your project has evolved to meet your career aspirations. The module will close with a showcase of your final-year project utilising the appropriate platforms to promote your work.