foundation year

The Foundation Year is a rigorous introduction to principle and fundamental concepts of design. The year takes an exploratory approach to creativity – an intense experience of making, giving students a solid start to their lives as creative professionals. The modules, 2d and 3d, develop skills in colour, composition, form, decision-making and critical thinking.

Modules
Weave, FY/WV Credits: 4
The Weave Module at SSD seeks to maximize the relationship between WHAT and WHY through ideas and making based on visual research. Its interdisciplinary approach widens the creative and intellectual avenues through which students develop their individual strengths and design philosophies. The backdrop to this engagement is current textile design practice.
The studio interacts with materials, technology, processes and research – a dynamic and contemporary process of though learning takes the form of talks, design projects and visits, enabling students to develop process alongside aesthetics.

Ceramics FY/CER Credits: 4
The core of the Ceramics Studio is technique, process and discipline. Alongside this, the Studio encourages spontaneity and free expression fostering a sense of individualism. Students learn the technics of potting and experience the potential in working with clay. Exploring form, structure and finish, projects encourage the development of sculptural thinking.

Fine Art FY/FA Credits: 8
Fine Art is explored through practice, discussion and presentation. The modules explores perceptual drawing and representation through life studies and projects engaging with memory and experimentation. The experience of the Studio aims to open up the relationship between mind and hand, engendering a confidence in mark making that lies at the core of creative thinking.

Product Design FY/PD Credits: 8
Product design is introduced to students through a series of short dynamic design projects. The Studio uses observation, deconstruction and experimentation as techniques to explore product and its creation. Students work in a number of ways that are designed to build skills in working creatively with others. Project work takes place in the SSD studio and model-making workshop.

Theory FY/TOK Credits: 4
Theory of Knowledge is the basis of the Theory module – an interactive course that develops the idea of the self and it’s relationship to the world. The year is split into 4 segments of personal experience each becoming a stage of discovery. Students produce a book that charts their journey, using discussion, critique and commentary as methods of mental growth.
Alongside the critical activities is a series of social events – the year works together to formulate social situations that can act as a backdrop to discussion. This element begins to explore non-academic environments that develop who we are socially and our interaction with others.
Design Mentors is a strand of the TOK module where students are asked to research a creative’s work that they find inspirational. Students will spend the Foundation Year delving into the lives of their mentors – unearthing their design philosophies, projects and personal lives. Aimed at expanding the notion of design, Design Mentors is a way to develop responses and relationships to creative practice.

Spatial Design FY/SD Credits: 4
The Spatial Design studio is an exploratory introduction to spatial design, through physical, sociological and emotional understandings. The course is a proactive element of the Foundation Year, often bringing together all the studio’s learning, grounding students in understanding the principles and theories of scale, proportion and aesthetics.
The module is structured in two parts, lectures/talks/discussion and design projects. Students learn through making connections between their own work and the work of others, with specialist designers practicing in fields of environment, acoustics, lighting and manufacturing contributing to the lecture series.