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Design

Diploma of Design (Online)

THE PATH TO YOUR DREAM DESIGN JOB IS LAID OUT RIGHT HERE
SAE Design student
Available at
Online
Fees
Diploma of Design (Online)
Domestic Fees

AED 50, 480 + (5% VAT)

*This cost is for the entire Diploma Program. 

Click here to view more about Fees and Payments

Diploma of Design (Online)
International Fees

AED 50, 480 + (5% VAT)

*This cost is for the entire Diploma Program. 

Click here to view more about Fees and Payments

Duration(s)
3 Trimesters Full Time

Whilst still classified as a full time study load, you will complete the program over one year (3 trimesters)

Diploma of Design (Online)
Course Durations
3 Trimesters Full Time

Whilst still classified as a full time study load, you will complete the program over one year (3 trimesters)

Start Date(s)
Online
Diploma of Design (Online)
Start Dates
Online
Entry Requirements
Diploma of Design (Online)
Domestic Entry Requirements
Domestic students must meet one of the following criteria:
Minimum age requirements
Completion of an Australian Senior Secondary Certificate of Education (your Year 12 certificate) or equivalent; OR
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Academic requirements
Completion of an Australian Senior Secondary Certificate of Education (SSCE) or equivalent; which is Grade/Year 12 according to the Australian curriculum. Minimum overall pass is required.
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English language requirements
International English Language Testing System (IELTS): A band score of 6 or higher for a Higher Education (HE) course and 5.5 or higher for a VET course (only the Academic Test is accepted), OR
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Diploma of Design (Online)
International Entry Requirements
International Entry Requirements
Minimum age requirements
Be at least 18 years of age (or turning 18 during your first year of studies) or 17y before the commencement of the first term
Entry Requirements
Academic requirements
Completion of an Australian Senior Secondary Certificate of Education (SSCE) or equivalent; which is Grade/Year 12 according to the Australian curriculum. Minimum overall pass is required.
More info
English language requirements
International English Language Testing System (IELTS): An overall score of 5.5 or higher with no individual band lower than 5.0 (only the Academic Test is accepted), OR
More info
Completion of Year 12 English in an Australian secondary school or college or equivalent with a minimum result of “Satisfactory” or equivalent.
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Successful completion of an Academic English program with an SAE-approved Australian-based English partner. Please refer to our SAE International Study Pathways for more information.
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YOUR CAREER IN DESIGN BEGINS NOW

SAE Design student wall
Develop advanced skills in industry-standard software packages Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Adobe XD and After Effects.
Practical, immersive training All work is project-based, with no exams.
Cross discipline collaboration Use your design skills to work across film, audio, music, gaming and animation projects at SAE.
Expand your career Graduate with a portfolio, work experience, employability and entrepreneurial skills and a network of fellow creatives.

You'll learn the latest industry-standard software

Design & Visual Communication Skills

Branding and identity design Online and print design Digital image-making User-centred design

Course Structure

The Bachelor of Design and Visual Communication is broken up into three distinct stages over eight trimesters (full time, fast track). Each stage is designed to develop different skills.
Stage 1: Foundations
Develop the essential technical design skills and the knowledge required to collaborate with other creative media students and professionals.
Credit Points: 10

In this unit, you will learn about the ideas and concepts of design. You will discover the art of presenting and defending a point of view in a convincing and effective way by referring to valid and trustworthy sources of information. Thinking about and referencing the work of others helps you to develop critical thinking skills. By using tools on the internet and working with others you will expand what you alone can achieve. In your projects, you will delve into the history and language of the design industry in order to develop an understanding of your place and purpose within it.
Credit Points: 10

In this unit you will learn about the principles of design through creating vector graphics in the form of motifs, pictorial marks and logos using Adobe Illustrator and other tools. Project briefs and activities in this unit introduce the principles of design; these are visual rules that can be applied in the creation of any image to enhance their impact, attractiveness and ability to communicate. The principles of design are useful and essential to your ongoing design practice
Credit Points: 10

In this unit you will learn about illustration and the creative and technical production of digital images using photoshop and other tools. Working by hand and digitally you will explore a range of drawing techniques and tools including processes of iteration and refinement. You will investigate visual storytelling through the development of a series of images. Storytelling through your creative practice is essential to your ongoing design practice.
Credit Points: 10

In this unit you will learn about designing page layouts for print through the combination of images and type. Your work will include the design of posters, brochures and flyers. You will investigate historical design styles; analysing, adapting and applying these styles in your work. You will explore the typographic art of arranging letters and words to make copy easy to read, visually appealing, and stylistically appropriate. Knowing how to use typography and layout effectively is essential to your ongoing design practice.
Credit points: 10
This unit will introduce you to the mindset and skillset of the creative entrepreneur, and transform your approach to problem-solving. You will analyse historical and contemporary models of leadership and best practice in entrepreneurship, and use tools for project design that include ideation, problem framing, and pitching. The skills in this unit will assist you in developing your creative thinking, exploration, and experimentation methods, allowing you to experiment with project design and content for creative media.
Credit Points: 10

In this module you will learn to understand the user or target audience as part of your design process, through an exploration of UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) design. By applying the tools of UX design such as personas and user journeys and those of UI design such as prototyping, iterating and testing you will explore the creation of websites or apps that provide an ideal user experience.
Credit Points: 20

This unit will simulate being in a real-world studio. Your designs will respond to larger project briefs with multiple deliverables, and you will engage in teamwork. This means time management, communication and scheduling will be crucial. You will learn to consider projects strategically in terms of your client’s brand or identity, and how these can be communicated visually and through associated text and structures. You are encouraged to explore and seek out new contemporary methods and tools for design and communication.

In this studio setting your facilitator will act as your project manager, producer, mentor and colleague.

This unit will be holistically assessed based on the criteria outlined in the unit guide. Teamwork, collaborative skills, and engagement with specific feedback processes are emphasised in this unit, as you further refine and reflect on a set of Transferable Skills.
Stage 2: Refine & Expand
Broaden your scope to work on complex multidisciplinary projects in accordance with industry standard practices.
Credit Points: 10

In CIM210 you will be working on interdisciplinary projects that relate to some of the most important concepts in contemporary media production. You will learn practical and analytical skills in order to help you develop your creative powers and meet briefs that take you out of your comfort zone. You will need to bring all of the skills you have learned so far: technical skills, research skills, communication skills and a growth mindset, and be prepared to encounter new concepts and new ways of working.
Credit Points: 30

Like in Studio 1, this unit will simulate being in a real-world studio. Your designs will respond to larger project briefs with multiple deliverables, and you will engage in teamwork. Your teams may also include students from other disciplines or campuses. This means consideration of your teammates' cultural and industry contexts as well as thoughtful and conscientious time management, communication and scheduling will be crucial. Problem framing will be a key consideration in order to provide clear goals that will allow effective teamwork. You will learn to consider projects strategically in terms of your client’s brand or identity, and how these can be communicated visually and through associated text and structures. You are encouraged to explore and seek out new contemporary methods and tools for design and communication, and to enhance your existing skills.
Credit Points: 10

Media and culture are not simply entertainment, but something that affects the “real world”, our everyday lives, and our worldviews. As such, we will not ask whether media accurately reflect the real world but instead ask how media shape, reinforce, and challenge power structures that influence our understanding of the world and ourselves. This unit takes a ‘critical theory’ approach to analyze media and culture. In this unit, you will explore media texts, contexts and meaning, society and subjectivity, pop culture aesthetics, and critical cultural discourses that inform creative media practices.

Drawing on a range of creative content and analytical frameworks, you will be encouraged to develop ways of thinking about media and culture that demonstrate a broad awareness of aesthetic principles and stylistic trends; subjectivity, agency, ethics, and relations of power; contexts, disciplines and discursive formations. In support of this exploration, you will produce a range of media artifacts that explore and contextualize the relationship of media to culture through individual analysis, collaborative and interdisciplinary creative practice, and critical reflection.

Credit Points: 30

Like in Studio 2, this unit will simulate being in a real-world studio. You will build on skills gained earlier in the course with various modes of design but with a stronger strategic focus and with a set of skills and mindset that seeks out and allows you to collaborate effectively.

You will actively explore the benefits of bringing creatives from other disciplines into your teams in terms of the value this brings to your campaigns. Your teams may include students from other disciplines or campuses and external clients. You will consider how your transferable skills enhance your own identity as an emerging professional. This means consideration of your teammates and clients’ cultural and industry contexts as well as thoughtful and conscientious time management, communication and scheduling.

Crafting compelling driving questions will allow you to attract interested, engaged and motivated creative teams. You will reflect on your scholarly practice looking for connections to your design practice.

You will learn to consider projects strategically in terms of your client’s identity, and also your own identity as a professional, by considering what you can personally provide to allow for successful and satisfying projects.
Stage 3: Showcase
Execute a project of your own design which is of high quality and externally published, with the knowledge to commercialise if you choose. You'll also apply your skills through industry work placement.
Credit Points: 20

This is the first unit in a two-part process of developing a collaborative project, designed to meet professional publication standards. In a group, you'll design and execute a full-scale creative project which will be designed to a specific target audience and market of your team's choosing.

Working closely with SAE Project Supervisors, your project will be guided through formal pre-production and production processes to deliver a creative media project. If you are undertaking a specialisation in your course, you will be required to align it with this capstone project as part of the approval process.

This unit is designed to support the pre-production process, long term success of the project and the fair and equitable contribution of group members. You'll present to the panel your forward plan for the project, which demonstrates rigourous pre-production processes to mitigate risk to ensure the project can be delivered on time and to specification.

Once you successfully complete this unit the emphasis of the capstone project development will move away from pre-production into full production mode.
Credit Points: 20

Your final studio unit is an opportunity for you to finesse your skills in areas that appeal to you, with your capstone project development in mind. You will be responding to industry-related briefs in a way that displays your personal and professional skills.

As an effective collaborator, you will be expected to engage in projects that extend and refine your practice and provide high quality examples of creative work for your portfolio. You will confidently apply what you have learned about time management, communication and other transferable skills keeping in mind the ways that your transferable skills enhance your own identity as an emerging professional.

You will think about and apply what you have learned in your scholarly practice to your work in terms of themes and concepts, and seek out a community of practice that explores similar ideas, and that may form a network for your professional practice.

You may create a point of difference in your work through the creative application of contemporary methods and tools for design and communication that augment your abilities, and enhance your existing skills.
Credit Points: 20

Using the project plan and pre-production work that you completed in the Major Project Development Unit, you'll adopt a quality framework that will lead to the publication of a final creative piece.

This quality process will be accountable to multiple, external stakeholders and will test your ability to problem solve, evaluate and synthesise information to the standard that we expect from all SAE graduates. Throughout this journey, you will interact with your classmates and other key stakeholders using the processes and systems and that you would have developed throughout your course.

The publication and subsequent success of the final deliverable will represent the broadening and deepening of your professional practice which has occurred during your journey.
Credit Points: 10

Gain an introduction to the principles of entrepreneurship to create and operate your own creative media small business venture. Through analysing the global media landscape, You'll be able to identify and explore start-up opportunities within the creative industries.

This unit is designed to be done in parallel with your capstone project. You'll apply the skills and knowledge from this unit to formulate a rigorous business case to help you commercialise your capstone project and use it as a basis for a creative media start-up.
Credit Points: 10

Future jobs will require workers to learn on the job; focus on relationships with people; have strong communication skills; use a range of transferable skills. Research consistently points to the benefits of students being prepared with documents that are required for job applications, such as a Resume, Cover Letter, and E-portfolio.

In addition, the value of a Work Placement which provides you with professional experience and an opportunity to use skills and knowledge gained from study to complement this.

The Work Placement for SAE Bachelor students requires a minimum of 80 hours at one or more host organisation. Both the student and the host are required to complete an SAE Agreement which formalises the placement.
Credit Points: 10
CRICOS Course Codes
2 TRIMESTERS
Australian Qualifications Framework
AQF Level: 5 FULLY ACCREDITED BY TEQSA AND ATTESTED BY KHDA
INDUSTRY PARTNERS. INDUSTRY PARTNERS.
We consult closely with industry professionals so you can expect a course that’s highly relevant and equips you with sought-after skills.
SAE Design class

BACHELOR OF DESIGN CAREER OUTCOMES

What jobs will this course lead me into?

  • Graphic designer
  • Content manager
  • Print and digital designer
  • Social media designer
  • UX designer
  • UI designer
  • Creative director
  • Branding and identity designer
  • Art director
Design

YOUR DREAM DESIGN CAREER BEGINS NOW

With our industry connections, specialised teachers and personalised education in world-class facilities, you can unleash your creative future with confidence.
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