Bachelor of Design specialising in Fashion Design

Fashion Designers define individuals, communities, cultures and sub-cultures through the creative use of textiles. They understand current trends and the way people use clothing to express their humanity and individuality. Graduates can conceptualise design solutions, draft and manipulate patterns and construct garments for all types of people. They digitally create fashion illustrations using computer-aided design.

These designers often work in retail environments as fashion visual merchandisers, stylists, buyers, coordinators, planners and distributors; in the media as fashion illustrators, journalists, editors, photographers, trend forecasters, analysts and historians; or in design and product development as fashion designers, product planners, colourists, textile designers.

• Consumables cost 1st year (+-R1000) **estimates only
• Continuous project-based assessment
• Digital and print portfolio submissions in 2nd and 3rd year
• Final years graduate in December
• Degree candidates can go on to apply for postgraduate studies pending they meet the application and entrance requirements of the relevant Institution.
• Our programmes are quality assured and standardised across all Inscape campuses nationally.
• You can enrol for our Bachelor of Design programme at any campus to complete your 1st year.
• Students who are accepted into certain degree specialisation programmes might be required to complete their 2nd and 3rd-year studies at another specialised Inscape campus.

What is included in the course

• MacBook * optional
• Wacom tablet
• Software licenses (as per programme requirements)
• Prescribed textbooks
• 1st-year preliminary art equipment
• Online library subscription
• Digital study guides and courseware
• Internet connectivity

Excluded

• Monthly consumables
• Digital camera

Course Information Year 1

FUNDAMENTAL DESIGN 1st year – DESIGN SKILLS

• Developing fundamental design skills to create design savvy, critical thinkers.
• Developing foundational Drawing Skills, Basic Material and Manufacturing awareness, Digital Image Making, Communication, Software and Leadership skills to create well-rounded designers fit for any design industry.
• Developing an awareness of the integrated nature of design, advancing the unique thinking of our students.
• Introducing an appreciation for Design History.
• Establishing fundamental building blocks for creative problem-solving.

Course Information Year 2

DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC 2nd year – DESIGN KNOWLEDGE

• An introduction to textiles and fabric making process lays the foundation for garment design, designing using multiple mediums and techniques. Understanding fashion trends and history creates a strong foundation for design application and knowledge.
• Applying theory to practice through an understanding of textile technology, history and production. Fashion systems such as the clothing production and processes as well as various clothing technologies used in the fashion industry assist in innovative and forward thinkers in today’s booming South African fashion industry. A basic working knowledge of pattern technology through practical application of pattern construction and application of different hand and machine sewing techniques is introduced.
• Advancing software skills and technical knowledge through an introduction to visual storytelling and fashion photography, fashion rendering in Photoshop and Fashion Design Flat drawings I and II in Illustrator.
• Developing an understanding of the Business of Design through the awareness of fashion merchandising covering topics such as fundamentals of fashion forecasting, visual merchandising principles, store layout and merchandise presentation, fashion buying, merchandise planning: through identification of customer needs, collection development pricing, sales and marketing strategies.

Course Information Year 3

SPECIALISATION 3rd year – DESIGN STYLE

• Developing a signature fashion design style by understanding contextual Design focusing on user-centred design and designing for specific customers appropriately. Sustainable design focuses on the life cycle of a garment from fibre to end user in stores, fabrication, up-cycling, textile manipulation and technology in fashion. Sub-culture in design focuses on Looking at a specific sub-culture allocated groups.
• Developing advanced knowledge and expert skills by exercising progressive and refined skills in textile technology, pattern technology and garment technology.
• Awareness of the latest design technologies and innovations through practice in software such as Illustrator and InDesign
• as well as After Effects and Motion graphics.
• Developing an understanding of the guidelines and principles involved in running a design business. Promoting business vision, mission and values give graduates the confidence and ‘know-how’ to start their own design initiatives based on a foundational knowledge of strategic development, marketing strategies, the importance of branding and managing finances.

More about the bachelor of Design Degree (B.DES)

This three-year full-time qualification produces professional designers equipped for a rewarding career in design. Students qualifying can practise as junior designers or study towards an Honours Degree. As this qualification is universal, it applies to a variety of design disciplines, including fashion design, interior design, graphic design, multimedia design, jewellery design, industrial design, product design, spatial design, design research, design writing and design for the environment.

Traditionally, the various fields within design and design education have been separated. Public and private Higher Education schools have offered all sorts of qualifications. Our Bachelor of Design qualification aligns industry standards and educates designers following common guidelines. It also implements the long-awaited minimum standards for designers of all disciplines.

Design is globally recognised as a profession. Worldwide, designers are required to have at least a three-year qualification. Inscape offers the Bachelor of Design Degree with common competencies and specialisations through elective subjects.

The first year of the Bachelor of Design provides a foundation in design thinking, constructs and visual communication, photography, material studies, image making and design history, communication studies, leadership and unique thinking and software include basics in Adobe products. We love that our students learn alongside aspiring designers of other disciplines. This kind of exposure blows a student’s design perspective wide open and teaches relevance and appropriateness in terms of design solutions within the business world.

At the end of the first year, students are required to select their chosen stream as a specialisation of their future career choice. Our students love the fact that they have a full year to become fully entrenched in the world of design. They attest to the fact that when they make their final decision regarding a chosen specialisation that they do so with confidence and fully informed.

Second and third year are intense. Each specialisation stream is packed with knowledge and technical skill required of the respective discipline. Our students, however, are well prepared in the first year and enter into the senior years equipped with the ability to think critically and apply themselves effectively. Our success rates are a testimony to the fact that our unique approach to teaching design, works.