How Jazmine’s pre-degree course prepared her for undergraduate study
- Written byAlexandra Kytka-Sharpe
- Published date 20 February 2024
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Jazmine Roldan studied Level 3: International Introduction to the Study of Design, Media and Screen last year before getting an offer to study BA Graphic and Media Design at London College of Communication. She’s currently in her first year in the programme. We spoke to Jazmine about how her pre-degree experience helped her continue to undergraduate study.
A chance to experiment
What Jazmine loved most about her pre-degree course was the opportunity to experiment with a lot of different mediums. She experimented with everything from typography to animation to photography and design.
"I picked the course at London College of Communication because I thought it was a good chance to get exposure to all of this stuff that's related to art. It was a very fully packed but fun 15 weeks!"
Her 2 favourite projects show the variety of mediums she had the chance to experiment with. One project, a stop-motion on the theme of connection, involved her creating a pac-man inspired video game where a ramen cluster gathered all the ingredients for a spaghetti Bolognese.
The project involved taking pictures of the noodles, which she cooked al dente and photographed in different ways so they each had their own personality. Then, she used Pro-create to edit the images and video editing software to put it all together.
In another project, she got to experiment with product design and sewing as she created a bag from clothes scraps that opened up like a magazine.
Support and guidance from staff
For Jazmine, support and guidance from the pre-degree staff was crucial in taking her from her year of experimenting to deciding what undergraduate course would be best for her.
"I thought I was going to do Branding and Identity. But I talked to my visual media professor, and she said with what I showed throughout the 15 weeks, the potential in my talents are spread out. Graphics and Branding Identity would just be too narrow for me."
Jazmine listened to the advice and applied for BA Graphic and Media Design at London College of Communication, where she is studying now. When she was feeling nervous about her application, it was Trudi, her course leader who encouraged her.
"She reassured me. She said that often the professor would choose someone who is serious with their work and who has potential, rather than someone who's talented and won’t show up in class."
Building up experience
Jazmine is a mature student who worked in the culinary industry before deciding on her pre-degree course. She liked to draw, but didn’t have much formal experience in graphic media. Her pre-degree course gave her the chance to build up her portfolio and show a wider range of research and experimentation in her process.
"The thing about submitting a portfolio is that the professors who are going to look at your portfolio want to know your thought process. So you can't just have an end product and that's it. You have to have a reason why it came from this to that."
"When I was doing the pre-degree course, it was easier for me to collect content for my portfolio because every week we have to write a reflection and then think about what we learned."
Jazmine’s advice for choosing a pre-degree course
Jazmine’s suggestion for anyone considering a pre-degree course is to make sure you look at the different options UAL offers and how they differ from each other.
"Really read about the courses that are available at UAL. There are so many different courses but in the course page it lists everything you’ll be doing each week and what you’ll be experimenting with. It says what we're going to be focusing more on. When you actually read slowly through the course, you can think I want to learn about this or do I want to learn about that. That’s how I decided on my course."
If you’re considering studying a pre-degree course, UAL has many options based on your interests and needs. Read more about our pre-degree courses.
