Foundation Diploma in Art and Design

Art and Design Foundation courses are commonly referred to as ‘BTEC Foundation’ or “art foundation courses” or even as a “foundation course in art and design”. However, they are correctly known as the Foundation Diploma in Art and Design.

The Foundation Diploma is intended to develop skills, personal creativity, and independent thought. This art and design diploma is intended for those students who want to progress to degree level study at art college or university. Students undertaking the diploma in art and design can expect to develop an extensive portfolio of work in a wide range of media.

The Foundation Diploma in Art and Design is divided into three stages and culminates in a specialist outcome, or personal project. The emphasis throughout is on visual research, drawing and sketchbook development aimed at generating expressive art and design ideas. Historical and contemporary studies form an integral part of this art and design diploma, and students will have the opportunity to try a number of specialist options.

The online UK diploma art and design course delivered by IDI provides the opportunity for students to work with all media types.

The Foundation Diploma in Art and Design is widely recognised as the standard entry qualification for degree level study at art colleges and universities throughout the United Kingdom. Leading universities such as the London College of Fashion recommend this course as the best preparation for a degree and it is the recommended preparation for a wide range of fine art and design subjects

UCAS Tariff points

The Foundation Diploma in Art and Design is on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and is also included in the UCAS Tariff for entry to higher education. The tariff points awarded for the Foundation Diploma are:

Distinction 285
Merit 225
Pass 165

Course structure

The Foundation Diploma in Art and Design consists of three stages - the Exploratory, Pathway and Confirmatory stages. During the Exploratory stage students experiment with a wide range of media and materials, and explore different subjects and techniques.

During the Pathways Stage students choose to work in two specialist subject areas; exploring these in greater depth. They can chose from a range of subjects including Graphic Design, Illustration, Fashion, Textiles, Sculpture and Drawing and Painting.

During the Confirmatory stage students work on a Final Major Project in a single chosen specialism. This stage is subject to external assessment, and the level of a student’s award is based on the assessment of this stage.

Certification

ABC Level 3 Diploma in Foundation Studies is approved on the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). This course leads to the award of the Level 3 Diploma in Foundation Studies (Art & Design) from ABC Awards. This award is the equivalent qualification to the BTEC National Diploma in Art and Design.

ABC Awards is one of the largest vocational awarding bodies in the United Kingdom and is recognised by the regulatory bodies as an awarding body whose qualifications meet the criteria applied by QCA (Qualifications Curriculum Authority).  For more information about ABC Awards, visit the ABC website.

This programme Specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the course and the intended learning outcomes that you might be expected to achieve

The Foundation Diploma consists of three stages - the Exploratory, Pathway and Confirmatory stages. There are 8 Units studied over the course of this programme.

Exploratory stage Unit descripions click here

Pathway stage Unit descriptions click here

Confirmatory stage Unit descriptor click here

You will be formally assessed at the end of each stage of the programme, and you will receive written feedback for each of the units studied during that stage from your tutor.

The Level 3 Foundation Diploma are graded Pass, Merit and Distinction. Grading takes place based on the work you produce for the Confirmatory Stage (Unit 8).

Monoprinting

The suggested time allocation for this activity is 2.5 hours.

The second activity in the Environment section introduces monoprinting as a means to explore colour and visual texture. The colours that you use in your monoprints should be inspired by your visual research and the drawings that you created in the previous activity. Later in this section you will use your monoprinted papers to create visual texture samples.

The term "monoprint" refers to the process of taking a single print from a surface to which you have applied printing ink or paint. However, it is actually possible to produce more than one print, after the initial one, although subsequent prints will be fainter, and no two prints will ever be the same. This is part of the magic of monoprinting.

You will need a large, clear surface to work on, such as a kitchen table, and a flat, smooth, non porous monoprinting surface. You will also need some cloths or kitchen paper, acrylic paints in a selection of colours, a craft roller (if you have two, use one for applying paint and keep one clean to press your paper down onto the surface of the paint), some tools to draw and scrape into the paint, such as skewers or cocktail sticks, craft knives or twigs, and lots and lots of different papers.

Make sure your papers are of a manageable size; A4 is ideal, but you can use small pieces of paper too, such as tickets and wrappers.

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