Graphic design and Illustration

The program Graphic design and Illustration is the start for you who dream of working as an illustrator, graphic designer, art director, animator or game developer. In this program, you will form the basis for for a creative profession with image, storytelling and idea as the most important elements. You will experiment, sketch, discuss and use different physical and digital techniques.

The academic year begins with weekly courses in illustration, graphic form and typography. The emphasis is on different types of independent and shared assignments, tuition, discussions and presentations. The visual work is done a lot by hand (think drawing, painting, collage) and / or digitally. The focus is on the artistic and creative process. You get basic courses in digital photo and software for image processing, graphic design, illustration and animation (for example Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign).

During the program, you will make study visits to galleries, agencies and studios. Inspiring and specialized guest teachers, who are currently working on what you are aiming for, come to school and teach. The program concludes with major projects, where the various course elements are interwoven in a project that carries your own unique touch.

The education at Nyckelviksskolan is full-time with a high work rate and teacher presence, which means you spend a lot of time at the school. Conversation, communication and sharing ideas and work process are important parts of the education, as is learning in groups. This demands a high attendance.

FAQ

Do I need to have prior knowledge of digital programs in order to study Graphic design and Illustration?: You do not need to have prior knowledge of these or other digital tools. We have Adobe Creative Cloud and train the students in image and graphic design in Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator in particular. Likewise, the extra mandatory work sample task does not have to be done with digital tools.
What eligibility do I need to have in order to apply for your programs?: We have no formal eligibility requirements for grades. Our supervisory authority Swedish National Agency for Higher Vocational Education leaves this matter of eligibility requirements very open. We have formulated ourselves fairly openly based on the interpretation of the authority’s directive: In order to apply for course entrance at Nyckelviksskolan, the applicant must have upper secondary school qualifications (high school education), equivalent education or have gained a certain amount of work experience.
Are your courses eligible for student aid?: Study funds are granted for the one-year programs at what CSN calls post-upper secondary level. Our educations are categorized as Arts and Culture courses by CSN. The quota for study funds for studies at so-called post-upper secondary level is a total of two years (80 weeks) if you have a three-year upper secondary education or the equivalent previously. The total number of weeks you have to apply for student funding applies to both grants and student loans. This means that even if you do not take out a loan for all the weeks, but only take the grant, the weeks are counted as used. For studies at university level, the maximum period for study support is 240 weeks. This quota applies to those who apply to the two-year Specialist Craft Tutor program. The Specialist Craft Tutor program is also categorized as Arts and Culture course though. For the academic year 2023-24, you who are a student and born in 2004 or later can choose for yourself whether you want to take study aid (right now it is a small grant – SEK 1,250/month) or whether you want to apply for study funds with grants and loans. If you take study aid, you can also apply for extra supplements and / or boarding supplements via CSN.
Do you have accommodation at the school, boarding school?: The school does not have boarding, but we receive many offers on available rooms and apartments, especially on Lidingö, and are happy to pass them on to interested students. We send out housing ads and give tips on how our students can most easily find somewhere to live. Nyckelviksskolan’s student union is connected to Stockholm’s students’ central organization (SSCO) and you can get help arranging accommodation through SSCO. All students are connected to Nyckelviksskolan’s student union. This gives them the right to live in student apartments that Stockholm Student Housing (SSSB) has. Read more: www.sssb.se. Everyone who studies in art and culture education has the right to live in Kista Studentbostäder, which is mediated by Stockholms Bostadsförmedling. However, some other student housing managers do not approve our type of education to live there.
Do you have to pay tuition fees or semester fees for your programs?: Many Arts and Culture courses are only partially financed with state grants. The student must pay tuition fees (or semester fees). The semester fee for the academic year 2022-23 is SEK 17,500, i.e. SEK 35,000 for the entire academic year. The sum includes, among other things, the material that you work with in the training. The fee is paid semesterly. If you are applying for a full student loan, you can also apply for an additional cost loan for the tuition fee if necessary. Additional cost loans are only granted for the part of the semester fee that does not refer to teaching materials. During 2022-23, you can be granted a maximum of SEK 14,000 per semester.
How are your programs categorized?: We are between high school and university. Nyckelviksskolan provides one-year university preparation programs (40 weeks) in art, crafts, architecture and design as well as a two-year vocational Specialist Craft Tutor program (80 weeks). Our programs are formally called Arts and Culture courses (Konst- och kulturutbildningar) and we are under the supervision of the Swedish National Agency for Higher Vocational Education. Please note that the vocational Specialist Craft Tutor program is not a higher vocational education (YH), but an Arts and Culture course (Konst- och kulturutbildning).
When do your programs start? When do the take place?: We have the start of the academic year once a year, in mid-August. Next time we start on August 21, 2023. The programs are full-time and the compulsory teaching takes place Monday to Friday at 9.00-15.45. In addition, there is time for self-study. The academic year 2023-24 is August 21, 2023 to May 31, 2024. An academic year is 40 study weeks with 180 teaching days and 20 self-study days.
Can you start working after these studies?: Our one-year programs are university preparatory Art and culture programs (Konst- och kulturutbildningar). You are not finished after such an education with us. The educational paths are quite long in this area – art, craft, architecture and design. You get the necessary skills to be able to continue at a design school, art school or architecture school and three or five more years of study. If you have architectural dreams, we have programs where you get the skills to enter an architectural bachelor program via Arkitektprovet (the Architect test). We don’t just want to emphasize that our students go on to design, art and architecture university programs. In recent years, we have noticed that many higher education programs that our students are interested in lie in a borderland between creativity, design and technology. Examples of such are educations for game, web and digital application development as well as design engineering educations. On the other hand, we have a vocational Specialist Craft Tutor program that leads to jobs, even if it is also an Art and Culture course (Konst- och kulturutbildning) and not a higher vocational education (YH). The vocational Specialist Craft Tutor program also does not give a teacher’s license if you want to work as an art or crafts teacher in school.

Subjects

Illustration – 10.4 weeks
Drawing and painting – 6 weeks
Graphic design – 10.6 weeks
Photography with digital photo editing – 3 weeks
Material studies – 3 weeks
Final project – 4.4 weeks
Lectures in art and design – 0.8 weeks
Group dynamics – 0.8 weeks