DIPLOMA OF DESIGN /
CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING
CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING OVERVIEW
The Diploma of Design specialising in Creative Direction & Styling is your fast-track introduction to professional styling and creative direction. Across two trimesters, you'll build the skills to direct images and shape brand stories in a studio environment: visual merchandising, photography direction and brand content, developed the same way Whitehouse teaches its full Bachelor of Design. Graduate with two creative projects in your portfolio, ready to continue into further study or take on entry-level styling and content roles.
WHY STUDY CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING AT WHITEHOUSE
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
Through hands-on projects across fashion and beauty, you'll develop both the creative and commercial skills the industry demands:
- Fashion and product styling
- Visual merchandising and brand collaboration
- Photography fundamentals and image direction
- Editorial and publication layout
- Sourcing, props and set design
- Illustration, colour, and the elements and principles of design
- Digital design across the Adobe Creative Cloud suite
- Design history and research
WHAT YOU'LL GRADUATE WITH
By the end of the diploma you'll have:
- A creative portfolio built from two industry-style styling projects
- The ability to take a brief from research through to a styled, photographed outcome
- A working understanding of how mood, theme and narrative are built into an image
- Experience presenting your work
- Full credit for entry into the Associate Degree or Bachelor of Design
The Diploma of Design specialising in Creative Direction & Styling comprises 6 core subjects (Design Contexts, Digital Design + Illustration for Design) and 4 specialisation subjects (Styling Design + Styling Workshops). To be awarded the Diploma of Design, candidates must accrue an aggregate of 96 credit points, including satisfactory completion of all subjects.
The course is offered both full-time and part-time. At a full-time study load, students undertake five subjects each trimester and complete the Diploma across 2 trimesters (7 months), as follows:
DESIGN CORE SUBJECTS
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|DC1 to DC2|Design Contexts 1 to 2|Builds critical awareness of the history of design, focusing on the philosophies, styles and movements that continue to shape practice today. Introduces academic research, critical analysis and writing. Looks at the theoretical frameworks used to understand and review design across different periods, giving students methods for interpreting designed objects, writing, film, advertising and material culture.|6/12|
|DD1 to DD2|Digital Design 1 to 2|Introduces the digital tools designers use to communicate ideas, building working skills across the Adobe Creative Cloud suite. Students develop a style guide and apply it to a publication, learning how type, image and layout hold a visual identity together across editorial.|6/12|
|DI1 to DI2|Design Illustration 1 to 2|Introduces illustration as the visual language of design, using freehand drawing to develop and communicate ideas. Builds illustrative range, from expressive drawing through to accurate drawing systems using scale and measurement. |6/12|
STYLING SPECIALISATION SUBJECTS
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|SD1 to SD2|Styling Design 1 to 2|Introduces the design process across fashion, interiors, products, events and experiences, and how a stylist researches and builds a concept. Frameworks for generating and developing ideas, with an early focus on innovation and meaning in socially responsible design.|6/12|
|SW1 to SW2|Styling Workshop 1 to 2|Students train in what a creative director actually does, covering project management, photography fundamentals and sourcing, and style a fashion product for photography. Students build mood and atmosphere into a styled design, developing photography technique alongside an introduction to semiotics: theme, narrative and mood.|24/48|
CONTINUE YOUR JOURNEY
On completion, you'll be ready to take your craft to the next level. The Diploma provides a direct and seamless pathway into the Bachelor of Design with full credit for your completed trimesters, so you can continue building your styling and creative direction skills without starting over.
The Industry-Focused Projects You'll Learn
In this accelerated 7-month course, you'll complete two industry-focused projects in the workshop subjects that mirror the real briefs faced by today's leading creative directors and stylists. Each trimester you're given a client, a concept and an industry challenge to solve, spanning fashion, photography and content creation. Working alongside your teachers and collaborators, you'll push your creativity further than you thought possible and graduate with an industry-ready portfolio.
Trimester One — Luxury Brand Storytelling & Visual Merchandising
Client: Hermès. You'll begin by learning to craft stories through space and product presentation, reimagining Hermès' world-renowned window displays. Over ten weeks you'll design, prototype and execute a visual merchandising concept that sells not just a product but a brand narrative, exploring spatial storytelling, set design, colour psychology, installation and photography to create a commercial, retail-ready display that communicates luxury in every detail.
Trimester Two — Visual Communication & Brand Content
This trimester explores visual communication as a powerful engagement tool for luxury brands. Your brief: create a utility-meets-luxe editorial story. You'll conceptualise and style a customised fashion garment for a high-end shoot, working across photography, casting, profiles and the art of reviewing collections. Alongside your design teachers, you'll create striking visual content and learn how creative direction and content creation drive storytelling across campaigns, editorials and digital platforms.
FEATURED ALUMNI
With purpose-built design campuses in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Whitehouse students work within professional-standard environments designed around the way the industry actually operates. Not lecture halls, but studios, workshops and resources you'll use in your specialisation every week.
Professional photography studios
Our fully-equipped photography studios put professional lighting, backdrops and shooting setups at your disposal, so the images you conceptualise in class are the images you produce, direct and refine to a portfolio standard.
Design Collection (Sydney Only)
At the Sydney campus, students have rare access to one of Australia's most significant design archives, including original pieces from Louis Vuitton, Burberry and Sacai. It's a hands-on resource for studying construction, detail and the language of luxury up close.
Adobe Creative Cloud suite
Every student receives free access to the full Adobe Creative Cloud suite, giving you the same tools used across professional styling, editorial and creative direction. From week one you'll work in Photoshop, Lightroom, InDesign and Illustrator.
Industry partnerships and sourcing network
Styling and creative direction happen through relationships, and Whitehouse connects students to the network professionals rely on. Across your projects you'll engage with industry suppliers, prop houses and hire companies, fabric and materials specialists, showrooms and brand partners, learning how to source, negotiate and pull together everything a shoot or campaign demands. Access to modelling agencies and industry specialists means the briefs you work on mirror real production conditions, so you graduate already knowing how to build and manage the collaborations behind a professional creative outcome.
Research services
Creative Direction & Styling students draw on industry-grade trend-forecasting services and a specialist design library, developing the research rigour behind every strong creative decision, from mood and colour direction to sourcing and concept.
Whitehouse continually updates and expands its resources to ensure every student has extensive design research support throughout their degree.
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DOMESTIC FEES
All Design courses are FEE-HELP eligible for domestic students. No upfront payment for tuition fees needed if eligible.
|:----|:----|
|Trimester Tuition Fee (full-time study)|$14,610|
|Indicative Average Unit Fee (5 units)|$2,922|
Fees exclude course materials.
INTERNATIONAL FEES
See International section for information on international fees.
HOW TO APPLY
To apply for the Diploma of Design specialising in Creative Direction & Styling, submit a direct application through the Whitehouse Institute of Design website.
Whitehouse has no application fees.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Domestic
* **Academic:** Completion of year 12 or equivalent
* **Design Meeting:** All applicants attend a Design Meeting
* **Portfolio:** No portfolio requirement
See link below for full entry requirements.
INTERNATIONAL
In addition to standard entry requirements, international students must have a minimum level of English language skills as well as a valid and appropriate visa for studying in Australia. See link below for full entry requirements.
IMPORTANT DATES
Applications for Whitehouse's Diploma of Design specialising in Creative Direction & Styling are open year-round, with three main intakes each year - February, June and September. Applications typically open within 6 to 12 months of the intake commencing. We recommend applying early to secure your preferred campus and start date.
There's a lot of overlap between our Digital Design subjects and graphic design. The Digital Design subject is best described as a graphic design course within your degree. You'll develop core graphic design principles and skills using the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, including Photoshop, Lightroom and InDesign, applied to photography, editorial layout, digital imaging and portfolio creation. The difference is context: rather than studying graphic design in isolation, you'll apply these skills directly to your styling and creative direction projects, learning how to describe, develop and market your creative work across both print and digital formats.
The creative portfolio is a selection of your best work, which demonstrates your creative potential. A portfolio usually consists of between 6-8 examples, and can use a variety of mediums which may include illustration, digital design, photography, film, creative writing, textile design, fine artworks and other evidence as appropriate to your chosen specialisation. Whitehouse uses your portfolio to assess your creative potential for success in the Bachelor of Design. We look at how your work demonstrates:
- An understanding of design, a connection with the current design industry and innovation in your creative thinking.
- A desire to learn and the ability to investigate and develop ideas independently.
To assist you in your tertiary level design studies, recommended year 11 and 12 subjects include: Design & Technology, Visual Arts, Visual Communication, Textiles & Design, Modern History or Ancient History.
Whitehouse does not have any compulsory pre-requisite subjects.
Whitehouse offers a Certificate III in Design Fundamentals (VET for Secondary School Students) course, which offers its graduates direct entry into the Diploma/Bachelor of Design at Whitehouse. Students can take this course in Year 10, 11 or 12 of High School.
Absolutely, we are here to help. We recommend meeting with us, giving us a call or coming in for a tour. You can do any of those by clicking on the links below.
Call now 1300 551 433
Email us study@whitehouse-design.edu.au
All Whitehouse courses now have no ATAR requirement as an ATAR does not assess how well a student will succeed creatively.
If you have been made an offer of enrolment but you are not quite ready to commence study, you may defer commencement of studies until the next intake without the need to reapply. For more information on application, enrolment or deferral, you can discuss your options with Admissions.
ACADEMIC CREDIT / RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING (RPL)
Credits for single subjects may be awarded to accredited subjects previously undertaken at another education provider and/or relevant industry experience.
To apply for Academic Credit:
- Download and complete the Application for Academic Credit
- Fill in the form including all subject titles and descriptions of the units for which you are applying for RPL
- Submit completed form with supporting documentation and evidence to Whitehouse Institute
ADVANCED STANDING
Advanced Standing may be awarded to students who have completed courses in a similar field of study. Depending on the level of study completed, you may be eligible to receive direct articulation into study period two, three or four of the Bachelor of Design. Download or request the Application for Direct Entry - submit with your current/previous qualification and transcript of academic results. If advanced standing is awarded the length of your study may be reduced.
For more information on Academic Credit and Advanced Standing, simply contact Whitehouse Admissions or discuss during your Design Meeting.