MMU Rise

Explore the basics of designing and launching a brand identity in reference to your audience and key competitors.

Hello! I’m Jonny Rae-Evans, and in this three-part Self Study Pack, we’ll be learning all about brand design. Throughout these three topics, we’ll explore the basics of how to design a successful brand identity. We’ll look at what we mean by brand design and how to better understand your audience and competitors. We’ll look at the fun stuff too, like business strategy, brand strategy, and how to align the two. Even if you don’t pursue a career in brand design, this will at least give you something fun to talk about at parties. Comms and messaging play a key role in brand design work, so we’ll definitely be exploring how to communicate the brand to customers and the public. This is a course which allows you to get creative. You’ll learn how to generate logo ideas and concepts, how to use colour theory in your work, and how to design a successful brand from the ground up.

Welcome to the Enterprising Graduate Attribute Pack!

Being Enterprising helps you to:

• Think creatively and come up with new ideas
• Solve problems and find solutions
• Set goals and work to achieve them
• Take initiative and try new ways of doing things
• Keep going when things are difficult
• Manage money responsibly

These skills are useful for your Future Me Plan, your time at University, and life after University. Being enterprising is not just about starting a business. It is about noticing opportunities, taking action, and being confident in your ideas.

If you have your own business, work as a freelancer, or want to learn how to start one, you can speak to the University’s Careers Service Enterprise Team for support.

Work through the activities to learn more about what being enterprising means, read stories from enterprising students, and find out about the support available at the University to help you develop these skills

When you decide to become self-employed, there are legal frameworks you need to work within to protect yourself and protect the people who you sell your products or services to. You’ll also need to abide by tax rules and regulations set by HMRC.

This Self Study Pack will introduce you to some legal definitions and concepts that might affect you as a new, self-employed business.

For the makers, for the artists, for the creatives. This self-study kit will walk you through taking your creative passion and generating income so you can keep being creative and doing what you love.

Manchester Fashion Institute alumni Nicole Broad will share with you how she took her clothing brand ‘the Fruit Moth’ from idea to online store, and into retail. Cotton On Manchester founder Domino Panton-Oakley will then share with you her advice for working with maker markets as well as how to get your artwork into galleries. ‘The Art of Selling’ is designed to help you, whether you already have some creative ideas you need to explore, or if you have a side hustle that could become your creative business.

There’s a common myth that launching a business or side hustle requires a lengthy, formal Business Plan—but that’s not always the case. While detailed plans are useful when seeking funding or investment, they’re rarely essential at the start. What is essential is having a clear, actionable roadmap. In this self-paced course, you'll explore practical project and time management techniques to help you build a step-by-step action plan that gets your idea off the ground. Whether you're dreaming big or just starting small, this course will help you move from planning to doing.

Understand self-employment in a more critical way, and develop practical skills related to a future working for yourself.

This Self Study Pack, introduces students to self-employment in the UK labour market today, where the self-employed make up 15% of the labour force. It critically analyses questions around business as well as tax and benefit policies and how they relate to (in)decent self-employment. It also teaches students the foundations of how to become and what it means to be self-employed, including legal formats and accounting requirements to prepare students who want to become self-employed for success. Lastly, it trains the skills and attitudes needed for self-employment: it gives students tools at hand to foster their entrepreneurial skills including the ability to deal with uncertainty and risk, sales and negotiation skills, self-awareness and self-efficacy, and how to build a growth mindset to persevere.

This course has been co-created by a group of Man Met staff, freelancers and entrepreneurs who are experts in facilitating interactive and engaging workshops. They’ve pooled their knowledge and experience to create a comprehensive self-study kit that will help you become an engaging workshop facilitator.

At the heart of this course is the belief that anyone can learn to facilitate engaging workshops. Whether you’re a seasoned professional looking to brush up on your skills or a beginner just starting out, this course will provide you with the tools and techniques you need to deliver workshops that are informative, interactive, and inspiring.

Throughout the course, you’ll learn how to design and deliver workshops that are tailored to your audience, using a range of techniques to keep participants engaged and motivated. You’ll also learn how to manage group dynamics, handle difficult participants, and create a positive and supportive learning environment. 

By the end of this course, you’ll have a workbook of skills to draw upon, revisit, check against, and reflect on as you begin your journey as a facilitator. We want you to see your confidence to design and deliver workshops grow as you progress through this workbook. We hope this growing confidence will then inspire and engage any participants that you go on to work with.

You’ll be able to create a positive learning environment that fosters creativity, collaboration, and growth. 

Upon completion of this self-study pack, you can apply to attend in-person training to further develop your skills.