The course extends students' awareness of relevant theoretical, critical and contemporary contexts; and deepens understanding of an engagement with materials, processes and technologies relevant to ceramic design and studio production. In particular, the course highlights relationships between form and surface. It introduces and critiques processes that are involved in the development of painted, printed and digitally generated surfaces on ceramic media: students engage with issues, materials and techniques relevant in their development. Elements of the design process - critical analysis, research, problem solving and design development - are undertaken to facilitate a more complex resolution of formal, material, fabrication and design issues in ceramic design practice.