What media can I use in AQA A-Level Art and Design?

AQA Art and Design is deliberately broad. The main title, Art, craft and design (7201), lets you combine media freely, while specialist titles such as Fine Art (7202), Graphic Communication (7203), Textile Design (7204), Three-dimensional Design (7205) and Photography (7206) focus on particular disciplines. Across all of them you can draw, paint, print, photograph, build in three dimensions and combine materials in mixed media. The key is to choose media that genuinely serve your ideas, not variety for its own sake.

Why is drawing so important even if it is not my specialism?

Drawing underpins all four assessment objectives. It is how you record observations (AO3), test and plan ideas (AO2), and often realise outcomes (AO4). Even photographers and 3D designers draw to think. Regular observational drawing from life trains close looking and gives you the most reliable, transferable skill in the subject, which is why it strengthens every project whatever your chosen discipline.

How do media choices link to the assessment objectives?

AO2 directly rewards exploring and selecting media, materials, techniques and processes, then reviewing and refining. So trying a printmaking series, a set of photographs, or 3D maquettes and annotating what each taught you is core AO2 evidence. Media also serve AO3 (recording) and AO4 (realising a personal response). Always link a technique back to your theme and intentions so the experimentation counts.

How should I document three-dimensional or large work?

Examiners often assess photographs of your work rather than the objects themselves, especially for three-dimensional, installation or large-scale pieces. Document carefully with good, even lighting, several angles, and something to convey scale. Keep maquettes and test pieces too, because they are strong AO2 evidence of material experimentation and they protect the marks your finished work has earned.

EnglandVisual Arts

Media and disciplines - AQA A-Level Art and Design

An overview of media and disciplines in AQA A-Level Art and Design: how drawing and painting, printmaking, photography and three-dimensional and mixed-media work give you the practical tools to record, experiment and realise ideas.

Generated by Claude Opus 4.88 min read7201Updated 2026-06-02

Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed

Jump to a section

The disciplines this area covers
Media serve the objectives
Choose media that fit the idea
Document everything
How to study this area
The disciplines, one by one
For the official specification

AQA A-Level Art and Design is deliberately broad about media. The main title, Art, craft and design, lets you combine disciplines, while specialist titles focus on one. Whatever your route, a working command of several media and disciplines gives you the practical tools to record, experiment and realise ideas, and that command feeds directly into the assessment objectives.

The disciplines this area covers

Four core disciplines give you a versatile toolkit, each with its own dot-point guide.

Drawing and painting: the backbone media for observation, mark-making, tone, colour and composition.
Printmaking: monoprint, relief, intaglio and screenprint for repetition, layering and surface.
Photography: a primary research tool and a creative medium controlling composition, light and editing.
Three-dimensional and mixed media: construction, modelling, assemblage and collage beyond the flat page.

Media serve the objectives

Media are not an end in themselves. AO2 rewards exploring and selecting media and processes, then reviewing and refining. A documented printmaking series, a set of edited photographs, or a row of 3D maquettes with notes is exactly the explore-and-select evidence examiners want. Drawing also drives AO3 recording, and any medium can realise the AO4 personal response.

Choose media that fit the idea

The strongest projects pick media because they suit the theme, not to show range for its own sake. Four relevant, well-developed techniques beat ten unconnected ones. Always annotate why a medium fits your intention.

Document everything

Because examiners often see photographs rather than objects, document your work carefully, especially 3D and large pieces. Keep test pieces and maquettes; they prove the experimentation that earns marks.

How to study this area

Draw daily from observation to build the core transferable skill.
Try one new process per project and document a series of variations.
Shoot your own photographs rather than downloading images.
Make maquettes before committing to 3D outcomes.
Annotate and link every experiment to your theme.

The disciplines, one by one

Each discipline has its own dot-point guide with worked examples and exam-style questions:

For the official specification

AQA publishes the full Art and Design specification (7201 to 7206) at aqa.org.uk. Always work from the current specification, because the specialist titles and their requirements are board-specific.

Sources & how we know this

AQA A-level Art and Design specification — AQA (2015)