Master of Arts in Visual Communication Design

Program Overview

This Master's program in Visual Communication Design emphasizes research-driven practice and interdisciplinary collaboration. Students engage in experimentation and refine their knowledge in design, communication, and professional practices through coursework, seminars, and hands-on projects. By integrating with other art and design disciplines, graduates gain a comprehensive skillset for careers in design agencies, illustration, photography, and academia.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

This is a practical Master of Arts in Visual Communication Design, grounded in individual research, in which you'll work alongside other postgraduate students from the Schools of Art and Design. Our view is that by integrating your methods with those in related fields, you’ll become a more effective specialist photographer, graphic designer or illustrator. At a time when boundaries between these disciplines are changing – and in some cases dissolving – this is particularly important. On successful completion of the course, your increased confidence and abilities will be clearly evident in the portfolios you've developed. Through contact with sector leaders, you'll be ready to move into industry, perhaps in a design agency or as a freelancer.

Outline:

This Design Master’s runs over one year and is divided into three trimesters.

Trimester one:

We encourage playfulness and risk-taking, and ask you to respond to a range of instructions in ways that will allow you to interrogate how you work – without threatening your approach. Right from the start, you'll begin to gather primary and secondary research that will feed into your assessments. We introduce a range of key issues in design and communication practice and allow you to explore how your specialist approach relates to the wider field. You’ll be encouraged to pay greater attention to the way in which your project functions and engages its audience.

Trimester three:

A self-directed, double practice module leads to your final Degree Show. You’ll establish a line of enquiry, working to a proposal of your devising, which positions your work within your specialist discipline.

• Research Methods
• Theory and Professional Context
• Practice 1 (Design)
• Research Practice
• Theory and Professional Practices
• Practice 2 (Design)
• Master's Project

Assessment:

Your progress is evaluated by formative assessment (throughout the duration of the course) and summative assessment (at the end of each trimester), through a mixture of exhibitions, verbal/visual presentations, research folders/blogs and written assignments.

Teaching:

You’ll learn through lectures, talks, taught sessions, individual and group tutorials, and studio critiques and seminars. Visiting lecturers, and seminars with external professionals and internationally renowned designers and artists, will help you determine where your current practice sits within the industry. Your learning is also supported by specialist librarians.

Careers:

Graduates from this department have become designers, illustrators, photographers and photo editors for design agencies, architectural and engineering practices, the MOD and other specialist areas. Many work in conjunction with fine artists. The research elements of the course also lay the foundations for a teaching career or further study.

• Specialist technical workshops across all of art and design
• Access to studio space where you can work on projects and refine your practice

2024 entry Student Annual tuition fee UK full time £9,520 UK part time £4,760 International full time £17,760