Masters Degrees (Visual Communication)

Overview

Do you have an eye for design? Would you like to help influence the future of visual communications? Southampton Solent University’s MA Visual Communication programme is ideally suited to students who wish to better understand the academic theory that underpins a range of visual mediums.

- Students study the essential academic theories that seek to explain how we understand visual messages.
- The teaching team maintain strong links with industry, providing students with the chance to participate in live briefs, networking events, and guest lectures.
- The course includes time to develop hands-on creative skills. Students are encouraged to create work for their professional portfolio.
- Visual communication at Southampton Solent is taught by a team of professional designers with strong ties to industry.
- Students will have access to a range of specialist facilities throughout their studies. These include Mac computers, professional creative software, digital printing facilities and traditional printing presses.
- Students are invited to pitch for freelance work at Solent Creatives, our on-campus creative agency. These projects involve real businesses and are perfect for portfolio development.
- Tutors encourage students to work in groups with those from other creative disciplines, mirroring industry practices.
- Students will work on competition briefs for organisations such as the Design & Art Directors Association (D&AD) and the Young Creative Network (YCN).

The industry -

Figures released in 2015 by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport suggest that the UK’s creative industries are now worth more than £76.9 billion per year to the UK economy – that’s more than £8.8m per hour. Businesses of all types and sizes make use of creative individuals to take corporate message and translate them into creative outputs that the public can enjoy and understand.

The programme -

This intensive master’s degree helps students to improve their creative skills and build a solid understanding of visual communications theory. The curriculum covers the latest innovations in visual practice, examining the way technological and cultural changes contributed to contemporary academic thinking.

Topics of study include editorial design; art direction; interactive multimedia; information design; image creation; illustration; typographic design; print-making and photographic technique. Students may have workshop sessions with the letterpress, screen-printing, etching and relief printing facilities, as well as the wet darkroom and photo studio. Depending on their creative background, graduates will be well prepared for a range of careers in the creative industries.

Critical research papers and final master’s projects are supported by the University’s expanding research base, encouraging students to make an innovative contribution to visual communication academia.

To help with creative projects and portfolio documentation, Southampton Solent provides a comprehensive media loans scheme. This scheme gives students free access to high-end photographic equipment and accessories.

Visual communication students have the chance to enter major industry awards schemes including those from D&AD and the Royal Society of the Arts. Work-orientated assignments will be offered alongside appropriate live projects from local and national organisations. There will also be opportunities to visit museums, galleries and design studios both nationally and internationally (at additional expense).

Course Content

Units include:

- Visual Communication Practice: Visual communication practice and specialisms such as editorial design, interactive multimedia, information design, image creation, book design and typographic design. Print-making and photographic techniques including letterpress, screen-printing, etching and relief printing, wet darkroom and photo studio practice.
- Web Design: The advantages and limitations of web design and its delivery across a range of devices, from desktop to mobile.
- Project Development: Developing the appropriate graphic design language to apply to your research findings.
- Research Methods:A précis of an article, a critical commentary of two book reviews, your own book review and a proposal for your critical research paper, with an annotated bibliography.
- Critical Research Paper: You’ll research and present an individual seminar, supported by a critical research paper which demonstrates an in-depth, comprehensive and detailed knowledge of your chosen area.
vMaster’s Project: On this final project you’ll bring all your skills together to design, execute and present an individually demanding piece of work that demonstrates systematic and in-depth understanding of your particular discipline of study.

Programme specification document - http://mycourse.solent.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=6152

Teaching, learning and assessment -

The course draws on a variety of teaching methods, including group critiques, individual tutorials, seminars and lectures, peer-learning, live projects and competitions, self-directed study and the use of reflective journals or log-books to express personal and professional development.

Work experience:

You’ll be able to engage directly with employers by organising your own work placement or work-based project, supported and encouraged by the course team as required.

Assessment:

You’ll have access to a full range of print-making facilities, including letterpress, screen-printing, etching and relief printing, alongside digital resources

Our facilities -

You’ll have access to a full range of print-making facilities including letterpress, screen-printing equipment, etching and relief printing, and digital resources.

Web-based learning -

Solent’s virtual learning environment provides quick online access to assignments, lecture notes, suggested reading and other course information.

Why Solent?

What do we offer?

From a vibrant city centre campus to our first class facilities, this is where you can find out why you should choose Solent.

Facilities - http://www.solent.ac.uk/about/facilities/facilities.aspx

City living - http://www.solent.ac.uk/studying/southampton/living-in-southampton.aspx

Accommodation - http://www.solent.ac.uk/studying/accommodation/accommodation.aspx

Career Potential

This master’s degree delivers the skills you’ll need for a wide range of visual design fields including animation, art direction, web design, publishing, branding and typography.

Suitable roles for graduates include:

- Design consultancy
- Publishing industry
- Advertising – agency side
- Multidisciplinary design
- Web design
- Television
- Film and multimedia
- Freelance practice
- App design.

Links with industry -

Through this course you’ll develop valuable and appropriate skillsets through engagement with the wider profession, design community and industry.

You’ll have the chance to enter major industry awards schemes, including those from D&AD and the Royal Society of the Arts. Work-orientated assignments will be offered alongside appropriate ‘live’ projects from local and national organisations. There will be opportunities to visit museums, galleries and design studios, both nationally and internationally, as part of the course.

Transferable skills -

Decision-making under pressure; visual, written and verbal communication skills; critical thinking; and presentation to specialist and non-specialist audiences.

Further study -

There’s a chance of progression to further study, including a PhD, on successful completion of the course.

Tuition fees

The tuition fees for the 2016/2017 academic year are:

UK and EU full-time fees: £6,695 per year

International full-time fees: £11,260 per year

UK and EU part-time fees: £3,350 per year

International part-time fees: £5,630 per year

Graduation costs -

Graduation is the ceremony to celebrate the achievements of your studies. For graduates in 2015, there is no charge to attend graduation, but you will be required to pay for the rental of your academic gown (approximately £42 per graduate, depending on your award). You may also wish to purchase official photography packages, which range in price from £15 to £200+. Graduation is not compulsory, so if you prefer to have your award sent to you, there is no cost.
For more details, please visit: http://www.solent.ac.uk/studying/graduation/home.aspx

Next steps

Think a career as a visual communicator might be for you? With expert teaching teams, regularly revised curriculums and strong links to industry, Southampton Solent University’s MA Visual Communications programme is the ideal next step towards a broad range of creative careers.

Read less

Introduction

Gain practical skills and expand your knowledge of design principles, research methodologies and theory with this postgraduate certificate. Explore visual language, typography, colour and information design through set and self-initiated projects. This course offers an intensive vocational route in the graphic design profession and is an ideal option if you need a bridge to Masters study.

Content

London College of Communication’s vocationally-focussed Postgraduate Certificate will help you to build practice-based and professional skills in the highly diverse field of design for visual communication.

Visual communication is a process by which ideas are made visible and conveyed through media to enhance meaning, experience and understanding. This one-year intensive course re-examines the relationship between design principles, research methodologies and the related theoretical contexts.

The programme is ideal for those from diverse academic backgrounds who wish to extend and develop their prior experiences through visual communication. Students on the course have previously studied subjects from molecular genetics to English, architecture to textiles, micro-biology to fine art and product design to geography. The course is a confidence-building bridge to Masters study as well as providing the foundations for professional career development.

You can expect to become part of a unique learning community made up of staff, guest speakers and fellow students from a diverse range of creative disciplines and cultures. Through tutorials, set and self-initiated projects, workshops and group discussions, you will gain a deeper understanding of the design process that will enhance your practice. Visual language and grammar, typographic hierarchy, symbol design, graphic representation, identity and information visualisation are just some of the areas you will explore.
Personal projects will provide you with a foundation in the principles of visual communication whilst engaging with postgraduate level research methods and conceptual development. Examples of personal projects include: mapping directional devices in the city; the promotion of a typeface; visual analysis of people flow and visual surveys of lettering. Graduates from this course have found employment within high profile international creative agencies, design management, teaching and professional practice. Some have established their own design studios, while others have gone on to achieve highly at Master’s level.

Structure

The Postgraduate Certificate Design for Visual Communication has three components:

Research and Development
Design Resolution
Professional and Academic Context

The course includes: visual language and grammar; typographic hierarchy; narrative and sequential design; symbol design; graphic representation; identity; information visualisation; as well as opportunities to pursue projects of individual interest.

Read less

Visual Communication explores the mechanisms for conveying messages and meaning through a diverse range of media. From the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt to the complexity of contemporary app design, the power of visual communication has been harnessed by businesses, organisations and individuals for millennia.

Our MA Visual Communication course is designed to prepare you for the contemporary professional world, helping you develop a confident design voice and create an outstanding portfolio of work.

On the course

On our course, you’ll be encouraged to develop new skills to strengthen and inform your design practice, and you’ll gain an understanding of the skill sets required for print, motion, and digital design. You’ll also have the opportunity to enhance your practice in the areas needed to become a creative leader and go on to a career within the broad field of visual communication, which includes areas such as print media, interaction design, motion design, web design, exhibition design and advertising.

We believe that the most successful designers are cultural innovators who, through their practice, inform, persuade and entertain. MA Visual Communication is designed to help you develop a voice as an author and innovator and to equip you with the skills and knowledge to identify and solve design problems within cross-disciplinary environments. You’ll learn to approach design as an agent of change – a strategy for positively transforming behaviours in desirable and sustainable ways.

Using our dedicated studio spaces and independent study areas, you’ll develop your own style and design voice. You’ll learn through of a range of lectures, project briefs, workshops, written assignments, group critiques and individual tutorials.

Led by experienced professional designers with connections at the highest level of the industry, you’ll have the opportunity to collaborate on a diverse range of projects with other members of our unique creative community.

Facilities

Our range of equipment and technical support at UCA Canterbury enables specialist and professional-grade work, whilst also encouraging experimental and speculative approaches to making.

Virtual Media Space

Visit our Postgraduate Virtual Media Space to find out more about our courses, see what it's like to study at UCA and gain access to our campus virtual tours.

Read less

Visual Communication is an integral part of our increasing visual culture. Graphic designers, illustrators and advertisers play key roles in how the world around us is explained, dressed and garnished.

Course Overview

MA Visual Communication within the Contemporary Dialogues portfolio offers an exciting and innovative re-thinking of Postgraduate provision that reflects the strategic thinking of Swansea College of Art. The portfolio facilitates migration between diverse thematic disciplines, exploring new ideas and conceptual approaches to allow young artists and designers to confront the issues that face society today and into the future.

The portfolio’s ethos of collaborative dialogues through material practices provides an innovative model of design, fine and applied arts education. This development allows students from all pathways to experience and share creative practices and innovative mind-sets through inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary dialogues. This ethos is enhanced within each programme to stimulate ‘collaborative’ practices and experimentation across a broader spectrum of specialist fields, developing graduates with the contextual awareness, creative thinking and technical skills to operate at the forefront of their discipline.

During the course of your studies you will be supported by specialist staff, leading professionals and practicing artists through lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials. We have exceptional traditional and digital facilities, housed in spacious purpose-build workshops. Through these, we encourage creative freedom within all of our students and support you in challenging conventional thinking and established practices and facilitate new technological advances across a broad range of disciplines. We have found that through collaborative experimentation and innovative design thinking our students are able to produce work that meets the challenges and respond to the demands of the 21st century.

Facilities include:
-Firing kilns for glass and ceramics
-Printmaking, Screen Printing and Digital Textile Technologies
-Traditional and Digital Stitch
-Wood, Metal, Clay
-Cutting Etching and Engraving Technologies - Waterjet, Laser, Plotter
-3D Printing and CNC
-Chemical and Digital Darkrooms
-Specialist computer facilities with commercial standard software

Modules

-Collaborative Dialogues (20 credits)
-Co-Existent Perspectives (20 credits)
-The Thought Experiment (20 credits)
-Explorative Research Praxis (60 credits)
-Confirmative Praxis (60 credits)

Key Features

The range of avenues available to the visual communicator is both vast and diverse and ranges from countless variations of print to the ever-expanding digital outputs. Almost everything that you interact with, consume, and see will communicate with you on some level. We help to get the message across and for you to understand it.

MA Visual Communication enables its students to explore two distinct spectrums of work. Firstly, there is the broadening process that is at the very heart of the contemporary dialogues portfolio of study. Students will be encouraged to develop their theoretical understanding as well as how they would normally approach a practical response to a user centered visual design problem. The process of expansive creative thinking and problem solving allows for the inclusion of a variety of experiences for the student to reflect upon in their work. The second spectrum gives the student the ability to develop a portfolio of practice led research that will build to an extensive major body of work within their specialist field of study which may span a diverse range of outputs across the fields of illustration, graphic, advertising and brand design.

Assessment

The main modes of assessment used on this programme are; studio projects, written assignments and seminar presentations.

Assessment at postgraduate level is reflected by your ability to reformulate and use relevant methodologies and approaches to address problematic situations that involve many interacting factors. It includes taking responsibility for planning and developing courses of action that initiate or underpin substantial change or development, as well as exercising broad autonomy and judgement. It should also reflect an understanding of the relevant theoretical and methodological perspectives and how they affect your area of study or work.

Career Opportunities

Visual Communication is such a vast area that there are many different skill sets that can be covered by the term. Our graduates have ample skills to be able to gain employment in most of the areas associated with the creative industries. Examples of employment opportunities where graduates have been successful are as follows:

Sky Creative, SapientNitro, Nike, Adidas, Lego, Apple, Stag & Hare, Waters Creative, Icon, Blue Stag Studio, Tigerprint, Oxford University Press, Enigma Creative Solutions, Aston Villa, Manchester United, Dirty Little Serifs, W12 Studios, Dr. Organic, Barclays Bank, Swansea City FC…and so many more

Read less

Summary

Our MA in Visual Communication course is delivered over one year for full-time students. You will study for three semesters, each semester takes place over a 15 week period.

The processes of design thinking - research, analysis, evaluation, creativity, craft and production - across all specialisms within visual communication are central to this course.

You'll have the chance to learn in our Research & Development labs that we've developed as a result of our partnerships with organisations, practitioners and industry. The labs allow you to take part in learning, teaching, research, innovation and professional development within visual communication.

The delivery of the programme is split into three stages: PG Cert, PG Dip and MA. Through the completion of modules you will attain your MA in Visual Communication.

The modules are designed to echo the three stages of development: your proficiency, your expertise and your mastery.

The PG Cert and PG Dip stages contain a 40 credit aspect and a 20 credit aspect. The Masters level is made up of a single 60 credit module.

Modules

Semester 1 PgCert: Analytical Practice; Dissemination - Case Study in Specialism.

Semeseter 2 PgDip: Contextual and Creative Practice; Dissemination - Instructional Lecture in Specialism.

Semester 3 Master's: Major Project.

Assessment

The course provides a taught and structured experience; formal content is delivered and evaluated through a range of lectures (traditional and interactive), seminars, workshops, peer review exercises, resource based learning and individual and group tutorials; students undertake case studies, presentations and reflective journals.

Read less

See the department website - http://cias.rit.edu/schools/design/graduate-visual-communication-design

The changing landscape of people’s everyday interactions has blurred the lines between respected design fields giving designers new responsibilities to shape experiences. Designers must increase their knowledge in all areas of design, including print media, human-computer interaction design, motion graphics, and 3D digital graphics.

Plan of study

The MFA in visual communication design provides a learning environment for advancement in innovative research, user-centered design, and professional practice focusing on the creative potentials of visual communication through a full spectrum of media. Students may advance their design knowledge and technical skills by choosing one of three options: communication design, interaction design, or motion and 3D digital design.

The cross-disciplinary nature of the program offers a greater potential to foster innovation and creativity in visual communication design. The program reflects the current views and changes occurring in the professional design field. The skill sets required of graphic, interactive, and digital design have now crossed over and are interrelated.

Admission requirements

- Portfolio

A portfolio, along with written records of achievements and recommendations, serves to inform the faculty of the applicant’s readiness for advanced graduate study. It provides a visual statement of the applicant’s performance to date of a candidate's design skills, aesthetic development, and maturity.

The portfolio must demonstrate a strong understanding of design principles and visual computer skills using Adobe products, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. A portfolio of 10-15 examples representing a cohesive body or bodies of recent work should be uploaded to rit.slideroom.com, the college's portfolio website, or via a personal website.

Examples must demonstrate a good sense of design, typography, and digital illustration in addition to the applicant's interests in and aptitudes for advanced study and, specifically, potential for success at RIT. Applicants are encouraged to submit only their best original work. Applicants should not submit work copies from film, television, photographs, magazine/book illustrations, or other sources.

- Application deadline

The application deadline is February 15th. Admission selection for the fall semester is made in the spring from among all portfolios and completed applications submitted. Acceptance after February 15th is based upon available space and accepted applicants may be placed on a waiting list.

Read less

You will explore the exciting and rapidly evolving area of visual communication, including the latest developments in contemporary communication arts practice in publishing, branding, web design, mobile technologies, and screen-based moving images.
You’ll be taught in small study groups, with individual tutorial support alongside group activities. You’ll have the opportunity to discuss, debate, and share your thinking with like-minded creative individuals who will become part of an invaluable network of contacts for the future.

Our dynamic, well-equipped visual communication studio has excellent, state of the art digital equipment, a print-making workshop, digital print bureau, and an extensive specialist art and design library. Our lecturers are high level graphic designers, illustrators, animators or web designers, working professionally and engaged in research through the Design and Visual Communication research group.

When you’ve completed this course you could move on to a career in areas such as design, consultancy, illustration, animation, production, media, web design, publishing or computer games. Alternatively you may wish to work as an exhibiting artist or teacher. Some students choose to continue their studies at PhD level.

Read less

Visual Communication as a discipline is undergoing a major shift in both its vocational positioning and intellectual relevance. At the Royal College of Art, the programme has a long history that has radically examined the place of visual communication in relation to culture and society, while championing the importance of an interdisciplinary approach. The programme offers three pathways of study: Experimental Communication, Graphic Design and Illustration.

The pathways are interrelated and structured around the discipline of visual communication to facilitate well-informed risk-taking and experimentation from a grounded position of subject knowledge and understanding. Pathways are delivered in subject clusters (critical thinking) supported by shared workshops (critical making) and delivered by staff who are either advanced practitioners, or active researchers engaged in both the core and margins of communication practice.

As noted by our students, the necessary critical discourse around what it means to be a ‘visual communicator’ today opens up possibilities about the process and contexts of communication; and in doing so shows that our skillset is transferable beyond the confines of the purely visual. The programme provides an environment within which students aim to expand and explore new notions of traditional subjects – graphic design and illustration – and question existing practice, while doing so from a position of being well informed.

We recognise that ensuring that our graduates are at the forefront of our subject means considering new technologies alongside traditional ones, understanding the changing relationship between the creative practitioner and society, and balancing critical and strategic thinking with making. 

Areas of staff practice and research range from, and beyond, archeoacoustics, cultural practices, design criticism, design for society, design history, design writing, drawing, education design, feminism, free/associate discussion, graphic design, graphic information design, group learning, expanded cinema, independent publishing, intercultural communication, illustration, memory, moving image, narrative, participatory practice, sound, structural film, non-Latin and Latin typography, visible language, visual identity and visual research.

Noted strengths of the programme as viewed by graduates, students, commentators and critics are its interdisciplinary nature, quality of advanced and specialist practice, exposure to alternative modes of practice, opportunities for collaboration, cross-subject studio culture, peer-learning and the opportunity to experiment while supported by access to College technical resources.

The programme has a network of successful practitioners including a long list of notable alumni who have gone onto transform communication praxis and include Åbäke, Brave New Alps, Daniel Eatock, FUEL, Graphic Thought Facility, James Goggin, James Jarvis, JULIA, Le Gun, Tom Gauld, Sara Fanelli, Troika, Jonathan Barnbrook, Phil Baines, Morag Myerscough and Why Not Associates.

The programme has a long-standing reputation for providing students with the foundation and thinking in order to initiate, reframe, expand and advance their individual practice. We welcome applicants from different and diverse contexts and backgrounds; this enriches and enlivens our community. We genuinely believe and evidence that it is the people that make a place.

Read less

This is a practical MA course in Visual Communication course for photographers, illustrators and graphic designers. We encourage you to work independently and collaboratively, while learning a shared visual language.

Working alongside other students and in consultation with your tutors, you will build a professional and critical context for your practice, in the process of developing each of your projects. Your growing confidence and increased ability, will be clearly evident in the portfolio’s you present when joining the profession, or continuing to study.

COURSE STRUCTURE

You’ll develop your visual communication practice, concentrating on practical, conceptual, historical and contemporary concerns. You’ll enter critical dialogue with other students in related fields and we’ll help you place your practice in an appropriate context. 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.

You’ll become adept at working individually and collaboratively. Through developing an individual specialist project, you’ll conceptualise, critique and contextualise your approach, whilst fine tuning your aesthetic sensibilities. You’ll also collaborate to produce joint projects, negotiating the final outcomes with your team members.

MODULE STRUCTURE

In the first two modules, you'll examine practical and conceptual approaches to your work through academic workshops and presentations, identify your strengths and weaknesses and progressively improve and develop your practice.

In the next two modules, you’ll develop exciting collaborative new works, focused first on a geographical location and then toward a niche global audience.

In the final module, you’ll decide on the structure of your Master’s project and develop a collaborative or individual work that reflects your particular approach and specialist interests.

For more information about modules, please go to: https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/courses/pg-visual-communication/

TEACHING METHODS

You’ll be taught through practical workshops, seminars, talks and presentations. You’ll work with a largely self-directed focus. We’ll encourage you to collaborate across disciplines; however, in close consultation with your tutor, you’ll decide the best route for your practice.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

You’ll be assessed through practical projects backed up by integrated research work in sketchbooks, related materials, and presentations. Your final project will appear in a public exhibition.

For more information on teaching and assessment methods, please go view our course handbook via the website: https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/courses/pg-visual-communication/

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Graduates from this department have become:
• Graphic designers
• Illustrators
• Photographers and photo editors for design agencies
• Architectural and engineering practices
• The M.O.D. and other specialist areas.

Many also work on research projects in conjunction with fine artists, or scientists, or have gone on to become teachers.

Read less

Introduction

Gain practical skills and expand your knowledge of design principles, research methodologies and theory with this postgraduate diploma. Explore visual language, typography, colour and information design through set and self-initiated projects. This course offers an intensive vocational route in the graphic design profession and is an ideal option if you need a bridge to Masters study.

Content

Build up a strong vocational portfolio on this intensive 30 week course.

The Postgraduate Diploma Design for Visual Communication provides a unique learning experience across an intensive 30 week programme. The highly structured delivery of the first stage of the course places emphasis on the development of fundamental design skills. This is underpinned with the importance of visual research and the development of critical and analytical skills. During the second stage of the course you will choose from a wide range of postgraduate electives and go on to develop a self-initiated major project that focuses on individual interests.

The Postgraduate Diploma is designed to build design skills even if you are relatively new to the subject of graphic design. The course provides you with a strong, vocational portfolio and is also useful in building your confidence to undertake further postgraduate study at Masters level.

The course recognises that graphic design is one of the most important and influential of what has become known as the creative industries and that it contributes significantly, directly and indirectly, to our economic and cultural well being.

Structure

Phase 1 is delivered through three units. Design Resolution is an intensive series of 'hands-on' studio workshops that develop basic design skills including visual grammar, typography, structure and the grid. Research and Development breaks down the research process and encourages contextual understanding of graphic design practice. It is designed to develop understanding of research methods and to provide you with research skills that can be applied to other units on the course.

The third unit encourages you to position your work within the framework of professional and/or academic contexts.
Phase 2 is also delivered through three units beginning with options from the extensive postgraduate elective program. Typical examples might include letterpress, printmaking, sound design, photography, narrative and sequence, typologies, design and politics, moving image and book design. The final units require you to propose, research and bring to completion a substantial practical project.

The major project builds on the knowledge and skills acquired in the first stage and applies these in the creation of a self-initiated design project based on extensive research, analysis, investigation and a clear research question. The major project is supported throughout with weekly seminars and tutorials.

The course, which fits within the University credit framework, comprises: tutored study, self-directed study and access to facilities. Tutored study is generally two days a week. In addition to this you are expected to attend lectures and work independently.

Read less

For creative practitioners working in the modern world of communication, it is essential that you are able to draw on a wide number of associated and complementary disciplines, thereby extending your ability to communicate effectively to a wide variety of audiences.

In this rapidly developing environment, the most successful practitioners are those people who can embrace alternative approaches, adopt the widest range of skills, and fully appreciate the many methods of media communication.

To help meet the challenge of multi-disciplinary design communication, the University of Gloucestershire has developed this innovative MA programme that draws on the strengths of its staff working across many creative fields.

Graphic Design, Photography, Illustration, Digital, Moving Image and Animation are just some of the complementary disciplines that you will be able to explore during this one year MA programme.

This is your opportunity to investigate integrated design and associated subject areas and then harness those particular skills to produce a uniquely effective creative communication.

You will be actively encouraged to look at problem-solving from alternative viewpoints, with an emphasis on creative experimentation and innovative risk-taking.

Your studies will be supported and enhanced through a stimulating programme of lectures and seminars, while further inspiration will be gained through talks and discussion groups led by visiting professional practitioners.

Your MA studies will have at their core your desire to develop a practical creative project; one you already have in mind or which arises as a result of consultation with your lecturers at the University of Gloucestershire.

The range of outcomes is unlimited, or rather; they are only limited by your imagination. Your final Major Project will predominantly be a practice-based piece that is either the product of a cross-disciplinary creative approach or focussed around a particular specialism.


Benefits

* supports both specific and cross disciplinary project work
* individually navigated projects
* opportunity to work with staff and peer groups from all complimentary disciplines including illustrators, graphic designers, animators, web designers, photographers etc.

Career paths

* This course will support your progress with a wide range of careers within the creative industries.

Read less

Graphic Design, Photography, Illustration, Digital, Moving Image and Animation are just some of the complementary disciplines that you will be able to explore during this one year MA programme. This is your opportunity to investigate integrated design and associated subject areas and then harness those particular skills to produce a uniquely effective creative communication.

You will be actively encouraged to look at problem-solving from alternative viewpoints, with an emphasis on creative experimentation and innovative risk-taking.

Read less

The MA Graphic Design course at The University of Central Lancashire encourages the diversity of design study that is possible within the wider field of Graphic Design. The course focus is rooted in visual communication research, underpinned by theory and with an emphasis on the development of a very personal body of practical work. Throughout the course students are encouraged to pursue a unique personal line of inquiry within any area of contemporary graphic design practice or explore the potential of design diversity. By the end of the course all students should have completed a cohesive body of work to a professional standard and be able to clearly articulate a sound intellectual rationale and a broad critical viewpoint.

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AND ASSESSMENT

Practical work is carried out within our extensive and very well equipped studios and workshops.

Full time and part time students will be required to attend the Friday morning lecture programme throughout semesters 1 and 2. Full time students will also attend weekly seminars and tutorial sessions during the week. Part time students are scheduled for their practical sessions on a Friday afternoon, so that their commitment on campus allows for day release from their place of employment.

Evening tutorial sessions may be available from time to time for some students who are unable to attend in the day. Many of the Friday morning lectures are filmed for supporting distance learning or those who miss sessions.

Study is further supported by a lecture programme of visiting practitioners from a variety of design disciplines.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Graphic designers can work in many different areas, from traditional print for book design in the publishing industry and packaging design for the food and drink industry, to the digital arena of web design and new media. Often, the career path of an artist or designer does not take a particularly conventional route. Some graphic designers work on a freelance basis, whilst many work for design agencies or as part of in-house departments of larger companies. Life as a graphic designer can be exceedingly fast-paced and challenging as well as highly exciting.

A design related masters degree can provide a platform from which to enter employment in a range of other exciting sectors, such as: Art & Design; Teaching & Education; Advertising, Marketing & PR Media Culture; Music & Performing Arts; Management Consulting; Business & Admin; Hospitality & Tourism; Retail & Sales; Recruitment & Human Resources; Charity, Not-for-profit & NGO.

The MA course exists within the context of the University module scheme. The theory and practical modules run alongside in order to inform each other. Design Research 1 and 2 are theoretical modules that provide an opportunity to explore research methodologies appropriate to Graphic Design and the broader area of visual communication. A special feature of the course is the Friday morning lecture programmes with lectures from subject specific academics, guest speakers and practicing designers who are at the top of their profession. Graphic Design Practice 3 incorporates a theoretical element to summarize and complement the final practical body of work.

Throughout the programme students will continue to explore the links and concerns between theory and graphic design practice. The practical modules (Practice 1, 2 & 3) are designed to allow students to pursue their own specific individual design research project, which is a major investigation into a particular personal area of study. A key element of the practice sessions are to facilitate the opportunity to generate, investigate and test new ideas. The programme then culminates with a final public exhibition of student work.

OPPORTUNITIES

The MA Graphic Design programme is also delivered at our partner University in Thessaloniki, Greece. Students are able to study there for one semester. The MA will help further career opportunities in the field of Graphic Design and Visual Communication, giving recognition to each student’s individual practical and intellectual abilities.

The opportunity for a structured work experience will be provided for every student who requests it. This is a major commitment by the University to help our graduates to reach their potential and thrive in their careers after graduation.

Study trips are an essential part of research activity that brings design to life. Throughout the programme, students are introduced to contemporary influences with International city trips and study visits to exhibitions and museums - Manchester, London, Berlin and New York have been regular trips in recent years (students will be required to pay for overseas trips/visits and are therefore optional).

With an MA in Graphic Design, there are many other opportunities to explore and career options worth considering that require the broad range of skills gained at masters level and related to graphic design / visual communication / art and design.

Read less

This 36-credit program is designed for self-starters and independent thinkers; students who want to further their career in intercultural or international communication, including Strategic Communication, Health Communication, and Communication for Development. The program is delivered by faculty with professional and practitioner industry insight, providing a functional, real-world understanding of the fundamental and advanced concepts related to intercultural and international communication issues.

The MA in Intercultural and International Communication program will give graduates the skills necessary to communicate effectively in complex circumstances, through the use of diverse media and communication genres and engaging different audiences across multiple cultural settings.

Graduates will be familiar with non-governmental, civic, and business organizations and will have an understanding of how the making and shaping of meaning is fundamental to the reproduction of culture.

Course themes include:
-Intercultural and International Communication
-Intercultural Competence
-Media Relations in a Global Context
-Public Affairs and Advocacy
-Social Marketing
-Sport for Society
-Communication for Health and Well-Being

This program is delivered in two formats: an 18-month on-campus program, or a two-year blended program incorporating online learning with one on-campus residency, with the opportunity for an internship or research course. As well, this program features an intercultural field study experience to ensure you have opportunities to apply your learning in both intercultural and international contexts.

This program is recognized as full-time by StudentAid BC, meaning B.C. residents on this program are eligible for full-time government student loan assistance.

Who It’s For

The MA in Intercultural and International Communication program is for strategic and independent-thinking communication managers looking to improve their ability to assist organizations respond to the rapidly changing global environment, as well as individuals with an arts or science undergraduate degree who want to pursue or advance their career in professional communication in the intercultural or international sphere. This program is designed to balance Intercultural Communication with International Communication to better integrate theory and practice.

There are two learning models available for this program, with each model traditionally attracting slightly different students:
-Two-Year Blended Model – The students that lean towards this option tend to have significant professional experience, and have a background as communication managers and leaders.
-18-Month On-Campus Model – Shortly after completing their bachelor degree, the students that tend to take up this model have a solid understanding of the theoretical aspects of communication, with some relevant work experience as communication specialists and liaisons.

Through our Flexible Admission process, significant professional experience in lieu of academic requirements is also considered.

Outcomes

The MA in Intercultural and International Communication prepares individuals for work in:
-International or multicultural governmental or non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
-International journalism and documentary-reporting
-Multi-ethnic and multicultural communities
-International media
-Intercultural conflict management
-International communication enterprises
-Social marketing and development aid
-International relations
-Community activism
-Sustainable international and intercultural development
-Cultural interpretation and mediation
-Further studies in any of these fields

Graduates will gain:
-Knowledge of both the fundamental and advanced concepts related to intercultural and international communication and an ability to communicate successfully through multiple modes (e.g. through written and oral discourse, visual language, multimodal media) across culturally diverse settings.
-The ability to use computer-mediated technology to manage the processes required for the production and reproduction of culture.
-Knowledge of traditional and new media and their operation across diverse audiences.
-Knowledge of government, non-government, civic, and business organizations and an understanding of how meaning-making is fundamental to the operation of these.
-An understanding of the social forces shaping the globalization of the world, combined with a practical understanding of how processes such as transnationalism, travel and tourism, global commerce, migration, diaspora, refugee movement, global identity politics, information flows, postcolonial governmental relations, and much more, shape communities worldwide.
-An understanding of the cultural dynamics underpinning the formation of local, regional and national communities with regard to issues such as the formation of cultural identities, the shaping of gender inclusion, racialization, multicultural policy and education, ritualization, language protection and cultural revival, multicultural health communication campaigns, environmental culture, political culture, indigenous governance, sustainable development, and all forms of cross-cultural interaction.
-An understanding of culture, international and intercultural communication, negotiation and conflict management. An ability to communicate ethically in diverse and difficult circumstances.

Upon successful completion of the MA Intercultural and International Communication program at Royal Roads University, you will have demonstrated your competency at a professional and international level, and that you are prepared to meet the challenges facing communication managers in today’s fast-changing cultural, socio-economic, and political environments.

Flexible Admission

Applicants who do not meet the Standard Admission requirements will be considered for Flexible Admission and assessed as follows:
-All applicants must show evidence of having sufficient knowledge, skills and abilities to complete a demanding academic course of study at a master's level and have significant professional communication experience.
-Applicants without an undergraduate degree, but more than three years (90 credits) of relevant post-secondary education, should have at least two years of relevant work experience, preferably in a leadership capacity.
-Applicants with 2-3 years (60-90 credits) of relevant post-secondary education should have at least five years of relevant international/intercultural work experience in a leadership capacity.
-Applicants with less than two years of relevant post-secondary education should have at least ten years of high-level, professional communication experience in a leadership capacity.

Read less

This exciting new course focuses on the creative approach important to you, allow you to develop your interests and expertise in your preferred area within digital and visual communication theory and practice.

The Course attracts students from a wide range of disciplines and from all over the world, giving it a strong international flavour. The current cohort comes from as far afield as China, Nigeria, India, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Poland, Greece and Germany, as well as the UK.

The course gives you the opportunity to develop your creative design abilities but also equips you with marketing and branding skills and knowledge essential for a career in the competitive market place that is International Visual Communications.

You will enjoy the support and guidance of our staff of artists and designers.

Subject specialisms:

- Animation

- Computer Games Design

- Design for Advertising

- Graphic Communication

- Illustration

- Multimedia Design

- Photography

- Video and Film Production

What happens on the course?

- Creative approaches to digital & visual communications research and practice
- Understanding and defining Digital and Visual Communication Practice
- Critical, contextual and theoretical enquiry
- Critical, contextual and theoretical frameworks
- Masters Project in Digital and Visual Communications

Why Wolverhampton?

This course is designed to develop your creative and intellectual abilities through the investigation of a bespoke project aligned to your own particular interests and aspirations. The course is intended to promote ‘Thinking practitioners’ who will be well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities available within the growing global industry of Digital and Visual Communication.

The course attracts students from all over the world as well as from the UK. Current students hail from China, India, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Germany and Greece. This course has a truly international perspective reflecting the global nature of the visual communications sector.

What our students think

"Studying in an artistic environment where different design disciplines are working close together and the well-balanced level of guidance and independency really helped me to investigate and improve my work in graphic communications." Yvonne John

"As an Illustrator studying for my Master degree, The MA Digital and Visual Communications course and its layout has allowed me to further develop my work and to get it out there and more importantly noticed whilst giving me a greater knowledge and understanding of professional Illustration. As well as offering me excellent opportunities to communicate with those in the world of commercial publishing, This is largely down to the expert experience and brilliance of the staff and how they run the course." Matt Jones

“The course is Interesting and it broadens the mind of any MA student, especially to those who are involve in Advertising programme.” Mohammed Abba Aliyu

Career path

Employment opportunities include:

- Self-employment: Establishing yourself in your own business, or as a sole trader or freelance designer.
- A career in design, practice and/or industry in the UK and internationally.
- Advancement in current employment: education, public sector or the creative industries.

What skills will you gain?

You will gain the intellectual and creative confidence to enable you to embrace the challenges and rewards of the Global Digital & Visual Communications industry. Through the investigation of a personally designed project you will have the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge to a Masters Level, culminating in a showcase exhibition and portfolio. Opportunities exist to further develop your portfolio through PhD study within the department. From the 2010 cohort three students have progressed successfully to our PhD programme.

Read less