Graphic Design MA

Facts about Graphic Design

Qualification	MA (a specialism pathway of the Communication Design MA programme)
Duration	Full time: 1 year
Attendance	Full time: 3 days per week
Assessment	Portfolio; exhibition; masters project
Course structure
Please note that this course is a specialism pathway of the Communication Design MA programme.

Choose Kingston's Graphic Design MA

The role of the graphic designer is expanding constantly as visual communication needs become increasingly demanding. This course will enable you to meet these demands by helping you to develop your ability to think strategically and create clear, meaningful and appropriate work. It will encourage you to become open and sensitive to changing cultural, social and political climates, and, while seeing the big picture, demand perfection in the detail.

What will you study?

You will work on a number of challenging, experimental projects using a wide range of media to develop your intellectual aesthetic considerations and your technical understanding. Projects are often run with other students and professionals, such as musicians, scientists, product designers and architects, as a way of offering an opportunity to explore and develop dynamic and innovative communication.

The business and social context of communication design is covered in two series of six-week seminars. Your masters project will culminate in a gallery assessment show, which will include your professional portfolio of supporting work.

Research areas

Many of the staff in the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture are research active. This ensures they are in touch with the latest thinking and bring best practice to your studies.
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Course structure

Please note that this is an indicative list of modules and is not intended as a definitive list. Those listed here may also be a mixture of core and optional modules.

Modules

Exploration and Innovation
Exploration and Innovation

Through a range of innovative projects, you will explore themes stimulating investigation of new areas of practice, both creatively and technically. You will:
- further develop your critical understanding of different approaches to the creative process within your particular discipline, whether it is Illustration, Graphic Design, Motion Graphics, Animation, Drawing or Interactive Design; and
- begin developing an innovative body of work for inclusion in your portfolio which reflects your creative ambitions.
Visualising Ideas
Visualising Ideas

Building on the Exploration and Innovation module, you will begin work on more complex projects. Both set and self-initiated, these projects:
- will stretch your individual ability and maximise your creative potential;
- may be individually driven or undertaken with colleagues from within your own or other disciplines, depending on your projects' content, audience and final resolution; and
- will allow you to challenge established practice and build on your own creative values through personal development planning.
Once again, you will be expected to finish selected projects to a high standard for inclusion in your portfolio.
Building Interdisciplinary Practice
Building Interdisciplinary Practice

Responding to the changes and new demands of the creative industries, this modules focuses on your team-working skills. External advisors from industry will set and review ambitious projects which:
- may be large and complex;
- will involve high-levels of creativity; and
- will test and develop your ability to negotiate, manage and co-ordinate your own and your colleagues' work to bring projects to a successful conclusion.
You will re-present work in the context of your portfolio, making your own contribution clear. You will also have the opportunity to develop an understanding of your career opportunities, build networks and cultivate professional practice.
Practice Research Project
Practice Research Project

You undertake two substantial projects during this module, based around an issue which needs to be communicated to a group or an identified 'window of opportunity'.

Normally one brief will be set and the other self-initiated, although both will encourage questioning. The set brief will be open to negotiation, rewriting or re-positioning. The second, self-initiated brief encourages independence and should be born out of autonomous research and reflection upon reading interests or concerns. It could also be an extension of a subject which has already been touched upon during earlier projects.

In the development of projects you will research and liaise with outside agencies as appropriate. Most importantly, the self-initiated part of this module acts as a fore-runner to the final 'Major Project' - the success of these projects will indicate the appropriateness and readiness for the next stage, completion of the Major Practice Research Project.
Major Practice Research Projects
Major Practice Research Projects

This module is the culmination of your creative development. You produce a substantial and original portfolio of work in response to a student-generated self-initiated brief. It requires:
- evidence of the designer's responsibility to client and audience; and
- the production of a 3,000-word report to accompany the creative work and supporting portfolio - this will document the research undertaken and the philosophy that has determined the design conclusion.
Agreement of this project will be through a written proposal and tutorial discussions.