Graphic Design MA

Course structure

You will learn a combination of analogue and digital techniques which may include motion graphics, user experience design, editorial design, branding, typography, narrative systems, gamification and art direction.

The course will be delivered through practical workshops, guided and independent study, critical reflection and writing, lectures, presentations and study trips over three semesters.

Part-time students take the same key modules but over two years.

Some modules are specific to this Graphic Design MA, whilst others are shared with other postgraduate courses, enabling you to meet and work with peers outside of your immediate subject.

Semester 1

Design Landscapes

This module encourages you to orientate your graphic design practice, enabling students who have entered from a variety of creative disciplines to focus on what they see their role as a graphic designer being. It considers your ambitions as a designer, using design principles as a starting point to compare, contrast and question.

This contemporary and international perspective will help to ensure the curriculum is decolonised and inclusive. This module is taught as a series of studio-based talks and short catalyst projects where you critically test a variety of practices and skills.

Project Development

The first part of the major project is both practical and research focused. Research module elements are shared with the Sequential Design/Illustration MA through talks, seminars and self-led research interest groups that feed into your practical work.

This is beneficial in getting you to engage in independent research and develop an understanding of a broad range of design research.

Studio practice will develop your ideas and research interests into a series of tests and development projects. This is taught through a series of workshops, group and one-to-one tutorials. 

You will have a formative tutorial halfway through the module.
You submit a portfolio of work and a proposal for resolution in the form of a pitch presentation to the group, with room for questions and debate.

This means you get both summative feedback from tutors and peers and formative feedback at the end of the module.

Semester 2 

Project Resolution

The second part of the major project continues to be both practical and research focused. Research modules are again shared with other courses through talks, seminars and self-led research interest groups that feed into your practical work.

Studio practice will build on the development of previous work. There will be a strong emphasis on research-led practice, run through a series of group and one-to-one tutorials and critiques.

This module culminates in the MA Show, an exhibition of your practical work, where you consider how best to present and articulate your design practice to an audience.

Professional Development

Throughout the course there are a series of professional practice events and talks, enabling you to further consider fields of design practice you may be interested in engaging with post education.

This module sees you consolidate your research and practical work and orientate yourself within a professional setting, considering how best to present your work with relevance to your independent design practice.

Research Presentation

You begin your Research Presentation by reflecting on your show, and through your research-led design practice, you will be asked to consider your research practice and how you can share this publicly.

Semester 3

Research Presentation (cont.)

This module  culminates in a symposium and publication of your interests. You'll work together with fellow students to design, curate, edit and identify a concept for the symposium.

The symposium will be an assessed event where you engage with and present your research either as a talk, workshop, lab or seminar session – using the process that feels best for your practice.

Professional Development (cont.)

This module is assessed as a portfolio and can be submitted as a website, digital PDF or showreel. It is assessed as an individual report articulating your practice, considering how it communicates with a specified professional audience.

Facilities

You will work in postgraduate studio spaces alongside fellow visual communication students, encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration and conversation between other courses and external partners.

Technical staff are on hand to assist you in the workshops and facilities available to you include:

• one of the country's best-stocked art and design libraries
• the internationally important Design Archives with a wealth of graphic design and illustration material
• dedicated graphic design studio
• letterpress printing workshop (dedicated technician)
• book arts workshop (dedicated technician)
• Techhub featuring laser cutting, plasma cutting, CNC 3-axis milling, CNC routing, 3D body scanning, portable 3D scanning and rapid prototyping
• department print bureau.

Meet the team

Our team of practitioners and specialists, as well as experienced technicians, will guide you in mastering your specialism within the field.

Louise Colbourne, course leader

As well as teaching, Louise is an independent arts project director with a particular interest in interdisciplinary film practices, immersive media, motion graphics and expanded cinema. She uses both analogue and digital methods for the production and presentation of installations and single screen works. 

She has produced and curated major international exhibitions and events for the Brighton Digital Festival, Latitude Festival, The Jerwood Gallery and the Brighton Cinecity Film festival amongst others. She has also put together events for many other exhibitions and festivals to include: Loop video art festival in Barcelona, Liverpool Biennale, Whitstable Biennale, ESPS in St Leonards-on-Sea, and the ICA in London.

Read Louise’s full profile.

Gavin Ambrose, programme leader

Gavin is a practicing graphic designer who works with clients on diverse and engaging social, cultural and environmental projects. His practice, Studio 245, works within graphic design, print and environmental design with the aims of culturally enriching our environment and field of vision and embracing new ways of learning. He teaches through activities focused around workshops and activity led sessions aimed at empowering learners.

This method is based, in part, on the teachings of Jean-Pol Martin, who pioneered the LdL method of teaching (Lernen durch Lehren or Learning by Teaching) where peers are encouraged to teach one another.

Since 2005 Gavin has authored and designed a series of books on design and design theory for Bloomsbury Press London and New York which have been translated into multiple languages.

Gavin is a registered PhD supervisor at the University of Brighton, and this presents an opportunity to advance higher level study and research.

Read Gavin’s full profile.

Other staff who teach on the course include Beth Salter and Gavin Fry.

International requirements and visas

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visas and immigration advice

Project proposal 

You are required to write a 600-word project proposal to accompany your application form. The following headings should assist you:

• title (or working title) and any subtitle of the project.
• the form the project might take: book, comic/graphic novel, digital, film, interactive, etc
• the editorial limits of the project (number of pages, running time etc)
• who is the project designed for and what are its intended objectives?
• a description of what the project will involve
• how you would start work on the project
• possible technical requirements
• in what way do you feel the project is designed to be sequential?
• any information you think is relevant.

This proposal represents a project that you would choose to do. It is useful as an example of your thinking. However, many students change their projects by agreement either after interview or on joining the course. In some cases, students may prefer to do more than one project on a theme. If this is the case, write a brief summary about why you would want to take this approach.

Portfolio and interview 

Due to COVID-19, we expect interviews to be online and the processes may change slightly – check back here for updates. If you've already applied, we will tell you about any changes.

Your portfolio, together with the project proposal, will enable us to assess your abilities to carry out your chosen project. It should demonstrate evidence of:

• completed projects: it is essential that at least one of these projects should be accompanied by all its development work; you will also be required to explain the nature of the tasks or briefs in relation to these finished pieces
• an ability to use maps, plans, diagrams and rough sketches to discuss large projects before you start them
• scrapbooks, sketchbooks, notebooks that show your ability to visually research any subject
• independence (projects and work other than those required by academic or client demands)
• interests outside your particular subject or discipline.

You do not need to start the project you have proposed or have work in your portfolio that relates directly to it. We feel able to assess an applicant’s potential by looking at the work they choose to present at interview.

Find out more about how to create and submit your portfolio.

Course fees

Scholarships, bursaries and loans

We offer a range of scholarships for postgraduate students. Bursaries and loans may also be available to you.

Find out more about postgraduate fees and funding.

What's included

You may have to pay additional costs during your studies. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. A summary of the costs that you may be expected to pay, and what is included, whilst studying a course in the School of Art are listed here.

• For most courses you will need to budget for the cost of specialist materials, equipment and printing and are likely to spend between £50–£300 per year.
• Costs in your final year of study are very likely to be higher than in earlier years as you bring together your final body of work and portfolio, and you may need to budget between £200 and £1,000.
• For some courses you may also need to budget up to £100 for specialist personal protective clothing which, with care, will last for the whole of your course and beyond.
• For most courses you will have the opportunity to attend field trips and off-site visits, for example to galleries, exhibitions and studios both in the UK and overseas. These are optional and are not required to pass your course. The amount spent would be based on location and number of trips taken, and typically range between £100 and £700 across the duration of your course.
• You will have access to computers and necessary software at City campus and at other locations across the university. However, many students choose to buy their own hardware – usually a laptop, software and accessories. The amount spent will depend on your individual choices but this expenditure is not essential to pass any of our courses.
• Course books and a wide range of magazines and journals are available in the university libraries. You do not need to have your own copies, but if you wish to, you should budget up to £200 over your course to buy them.
• For courses in which there is an optional placement year, you will need to budget for living costs (rent, food, travel etc) in that city/country, as if you were on site at the university.

You can chat with our enquiries team through the Stay in touch panel at the end of this page if you require further information. Or check our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships, as well as more information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2022–23.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

Campus where this course is taught

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