History of Design and Material Culture MA

Course in brief

The History of Design and Material Culture MA focuses on both objects from everyday life and representations of them since the eighteenth century as a basis for research and analysis.

The course allies theory and practice in seminar-based discussions that embrace various methodological issues and perspectives, including Marxism, discourse theory, phenomenology, semiology, museology, gender, race, class, memory and oral testimony. Depending on the material you analyse in your essays and seminars, as well as the dissertation topic you choose, you can also emphasise your own intellectual and subject-specific interests.

Since its inception in the late 1990s, the MA has garnered a national and international reputation as one of the pioneering and most successful programmes of its kind. As a research-led course, it harnesses the academic expertise of staff with a recognised wealth of teaching and research excellence in subject areas such as fashion and dress history, the history and theory of advertising, photography and the mass-reproduced image, and heritage and museum studies.

Under guidance, you will be encouraged to explore the relationship between theory and practice and to develop your own skills as an independent researcher, thinker and writer.

Key facts

Location Brighton: Grand Parade

Full-time 1 year
Part-time 2 years

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Please make sure that you meet the entry requirements before applying. If you have any questions the course team will be happy to help.

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Entry criteria

Entry requirements

The entry requirements listed here are our typical offer for this course if you wish to begin studying with us in 2018. They should be used as a general guide.

We operate a flexible admissions policy – this means that you could receive a lower conditional offer than the typical offer, informed by our assessment of your complementary non-academic achievements and experiences. For courses that require interview or portfolio review, this may also be considered in the level of any conditional offer that follows if your application is successful.

Degree and experience
Normally a 2:1 undergraduate degree in a relevant subject. Candidates with a 2:2 or lower or who do not have a degree will still be considered for admission if they can demonstrate suitable professional experience or substantial experience of the subject area.

For non-native speakers of English
IELTS 6.5 overall with 6.0 in writing and at least 5.5 in the other parts.

International students whose language skills do not match the IELTS scores set out here should consider applying for this course through the Extended Masters programme at the university's Language Institute.

Course in detail

Course structure

The History of Design and Material Culture MA draws on the wide-ranging academic expertise of staff in the fields of the history of decorative arts and design, dress history, material culture, museology and social history.

It stimulates innovative and interdisciplinary study in the history of design and material culture in both their western and non-western contexts, considering the relationship between local, national and international patterns of production, circulation, consumption and use.

The course is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars, study visits and tutorials. Considerable emphasis is placed on student involvement in the weekly seminar readings and discussions within the two thematic core modules, Exploring Objects and Mediating Objects.

Based at Pavilion Parade, a Regency building overlooking the famous Royal Pavilion, teaching takes place close to the seafront and city centre amenities.

Syllabus

Exploring Objects

The Exploring Objects module introduces you to a series of different research methods and historiographical approaches, as you interrogate and make sense of designed objects in terms of how they are designed, produced, circulated, consumed and used in everyday life. It covers the period from the late eighteenth century to the present time and typically involves discussion and debate on the following themes, theories and methods: Marxist and post-Marxist historiography; production and consumption; gender and taste; phenomenology; object-based analysis; the use of archives; and 'good writing/bad writing'. It also introduces you to the academic rigour of postgraduate dissertation research.

Mediating Objects

This module complements Exploring Objects by focusing on the mediation between 'this one' (the object itself) and 'that one' (the object as represented in word and image). On one level, it examines how objects are translated in various texts and contexts, from museum and private collections to photographs, advertisements, film and fiction. On another level, it examines how objects are transformed through the embodied processes of everyday rituals such as gift-giving and personal oral and collective memories. The module therefore deals with the idea of intertexualities and how the identities of things and people are phenomenologically bound up with each other. By extension, you examine objects in relation to ideas concerning sex, gender, class, generation, race and ethnicity.

Dissertation

The centrepiece of your MA studies, the dissertation is a piece of original writing between 18,000 and 20,000 words on a research topic of your own choosing. It allows you to pursue a specific research topic related to your own academic and intellectual interests in a given area of the history of design and material culture, for example fashion and dress, textiles, ceramics and glass, product design, interior design and architecture, graphic communications, advertising and photography, film, museums, collecting and curating, and design pedagogy. The dissertation is largely based on primary research, often using specialist archives and surviving historical material.

Previous dissertations include:

FHK Henrion, Crawfords and Advertising for Harella: The appropriation of Surrealism in advertising to women, 1939-45
Text and Photography in Lee Miller’s World War Two Work for Vogue
A Kiss from France: Embroidered silk postcards and separation during the First World War
The Artificial Dentures of Civilised Humanity: The material culture of porcelain false teeth in Britain, 1820-1920
People and Place: A study of consumption sites and gentrification in Hackney
This Book belongs To...: The origins and narratives of the early children’s book collection at the Jubilee Library, Brighton

Brighton Health and Pleasure poster, early twentieth century. Royal Pavilion and Museums, Brighton and Hove.

BOAC poster by FHK Henrion, late 1940s. University of Brighton Design Archives.

Facilities

This course makes use of the University of Brighton Design Archives, which include the archives of the Design Council, Alison Settle, FHK Henrion and the South of England Film and Video Archive.

Close professional contact with national institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as with local collections and centres of historical interest (such as Brighton’s unique Royal Pavilion and Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, with its internationally famous collection of decorative art from the 1890s onwards), present research opportunities for students registered on the course.

The course is closely linked to our arts and humanities research division through a joint research lecture series, and we have successfully encouraged high achievers to register for the MPhil/PhD programme.

The student environment also includes the thriving postgraduate Design History Society as well as opportunities for conference presentation, professional contact and career development in the field.

University of Brighton Design Archives

Student views

Ellen Martin

"During my time on the MA course at Brighton, I learned to look at objects in an entirely new set of ways.

"The dissertation module in particular proved an invaluable opportunity to really engage with an area of design history that I grew to be deeply passionate about – interwar textiles and pattern design. This research process, which led me to archives and libraries that I never knew existed, was the most enriching and fulfilling thing I have ever done.

"The course gives you the freedom to shape your own unique interests, but as part of a close-knit and supportive group of equally enthusiastic peers."

Careers and employability

The course has an extremely healthy track record in helping students to take up careers in related areas of employment and further study. Many of our postgraduates have succeeded in finding work as lecturers, curators, journalists, designers and design consultants, while many others have pursued doctoral research, most often also securing prestigious funding from the AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council).

Graduate professions

Curating

ej Scott Costume curator, Killerton House Exeter, National Trust
Dennis Nothdruft Curator, Fashion and Textile Museum, Bermondsey
Cassie Davies Curator, Victoria and Albert Museum

Teaching and research in higher education

Torunn Kjolberg University of South Wales
Mairi Mackenzie Glasgow School of Art
Cat Rossi Kingston University

Funded doctoral research

Janet Aspley University of Brighton (Design Star, AHRC)
Bridget Millmore University of Brighton (AHRC)
June Rowe Central Saint Martins (Rootstein Foundation)
Sara Skillen University of Stockholm (Centre for Fashion Studies)

Design, consultancy and publishing

Georgina Jarvis Adam&eve DDB
Christine Gent Executive director, World Fair Trade Organisation (Asia)
Ness Wood Art director and designer, Random House Books

Fees and funding

Your fees

UK/EU (full-time) 6,270 GBP

International (full-time) 14,580 GBP

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.

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2018–19.

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/EU 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- 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.

What's included in the fee?

When costs such as health or DBS checks, or use of specialist materials are incurred as a mandatory requirement of the course they are included in your tuition fee.

You may incur additional costs depending on the optional modules or activities you choose. 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. Before you apply check with the school that provides your course using the contact details in the Find out more tab (at the end of this page) for advice about what is included and what optional costs you could face so you can budget accordingly.

See our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as further information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Location and living here

Location

About Brighton

Forward-thinking and welcoming, the city of Brighton & Hove is a community of creative and diverse people who share values like sustainability and inclusivity – just like its university.

Miles of pebble beaches, hundreds of bars, restaurants and clubs, a packed calendar of culture, music and sport and great independent and high street shopping attract visitors from all over the world. By the end of your course you’ll still be finding new things to enjoy about the city.

The Brighton Festival, England’s largest arts festival, takes place every May – as does the Great Escape Europe’s leading industry showcase for new music, 300 bands perform over three days at venues across the city. Major events celebrate Pride, digital culture, cinema, photography, food and the winter solstice. Our own Brighton Graduate show is a highlight, turning the university into the largest exhibition space in the south east as we celebrate the outstanding creativity of our students.

As a student here you’ll have a unique opportunity to experience what the city has to offer. Volunteering and placement opportunities enable you to play your part in the events, organisations and communities that make Brighton such a compelling place to be.

Campus where this course is taught

Grand Parade campus

Our Grand Parade campus is in the heart of Brighton, across the road from the Royal Pavilion and a five-minute walk from the beach. After your lectures you’ll be right in the city centre, close to all the best pubs, clubs, restaurants and cafes that Brighton has to offer.

The campus is home to a creative community of arts and humanities students, specialising in everything from fashion and textiles to politics and philosophy. It is also the location of the University of Brighton Gallery and Sallis Benney Theatre, which host events throughout the festival season and beyond.

The world-renowned University of Brighton Design Archives are in the basement of Grand Parade and offer extensive resources for the study of British design in the twentieth century. St Peters House, the campus library, is also nearby and houses a specialist collection of arts books and journals.

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Accommodation

Brighton: Grand Parade

We have halls of residence across the city in Grand Parade, Moulsecoomb, Varley Park and Falmer.

Eligible students can apply for any of these options. Find out if you are eligible…
You’ll be prioritised for accommodation in the halls that are linked to your teaching base, subject to availability.
Grand Parade campus is linked to Phoenix halls.
- Phoenix offers self-catered rooms. The halls are a short walk from the Grand Parade campus in Brighton city centre. Public transport in the city is excellent, and there’s a shuttle bus between our Brighton campuses during term time.

We also offer Unihomes and Unilets, student houses that we let out to our students on behalf of private landlords. This option offers the most choice and flexibility and can work particularly well when you’re balancing learning with placements and other commitments.

There’s plenty of support if you choose private rented accommodation. We manage our own studenthomes database of properties. And we run our housemates service over the summer for students, new and returning, looking for a place to live.

Find out more on our accommodation webpages.

Accommodation for Grand Parade is in the nearby Phoenix Halls

Maps

Accommodation

University building

Grand Parade campus map

Find out more

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