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Postgraduate

MA Graphic Design Communication


MA Graphic Design Communication, Camberwell College of Arts, UAL
College
Camberwell College of Arts
Start date
September 2025
Course length
15 months (full time)

MA Graphic Design Communication at Camberwell College of Arts encourages a broad and diverse approach to thinking and practice. This helps you shape engaging and imaginative design solutions through material, media, technologies and systems of public engagement.

Course summary

Apply to start in September 2025

This course has places available for UK applicants only. We are no longer accepting applications from international students for 2025/26 entry to this course. International applications for 2026/27 entry will open in autumn 2025.

Applying for more than 1 course

From October 2024, you can only apply for a maximum of 3 postgraduate courses each year at UAL (excluding online or low-residency courses and Graduate Diplomas). Find out more in the Apply Now section.

Course overview

MA Graphic Design Communication is rooted in pluralistic perspectives and global debates. The course builds upon graphic design's rich history of social engagement and activism, recognising the discipline's unique power to shape public discourse and generate change. Within these complex contexts, we encourage discovery and adaptability, addressing the challenges of unsettled, unexpected, and emergent realities.

We believe our goal as designers is to seek better and unimagined relationships between materials, environments, systems, technologies, and languages in thoughtful ways.

We provide a dynamic environment for study, practice and critical exchange. Our curriculum introduces you to the key debates, enquiries and design methodologies central to critical design practices. As you progress through the course, you will refine your ability to synthesise research topics such as cultures, environments and more-than-human ecologies

Your design practice will develop through a process of experimentation and testing as you undertake design challenges and personal research enquiries. This will equip you with the skills to create impactful visual communication that addresses pressing social challenges.

What to expect

  • A practice-led course: Practical work is underpinned by critical design research and practiced based experimentation in a collaborative studio environment.
  • Critical design practices: Exploration of new, experimental design theories, and practices responding to shifting contexts, diverse communities and interdisciplinary opportunities.
  • Professional development: Established and expanded graphic design practices, through design making, writing and presentation, enabling specialist design futures and your position within this. 
  • An ethical focus: The exploration of climate, social and racial justice in relation to your creative practice.  
  • Subject experts: Our tutors, technicians and visiting practitioners are experts in their field. They bring their creative industry and design research experience into their teaching practice. 

Industry experience and opportunities

Throughout the course, you’ll continue to develop your professional profile as a designer. You'll have the chance to take part in public events, such as design symposia and community projects. You'll be encouraged to publish, show and disseminate your work through UAL and College events and seek external opportunities. Course alumni have presented at conferences and featured in design publications and competitions.

You’ll also have access to UAL’s dedicated Careers and Employability services. The course encourages and supports international and culturally diverse perspectives within design that reflect students’ backgrounds and the positive inclusive changes in the creative sector.

Mode of study  

MA Graphic Design Communication is offered in full-time mode and runs for 45 weeks over 15 months. You will be expected to commit an average of 40 hours per week to your course, including teaching hours and independent study.

Contact us

Register your interest to receive information and updates about studying at UAL.

Contact us to make an enquiry.

Course units

Unit 1: Design methods and critical practices

Unit 1 introduces you to the MA Graphic Design Communication course. It provides a foundation for your postgraduate studies in design. By engaging with diverse graphic and communication design examples you’ll begin to build research skills that connect writing and practice. Through making and documentation of your process you'll expand your knowledge of graphic and communication design and situate your own knowledge and experience within this. During the unit you’ll work both independently and collaboratively.

Unit 2: Emergent design

In this unit you'll explore diverse and emergent methodological approaches within design practice research and be introduced to contemporary Critical Design practices. You’ll test and interrogate a variety of methods some of which you’ll integrate into the development of your own design proposal. Your design proposal will reflect your personal position and values as a designer, while drawing on the expertise of the staff team and visiting practitioners. Your portfolio will expand to include new design contexts, investigative processes, and alignment to interdisciplinary practices and communication strategies.

Unit 3: Situated design

Having developed your personal practice in Unit 2 you’ll now adapt it to a specific context beyond the university. You’ll explore design theories and practices to help integrate your chosen context into your project. Engaging with a range of situated practices and discourses will help your design work become more responsive to a specific community, site or network.

 Note: 120 Credits must be passed before the final unit is undertaken

Learning and teaching methods

  • Group and individual tutorials
  • Group seminars and critiques
  • Lectures and briefings
  • Peer learning and self-directed study
  • Studio practice directed learning
  • Study visits
  • Workshops and technical inductions

Assessment methods

  • A portfolio of studio practice
  • Research folder
  • Design writing, as per the models identified in the course handbook
  • Project proposal and project statements

Student work

  • Chelsea-MA-Graphic-Design-Communication-Juhi-Vishnani-1860.jpg
    Repositioning the role of print publications in India - Juhi Vishnani - MA Graphic Design Communication
  • Chelsea-MA-Graphic-Design-Communication-Sean-Murphy-2-1860.jpg
    Sean Murphy - MA Graphic Design Communication
  • Chelsea-MA-Graphic-Design-Communication-Christian-Witternigg.jpg
    Data driven installation - Christian Witternigg - MA Graphic Design Communication
  • Chelsea-MA-Graphic-Design-Communication-Xiyuan-Chen.jpg
    Discrete messaging within community locations - Xiyuan Chen - MA Graphic Design Communication
  • Chelsea-MA-Graphic-Design-Communication-2-text-experiments.jpg
    Typographic diary
    MA Graphic Design Communication, Camberwell College of Arts, UAL

Film

Ellis van der Does

Yanenxi Hu

Ayuko Tanaka

Chenghao Lee

Staff

Technical staff

Fees and funding

Home fee

£14,000

This fee is correct for 2025/26 entry and is subject to change for 2026/27 entry.

Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students on courses lasting more than one year. For this course, you can pay tuition fees in instalments.

Students from countries outside of the UK will generally be charged international fees. The rules are complex so read more about tuition fees and determining your fee status.

International fee

£29,990

This fee is correct for 2025/26 entry and is subject to change for 2026/27 entry.

Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students on courses lasting more than one year. For this course, you can pay tuition fees in instalments.

Students from countries outside of the UK will generally be charged international fees. The rules are complex so read more about tuition fees and determining your fee status.

Additional costs

You may need to cover additional costs which are not included in your tuition fees, such as materials and equipment specific to your course. For a list of general digital equipment you may need (and how you can borrow equipment), visit our Study costs page.

Accommodation

Find out about accommodation options and how much they will cost, and other living expenses you’ll need to consider.

Scholarships, bursaries and awards

If you’ve completed a qualifying course at UAL, you may be eligible for a tuition fee discount on this course. Find out more about our Progression discount.

You can also find out more about the Postgraduate Masters Loan (Home students only) and scholarships, including £7,000 scholarships for Home and International students. Discover more about student funding.

If you’re based in the UK and plan to visit UAL for an Open Event, check if you’re eligible for our UAL Travel Bursary. This covers the costs of mainland train or airline travel to visit UAL.

How to pay

Find out how you can pay your tuition fees.

Scholarship search

Entry requirements

The standard minimum entry requirements for this course are:

• BA (Hons) degree or equivalent academic qualifications

  • Alternative qualifications and experience will also be taken into consideration
  • Personal statement - you should discuss your professional and academic background and how it relates to your desire to join the course. You should provide a clear explanation of your goals whilst on the course and, how the course is suited to supporting them.
  • Portfolio of work

Entry to this course will also be determined by the quality of your application, looking primarily at your portfolio of work and your personal statement. 

APEL - Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning

Applicants who do not meet these course entry requirements may still be considered in exceptional cases. The course team will consider each application that demonstrates additional strengths and alternative evidence. This might, for example, be demonstrated by:

  • Related academic or work experience
  • The quality of the personal statement
  • A strong academic or other professional reference
  • A combination of these factors

English language requirements

All classes are taught in English. If English is not your first language you must provide evidence at enrolment of the following:

Selection criteria

  • A willingness to explore graphic and communication design through contemporary debate and critical practice
  • Evidence of creative, expressive and analytical responses to projects
  • Creative and academic ambitions at Masters level study
  • Sufficiently strong verbal and written skills to fully participate in the course

Information for disabled applicants

UAL is committed to achieving inclusion and equality for disabled students. This includes students who have:

     
  • Dyslexia or another Specific Learning Difference
  • A sensory impairment
  • A physical impairment
  • A long-term health or mental health condition
  • Autism
  • Another long-term condition which has an impact on your day-to-day life

Our Disability Service arranges adjustments and support for disabled applicants and students.

Read our Disability and dyslexia: applying for a course and joining UAL information.

Apply now

Application deadline

Deadline

Round 1:

10 December 2024 at 1pm (UK time)

Round 2:

26 March 2025 at 1pm (UK time)

Digital portfolio and video task deadline

Round 1:

8 January 2025 at 11.59pm (UK time)

Round 2:

9 April 2025 at 11.59pm (UK time)

Decision outcome

Round 1:

21 March 2025

Round 2:

20 June 2025

Round 1
Round 2
Deadline
10 December 2024 at 1pm (UK time)
26 March 2025 at 1pm (UK time)
Digital portfolio and video task deadline
8 January 2025 at 11.59pm (UK time)
9 April 2025 at 11.59pm (UK time)
Decision outcome
21 March 2025
20 June 2025

This course is still open to applications from UK students and will remain open until all places are filled.

Read more about deadlines

Apply now

Application deadline

Deadline

Round 1:

10 December 2024 at 1pm (UK time)

Round 2:

26 March 2025 at 1pm (UK time)

Digital portfolio and video task deadline

Round 1:

8 January 2025 at 11.59pm (UK time)

Round 2:

9 April 2025 at 11.59pm (UK time)

Decision outcome

Round 1:

21 March 2025

Round 2:

20 June 2025

Round 1
Round 2
Deadline
10 December 2024 at 1pm (UK time)
26 March 2025 at 1pm (UK time)
Digital portfolio and video task deadline
8 January 2025 at 11.59pm (UK time)
9 April 2025 at 11.59pm (UK time)
Decision outcome
21 March 2025
20 June 2025

We are no longer accepting applications to this course for 2025/26 entry from international applicants. Applications for 2026/27 entry will open in autumn 2025.

Read more about deadlines

How to apply

Follow this step-by-step guide to apply for this course

Step 1: Initial application

You will need to submit an initial application including your personal statement and CV.

Personal statement advice

This should be about 500 words long and include:

  • Your reasons for choosing the course, specifically what attracts you to the research themes which the course offers
  • Your current creative practice and your goals to develop this during the MA and beyond
  • Any relevant education and experience if formal academic qualifications are not included in this application

Visit our personal statement page for more advice.

CV advice

Please provide a CV detailing your education, qualifications and any relevant work or voluntary experience. If you have any web projects or other media that you would like to share, please include links in your CV. If English is not your first language, please also include your most recent English language test score.

Step 2: Video task and digital portfolio

We will review your initial application. If you have met the standard entry requirements, we will ask you to submit a video task and digital portfolio.

You’ll need to submit these via PebblePad, our online portfolio tool. Please submit your video task on the first page followed by your portfolio.

Video task advice

We’d like you to submit a 2-3 minute video to help us learn more about you. When recording your task, please face the camera and speak in English.

What to include in your video task
  • Describe an example of graphic design communication practice that has emerged in your country that moves away from the limits of traditional commercial practice
  • Discuss how it influences your practice.

Read our guidance for how to submit your video task and which file types we accept.

Digital portfolio advice

Your portfolio should consist of recent work that reflects your creative strengths.

It should:

  • be maximum 30 pages, including your video task
  • include a range of project topics or contexts of work
  • show evidence of exploration and research processes with written annotations explaining the direction taken and feedback from peers
  • include prototypes, material testing and experimental work to demonstrate how you develop your practice
  • include any supporting references to show your personal vision, inspirations and passion for the subject area
  • be clearly annotated with descriptions of your work, the media and techniques used and any new discoveries you experienced during the project.

For more support, see our Portfolio advice and PebblePad advice.

Step 3: Interview

You may be invited to an interview following our review of your application. All interviews are held online and last 15 to 20 minutes.

For top tips, see our Interview advice.

You also need to know

Communicating with you

Once you have submitted your initial application, we will email you with your login details for our Applicant portal.

Requests for supplementary documents like qualifications and English language tests will be made through the applicant portal. You can also use it to ask questions regarding your application. Visit our After you apply page for more information.

Applying to more than 1 course

From October 2024, you can only apply for a maximum of 3 postgraduate courses each year at UAL. This excludes online or low-residency courses and Graduate Diplomas, which you can apply to in addition to 3 other postgraduate courses.

If you apply for more than 3 postgraduate courses between October 2024 and August 2025, we won’t accept the 4th application. It’s not possible to withdraw an application to replace it with another.

You need to tailor your application, supporting documents and portfolio to each course, so applying for many different courses could risk the overall quality of your application. If you receive offers for multiple courses, you'll only be able to accept 1 offer.

Visas and immigration history check

All non-UK nationals must complete an immigration history check. Your application may be considered by our course teams before this check takes place. If your course requires a portfolio and/or video task, we may request these before we identify any issues arising from your immigration history check. Sometimes your history may mean that we are not able to continue considering your application. Visit our Immigration and visas advice page for more information.

External student transfer policy

UAL accepts transfers from other institutions on a case-by-case basis. Read our Student transfer policy for more information.

Alternative offers

If your application is really strong, but we believe your strengths and skillset are better suited to a different course, we may make you an alternative offer. This means you will be offered a place on a different course or at a different UAL College.

Deferring your place

We do not accept any deferral requests for our postgraduate courses. This means that you must apply in the year that you plan to start your course and you will not be able to defer your place to start at a later date.

Application deadlines

Most of our postgraduate courses have 2 rounds of deadlines: one in December and one in March.

As long as you apply ahead of each deadline we will consider your application alongside all the other applications in that round. We always make sure to hold enough places back for round 2 to make sure we can consider your application fairly, no matter which round you apply in.

If there are still places available after the second deadline, the course will remain open to applications until all places have been filled.

Careers

Many graduates are employed in interdisciplinary design studios and as senior designers in graphic and communication design companies. Graduates have also founded their own design studios working across digital environments and physical spaces as well as specialist publishing and new forms of graphic content.

Alumni

  • André Arruda - Partner, Papanapa, São Paulo, Brazil
  • Ana-Maria Grigoriu - Co-founder LOOT studio, Bucharest, Romania
  • Mayuko Hari - Art Director, Grey Advertising, New York, United States of America
  • Alistair Owen - Senior Designer, Forth, London

Find out how careers and employability helps our students and graduates start their careers.