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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 2024 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

Applications closed 2024/25

We are no longer accepting applications for 2024/25 entry to this course. Applications for 2025/26 entry will open in Autumn 2024.

Applying for more than 1 course

You can apply for more than 1 postgraduate course at UAL but we recommend that you apply for no more than 3. Find out more in the Apply Now section.

Course overview

Emergent design acts as a key concept within MA Graphic Design Communication. The course introduces you to the key debates, inquiries and methodologies related to emergent design. Through briefs and research activities you’ll allow your design work to form by using the concept of emergence. You’ll explore the role it plays in discovery, adaptability to unexpected change and erratic ways of testing. This will enable you to develop into a versatile practitioner who is able to respond to complex design challenges. 

The course highlights ideas produced in reaction to the complex changes and challenges we are facing in the world today. We believe our goal as designers is to seek better and unimagined relationships between matter, space, systems, technologies and beliefs, while guided by diverse perspectives.   

The course begins by focusing on 3 research themes associated with emergent design to help build your design knowledge and skills:

  1. Proximities and encounters – how do we respond creatively to interactions, transitions and encounters experienced by different audiences and communities?
  2. Mobilising the studio – how do we develop social design practices with and for communities? 
  3. Materiality and the post-real – how can we creatively and critically explore materiality in its hybrid forms and the impact this has on lived experience?     

What to expect    

  • A practice-led course: Practical work is underpinned by critical design thinking, experimentation and research. 
  • Contemporary design themes: You’ll explore topics including habitable worlds and ecologies, social and cultural practices, and digital and material cultures.
  • An ethical focus: We have a responsibility to contribute towards a better and more sustainable world. Throughout your course, you'll explore climate, social and racial justice and learn how to embed these principles into your creative practice.
  • A community of experts: Our tutors, technicians and visiting practitioners are experts in their field and bring their industry experience into their teaching. 
  • Professional development: You’ll develop your design practice, critical writing and presentation skills which will help you position yourself within a specialist design field for your future career, whether that be in industry or academia.
  • Access to Camberwell’s workshops: These include printmaking, digital photography, moving image, virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) and 3D printing. View Camberwell facilities.

Industry experience and opportunities 

During the course, you’ll develop your professional profile as a designer in preparation for your future career. You'll be able to take part in public-facing events such as design symposia and community projects. These will give you industry insight and exposure to different routes for employment and practice. 

You’ll be encouraged to publish, show and disseminate your major project work developed on the course. Former students have presented at conferences and featured in design publications and competitions. You’ll also have access to UAL’s dedicated Careers and Employability services.

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: Exploring emergent design contexts and practices 

Unit 1 introduces you to contemporary debates and inquiries within graphic design communication. These will help you make connections between your interests and communities of design practice.

You’ll take design inspiration from a seminar and lecture series. You’ll build upon your interests through collaborative research tasks with your course peer group. 

Briefs will outline guidance and requirements for experimentation and building a design process. You’ll learn to develop ideas in response to critical positions and perspectives connected to a research inquiry.  

There will be an opportunity to stage and test prototypes of your project work at an in-course event. The feedback you receive from this will help develop your final practical outcomes. 

Unit 2: Developing a design framework – critical and practical 

A framework is a structured approach for understanding, planning and responding within a given context. It aims to help the designer decide upon relevant design methodologies. You’ll learn about the role of a design framework. 

You’ll have the opportunity to present your knowledge of design frameworks at a public facing event. You'll generate a portfolio of work during this unit. Your project work during this unit forms part of your major project for the course.  

Unit 3: Situating design practices

Building on your previous research and practice as part of your major project, this final unit has 2 distinct purposes.  

Firstly, to situate project outcomes in relation to your chosen context and audience. This might be a geographical location, an activist group, community, or network of practitioners.

Secondly, to establish how your designs will engage your audience in participatory ways. 

Through this final stage of the major project, you will: 

  • learn how to situate your work within networks and communities
  • develop specialist techniques for communicating and disseminating experiences and materials from your work
  • curate your creative identity and professional practice for your portfolio and collaborate with peers for a public-facing show.

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

Programme specification

Download course specification (PDF File 478.6 KB)

Learning and teaching methods

Teaching and Learning will be delivered on campus. This means on campus face-to-face activities such as course projects, lectures, seminars, and studio work, except for small components of the course designed to be delivered online.

Scheduled learning and teaching activity will include.                  

  • Briefings 
  • Seminars 
  • Tutorials 
  • Workshops 
  • Technical inductions 
  • Critiques 
  • Study Visits 
  • Peer Learning 

Assessment methods

  • Essays and reports
  • MA graduate event 
  • Peer assessment
  • Student self-evaluation
  • Tutorials and mid-year interim reviews 

MA Graphic Design Communication

Open day recording

Course Leader Sadhna Jain gives an overview of MA Graphic Design Communication at Camberwell College of Arts.

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

£13,330

This fee is correct for 2024/25 entry and is subject to change for 2025/26 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

£28,570

This fee is correct for 2024/25 entry and is subject to change for 2025/26 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. These could include travel expenses and the costs of materials. For a list of general equipment needed for all UAL courses, visit our living expenses and additional costs page.

Accommodation

Find out about accommodation options and how much they will cost.

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

Or view all

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. This statement should address one of the 3 research themes listed below in the section “course detail”. Limit your statement to 500 words
  • 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

We look for:

  • Evidence of creative, expressive and analytical responses to projects
  • A willingness to explore graphic design communication beyond traditional thinking and practice
  • An eagerness to utilise the university MA community as part of personal creative and professional development
  • Sufficiently strong verbal and written skills to fully participate in the course
  • An understanding of how context informs practice in a variety of ways, and a willingness to develop knowledge and skills in this area

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:

13 December 2023 at 1pm (UK time)

Round 2:

3 April 2024 at 1pm (UK time)

Digital portfolio and video task deadline

Round 1:

16 January 2024

Round 2:

16 April 2024

Decision outcome

Round 1:

End of March 2024

Round 2:

End of June 2024

Round 1
Round 2
Deadline
13 December 2023 at 1pm (UK time)
3 April 2024 at 1pm (UK time)
Digital portfolio and video task deadline
16 January 2024
16 April 2024
Decision outcome
End of March 2024
End of June 2024

Applications are now closed for 2024/25 entry. Applications for 2025/26 entry will open in autumn 2024.

Read more about deadlines

Apply now

Application deadline

Deadline

Round 1:

13 December 2023 at 1pm (UK time)

Round 2:

3 April 2024 at 1pm (UK time)

Digital portfolio and video task deadline

Round 1:

16 January 2024

Round 2:

16 April 2024

Decision outcome

Round 1:

End of March 2024

Round 2:

End of June 2024

Round 1
Round 2
Deadline
13 December 2023 at 1pm (UK time)
3 April 2024 at 1pm (UK time)
Digital portfolio and video task deadline
16 January 2024
16 April 2024
Decision outcome
End of March 2024
End of June 2024

Applications are now closed for 2024/25 entry. Applications for 2025/26 entry will open in autumn 2024.

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, CV and study proposal.

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

You can apply for more than 1 postgraduate course at UAL but we recommend that you apply for no more than 3 courses. 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. UAL doesn't accept repeat applications to the same course in the same academic year.

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. This means that we may request your portfolio and/or video task 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

For postgraduate courses at UAL there are 2 equal consideration deadlines to ensure fairness for all our applicants. If you apply ahead of either of these deadlines, your application will be considered on an equal basis with all other applications in that round. If there are places available after the second deadline, the course will remain open to applications until 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.

Camberwell College of Arts

Contact

Telephone

+44 (0)20 7514 6302

Address

Camberwell College of Arts
45 - 65 Peckham Road
London
SE5 8UF