Visual Communication (with Advanced Practice), MA

Course overview

The MA Visual Communication course focuses on communicating small and big data in visual ways – graphic design, visual communications, and infographics.

This specialist programme reflects the dynamic contemporary practices within the creative industries. It stimulates you to create challenging solutions to real-world design issues to create innovators and leaders in the field of visual communication. You identify the key transferable skills to help you create or respond to career opportunities or undertake further research.

You consider branding, graphic design, illustration, marketing, user experience, new media and future technologies – exploring and visually representing important information. You explore scenario building, fore sighting and future proofing as important factors in establishing the direction of your work and potential developments in design, communication and cultural industries. This course prepares you, as a creative individual, for professional practice in developing new business ideas, products, systems and artefacts. And it provides a stimulating environment to support high-level enquiry into emerging and future aspects of creative practice, through individual and collaborative action. You benefit from existing work that staff are doing around interactive technology and social design. The one-year programme is a great option if you want to gain a traditional MSc / MA qualification. The two-year master’s degree with advanced practice enhances your qualification by adding a vocational or research based internship to the one-year master’s programme. A vocational internship is a great way to gain work experience and give your CV a competitive edge. A research internship provides you with the opportunity to develop your analytical, team-working, research and academic skills by working alongside a research team in an academic setting. We guarantee a research internship, but cannot guarantee a vocational internship. We will, however, provide you with practical support and advice on how to find and secure your own vocational internship position should you prefer this type of internship.

Career opportunities

When you graduate you have the opportunity to go on to a range of design-related employment, develop new enterprise propositions or receive project funding to take your ideas to market.

You can work across a range of professions within design and the creative industries such as a freelance designer, creative entrepreneur, designer maker or creative director. Further study at doctoral level is also an option.