MA in Graphic Design
- Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom
- Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom
MA
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
TUITION FEES
GBP 21,800 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for international full-time | international part-time: 11,990 GBP/year | home full-time: 12,400 GBP/year | home part-time: 6,820 GBP/year
Key Summary
Gain the skills to excel in competitive design fields and create meaningful work.
We believe that Graphic Designers are so much more than designers alone. Whilst studying a Graphic Design MA, you’ll explore and challenge assumptions about the designer as a researcher, facilitator, producer, artist and storyteller. You’ll embrace opportunities to see yourself as a teacher, author, entrepreneur, provocateur, leader, and agent of change.
We encourage students to explore new and unfamiliar processes and techniques. Through experimentation and innovation, you’ll develop your own disciplines and individual creative practices. After graduating with a Graphic Design MA, you can step into the design world with your own confident style.
Why choose this course?
The MA Graphic Design programme at Kingston School of Art takes a practice-based, research-oriented approach. In doing so, we anticipate the future potential and practice of graphic design.
Our TEF Gold standard teaching team will ask you to examine your own practice and identify existing practice-based research methods. You’ll expand your practice through notions of rigour, originality, play, experimentation, ethics, positioning and inclusivity.
Kingston’s Graphic Design MA emphasises individuality and experimentation, blending theoretical and practical approaches. You’ll benefit from industry-standard facilities, expert lecturers and a focus on future design challenges.
The course encourages experimental and innovative approaches to graphic design. You'll explore advanced design methods, critical thinking and practical applications, working on live projects and building a professional portfolio.
Students will benefit from a variety of different learning and teaching approaches, including:
- brief-led project work
- workshops that encourage creative experimentation
- individual critical reflection.
Studio modules include development of illustration skills, concepts and practice through project work. We’ll use the studio as a site for making. Alongside, reading modules focus on critical and contextual theory or issues and positioning practice critically. Finally, we encourage students to initiate, propose, and realise an Extended Research Project (Capstone Project) that is ambitious in scale and scope.
The Art School Experience
As part of Kingston School of Art, students on this course benefit from joining a creative community where we encourage collaborative working and critical practice.
Our workshops and studios are open to all disciplines, enabling students and staff to work together, share ideas and explore multi-disciplinary making.
Kingston School of Art offers a range of postgraduate scholarships, including:
- Inspire the Future Scholarship
- Postgraduate scholarships for international students
- Alumni Discounts for postgraduate study
- Progression Scholarships
Course content
Through tutorials, field trips, lectures, seminars, workshops and research projects, you will gain the technical skills, critical tools, knowledge and confidence needed to contribute to the development of the subject and its practice. You will be asked to examine your own practice and identify existing practice-based research methods, which will then be developed by introducing discipline-specific notions of rigour, originality, play, experimentation, ethics, positioning and inclusivity.
Modules have been designed and aligned to ensure that students are able to make intellectual links between practice, critical theory and real-world scenarios. In doing so, this programme prioritises the development of individual and/or collective practices through creative thinking and making.
There is an emphasis on independent and self-directed learning where students are given autonomy to develop an individual and/or collective practice that supports their aspirations and ambitions. Skills in critical reflection and analysis provide you with the tools necessary to make decisions about your practice and learning trajectory. Students are provided with the opportunity to initiate, propose, and realise an Extended Research Project (Capstone Project) that is ambitious in scale and scope.
Studio modules include the development of illustration skills, concepts and practice through project work and utilise the studio as a site for making. Reading modules focus on critical and contextual theory or issues and positioning practice critically. Presentation modules orient students within a professional landscape and include preparation for employment through the development of future skills and career planning.
Modules
You will be encouraged to develop your understanding of the relationship between words, pictures and their means of communication and transmission.
Core modules
- Studio: Extended Research Project for Illustration
- Reading: Critical Positions
- Studio: Graphic Design Future Practices
- Critical Making Through Graphic Design
- Presentation: Future Directions
Optional placement year
Many postgraduate courses at Kingston University allow students to do a 12-month work placement as part of their course. The responsibility for finding the work placement is with the student; we cannot guarantee the work placement, just the opportunity to undertake it. As the work placement is an assessed part of the course, it is covered by a student's Student Route visa.
Core modules
- Professional Placement
Graduates gain advanced creative skills and industry knowledge, preparing them for roles in design, branding, or communications. Kingston fosters adaptability and innovation for the evolving job market.
Preparing for the world of work
The Graphic Design MA incorporates modules designed and aligned to make intellectual links between practice, critical theory and real-world scenarios. In doing so, this programme prioritises the development of individual and/or collective practices through creative thinking and making.
Presentation modules orient students within a professional landscape. We include direct preparation for employment through the development of future skills and career planning.
Our emphasis on independent and self-directed learning gives students autonomy to develop an individual and/or collective practice that supports their aspirations and ambitions. Skills in critical reflection and analysis provide you with the tools necessary to make decisions about your practice and learning trajectory, even beyond graduation.