Graphic Design MA

Why choose this course?

The Graphic Design MA at Kingston School of Art is a practice-based and research-orientated programme for practitioners who want to explore the scope of graphic design today and to envision its future purpose and possibilities. This course is conceived as a transformative launchpad, enhancing your long-term employment options through an appreciation of the local and global, personal and public, contexts of design.

You will be taught by a team of experienced design practitioners, educators, and published researchers. You will visit professional design studios and hear from inter/national guest speakers from industry, work on live projects, on competitions, and participate in workshops.

Underpinned by critical thinking we work across design fields such as; speculative design, information design, social justice, sustainable design and branding, visual identity, design pedagogy, interactive design, film, photography, typography, exhibition design, user experience, (digital and print) editorial design. With an emphasis on process you will be encouraged to innovate, invent and inspire change in an expanded future-facing approach to the discipline.

We employ developmental models such as the Double Diamond (Design Council, UK, 2006) to help structure a holistic development of your research methods from initial observations and analysis, through seminars and reviews, and experimentation with media, to audience engagement. In this context, research is not only a working process it can also be considered an outcome in its own right. In a studio-based community of practice you will work collaboratively in teams and individually, with local communities, third sector groups and other disciplines to discover new methods and meaning through design. Theory and practice are integrated in a critical examination of the media, methods, concepts, histories and future technologies of design.

The programme is structured around thematic areas of investigation (Platforms) which act as catalysts for a way of thinking, or a particular aspect of graphic design within each project; Socially Engaged Design, Visual Identity and Graphic Experience, Language and Letterforms, Interactive Design. Each Platform is adapted to the skills/expertise of applicants, the expertise of visiting lecturers and in response to the changing nature of the world around us. At the end of the course, you'll be equipped with a combination of creative and transferable skills, cognitive processes and methodologies that will help you to shape the future for business, culture and communities.

After you graduate

Graduates go on to roles in companies such as Louis Vuitton, Vivo, BBH; China; and World Humanitarian Forum, London.

Applicants should have a 2:1 or above honours degree, or equivalent qualification, in graphic design or a related subject, such as moving image, graphic communication, illustration, 3D design, advertising, photography, packaging, computer-related design, architecture or fine art. We also welcome applicants with relevant experience that demonstrates the necessary skills and intellectual achievement needed to undertake the course.