MA Publishing

Gain the creative and professional tools you'll need for a career in the dynamic publishing sector by mastering how content is commissioned, designed and produced across print and digital media.

Course overview

MA Publishing combines theoretical and practical approaches to publishing media. Creative and entrepreneurial, this course will give you hands-on experience of multi-platform publishing. You’ll gain a holistic and critical understanding of print and digital publishing which you’ll put into practice through project-based working, developing creative content and exploring innovative ways to engage new audiences.

With the opportunity to specialise in magazine or book publishing through your choice of assignments, you’ll be introduced to concepts across both media, building your transferable skillset while exploring the evolution of publishing as a creative industry.

You’ll choose your own journey through the course, developing industry-facing and academic skills before completing a major project that suits your interests.

What to expect

You’ll develop a unique and flexible skillset for your future career through practical projects and events, creative collaborations, engagement with industry networks and participation in professional activities.

All publishing is collaborative in some way, so you’ll take part in co-creation projects such as our annual Publishing Innovation Event.

Digital processes and formats are embedded throughout the course and you’ll have access to digital publishing platforms to enable you to build your own projects and portfolio and to develop a highly transferrable set of skills in print and digital publishing

Your final project will examine an issue, question or problem in publishing using primary academic research methodologies with a choice of outcomes, developing research skills that are applicable to industry settings and which will support you for future academic study.

In Term 2, you’ll take the initiative on professional projects, developing your confidence in project management, decision-making and problem-solving. Specialist staff with industry experience will help you to develop your professional approach to publishing.

Work experience and opportunities

You’ll develop your own industry links through opportunities such as guest lectures and discussions, feedback from industry partners, mentoring programmes, and an embedded programme of employability sessions.

You’ll also have opportunities to participate in live projects across both LCC and UAL, while previous industry projects have included collaborations with Penguin Random House and the Royal Academy of Arts.

Our graduates go on to work across traditional and emerging roles in publishing and creative environments: from large companies to small start-ups, from mainstream to independent book and magazine sectors.

You’ll learn skills that are highly transferrable and could lead to careers in the wider content, intellectual property and audience-centred creative industries including brand communications or media/creative agencies.

Students are admitted on to the course having gained the necessary entry requirements. An Honours degree of 2:1 and above is required, or an equivalent international degree. In some circumstances a 2:2 is considered (this might be based on personal circumstances or strength of interest and clear capability to undertake the course as indicated in the application form and interview). Educational level may be demonstrated by: Honours degree (named above); Possession of equivalent qualifications; Prior experiential learning, the outcome of which can be demonstrated to be equivalent to formal qualifications otherwise required; Or a combination of formal qualifications and experiential learning which, taken together, can be demonstrated to be equivalent to formal qualifications otherwise required.