Course overview
Our postgraduate visual communication degree equips you to become an innovative problem solver and diverse practitioner in the creative industries:
- Dynamic practice: embrace future-facing creative practice with inventive and challenging solutions.
- Reflective practice: develop a deep understanding of design methodologies through critical inquiry and commercial practice.
- Hands-on exploration: experiment with materials and processes in specialised workshop spaces and studio practice.
- Creative thinking: nurture innovation and create impactful solutions for industry and society.
- Professional foundation: gain insights into the creative economy and prepare for diverse professional contexts.
- Embedded research: integrate applied research into every module, developing your understanding of current debates and shaping your ethical stance.
Picture yourself as a graphic designer, visual designer, user experience (UX) designer, or user interface (UI) designer, or an interaction / experience designer or motion graphics designer. How about a content creator, social media designer or web designer? Consider being a creative or art director, or an exhibition designer or design consultant or freelancer or entrepreneur, or corporate communications specialist.
Top reasons to study this course at Teesside University:
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Course details
Course structure
Core modules
Critical and Speculative Contexts
Build on your existing skills to investigate alternative design values and address social, political, and environmental issues. Produce visually informed, strategic solutions to complex societal challenges through a blend of theory and practice. Combine contemporary visual communication theory with practical application, tackling unique provocations and challenges. Follow a personalised learning plan to develop and direct design concepts and outputs, contributing to broader research using visual communication. Engage in briefings, workshops, and studio sessions with ongoing feedback from tutors and peers.
Dive into advanced visual and sensory communication, embracing experimental ideas and studio practice. Develop innovative design directions for projects, combining digital and physical experiences with strong visual and creative direction. Explore various methods, including visual, perceptual, and cultural aspects, and conduct personal investigations to refine your visual language. Work independently on projects or competition briefs based on a negotiated learning plan, contributing to directed research.
Build your confidence in integrating diverse approaches and evaluating abilities within entrepreneurial, value-oriented design activities. Focus on empathetic methods and authentic teamwork through a group-defined project. Work through key design stages to build collaborative dynamics and specify opportunities that engage diverse perspectives. Pitch your ideas to an expert panel, presenting pathways to realisation for products, services, or systems with prototypes and visualisations.
Unleash your vision as you dive into a major, in-depth, individual study tailored to your discipline and career aspirations. Whether you're interested in commercial, industrial, creative, or research fields, this project is your canvas.
Take full ownership of your project, from idea to execution. Create artefacts, exhibitions, publications, campaigns, and digital works either from scratch or significantly developing your own previous work.
Integrate all your learning into a substantial body of work that showcases your vision as a creative practitioner. This is your chance to shine your brightest.
Strengthen your skills through analysis, experimentation, and self-evaluation, adapting to the evolving visual communication landscape. Focus on emerging technologies and future-proof skills for continuous professional growth. Work on design and creative direction through a personalised learning plan, developing projects and contributing to research activities. Advance your processes and methods with practical workshops, briefings, and ongoing feedback from tutors and peers.
Modules offered may vary.
How you learn
At MA level it is vital that you take an active role in structuring your own learning, and engage with the relevant methods and underpinning theories of your discipline.
Tutorials, seminars and workshops enable you to apply key learning principles to your day-to-day interactions. Individual support, provided by a personal tutor, is an integral feature of the learning and teaching strategy.
Research is also an intrinsic part of your study. You need to find and make sense of a wide variety of information from books, newspapers, journals, magazines, websites, archives and many other sources, then analyse and discuss your findings to inform the creative process. Lectures and briefings introduce topics and impart key aspects of disciplinary knowledge, usually to larger groups.
You develop your practical and professional skills with hands-on experience, informed by subject knowledge and critical understanding. Practical workshops introduce specific skills, followed by independent learning, project work, tutorials and critiques.
Critical reflection is key to all successful problem solving and is essential to the design process. You are expected to test and assess your solutions against design criteria which you develop in the light of your research.
How you are assessed
We use a variety of assessment methods throughout the modules, as specified in the module handbooks. These are primarily in-course assessments, where you submit work during the module rather than sit timed exams at the end.
The modules are generally project based and primarily assessed through appraising a portfolio of work, often accompanied by a verbal presentation. Design work is largely developmental – you are assessed on the process you use to achieve your solutions as well as the result, so it is essential that you provide clear evidence of your development work.
Entry requirements
Applicants are normally expected to have at least a 2.2 UK honours degree, or equivalent qualification. A range of degree subjects are acceptable including subjects related to arts, design or other creative discipline. We also consider relevant experience or equivalent qualifications.
You are expected to be a confident and independent learner with a good understanding of the design process, idea development and critical thinking. You are asked to present a portfolio of work or a completed project showing the development of your work from behind the scenes, or an ongoing project showing the progression and direction of your work.
Students with a degree awarded outside the UK must also meet the University's minimum English language requirements.
Non-EU international students who need a student visa to study in the UK should check our web pages on UKVI-compliant English language requirements. The University also provides pre-sessional English language courses if you do not meet the minimum English language requirement.
For general information please see our overview of entry requirements
International applicants can find out what qualifications they need by visiting Your Country
Employability
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. Further study at doctoral level is also an option.
Information for international applicants
Qualifications
International applicants - find out what qualifications you need by selecting your country below.
Select your country:
Useful information
Visit our international pages for useful information for non-UK students and applicants.
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