MA Communication Design

This module is designed to help you develop an applied critical understanding of contemporary communication design practice through a process-led introduction to socially engaged design issues. These will be explored through a series of topical design briefs, supported by contextual lectures, groups discussions and practical workshops. For example, you may be asked to explore notions of cultural identity through the design of an exhibition or exploring how live data about climate change can be communicated to influence the public attitudes.

You will learn how to critically reflect and contextualise your own practice in relation to other design approaches as well as your own. This module allows your experiment with a range of processes that will help to situate your current design practice, in relation to research-enriched theoretical, social and critical understandings of design as a change making process.

In this module, you will learn about new and emerging design practices and be introduced to advanced design approaches, methods and themes.

By taking experimental and explorative approaches to playing with new design and media practices, you will learn new skills and also evaluate them though a critical lens. This will be achieved by positioning your own experimentation and exploration within a context of emerging design themes and technological advancements, developing a critical approach to integrating and anticipating new technologies.

Through our practical classes and workshops that include short lectures and seminars, you will be challenged to explore and apply design techniques pertinent to the digital age, including artificial intelligence and immersive technologies like virtual and augmented reality.

This module provides you with the opportunity to enhance and advance your practice through a series of collaborative projects. You will apply your existing knowledge to current and emerging design challenges by working on live or simulated real-world projects.

These collaborative briefs involve external partners, giving you the chance to undertake more in-depth design projects that address both human and more-than-human needs and contexts.

Through these experiences, you will deepen your understanding and develop more advanced professional practices. This will enable you to expand your work into new areas such as design strategy, product innovation, and new technologies.

You will work cooperatively in teams, supporting each other in your learning journey.

This module aims to evolve your practice and set new direction by consolidating your knowledge gained in earlier modules. It offers you the opportunity to engage in a self-initiated and self-directed research-led project that evidences a critical, creative and impactful approach to communication design.

You will learn to draw on skills, knowledge and experience developed in the previous modules to frame and contextualise a social, environmental, cultural or political issue that you are passionate about. You will use this to develop a creative brief that allows for compelling and thought-provoking explorations using communication design in response. You will learn how to articulate, frame, ethically evaluate and communicate your proposition in a clear, relevant and compelling way for the appropriate audience. You will learn to draw on your collaborative skills to engage with and work with your chosen stakeholders in close collaboration to realise your self-initiated project.

Alongside a fully realised communication design outcomes, you will also produce an annotated portfolio documenting your design process. These outputs will be supplemented with a project evaluation report that communicates the context of the investigation, the design criteria, the evaluation methods and learnings from the development and delivery of your final project.

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Effective reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.
• Discussing ethical issues in research, and analysing results.
• Describing bias and limitations of research.