Master of Arts - Designer Maker
- 1,5 years
- Duration
- 30,890 GBP
- Price
- September
- Start
- June
- Deadline
- Master
- Degree
- Campus
- Format
- London / United Kingdom
- Location
Program description
The MA Designer Maker programme at Camberwell College of Arts engages with current debates around craft and making in the creative industries, encouraging exploration of materials, materiality, and the processes and technologies that support making. You will integrate research into your practice, designing and developing innovative techniques or tools while addressing ethical issues such as diversity, ecologies, and inclusivity to define your position as a Designer Maker.
You will develop a project from proposal to realisation, discovering new materials and processes as you explore the meaning of "making". The course brings together a diverse cohort from craft, product, furniture, and architecture backgrounds, fostering inter‑disciplinary learning within a community of postgraduate design students. Through seminars on material culture, sustainability, and philosophy, and access to Camberwell’s shared workshops and digital facilities, you will engage with contemporary debates and build a critical, audience‑ready practice.
Program structure
- Unit 1: Exploring and understanding practice - Contexts, methodologies and making
This introductory unit familiarises you with the course, college, and university while helping you start a project proposal to guide your research. You will learn through making, critical thinking, reflection, and object‑based learning to understand design processes and the contemporary and historical discourses that underpin your practice, developing a critical research paper to integrate theory and practice.
You will maintain a reflective journal, participate in technical workshops aligned with your practice, and submit a Research Portfolio containing practical work, experiments, contextual research, a Project Proposal, your Reflective Journal, an outline of your Critical Research Paper, and an evaluation of your development, alongside a verbal presentation for assessment.
- Unit 2: Building practice through process - New practice methodologies
This unit builds on your chosen research theme, forming and testing a methodology through experimentation, fieldwork, workshops, and project briefs. You will define the context of your work by identifying target audiences or industry partners and aligning with current debates, with opportunities to present your research in a supportive environment.
As you develop your outcomes, you will create a research portfolio, refine your project proposal, continue your reflective journal, and complete your critical research paper, delivering these along with an Evaluative Text and a verbal presentation for your Unit 2 assessment.
- Unit 3: Resolution and realisation - Synthesising making and practice-based research
In this final unit, you will produce resolved outcomes guided by your research and defined by your Project Proposal, while polishing your professional skills in managing your practice and presenting yourself as a Designer Maker. You will submit your research portfolio, project proposal, evaluative text, and resolved body of work along with a verbal presentation for final assessment, with opportunities to curate and exhibit your work.
Price
Tuition fee:
- 30,890 GBP per education*
*Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students on courses lasting more than one year. For this course, you can pay tuition fees in instalments.
You may need to cover additional costs which are not included in your tuition fees, such as materials and equipment specific to your course.
Requirements for applicants
The standard minimum entry requirements for this course are:
- BA (Hons) degree or equivalent academic qualifications
- Alternative qualifications and experience will also be taken into consideration
- Personal statement
- Portfolio of work
Entry to this course will also be determined by the quality of your application, looking primarily at your portfolio of work and personal statement.
Applicants who do not meet these course entry requirements may still be considered in exceptional cases.
The course team will consider each application that demonstrates additional strengths and alternative evidence. This might, for example, be demonstrated by:
- Related academic or work experience
- The quality of the personal statement
- A strong academic or other professional reference
- A combination of these factors
Each application will be considered on its own merit, but we cannot guarantee an offer in each case.
English language requirements
- IELTS level 6.5 or above, with at least 5.5 in reading, writing, listening and speaking
About the university
The University of the Arts London (UAL) produces and encourages the creativity essential for a better future. Its colleges have been at the forefront of innovative education since 1842, creating work with a lasting impact on people and the planet, driven by curiosity, imagination, and purpose.
London is fundamental to UAL's identity, providing a vital context where the university connects and exchanges ideas with individuals from all walks of life. Globally, its creative network influences education, culture, business, and society.
Through innovative research and creative instruction, UAL's faculty and staff bring fresh perspectives to education. The university enables students to build the careers they desire by working with them at every level - from pre-degree to postgraduate, and from short courses to online learning.
UAL's colleges
Ranked second in the world for art and design, UAL comprises six distinct colleges:
- Camberwell College of Arts
- Central Saint Martins
- Chelsea College of Arts
- London College of Communication
- London College of Fashion
- Wimbledon College of Arts
Together, they form a community of creatives, innovators, trailblazers, and storytellers, united in their mission to reimagine the future.
Courses in the visual arts, animation, screen, communication, fashion, media, and performance are available at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
