Master of Arts - Graphic Communication Design
- 2 years
- Duration
- 22,175 GBP/year
- Price
- September
- Start
- June
- Deadline
- Master
- Degree
- Campus
- Format
- London / United Kingdom
- Location
Program description
The MA Graphic Communication Design programme at Central Saint Martins explores how the production of knowledge is intertwined with its form, context, and circulation, combining studio and writing practice to critically engage with graphic design as both a creative practice and a subject of study. Through iterative experimentation, students develop work that investigates existing knowledge, activates positions, and projects new forms of knowledge within and beyond the discipline.
The course approaches graphic design as a situated and relational discipline that both reflects and reconfigures its cultural, social, and environmental conditions. It critically interrogates academic and professional contexts, continually co‑defining the expanding field of graphic design alongside the BA and PhD programmes within the Graphic Communication Design community.
A core commitment is to address the climate, racial, and social justice crises, questioning how graphic design can critique and intervene in systems of extraction and exploitation. The programme harnesses the discipline’s communicative power to negotiate contemporary complexities, envision just alternatives, and redefine humanity’s relationship with nature, seeing this as a vital challenge for designing the future.
Program structure
- Unit 1: Methods
Unit 1 challenges conventional research by exploring how graphic communication design media and methods can be used to interrogate and speculate new forms of knowledge. Through iterative, process‑led experiments set by tutors, you will develop your capacity for open‑ended enquiry through making, allowing projects to grow via systematic engagement with a method rather than seeking closed outcomes.
- Unit 2: Methods - Positions
In Unit 2, you explore how positions emerge through experimentation with methods and media, situating yourself within graphic design in terms of medium, process, or distribution. You will examine how the discipline frames your engagement with broader social, environmental, institutional, and technological contexts.
Your work develops through continued iterative, process‑led experimentation and critical contextualisation via reading, writing, and association. This allows you to investigate how a research practice articulates, enacts, and publishes new forms of knowledge through and about graphic design.
- Unit 3: Methods - Positions - Projections
In Unit 3, you critically interrogate the relationship between a message’s form, medium, and context, projecting your research practice into new territory. Building on your iterative, experimental work, you will consider how engaging with production details opens further possibilities.
You will also examine how projections - as acts of publication, distribution, or circulation - are relational and contextual, exploring how your practice evolves through interaction with networks, publics, and audiences.
Price
Tuition fee:
- 22,175 GBP per year*
*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 entry requirements for this course are as follows:
- An honours degree
- Or An equivalent EU/international qualification.
Exceptionally applicants who do not meet these course entry requirements may still be considered.
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
- Or 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.
