Graphic Design MA
Subject and course type
- Design
- Postgraduate
Take your creativity to the next level with Kingston University’s Graphic Design MA. Refine your skills, explore innovative concepts and develop a professional portfolio.
You are reading:
Master innovative graphic design techniques
Gain the skills to excel in competitive design fields and create meaningful work.
Elevate your design expertise with this postgraduate course, combining creativity, industry insight and cutting-edge technology.
We believe that Graphic Designers are so much more than designers alone. Whilst studying a Graphic Design MA, you’ll explore and challenge assumptions about the designer as a researcher, facilitator, producer, artist and storyteller. You’ll embrace opportunities to see yourself as a teacher, author, entrepreneur, provocateur, leader, and agent of change.
We encourage students to explore new and unfamiliar processes and techniques. Through experimentation and innovation you’ll develop your own disciplines and individual creative practices. After graduating with a Graphic Design MA, you can step into the design world with your own confident style.
You will get to know some amazing and inspiring tutors who will always help you find the right questions to ask.
Student work
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Ke-Yi Liang
Awarded the overall Fedrigoni YCN (You Can Now) Award.
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Ke-Yi Liang
Why choose this course
The MA Graphic Design programme at Kingston School of Art takes a practice-based, research-orientated approach. In doing so, we anticipate the future potential and practice of graphic design.
Our TEF Gold standard teaching team will ask you to examine your own practice and identify existing practice-based research methods. You’ll expand your practice through notions of rigour, originality, play, experimentation, ethics, positioning and inclusivity.
Kingston’s Graphic Design MA emphasises individuality and experimentation, blending theoretical and practical approaches. You’ll benefit from industry-standard facilities, expert lecturers and a focus on future design challenges.
The course encourages experimental and innovative approaches to graphic design. You'll explore advanced design methods, critical thinking and practical applications, working on live projects and building a professional portfolio.
Students will benefit from a variety of different learning and teaching approaches including:
- brief-led project work
- workshops that encourage creative experimentation
- individual critical reflection.
Studio modules include development of illustration skills, concepts and practice through project work. We’ll use the studio as a site for making. Alongside, reading modules focus on critical and contextual theory or issues and positioning practice critically. Finally, we encourage students to initiate, propose, and realise an Extended Research Project (Capstone Project) that is ambitious in scale and scope.
The Art School Experience
As part of Kingston School of Art, students on this course benefit from joining a creative community where we encourage collaborative working and critical practice.
Our workshops and studios are open to all disciplines, enabling students and staff to work together, share ideas and explore multi-disciplinary making.
Course content
Through tutorials, field trips, lectures, seminars, workshops and research projects, you will gain the technical skills, critical tools, knowledge and confidence needed to contribute to the development of the subject and its practice. You will be asked to examine your own practice and identify existing practice-based research methods, which will then be developed by introducing discipline specific notions of rigour, originality, play, experimentation, ethics, positioning and inclusivity.
Modules have been designed and aligned to ensure that students are able to make intellectual links between practice, critical theory and real-world scenarios. In doing so, this programme prioritises the development of individual and/or collective practices through creative thinking and making.
There is an emphasis on independent and self-directed learning where students are given autonomy to develop an individual and/or collective practice that supports their aspirations and ambitions. Skills in critical reflection and analysis provide you with the tools necessary to make decisions about your practice and learning trajectory. Students are provided with the opportunity to initiate, propose, and realise an Extended Research Project (Capstone Project), that is ambitious in scale and scope.
Studio modules include development of illustration skills, concepts and practice through project work and utilise the studio as a site for making. Reading modules focus on critical and contextual theory or issues and positioning practice critically. Presentation modules orientate students within a professional landscape and include preparation for employment through development of future skills and career planning.
Modules
You will be encouraged to develop your understanding of the relationship between words, pictures and their means of communication and transmission.
Core modules
60 credits
This module helps you to build a space for your future practice through enquiry-led learning, conceptual depth, critical imagination, and practice-based research. You will embrace creative agency as a means of initiating, testing, and completing your research project individually or in collaboration with internal or external partners. By assimilating the learning established so far on the course, you will have built an individual critical position on graphic design, identifying real-world contexts for your practice, and innovative modes of communication in an expanded notion of the discipline.
You are expected to work autonomously as a critical agent, setting your own programme of learning. You will be supported through peer-to-peer activities, tutorials and reviews in a community of practice. Project proposals will be used to construct student-led research groups based on your chosen fields of practice and a set of specific workshops will support research methods and professional practice. At the end of the module, you will have resolved and realised your intended ideas and ambitions and made this public with and/or for chosen audiences.
The Extended Research Project (capstone project) provides a framework for you to recognise and engage with a range of transferable skills e.g., time-management, art direction, community collaboration, ethical responsibility, performative presentation, sustainable practices, convivial discourse, social and technological networks. You will consolidate your design practice by taking part in researching, reflecting on, theorising, testing, and communicating the field of graphic design and your place in it.
30 credits
This module introduces ways of theorising contemporary and historical design to enable you to locate your practice within wider professional, social and political contexts and an interdisciplinary framework. You will investigate key current issues within design and participate in urgent critical debates, developing a theoretical and conceptual vocabulary with which to position what you do as a practitioner.
You will not only develop your understanding of design theory and histories but critically examine different ways of knowing about, and through, design. You are encouraged to question established norms and challenge Eurocentric models of knowledge production, engaging with discourses of decolonisation, design pedagogy, sustainability, participation, accessibility, speculation and design for social change. Exploring a range of different research methods will support you to reflect on your own position, values and ethics as a researcher, and to articulate how that underpins your practice.
30 credits
This module focuses on anticipating future modes of graphic design, helping you to formulate a space for your future individual and/or collective work and/or further study. Drawing on personal experiences and contemporary design debate you will work with your peers, tutors, and visiting lecturers as co-researchers in the future field of graphic design, to position the form and context of your future practice, education, research and/or profession. Through projects and workshops, we will anticipate new multidimensional and/or hybrid practices in local and global contexts. As a community of practice, we will work to forge more sustainable, critical, and imaginative links between, culture and commerce, the individual and collective, the environment and design innovation.
You will assimilate learning from the modules in Teaching Block 1 in a synthesis of thinking and making to produce creative outputs that communicate with empathy, intelligence and responsibility in the public domain. Research groups – named Platform spaces on MA Graphic Design – will be co-created to provide a broad scope of shared resources and new modalities of knowledge. The Platform themes and aims will be identified by you and your peers and formulated with tutors in this module as catalysts for new ways of positioning and thinking about your design practice. Platforms are adaptable and responsive to topical issues and emerging student interests in relation to contemporary graphic design practices.
You will be supported to develop skills in appropriate research methods, analysis, testing, evaluation, project management and realisation. This will enable you to produce a research question and proposal plan for your independent and/or collective Extended Research Project For Graphic Design.
30 credits
This module introduces critical making as a method of reflecting on and reconfiguring your individual and/or collective practice in an expanded mode of graphic design.
Critical Making challenges design conventions and finds new ways of giving shape to contemporary issues and ideas through the visual and material tools of graphic design. A radical critical function is assigned to the act of designing in a synthesis of thinking and making. This process is enabled through play, experiment and risk-taking within and alongside academic rigour.
You will gain the necessary critical awareness and practical understanding of how to embed meaning within the media, artefacts, and networks of visual communication. In an immersive studio culture, social and interactive relations will be explored to help build and apply a more in-depth knowledge of how meaning is constructed and communicated. You will initiate research into the process of ‘making design public' in the form of community collaborations, exhibitions, and digital publications as modes of engaging for, and with diverse audiences.
We will explore and analyse the diverse roles and responsibilities of a graphic designer as; producer, provocateur, artist, researcher, activist, facilitator, leader, entertainer, author, and entrepreneur to build confidence, independence, agile thinking, and collective resilience. We will map the pluriverse of design opportunities and professions together as a means of positioning your practice within a rapidly-changing world.
30 credits
This module asks you to think about the role of the designer now and what it might be in the future. It takes the position that many of the jobs you may have in the future do not yet exist – it is you that will create them.
You will work on projects individually and collectively that ask you to communicate across disciplinary boundaries in diverse environments with hybrid ways of making and thinking drawn from different contexts, methods and philosophies. Real-world scenarios set by external partners will be examined through elective collaborative projects that situate your creative practice within the contemporary paradigms of precarity and uncertainty, providing a space to address issues such as climate literacy, design education and the future of work, and in doing so anticipate contexts for your practice within the cultural and creative industries and beyond.
Optional placement year
Many postgraduate courses at Kingston University allow students to do a 12-month work placement as part of their course. The responsibility for finding the work placement is with the student; we cannot guarantee the work placement, just the opportunity to undertake it. As the work placement is an assessed part of the course, it is covered by a student's Student Route visa.
Find out more about the postgraduate work placement scheme.
Core modules
120 credits
The Professional Placement module is a core module for those students following a masters programme that incorporates professional placement learning, following completion of 120 credits. It provides you with the opportunity to apply your knowledge and skills to an appropriate working environment, and to develop and enhance key employability skills and subject-specific professional skills in your chosen subject. You may wish to use the placement experience as a platform for your subsequent major project module, and would be expected to use it to help inform your decisions about future careers.
In the individual projects, we had two tutors who focused on different aspects of graphic design. They helped us to make our personal projects ambitious and perfect.
Career opportunities
Graduates gain advanced creative skills and industry knowledge, preparing them for roles in design, branding, or communications. Kingston fosters adaptability and innovation for the evolving job market.
Preparing for the world of work
The Graphic Design MA incorporates modules designed and aligned to make intellectual links between practice, critical theory and real-world scenarios. In doing so, this programme prioritises the development of individual and/or collective practices through creative thinking and making.
Presentation modules orientate students within a professional landscape. We include direct preparation for employment through development of future skills and career planning.
Our emphasis on independent and self-directed learning gives students autonomy to develop an individual and/or collective practice that supports their aspirations and ambitions. Skills in critical reflection and analysis provide you with the tools necessary to make decisions about your practice and learning trajectory - even beyond graduation.
Teaching and assessment
Students will benefit from a variety of different learning and teaching approaches including brief-led project work, workshops that encourage creative experimentation and individual critical reflection. We take a dialogic and discursive approach to learning and teaching, through peer-led learning, discussion groups and seminars as well as opportunities to co-construct the curriculum. An elective range of assessment strategies and methods allows students to take responsibility for their own learning.
Kingston School of Art has an established an ethos of Thinking Through Making, underpinned by a policy that supports equal access for all students to the 2D and 3D workshops. Students are encouraged to explore new and unfamiliar processes and techniques and use these to experiment and innovate within their own disciplines and individual creative practices.
When not attending timetabled sessions, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. This typically involves reading and analysing articles, regulations, policy documents and key texts, documenting individual projects, preparing coursework assignments and completing your PEDRs, etc.
Your independent learning is supported by a range of excellent facilities including online resources, the library and CANVAS, the University's online virtual learning platform.
At Kingston University, we know that postgraduate students have particular needs and therefore we have a range of support available to help you during your time here.
A course is made up of modules, and each module is worth a number of credits. You must pass a given number of credits in order to achieve the award you registered on, for example 360 credits for a typical undergraduate course or 180 credits for a typical postgraduate course. The number of credits you need for your award is detailed in the programme specification which you can access from the link at the bottom of this page.
One credit equates to 10 hours of study. Therefore 180 credits across a year (typical for a postgraduate course) would equate to 1,800 notional hours. These hours are split into scheduled and guided. On this course, the percentage of that time that will be scheduled learning and teaching activities is shown below. The remainder is made up of guided independent study.
- 16% scheduled learning and teaching
The exact balance between scheduled learning and teaching and guided independent study will be informed by the modules you take.
Your course will primarily be delivered in person. It may include delivery of some activities online, either in real time or recorded.
Assessment typically comprises exams (e.g. test or exam), practical (e.g. presentations, performance) and coursework (e.g. essays, reports, self-assessment, portfolios, dissertation).
The approximate percentage for how you will be assessed on this course is as follows:
Type of assessment
- Coursework: 95%
- Practical: 5%
We aim to provide feedback on assessments within 20 working days.
To give you an indication of class sizes, this course normally enrols 55. Seminars and reviews are usually 12 to 25 students and group tutorials usually 6 to 12 students. However, this can vary by module and academic year.
The facilities at Kingston allowed us to bring our projects to another level. There was an amazing 3D workshop, but for me the print workshop was a godsend. The skills I acquired there built my confidence and pushed me to discover new techniques and the help from technicians was second to none.
Fees and funding
| Fee category | Fee |
|---|---|
| Home (UK students) | |
| Full Time | £12,400 |
| Part Time | £6,820 |
| International | |
| Full Time | £21,800 |
| Part Time | £11,990 |
| Fee category | Fee |
|---|---|
| Home (UK students) | |
| Full Time | £11,900 |
| Part Time | £6,545 |
| International | |
| Full Time | £20,900 |
| Part Time | £11,495 |
Funding support for postgraduate students
If you are a UK student living in England and under 60, you can apply for a loan to study for a postgraduate degree on the government's website.
Scholarships and bursaries
Kingston School of Art offers a range of postgraduate scholarships, including:
This scholarship offers a 40% reduction in fees across a range of taught postgraduate courses. Learn more about eligibility criteria for Inspire the Future applicants.
If you are an international student, find out more about scholarships and bursaries.
We also offer discounts for Kingston University alumni.
Additional course costs
Some courses may require additional costs beyond tuition fees. When planning your studies, you’ll want to consider tuition fees, living costs, and any extra costs that might relate to your area of study.
Your tuition fees include costs for teaching, assessment and university facilities. So your access to libraries, shared IT resources and various student support services are all covered. Accommodation and general living expenses are not covered by these fees.
Where applicable, additional expenses for your course may include:
Our libraries have an extensive collection of books and journals, as well as open-access computers and laptops available to rent. However, you may want to buy your own computer or personal copies of key textbooks. Textbooks may range from £50 to £250 per year. And a personal computer can range from £100 to £3,000 depending on your course requirements.
While most coursework is submitted online, some modules may require printed copies. You may want to allocate up to £100 per year for hard-copies of your coursework. It’s worth noting that 3D printing is never compulsory. So if you choose to use our 3D printers, you’ll need to pay for the material. This ranges from 3p per gram to 40p per gram.
Kingston University will pay for all compulsory field trips. Fees for optional trips can range from £30 to £350 per trip.
Your tuition fees don’t cover travel costs. To save on travel costs, you can use our free intersite bus service. This route links the campuses and halls of residence with local train stations - Surbiton, Kingston upon Thames, and Norbiton.
If you choose to do a placement year, travel costs will vary depending on your location. These costs could be up to £2,000.
Some courses may require professional memberships.
You learn to widen your skill set and get different perspectives from a very lovely, international community. If I could do it again I would. I have never felt as challenged yet so free as I felt during my time at Kingston.
How to apply
Before you apply
Please read the entry criteria carefully to make sure you meet all requirements before applying.
How to apply online
Use the course selector drop down at the top of this page to choose your preferred course, start date and mode, then click 'Apply now'. You will be taken to our Online Student Information System (OSIS) where you will complete your application.
If you’re starting a new application, you’ll need to select ‘new user’ and set up a username and password. This will allow you to save and return to your application.
Application deadlines
We encourage you to apply as soon as possible. Applications will close when the course is full.
Information required to confirm your place
If English is not your first language, we will require proof of your proficiency to allow us to confirm your place on the course. This will generally be either an IELTS or TOEFL test certificate, which can be forwarded to us after you have submitted your application. If you do not hold a formal English language qualification, please indicate how you have acquired your proficiency in written and spoken English.
After you have applied
For courses that select on application alone, applicants should normally receive an initial decision or a request for more information within four to six weeks of receipt of their application. Our admissions team will notify you of the decision by email.
Learn more about the postgraduate application process in detail.
Course changes and regulations
The information on this page reflects the currently intended course structure and module details. To improve your student experience and the quality of your degree, we may review and change the material information of this course. Find out more about course changes
Programme Specifications for the course are published ahead of each academic year.
Regulations governing this course can be found on our website.
What our students and graduates say
I had a really great experience on the Graphic Design MA. We undertook group as well as personal projects. For the group project we worked with students from different design disciplines.
This was not easy for me as English is not my native language, but these projects inspired me and I was positively influenced by the different perspectives from the diverse fields of design of my fellow group members.
I cannot be grateful enough for the chance to study in a cool, relaxed and inspiring space where I could do anything I (literally) wished. If you get up with the wild idea of making an alphabet out of 2-metre-long wooden letters or to research and screen print rainbows for a month – and you can also explain why you want to do it – you will not just have a proper technical and theoretical background to support you, but also people who will encourage you.
