Design

The brand new, broad and practice-based MA Design takes students on a creative journey where you will explore processes making, materials and context. You will challenge and extend your design practice at an advanced level whilst developing a range of artistic and practical skills.

The course is delivered through a series of project-based modules 'Make', 'Play' and 'Live', through which you will engage with real-world problems and issues of relevance to contemporary design practice and work towards the production of a physical object.

The course attracts a diverse range of practicing designers, makers and industry professionals from a range of disciplines, including but not exclusively: ceramics, fashion design, jewellery design, product design, lighting, fine art and architecture and equally broad ranging staff backgrounds in robotics, graphics, product design and fine art. You will work both independently and collaboratively, pushing boundaries and exchanging ideas across design disciplines.

The full Masters course comprises of 180 credits divided into three 60 credits stages: Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma, and Masters. Students work incrementally through the three stages and must pass all modules at each stage in order to progress to the next.

Make (30 credits)

You will be encouraged to creatively engage with a broad range of materials, making and manufacturing processes. Though a series of short practical projects, you will be invited to challenge the nature, role and cultural value of different approaches to 'making' and 'manufacture' from new and emerging digital fabrication technologies to the contemporary application of craft.

Play (30 credits)

This module aims to reinvigorate a genuine sense of play into the creative enquiry and to build upon its potential for delivering innovation in design realisation. The emphasis of this module is on play, without the expectation that 'finished' work will be produced. You will explore and develop ideas for a project proposal which will form the basis of the final 'Live' module of the course. 

Research Practice (30 credits)

Primarily concerned with building academic skills, this module offers a series of choices, each of which has specific sets of concerns related to the practice and theory of art, media and design. These options are: Research by practice; Critical Research; and Research in Enterprise (in the Creative Industries).

Practice in a Professional Context (30 credits)

You will explore possibilities outside of the institution and participate in a placement, collaboration, research or work experience situation to gain knowledge and understanding of the professional arena. You will have the opportunity to negotiate your own programme of study, which explores and evaluates design within a professional context.

Live (60 credits)

This module is designed to facilitate the development and delivery of a major creative project that capitalises upon the previous four modules. Whether working in collaboration with an industry partner, via partnerships between students, or working individually, the development of design solutions will be for a 'live' outward facing event: the UWE Creative Industries Degree Show.

We are looking for highly-motivated, creative students from a range of academic and professional design backgrounds. Usually applicants will have a good honours degree in design or visual arts, but those other academic qualifications or professional experience are also encouraged to apply. Applications are welcome from prospective students with qualifications in such areas as product design, industrial design, interaction design, fashion and textiles, model-making, fine art and applied art. We also encourage applications from prospective students with academic or professional backgrounds in engineering and other technology-based disciplines, providing they can demonstrate a strong interest and aptitude in creativity and design.

Candidates are normally invited to an interview where they will be expected to present a portfolio of creative work and to discuss their previous experience, aims, motivations and ideas for projects they may wish to pursue within the context of the MA in Design.