Graphic Design MA

at University of Edinburgh

We are committed to providing you with enhanced career prospects and the ability to achieve at the highest level.

Our graduates are professionally vital and well-informed, and are able to enter the design industry with a freshness of approach and the flexibility and adaptability to respond to change.

A contributory factor in this is the programme’s Design Agency project, which won the employability initiative category in the Guardian University Awards 2013.

This flagship initiative enables our graphic design students to form their own design agencies, creating their own brand and working collectively towards a common objective based on ability, regardless of age or experience.

Edinburgh-based design agencies act as mentor partners to these student agencies, developing long-term relationships that allow our students to show, over an extended period rather than just a few weeks on placement, what they can contribute to potential employers.

These entry requirements are for the 2022/23 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2023/24 academic year will be published on 3 October 2022.

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in graphic design or a relevant subject.

You must submit a portfolio as part of your application. Your portfolio should show your creativity and particularly your ideas: focus on the thinking behind your work rather than technique and show development as well as finished pieces. You should include a short description of the idea and context of the work you are presenting.

Your portfolio should:

• display a high standard of conceptual awareness and development
• reflect a clear ability to think laterally
• clearly present your research methods and routes, and show the development of ideas
• include evidence of your working process, from project inception to resolution, demonstrating experiments and explorations
• demonstrate original and professionally resolved work
• include high-quality images of completed work across appropriate and varied platforms

Our graduates work in a wide range of creative career paths. The variety of projects, approaches and opportunities we offer enable you to apply your knowledge and experience of the design process and your considerable skills to many disciplines. Typically, our graduates leave to become members of a graphic design agency.

Our extensive links with industry, built through industry-led projects and staff research, and our range of visiting speakers, ensures you will be aware of the full range of career possibilities and have a strong footing from which to develop your career.

Previous career paths have included:

• experiential design
• packaging
• advertising
• digital design
• interaction design
• exhibition design
• design research
• marketing
• retail design
• multimedia
• design management
• education