Never before has the communications arena had such fluidity for the realisation of student ideas and professional identity; whether it be simple or complex, witty or profound - Communication Design is a platform for the thinking of tomorrow.
Digital technology has provided a multimedia, multi-layered set of opportunities for Graphic Design, Illustration and Photography. Students now incorporate the traditional skills of drawing, printing, photography and other graphic processes with video, sound, animation and other aspects of moving image and multimedia. Students are no longer defined by their specialism, but through their creative interpretations and articulation of the brief.
In order for a student to develop a vision of the future, they need an understanding of the past. Each area within Communication Design encourages a critical engagement with historic and contemporary practice, relating social cultural and political contexts. Learning is supported by a weekly series of professional practice lectures, in which some of the most respected designers in Europe visit the School and meet our students.
Students are encouraged to undertake appropriate industrial placements and external assignments, as well as to engage in the numerous opportunities for national and international specialist competitions. Staff are active in research within the graphics industry through consultancy and freelance design.
There are three distinct specialisms in Communication Design at the GSA:
- Graphic Design
- Illustration
- Photography
Each of the specialisms encourage students to develop an inventive and critical approach to solving communication design problems.
Design History and Theory
An element of the programme is delivered by the department of Design History and Theory. For most of the four years of undergraduate programmes in design, one day per week of the student timetable is allocated to Design History and Theory. It is an externally linked critical mass of diverse research expertise in broad-based critical studies for contemporary creative practices in design. More information on the department and staff profiles can be found here.
