MA MA Design for Data Visualisation

Offers will be made based on the following selection criteria, which applicants are expected to demonstrate:

• Sufficient prior knowledge and experience of and/or potential in a specialist subject area to be able to successfully complete the programme of study and have an academic or professional background in a relevant subject
• Also to show a willingness to work as a team player, good language skills in reading, writing and speaking, the ability to work independently and be self-motivated
• Critical knowledge of and enthusiasm for the subject area and capacity for research-led design, intellectual inquiry and reflective thought through: contextual awareness (professional, cultural, social, historical); evidence of research, analysis, development and evaluation (from previous academic study and employment) and a grounded understanding of the world of sonic, visual and networked culture and be able to engage in and contribute to critical discussion
• In the project proposal a description of the area of interest, field of study and the particular focus of their intended project. This should include an overview of how you intend to go about producing the project and the methodology
• Portfolio should be conceptual and research-based, you must show your thinking and making process and a curious nature to explore, test and experiment

Upon completion of the course, graduates will be equipped with a keen critical understanding of the field of data visualisation and will have acquired a diverse set of technical and project management skills represented in a portfolio of data visualisation work.

We expect graduates to have the skills, experience and confidence to address a range of academic or professionally focused problems within this field; drawing on specialist knowledge and experience and a familiarity with related areas such as information design, user experience design and design thinking.

Graduates will have acquired leadership skills, an entrepreneurial mind-set and the ability to tackle complex problems with insight and determination.

Career options include:

• Design Consultancy
• Exhibition Design
• Editorial
• Data Journalism
• Data Visualisation
• Self-employment/freelance
• Integration of design skills into other disciplinary areas

We are committed to ensuring that your skills are set within an ethical framework, and we have worked to embed UAL’s Principles for Climate, Racial and Social Justice Principles into the curriculum and in everything we do. 

Term 1

Data visualisation research and practices (20 credits)
Visualisation tools, datasets and data stories (60 credits)

In this term, through a series of workshops, you will develop your specialist information design and data visualisation practice.

Pairing key areas from mapping to complex chart-making with a focus on fundamental design principles such as colour, visual language and typography, you’ll develop your expertise in both explorative, and explanatory data visualisation as well as structure, narrative and story-telling.

Alongside this you’ll engage with key texts, data visualisation practitioners and specialists from related disciplines through a series of lectures and seminars. This will support you engaging with the critical and theoretical context in which you are work and informing your approach to research methods and critical practice.

Term 2 and 3

Final Major Project Proposal and Critical Reflection (20 credits)
Collaborative Unit (20 credits)

During these terms you’ll define your major project focus through research-oriented workshops and group and individual seminars and tutorials. You’ll also work on the Collaborative Unit – responding to a brief defined and delivered with industry-leading practitioners working at the forefront of the discipline of data visualisation.

You’ll continue to participate in workshops designed to support you interrogating your own practice, defining methodologies and identifying interesting ways to integrate technical data visualisation tools and software into your research-led practice.

Through additional external briefs you’ll also work with your peers on group projects responding to provocations defined by domain experts working with data.

Term 4

Final Major Project and Critical Visual Report (60 credits)

In your final term, you will realise your research-led final major project, supported with lectures, seminars and tutorials as well as engagement with the wider community of practice at London College of Communication.

You’ll produce a design outcome for this piece of work as well as critical and reflective report, evidencing your engagement with advanced theoretical and critical positions within the field and related disciplines.

Programme specification