This master’s programme offers three areas in which the students can enhance their skills over the course of four semesters: 1. Expanding the experimental and reflective design practice of visual messages for analogue and digital communication environments, 2. Getting acquainted with research methods from design-oriented research and experimental exploration of new technologies to empirical evaluation of visual messages, 3. Getting an overview of relevant positions in visual, media and communication theory as well as philosophy, anthropology and psychology in order to critically put design decisions, concepts and research questions into context. On the basis of a practical foundation in a design-oriented bachelor’s study programme or a theory-oriented bachelor’s degree in cultural studies, the main goal of the study programme is a complementary fusion of skills between design and communication practice, research and theory.
Study structure
All students engage with the fields of design practice, practice-based research, and theoretical reflection across the first three semesters. The following fourth semester is the thesis semester. Through working together throughout their studies, the students, who come from different educational and cultural backgrounds, gradually acquire a combined set of practical, research, and theoretical communication skills.
Immersions
Over three semesters, all students immerse themselves in the main modules: Design Practice, Practice-based Research and Theoretical Reflection. The fourth semester is dedicated to writing the thesis. In a wide range of elective modules (in the areas of technology, practice, research or theory), a customised study programme can be put together that can be heavily guided by a specific project idea. By collaborating with students from a variety of academic and cultural backgrounds, students achieve a combination of practical, research and theory-based communication skills over the course of the programme.
Modules
Design practice
Students work on complex issues related to the design of digital communication environments, further develop their design method and improve their technical skills for the experimental exploration of digital channels. In the Authorship (1st semester), The Archive (2nd semester) and Interdisciplinary Focus (3rd semester) modules, you will improve your knowledge of and experience with design processes. You will further develop your language skills by talking about design processes in project teams with other students and in presentations.
Practically oriented research
In the Design Research (1st semester), Inquiry into Future Technologies (2nd semester) and Empirical Evaluations (3rd semester) modules, you will get to know different practically oriented research methods that can be used to scientifically back decisions in the field of communication. You will learn how questions of Visual and Media Science, Science and Technology Studies or Social Sciences can be combined with practically oriented methods. Knowing the state of the art of a research question puts you in a position to define and work on your own research approach. In the research module, practical, technological and theoretical areas of knowledge are brought together.
Theoretical fields of knowledge
In the Visual and Media History (1st semester), Theories of the Digital (2nd semester) and Critical Theory (3rd semester) modules, you will improve your conceptual and strategic knowledge in the field of communication in digital environments. Acquiring knowledge about the theory and practice of visual communication and current technological developments as well as about related fields of knowledge helps students formulate their own practice-based research questions. The examination of theoretical fields of knowledge is a foundation for describing the state of the art of a knowledge area and articulating open-ended questions.
