Advertising and Design MA

Course overview

The MA Advertising and Design programme gives you the opportunity to prepare for careers in advertising and correlated fields in communication design. Based on an interdisciplinary approach, the programme is supported by three pillars: Design, Research, and Business.

The Design pillar approaches the elaboration of communication campaigns as a design process, providing a framework for its development, as well as equipping you with an understanding of design principles across specialised areas such as graphic, typographic and digital design.

The Business pillar is offered in collaboration with the Leeds University Business School - a top 100 business schools worldwide - and introduces you to essential knowledge in consumer behaviour and media planning, enabling you to develop effective communication strategies based on market insights and brand positioning.

Finally, the Research pillar focuses on skills that are valuable to both academia and industry. You will explore primary and secondary research methods, seamlessly integrating those into the design process, informing and evaluating their production using both quantitative and qualitative data. Moreover, you will have the option to expand those skills further by working on dissertations or research papers.

Assessment employs diverse approaches tailored to evaluate academic, professional, and digital literacies. The assessment components in your design modules reflect authentic professional practices, incorporating industry briefs and student competitions. Criteria for assessments are flexible, accommodating your individual skills and career choices. Exams and reflective reports will evaluate your theoretical comprehension and critical thinking applied to design processes. You will have the option to pursue an academic-focused dissertation or an industry-focused final project, both supported by a research-led approach.

Upon completion of the program, you will have acquired a wide range of skills, including evaluating market trends, analysing brand positioning, and formulating objectives and strategies to address communication challenges. You'll also develop the ability to generate creative concepts, design effective solutions, and conduct research to inform and reflect on design outcomes.

Applying

Entry requirements

You’ll need a bachelor degree with a 2:1 (hons) or equivalent qualification, preferably from the areas in the following list. Applications from areas beyond the ones listed may also be accepted.

All applicants will be required to respond to the questions in the supporting statement section of the online application form, to explain your interest in the course.

You may also be required to submit a portfolio of recent practical work.

• Advertising

• Animation

• Architecture

• Art

• Art Direction

• Branding

• Business

• Colour Design

• Communication

• Computer Sciences

• Design

• Engineering

• Film Studies

• Game Design

• Graphics

• Human-Computer Interaction

• Illustration

• Industrial Design

• Information Design

• Interior Design

• Management

• Marketing

• Media

• Neuroscience

• Philosophy

• Photography

• Product Design

• Psychology

• Service Design

• Social Media

• Sociology

• User Experience Design

• User Interface Design

• Web Design

Applicants with degrees in other subjects may be considered on an individual basis. In exceptional circumstances we may also consider people who do not have a degree, but do have relevant work experience.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component . For other English qualifications, read English language equivalent qualifications.

Improve your English

International students who do not meet the English language requirements for this programme may be able to study our postgraduate pre-sessional English course, to help improve your English language level.

This pre-sessional course is designed with a progression route to your degree programme and you’ll learn academic English in the context of your subject area. To find out more, read Language for Business (6 weeks) and Language for Business (10 weeks).

We also offer online pre-sessionals alongside our on-campus pre-sessionals. Find out more about our six week online pre-sessional and our 10 week online pre-sessional.

You can also study pre-sessionals for longer periods – read about our postgraduate pre-sessional English courses.

Career opportunities

Flexibility, resilience and transferable skills are desirable attributes for creative industry professionals. In the School of Design, as well as providing you with research led, industry informed subject-specific knowledge, we aim to equip you with the best possible skills for a variety of future careers. This programme will equip you with the knowledge and skills to succeed in a dynamic and expanding sector.

You’ll be a confident strategist, planner, account executive or creative advertiser or designer who also understands the relationship between advertising, brand development and consumers. In addition, you’ll have important skills such as oral and written communication, presentations, research, analysis and commercial awareness.

We’ve designed the programme to prepare you for a range of opportunities working in the creative industries, traditional advertising and design agencies, digital and social media. Alternatively, you may want to explore different elements of advertising and design at PhD level.

Students from this programme have successfully gained employment at both traditional and non-traditional advertising agencies all over the world, and in a wide variety of roles including brand management, marketing and more. Graduates have gone into careers in a number of different fields. Many continue with their professional practice – our graduates have gone to work for companies like VCCP, McCann London, LNER, BBDO & Proximity Espana, ASDA, The Union, Deloitte Digital, United Communications Group Taiwan, Wunderman Thompson Portugal, and more.