Postgraduate Certificate Design for Visual Communication

Content

The programme is ideal for those from diverse academic backgrounds who wish to extend and develop their prior experience through visual communication. Students on the course have previously studied subjects from molecular genetics to English. The course is a confidence-building bridge to master's study as well as providing the foundations for professional career development.

You can expect to become part of a unique learning community made up of staff, guest speakers and fellow students from a diverse range of creative disciplines and cultures. Through tutorials, set and self-initiated projects, workshops and group discussions, you will gain a deeper understanding of the design process that will enhance your practice. Visual language and grammar, typographic hierarchy, symbol design, graphic representation, identity and information visualisation are just some of the areas you will explore.

Personal projects will provide you with a foundation in the principles of visual communication whilst engaging with postgraduate level research methods and conceptual development. Examples of personal projects include: mapping directional devices in the city; the promotion of a typeface; visual analysis of people flow and visual surveys of lettering.

Graduates from this course have found employment within high profile international creative agencies, design management, teaching and professional practice. Some have established their own design studios, while others have gone on to achieve highly at master's level.

As an Architect I was quite familiar with the idea of design but I felt the need to build good foundations to progress in the graphic design field. The course at LCC has been fundamental for my career development. Thanks to the portfolio of infographics projects built at LCC, a few months after the end of the course I started freelancing for Sidan Media, a sport publishing company visualising football statistics.
Former student, Grazia Trisciuoglio, now Information Graphic Designer at Live Nation

This was such a valuable course that gave me so much – I'm forever grateful.
Former student, Geoffrey Dahl, now a freelance Graphic Designer

Thank you for everything. The course has changed my life.
Former student, Valentina Verč , Intern at the award-winning OPX studio.

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24 September 2018

Course units

The Postgraduate Certificate Design for Visual Communication has three components:

• Research and Development
• Design Resolution
• Professional and Academic Context

These units aim to achieve an integrated approach to your learning and to avoid the notion that research and application are aspects of design that are experienced in isolation.

Units summary:

• Research and Development (20 credits) introduces you to the key methods of investigating subject matter employed at postgraduate level.
• Design Resolution (20 credits) will investigate and re-examine the main themes of graphic design such as visual language and grammar; hierarchy; structure; navigation; identity; etc. This unit will enable you to experience research and development methods in practice.

Units summary:

• Research and Development (continued)
• Design Resolution (continued)
• Professional and Academic Context (20 credits) offers you an opportunity to undertake a choice of projects that places emphasis on your future professional or academic direction. The following are indicative subject areas: information design, typo/graphic design and image-based design.

Units summary:

• Professional and Academic Context (continued)

The course is currently running in part-time mode only and fits within the university credit framework. It is comprised of tutored study and self-directed study with access to facilities. You will embark on both course-set and self-initiated projects.

You will also engage in debate exploring a multitude of subjects, from design fundamentals to notions of cross-disciplinary thinking.

The information outlined is an indicative structure of the course. Whilst we will aim to deliver the course as described on this page, there may be situations where it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, for example because of regulatory requirements or operational efficiencies, before or after enrolment. If this occurs, we will communicate all major changes to all applicants and students who have either applied or enrolled on the course.

Please note that due to staff research agreements or availability, not all of the optional modules listed may be available every year.

In addition, the provision of course options which depend upon the availability of specialist teaching, or on a placement at another institution, cannot be guaranteed. Please check this element of the course with the course team before making a decision to apply.

Postgraduate Certificate Design for Visual Communication Programme Specification 2017/18 (PDF - 246KB)

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Staff Course Leader

Tony Pritchard

Henrietta Ross

Jamie Hobson, David Sims