MA Graphic Branding and Identity

Programme Specification 2020/21

Awarding Body University of the Arts London
College London College of Communication
School University of the Arts London
Programme Branding and Design Innovation (L064)
FHEQ Level Level 7 Masters
Course Credits 180
Mode Full Time
Duration of Course 1 year
Valid From September 1st 2020
Course Entry The course team welcomes applicants from a broad range
Requirements of backgrounds, from all over the world. MA Graphic
Branding and Identity attracts students who apply direct
from an Honours degree course in a field relevant to graphic
design, product design or architecture, or those with other,
equivalent qualifications.

The course team also welcomes students with relevant

experience or those who may have previously worked in
industry.

Educational level may be demonstrated by:

• Honours degree (named above);

• Possession of equivalent qualifications;
• Prior experiential learning, the outcome of which can
be demonstrated to be equivalent to formal
qualifications otherwise required;
• Or a combination of formal qualifications and
experiential learning which, taken together, can be
demonstrated to be equivalent to formal
qualifications otherwise required.

APEL (Accreditation of Prior Learning)

 Applicants who do not meet these course entry
requirements may still be considered in exceptional cases.
The course team will consider each application that
demonstrates additional strengths and alternative evidence.
This might, for example, be demonstrated by:

• Related academic or work experience

• The quality of the personal statement
• A strong academic or other professional reference
• OR a combination of these factors

Each application will be considered on its own merit but we

cannot guarantee an offer in each case.

Language requirements

All classes are conducted in English. If English is not your

first language, we strongly recommend you let us know
your English language test score in your application. If you
have booked a test or are awaiting your results, please
indicate this in your application. When asked to upload a CV
as part of your application, please include any information
about your English test score.

• IELTS 6.5 (or equivalent) is required, with a minimum

of 5.5 in each of the four skills.
• If your first language is not English, you can check
you have achieved the correct IELTS level in
English on the Language Requirements page.

For further details regarding international admissions and

advice please visit the International Applications page.
Selection Criteria 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.
 • 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 as well as the ability to engage
with 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

Scheduled Learning and During your course you will engage with learning and
Teaching teaching that includes both online and face-to-face modes.
The advertised scheduled activity for the course will be
delivered through a combination of live, synchronous and
asynchronous on-line learning. This is often described as
blended learning.

Definitions of our learning and teaching modes can be

found here.
Awards and Percentage of Scheduled Learning
Year 1
Percentage of Scheduled Learning 21

Awards Credits

Postgraduate Certificate 60

Postgraduate Diploma 120

Course Aims and Outcomes
The Aims and Outcomes of this Course are as follows:

Aim/Outcome Description
Equip you – the designer with the necessary skills to interpret
Aim strategy and brand stratagems into brand expression and visual
communication.
Enable you – the designer to explore and enhance your own practice
with traditional craft and diverse technologies and techniques e.g.
Aim
letterpress, screen-printing, bookbinding, lithographic and digital
printing, photography, 3D workshop.
Provides the opportunity to study brand expression and brand/visual
communication techniques. The course will equip you with a wider
Aim understanding of creating brand solutions for diverse markets and
cultures. The course enables you to look at brand impact in a wider,
more diverse context.
Provide students with industry-focused experience and practice
Aim through the Collaboration Unit and industry in-course talks/lectures
and workshops.
Provide a framework for academic discussion, personal practice and
personal development, allowing you to speculate on new and
Aim
effective approaches to the subject and to engage with problems and
insights at the forefront of branding and identity design practice
Enable you to develop a critical, analytical, systematic and
comprehensive knowledge and understanding of branding and
Aim
identity design practice and to study the theoretical, ethical and
professional contexts in which your practice is situated.
Equip you with the knowledge, abilities and methods – creative,
conceptual, theoretical, analytical, technical and organisational – that
Aim
enable you to propose, research, develop and complete a self-
directed practice-led project.
As a visual communicator your practice will appreciate, explore,
interrogate, even challenge the existing forms of the subject through
Aim independent and collaborative enquiry. And communicate this
learning and insight through a series of smaller practice-led projects
and the Final Major Project.
 Equip you with the necessary transferable skills to assist you in
Aim
determining your professional and/or academic future.
Develop and create research proposals to a professional standard
Outcome and speculate on new and effective approaches to the subject
(Enquiry); (Process); (Knowledge); (Realisation);
Critically apply theoretical knowledge of Graphic Branding and
Identity and evaluate contemporary discourse on the subject of visual
Outcome
communication (Enquiry); (Knowledge); (Process); (Realisation);
(Communication);
Apply design research methodologies in formulating concepts and
Outcome ideas (Enquiry); (Process); (Knowledge); (Realisation);
(Communication);
Utilise a broad range of research and analytical strategies to practical
Outcome and theoretical work in a range of media and formats (Enquiry);
(Knowledge); (Process); (Realisation); (Communication)
Present a portfolio of research and a self-directed final major
practical project or thesis which has been rigorously planned, is
Outcome academically informed, and offers outcomes and applications that
meet professional standards. (Enquiry); (Process); (Realisation);
(Knowledge); (Communication)
 Distinctive Features
The course itself has benefitted from its far-reaching international appeal. The
MA GB&I course encourages the diverse cultural and personal experience of its
1 students and alumni and relays this experience directly to the study of branding
and how brand communication may differ from country to country, culture to
culture.
The course is branding focused but from the perspective of the designer not the
marketer or brand manager. This is the only MA course in the UK that is fully
2
committed to MA branding study from the practice-led approach over theory or
science approach.
The course acknowledges previous experience and will have a practice-led
approach to branding design; this enables students to prepare for future
employment or to engage in the extension of study to MPhil/Doctoral level. This
3
unique way of working has helped to broaden the recognition for students
globally and has positioned the course and LCC nationally as a distinctly specialist
centre where learning is promoted through the focus of design.
It will benefit students who have identified a particular area of graphic branding
on which to base their focus for study at ‘M’ level and who need to develop and
4
enhance their critical ability and research methods in specific subject-related
areas.
Curriculum development, learning and teaching within this single subject. The
5 Design School is informed by established staff research, professional practice and
strong industry links.
Students are able to participate in the MA Lecture Programme alongside students
6
from other graduate courses in the Design School.
LCC Graduate School Community: The course is part of the wider LCC graduate
7 school community that offers access to cross-disciplinary visiting speakers and
Graduate community events
The course forms part of an established MA community in the school that utilises
8 staff expertise within the school. Where possible synergies are found within the
courses such as the MA lecture series.
Situated in the Design School at London College of Communication, this MA
Graphic Branding & Identity (MAGB&I) course resides within the Graphic
9
Communication programme. This will offer opportunities for discourse across
both undergraduate and postgraduate amongst staff and students
 The Design School at LCC is well placed both in terms of its industry links and
10 geographically to extend its subject and practice links for the benefit of all its
students.
The opportunity of collaboration with professional and industry practice or
diverse academic courses as a ‘live’ project experience within specific
11
collaborative units will enrich the student experience and help understand theory
in practice.
Individually tailored and additional lecture and workshop series focused for the
student studying Branding. The following are an example of past speakers at LCC:
Pentagram Wolff Olins Wieden + Kennedy Hat-Trick Design Our Design Agency
FutureBrand Mint Digital Bartle Bogle Hegarty Williams Murray Hamm Elmwood
Mother Poke Blue Marlin Interbrand Recently appointed practitioners in
residence – UAL Chair for Communication Design Nick Bell, Founder and Creative
12
Director at Nick Bell Design; Alex Bec & Will Hudson, Directors at It's Nice That
and Visiting Fellow at London College of Communication; Matt Rice, Creative
Director at Sennep; Fred Deakin, Professor of Interactive Digital Arts UAL; and
Scott King, UAL Chair of Communication – will contribute to the Design School’s
rich discursive landscape – with opportunities for participants to make contact,
seek guidance, build a rapport, etc
Course Detail

MA Graphic Branding and Identity is a course for designers, by designers. Together, we’ll
explore the capacity of the graphic designer to construct and deconstruct powerful brand
narratives through design research, visual experimentation and written evaluation.

MA Graphic Branding and Identity encourages you to challenge what is understood

about the meaning of graphic branding.

You’ll have a graphic design or visual communication background, and will be looking to
develop a wider range of skills, build a research profile and enhance your capabilities and
offer to potential employers.

This MA course focuses on the role of visual identity within branding, with the aim to
produce versatile and creative practitioners who understand design within a business,
social and cultural context.

What can you expect?

MA Graphic Branding and Identity will challenge you to deconstruct your experience and
design education in new and unexpected ways. You’ll develop a brand from the ground-
up, using old and new strategies to push your design practice in new directions.

You’ll take part in a weekly lecture or workshop series on the principles of design and
branding, learn new research techniques and connect these to rigorous methods of
design exploration.

Your study will be based on personal project work, augmented with critical and
contextual debate, culminating in an industry-focused portfolio of graphic brand
expressions.

You’ll integrate visual practice with written evaluation critical discourse, which will be
embedded into your weekly seminars and tutorial contact.

You’ll meet a personal tutor on a regular basis, who will help guide you through a
challenging, highly-satisfying period of personal and professional development.

You’ll work with a wide range of designers and practitioners, as well as an experienced
core team of tutors and researchers.

You’ll collaborate with other students, staff and external clients in a guided collaborative
unit, allowing you to develop new approaches to design and brand projects.
You’ll be welcomed into one of University of the Arts London’s most diverse communities
of practice, meeting designers and thinkers from a wide range of cultural backgrounds,
and from this will develop a globalised, sustainable design practice that should position
you as an engaged, thoughtful, intelligent and highly-skilled design-thinker.

Learning at this level will be about intellectual engagement, discovery, interaction and
change. The final product, for us, is not in itself the goal - it is the research, evaluation
and understanding of branding and identity that makes this MA distinctive.

This course is taught within the Branding and Design Innovation programme of the
Design School.

Mode of Study

MA Graphic Branding and Identity is in Full Time mode which runs for 45 weeks over 15
months. You will be expected to commit 40 hours per week to study.
Course Units

In 2019 UAL declared a Climate Emergency and pledged to ‘make sustainability a

required part of the student learning experience’. In response to the climate and
ecological crisis the Design School set in place an ambitious Sustainability Action Plan to
fully embed responsible practices within the curriculum and in everything we do. As part
of this initiative we have updated our course handbooks against a set of social and
environmental sustainability principles to ensure that learning outcomes reflect the
urgent need to equip students with the understanding, skills and values to foster a more
sustainable planet. Our aim is to change the way students think and to empower them to
work towards a sustainable future.

MA Graphic Branding and Identity consists of 5 core Units. Units 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 run
concurrently, whilst Unit 5 (your major project) runs independently. The course is split
into 4 terms with a summer break of 8 weeks.

Autumn, Term 1

Brand and Design Principles (40 credits)

You’ll work on identifying your own practice in relation to common approaches and
develop a deeper understanding of the techniques required to produce effective graphic,
brand and design communication.
A series of lectures, workshops and seminars will be available covering research
methodologies in theory and practice and the wider contextual framework for
contemporary graphic branding.

This culminates with a substantial visual summary (a process book of your design
experiments) and a designed brand output.

Field of Study Report (20 credits)

You’ll undertake a scoping and profiling project called the Field of Study Report. This will
help you to develop an appreciation of current debates that are shaping the future of the
subject and gain an informed view of your own practice.

This will culminate with a piece of design writing of 2500 words.

Spring, Term 2

Collaborative Unit (20 credits)

The Collaborative Unit encourages you to seek opportunities to work as graphic brand
designers with external clients and organisations, form small design teams and report on
the process of working with a diverse community of designers and thinkers.

The Collaborative Unit allows you to be directly in touch with the realities of a
professional branding practice, and to examine these techniques, approaches and
theories in a professional context.

This will culminate with a piece of critical writing of 2500 words and a portfolio of
designed brand assets for your chosen client / project.

Major Project Proposal Part 1

Summer, Term 3

Major Project Proposal Part 2

Major Project Part 1

Autumn, Term 4

Major Project Part 2

Major Project Proposal (Part 1 and Part 2) (40 credits)
Your Major Project Proposal builds on the work conducted in both Units 1 and 2 to move
your study proposal forwards through a series of practical and contextual stages to plan a
clearly defined and evaluated research inquiry.

This process focuses on an experimental exploring through design and research

methodology, testing and designing new approaches to your intended brand and design
project work.

This Unit will culminate in a critically- and design-focused written proposal of 3500 words
and a substantial body of visual experiments and brand design strategies. This unit
positions the direction of your Major Project.

Major Project: Practical and Report / Thesis – (Part 1 and Part 2) (60 credits)

Your major project develops from the rationale stated in the Major Project Proposal.
These elements are then tested and applied in the creation of an original brand design-
research project.

Your Major Project will be based on extensive research and a rigorous methodological
approach, drawing together your learning from across the previous four units. You will
develop a programme of investigation and analysis that supports you in the further
development of your personal research project.

This will culminate with either:

A practical design resolution, supporting visual process work and a 5000-7000 word
written report

or:

A designed MA thesis of 12000 – 15000 words.

Learning and Teaching Methods

• Lectures/large group learning

• Workshop and seminars
• Academic tutorials
• Self directed learning
• Outside speakers and visits
• Assessed assignments

Assessment Methods

• Practical project work and computer based activities

 • Prepared writing
• Responses to case studies
• Oral presentation
• Personal presentations of prepared work
• Simulations and role plays
• Workshop based activities
• Written research projects
• A portfolio of work
• Thesis

Reference Points

The following reference points were used in designing the course:

• The Learning and Teaching policies of the University of the Arts London
• The College policies and initiatives
• Level descriptors
• Benchmark statements
 Course Diagram
Level 7
Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45

Unit 1 Brand and Design

S
Principles (40 Credits)

Unit 2 Field of Study

S
report (20 Credits)

PG Summer Break
Freshers Week
Unit 3 Major Project Proposal (40 Credits) S

Unit

Unit 4 Collaborative Unit

S
(20 Credits)

PG Overlap Period with new

year intake

Unit 5 Major Project or Unit 5 Major Project

S
Thesis (60 Credits) or Thesis continued
The University will use all reasonable endeavours to provide the Course and the services described in this
Output. There may be occasions whereby the University needs to add, remove or alter content in relation
to your Course as may be appropriate for example the latest requirements of a commissioning or
accrediting body, or in response to student feedback, or to comply with applicable law or due to
circumstances beyond its control. The University aim to inform you of any changes as soon as is
reasonably practicable

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