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Find out about the Sheffield Institute of Arts (SIA) and view a 360 degree tour of the SIA gallery, where our students exhibit their work.
Read about our graphic design teaching staff.
View a 360 degree tour of our print making studio.
View a 360 degree tour of our print making studio.
Read information to help you apply for this course and understand the selection process.
Our Digital Design Centre can print medium to large format high quality outputs on a range of different media. The laboratories have software supporting 2D and 3D engineering and creative design applications. Find out more.
One of the most valuable resources available for you to access is our highly experienced technical support team. Find out how they can help support your development.
Read about some of our graphic design students and their award-winning work.
At a glance
Study graphic design at an advanced level and develop your talent for designing solutions that respond to the needs of our rapidly changing society. You will be challenged to think differently about design and creatively push the boundaries of your discipline whilst developing the skills needed to become an imaginative and versatile designer who can operate independently, or as a member of a design team. Your projects are supported by lecturers who are design specialists, researchers and practitioners.
Key points
• Develop your skills and aspirations to undertake lead roles in the wide area of graphic design.
• Work on team and individual projects.
• Give your design understanding the edge by applying the findings of specialist research conducted by our staff.
• Work on live research and practice based projects in conjunction with user communities, international and regional business.
Develop your existing knowledge and experience as a designer, exploiting our significant research expertise to enhance your own design and research skills to a new level. You study graphic design at one of the oldest established art and design institutions in the UK, renowned for producing internationally recognised research.
The course is project based. You use your creative, practical and theoretical skills to investigate and propose new responses.
You have access to a huge range of creative resources to experiment and engage with including • 3D printing for rapid prototyping • state-of-the-art hardware and software • TV, film and photography studios • a creative media centre • a gallery • well-equipped workshops.
You also have access to our award-winning learning centre featuring a specialist art, design and media library and extensive online resources. We place emphasis on personal research, giving you the chance to develop your own interests and ideas in a challenging and supportive environment. Graphic design covers a wide and diverse field, so our aim is to help you to become a creative, imaginative and versatile designer who can operate independently or as a member of a design team.
You also benefit from a strong relationship between the masters design programme and the University’s Art and Design Research Centre which has gained international recognition for its work in both practice-based and strategic research.
You choose your own project content and this is supported by lectures and seminars dealing with professional practice issues and reviewing your progress. You also take part in regular group and individual tutorials.
Your project is the culmination of your research and studio-based design practice. It demonstrates that you can deal with difficult contemporary questions and take a leading role as a design professional.
During the course you regularly take part in constructive critical debates about your own work and that of your peers, communicating your research, ideas and designs in ways that are appropriate to professional leadership.
There are also residential study trips at home and abroad, complemented by visits to design conferences and debates.
You can work alongside our packaging design consultancy, Design Futures, and with researchers from other design areas. We also have contacts with leading design agencies and design organisations and encourage you to work collaboratively with them.
Industrial sponsorship
Sometimes we are able to obtain sponsorship from an industrial company. Usually this is linked to a particular design problem that the company would like to investigate.
We are normally asked to shortlist applicants before recommending a small number to apply. If this happens, we consider your interview, portfolio of work, academic qualifications and learning aims. We aim to pick people whose abilities and aims are relevant for the company and who are most likely to be successful in a competitive interview.
Find out more about MA Design (Graphics)
Related courses
- MA Design (Packaging) (Full-time, Part-time)
- MA Design (Product) (Full-time, Part-time)
- MA Design (Jewellery and Metalwork) (Full-time, Part-time)
- MA Fine Art (Full-time, Part-time)
- MDes Graphic Design (Full-time)
- MA Design (Interior) (Full-time, Part-time)
- MA Design (Fashion) (Full-time, Part-time)
- MA Design (Illustration) (Full-time, Part-time)
Full time – 12 months or 16 months including summer
Part-time – typically two to three years
Starts September
When studying part-time, you follow a similar study pattern to full-time. You share some teaching with full-time students, as well as attending evening seminars.
Complete the application form available at www.shu.ac.uk/study/form.
For information on applying, the interview process and your portfolio, open the application support media box.
2013/14 academic year
Typically £4,590 for the course
Part-time study should be calculated pro rata.
The course fee may be subject to annual inflationary increase. For further information on fees and funding see www.shu.ac.uk/funding
2013/14 academic year
Typically £10,980 for the course
2014/15 academic year
Typically £11,250 for the course
The course fee may be subject to annual inflationary increase. For further information on fees, scholarships and bursaries see www.shu.ac.uk/international/fees
Assessment and feedback are vital parts of the learning process in creative disciplines. Most assessment is through individual project work which combines research and creative practice. Assessment calls for both excellent creative work and well-documented research.
Sheffield Institute of Arts
Sheffield Institute of Arts at Sheffield Hallam University is one of the oldest and most well-established centres of creative learning in Britain. Since 1843, we’ve built an excellent reputation and nurtured generations of students in a culture where anything is possible and with the resources to make it happen. To find out more about the Sheffield Institute of Art and its creative community visit the website.
Sheffield Institute of Arts gallery
The gallery offers and exciting programme of changing exhibitions of the best in art, design and creative practice. Located in the Cantor building, it hosts exhibitions throughout the year.
James Boardwell
Lecturer
I'm new to the department this year having guest lectured during the last academic year. I work part-time, two days a week, across the visual communication area.
My main interests are in design research and interaction design. In particular, I'm interested in how to design services and engage audiences using different on and offline media; how to create a great user experience.
My background is in research, initially researching future services for the BBC and then designing 'interactive' services such as Test the Nation and Backstage. I'm a director and founder of two businesses, Rattle and Folksy. Rattle is a design studio specialising in data driven applications (often visualising and representing data as 'stories') for clients like the BBC, C4 and Umbro. Folksy is the largest UK marketplace for handmade crafts. I've also recently started a start-up for events called GoGoMargo
I completed a PhD in Geography at Bristol University back in 1997 and my applied social science background is still useful when looking critically at audiences and design. I'm really interested in why we behave as we do and how to effect changes in behaviour and how we
design for new and emergent behaviours using strategies like design fictions
Find me at Technogoggles and Twitter (@jamesb).
Pam Bowman
Principal lecturer in typography and joint course leader for graphic design
I graduated from Leeds Metropolitan University in 1995, having studied graphic arts and design alongside Patrick Walker and Alun Cocks who subsequently set up Dust in Sheffield in 2000.
I have been teaching since 1997 on degree courses at six different universities and have seen more than 1,000 students graduate. Many of these make regular return visits to talk to current students.
To have the opportunity to work in education, shape a course and remain a practising typographer is the perfect balance.
I have reviewed conferences for the Eye magazine blog and am currently working on a research project with Matt Edgar about the future of reading and the design writing of Ken Garland.
I am currently principal lecturer in typography and share the course leader role for graphic design with Matt Edgar. I am also a director and typographer at www.du.st
Recent projects have included
• participation in 'A Bunch of Fives' for The Designers Republic.
• presentation page for the Royal Mail Yearbook 2012
• reworking of 'Naming Of Parts' by Henry Reed, as a poster. Selected by Ken Garland for the 10x10 project for team Impression, other contributors included Paula Scher, Domenic Lippa and Si Scott.
Johnny Wood
Module leader
After initially studying graphic design and playing music professionally, I decided to move on from a successful career as a managing director and developed my design skills to encompass motion graphics obtaining a first class degree in multimedia design and digital animation.
After winning awards and industry accreditation for my animation 'Hurry Home', I went on to work for RealtimeUK, responding to the creative multimedia challenges of a variety of high profile corporate clients, including Jaguar, Sony and Rolls Royce. After obtaining my PGCE, I returned to teaching full-time and subsequently joined Sheffield Hallam as a senior lecturer while maintaining my private design practice and musical interests.
Through my career path, I have actively enjoyed the roles of a graphic design student, full-time musician, managing director, multimedia design student, digital artist, freelance designer, teacher and lecturer. Through pursuing creative aspirations, I have been fortunate enough to combine, develop and exercise my passion for creative practice, music, management and education
Research interests/activities
I have enjoyed the programme of multi-disciplinary academic conversations organised at Sheffield Hallam for representatives of three research centres. I have also been a speaker, offering my own ‘provocation’ on emotional design.
Last year I was fortunate to be invited to become involved with Arthouse, funded through Engineering for Life. The research, conceptualised by professor Breda Beban, asks the question as to whether film-making and other types of digital media can offer a voice to younger and older people growing up and growing old in care.
This year I am looking forward to continued involvement in the role of visual communicator within a new research bid that will examine attitudes to dementia and ageing. The bid is for a call from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and National Institute for Health Research. We are hoping to examine the possible use of art and design-based methods to explore perceptions and stereotypes of dementia and in particular retelling the experience of people with dementia, carers and family through motion-based design.
James Corazzo
Senior lecturer
I have been designing and teaching graphic design for the past 12 years and I love what I do.
Having recently joined Sheffield Hallam as a senior lecturer in graphic design, I teach on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules. My particular areas of interest include • book and publication design • typography • creative thinking • professional and personal development • experiential design.
I am also deeply interested in design education – not just what we teach, but how and why – and this forms the spine of my research including recently co-curating the conference Redesigning (Graphic) Design Education.
I run my own consultancy designing books and publications for the cultural sector. I speak regularly at design and education conferences, most recently at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and contribute articles to D&AD and Icograda.
I currently serve on the D&AD North Committee and as a member of the industry advisory board for the Creative and Cultural Skills Council for the UK’s creative and cultural industries. I am an external examiner for the BA(Hons) Graphic Design programme at Werbe Academy, Vienna and a fellow of Higher Education Academy.
Frazer Hudson
Lecturer
I have been a practising illustrator for 20 years and have worked in all sectors of the industry including advertising, publishing and editorial markets.
Some of my past clients include • The Royal National Maritime Museum • Volkswagen • The Association of Illustrators • Mini Cooper • The National Geographic Channel • The Conran Group • The Observer • The Independent • The Guardian • The Mail on Sunday • The Telegraph • The Times • Esquire • Mens Health • GQ • Elle • Harpers & Queen • The Economist • The Lancet Journal.
I bring this external experience into my teaching and enjoy providing students with opportunities to develop their skills at reviewing and developing their critical awareness and talking points around their work. I am particularly interested in the relationship between verbal and pictorial associations and how these relate to idea generation.
I have worked alongside the Association of Illustrators as a pricing advisor, judged some of the leading British illustration competitions and been recognised for my work with a number of key industry awards.
Profiles
James Boardwell
Lecturer
Pam Bowman
Principal lecturer in typography and joint course leader for graphic design
Johnny Wood
Module leader
James Corazzo
Senior lecturer
Frazer Hudson
Lecturer
Print making studio
Our print making studio supports a wide range of print activities including etching, drypoint, cyanotype, lithography and screen printing.
Art and design print making studio 1
Our print making studio supports a wide range of print activities including etching, drypoint, cyanotype, lithography and screen printing.
Application support for design courses
We use your application to decide whether you are likely to succeed on the course. Before we offer you a place, we usually also interview you and view your portfolio of work. This is because the quality of your creative work, your communication skills and your understanding of design are very difficult to assess from qualifications and a short written statement.
Interviews are an important part of the application process and will normally be held in Sheffield, but if you are in another country you may be interviewed by a Sheffield Hallam University staff member if they are visiting your country or we may be able to interview you by telephone or e-mail.
The main things we want to find out from you application are
Design skills
In your portfolio, we expect to see a range of good design skills and presentation appropriate to your background. It is important that applicants have previous education or experience in the design discipline they wish to study on the MA and we will be looking for a professional standard of work.
Technical knowledge
We expect you to demonstrate a good knowledge of the technologies relevant to your design discipline.
Imagination and creativity
We want to see clear evidence that you can think in an imaginative way and develop appropriate, creative responses to the design problems and situations that you have been faced with.
Written communication
We wish to see evidence that you can present ideas and information clearly and intelligently in writing. It would be helpful if you could bring or make available to us one or two examples of written work, such as research reports, essays, dissertations or business reports.
Verbal communication
On the MA you need to present your ideas to tutors, students, professionals and business people as well as taking part in discussions and group work. We want to see that you can express yourself clearly and take an active part in discussion.
Professional practice experience
You have some professional experience in design or a related field, we want to know about that and find out what you have achieved and understood.
Contextual understanding
This is one of the most important issues. We want to find out how well you understand the context of your work. A designer must be able to develop a rich understanding of the circumstances surrounding their work and the factors which affect its success.
Appropriate expectations
We want to know what you expect to achieve on the course and make sure that you understand the challenges inherent in postgraduate study.
Critical position
We want to find out if you are a person who can take an intelligent, independent view of ideas, situations, objects and problems.
MA Project proposal
As part of the application process we require an MA Project proposal. We want to find out what kind of project work you wish to develop whilst on the MA Design programme, you should inform us about the ideas or problems that you would like to work on and the broad context that your projects will be located within. For example - are you interested in developing work carried out whilst on your undergraduate degree or within your professional practice? Are you looking to investigate materials or processes? Is there an important problem you would like to address or are you wanting to find new ways to collaborate with business or industry? These are just a few of the possible directions MA projects might take.
We don't expect you to have a highly developed project plan when you apply but it is essential that you are clear about what you would like to be working on in your research and design work. To this end write a short project proposal (approx 500 words + any relevant images, references etc) that outlines what you would like to investigate during your MA project. You should clearly state what has inspired your chosen topic.
If you are offered a place on the course, we expect you to fully develop this into an extensive MA project proposal during the first semester.
The MA is an opportunity to spend 3 semesters focused on an important personal goal, and we expect you to be clear with us, and with yourself, about what that goal is.
Your portfolio
All applicants are expected to show us a portfolio of creative work which helps us to assess their creative and visual thinking. You normally bring the portfolio to your interview. If you are applying from another country and unable to travel to interview in the UK send us a PDF version of your portfolio or a link to your online folio.
Your portfolio should contain examples of design work and any other creative work which may be relevant to your application. We will be looking for evidence of professional knowledge and skills, good written and visual communication and, especially, good creative thinking evident through examples showing your design process.
All work in the portfolio should have clear descriptive text saying what the images show, what was the project brief/context for the work and what were the main points you aimed to address in the work. You should also indicate when and in what circumstances the work was done for example BA, professional practice etc. Your portfolio may be reviewed in your absence so make sure your text and images tell us the project stories so we can clearly understand it.
We are interested to see examples of the development process that went into your work, as well as the final outcome, we will also be looking at the level of organisation and communication skill which went into preparation of the portfolio.
Project examples
Design in depth
Many students set out to explore a field of activity or knowledge to discover an opportunity for new designs, which have a significant effect on the people who use a product and the success of a company which produces it.
This goes well beyond the usual approach of working to a design brief by putting the designer in the driving seat of innovation. David Allan investigated sports science and the dangers of dehydration to discover and develop ideas which could make a big difference to the health and performance of athletes. Mark Fisher focussed his MA project on improving the lives of a asthma sufferers thorough improved inhaler design and medication delivery. He now works for the University’s User-centred Healthcare Design research centre.
Become an expert
By concentrating on a specific area of human activity or technology, a designer can greatly strengthen their chances of finding the job they want. Tim Fish used the MA to build on his knowledge of designing for outdoor pursuits. He went on to work for Berghaus, one of the top companies in this field and has since left there and established his own highly successful design consultancy.
Leadership
You may be an experienced designer who wants to make the jump into a more strategic leading role in your profession. Simon Cran gained the knowledge he needed to become a design manager in the multinational company Adtranz.
The Digital Design Centre
The Digital Design Centre comprises a suite of 6 IT laboratories (4 PC and 2 MAC) together with the Print Output room, an area for printing medium to large format high quality output on a range of different media. The laboratories have a wide range of software supporting 2D and 3D engineering and creative design applications.
The Digital Design Centre runs a high quality computer printing facility and has the ability to print sizes between A4 and A0 and wide format banners. A3, A2, A1, A0 and Banner photo quality printing is available on a range of papers, as well as AutoCAD type plans ( B & W ) on standard paper.
Technical support team
While you will find excellent facilities throughout, the most valuable resource you will have at your disposal is access to our extremely dedicated, highly experienced technical staff.
All the staff are there to support you during your time in the workshops. The technical team with its professionally qualified staff and practicing professionals, has a wealth of knowledge and expertise across all areas of our provision and comprises engineers, designers, silversmiths and jewellers, fine artists, media arts specialists and IT experts.
The team are committed to using their diverse range of skills and knowledge to support practical aspects of your
course work, whether solving a simple software problem, producing a complex engineering project or creating design work for an international exhibition. There are currently 50 technical staff directly supporting the Technical Resource Centres and the research institutes of the faculty.
Becky Roberts
Graphic design student wins 'best in show' award
A graphic design student from Sheffield Hallam University has scooped a prestigious award for her quirky illustrations of well-known English phrases.
Becky Roberts, who is graduating from the University this year, won the 'Best in Show Award' at the New Blood exhibition - Design and Art Design's (D&AD) annual showcase of new talent.
D&AD represents the global creative, design and advertising communities and celebrates brilliance in commercial creativity.
Becky won the top award with her illustration project, 'Idioms', which explores some of the most unusual phrases in the English language, such as 'keep your chin up' and 'eat your heart out'.
Becky, 23, who is from Sheffield but is planning to move to London, said: "My inspiration for the project came from an interest in informal language and unusual phrases that I had heard family and friends use over the years.
"My illustrations are quite light hearted and I don't like to take myself too seriously so I just had fun playing around to produce my final illustrations.
"Winning the award meant a lot to me because it has given me a lot of confidence in a difficult part of my life where I'm transitioning from studying to work. I hope it will help me with finding freelance work."
Professor Chris Rust, head of art and design at Sheffield Hallam, said: "D&AD awards set the standard for creative excellence in Britain and underpin our country's leadership in design.
"For one of our students to be recognised by D&AD for the best work in their annual New Blood show is a huge vote of confidence in her potential to influence the industry and our cultural life, but also an endorsement of the richness of our Graphic Design programme and the way in which students are encouraged to develop their individual strengths."
The New Blood exhibition is D&AD’s annual showcase of the best graduates from its Education Network. The 2012 exhibition took place in east London on Tuesday 26 and Thursday 28 June.
Around 50 other universities had stands of work at the New Blood exhibition and certificates for outstanding pieces of work were given throughout the show.
Becky's work can be viewed on her website http://www.doodleyboo.co.uk/
Paul Williams
A masters student unveils his award-winning photo montage in the window of Selfridges
A masters student is proving he is dressed for success as he unveils his award winning photo montage in the window of one of Manchester's most prestigious stores. 15 Seconds is being displayed in the window of Selfridges and features a montage of photographs of people in Manchester spelling out the word Hello.
Paul Williams, a fourth year graphic design student at Sheffield Hallam University, won a competition to create a piece of art to grace the six metre by four metre window on Corporation Street, central Manchester. The title 15 Seconds is based on Andy Warhol's famous comment about the nature of fame. The montage features a range of ordinary people, from Big Issue sellers to business people.
Paul, 22, said 'Warhol’s quote addressed what he saw as the increasingly temporary nature of fame and my work focuses on the same concept but updates it to highlight that he could never have foreseen just how quickly the media limelight would fade on celebrities in the 21st century. The already rapidly expanding world of digital technology will continue to make the world smaller and smaller.'
Jane Sharrocks, general manager of Selfridges Exchange Square, said 'Paul’s interpretation of the brief was amazing and he has created a stunning piece of design. Our focus was on Bright Young Things who have a talent in fashion and design.'
Claire Lockwood, course leader in graphic design, said: 'We instil students with the confidence and creativity to tackle big projects and ideas, and this excellent shop front is a wonderful example of
Profiles
Becky Roberts
Graphic design student wins 'best in show' award
Paul Williams
A masters student unveils his award-winning photo montage in the window of Selfridges
