Summer Study Abroad: Graphic Communication Design

Why choose Graphic Communication Design?

During this intensive three-week course you will:

• experience a taster of five Practices that make up the expanded field of Graphic Communication Design and the philosophy of Central Saint Martins
• learn from tutors who are practicing artists, designers and communicators; benefit from access to specialist facilities at one of UAL’s six Colleges.
• meet like-minded individuals from around the world!
• get involved in UAL life through social events and activities.
• All courses are assessed and you'll receive a record of study at the end of the programme if you wish to request credit from your home institution.

Entry requirements

English requirements

You should be proficient in written and spoken English and be able to participate in group discussions and make presentations. As a guideline we would expect you to have an English language level equivalent to IELTS score of 6.0 (list of language equivalencies). The Language Centre at University of the Arts London offers English courses for overseas students who wish to improve their English language skills.

Academic requirements

Students applying for this course are expected to be independent and highly motivated, preferably having completed one year at university (undergraduate-level study).

Course details

At Central Saint Martins we understand Graphic Communication Design as an expanded practice. This means we are interested in thinking about design from a broad range of perspectives that challenge conventional understandings of the discipline. During this intensive three-week course you will experience five practices undertaken by the expanded designer of the 21st century:

• Designer as Producer
• Designer as Activist
• Designer as Researcher
• Designer as Artist
• Designer as Enabler

These practices will introduce you to a range of ways of thinking and working across the field of contemporary design. For each Practice, you will be given a different project brief to challenge your understanding of the role. These short projects will stimulate your thinking and enable you to become more confident of your own areas of interest and specialism. While embarking on these projects there will be opportunities to explore the city, thus enabling you to experience what London has to offer as a world-renowned cultural destination. The final week of the course will provide a more open-ended studio environment to enable you to bring more of your own personal position and agenda to the fore. During this final week you will choose one of the five Practices briefs to develop further into your own personal project.

Tutor information

Yvan Martinez has over 15 years experience as a designer and educator. Since 2001 he has been working across the education/practice divide, leading workshops and research projects at schools internationally including ArtCenter, ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, Bath School of Art & Design, Fabrica, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, San Francisco Art Institute, Sheffield Institute of Arts, UCLA DMA Summer Institute, Valand Academy and Vilnius Academy of Arts, while working with clients including Arkitip, Edwin, Emigre, The Face, Giorgio Camuffo, GLBT Historical Society, MTV, Nike, The Face, Urban Outfitters and Wieden + Kennedy. Martinez's work has been exhibited widely and is part of the permanent collections of Denver Art Museum, MoMA and SFMOMA. Martinez is Course Leader of BA Graphic Design Semester Programme at Central Saint Martins. He is also a co-founder, editor and art director of Booksfromthefuture – an artistic research platform that produces and publishes self-initiated research on contemporary culture, experimental communication and graphic design.

www.booksfromthefuture.info

Joshua Trees is a designer, researcher and educator based in London. At the Royal Collage of Art, Josh runs New Genres, a research unit for experimental communication, culture and technology. His research is focused on expanded models of design education and practice. Recent projects include: Active Agency, speculative lectures about agency; Public Foundry, an AI-powered type tool; and Common Market, a publishing fair celebrating the free movement of ideas.

Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees are recipients of a Google Artists and Machine Intelligence Research Award 2020. They were also Typographers-in-Residence at the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography (HMCT) in 2020.

Dates and fees

Course Dates

Date: Dates to be scheduled for 2022. Register for updates.

Cost: To be confirmed

Day: Monday - Friday

Time: 10am - 4pm

Duration: 3 Weeks

Location: Granary Sq. - N1C

Materials

Please bring with you to the first session: 

• A laptop with Adobe Software (if you are able)
• A digital camera or phone with a camera
• A black marker pen
• Pens and pencils (including coloured pencils or pens)
• Scissors, a small ruler, eraser

Items can also be purchased from the college shop.

Summer Study Abroad Scholarship

We offer a Summer Study Abroad Scholarship for all of our 3 week Summer Study Abroad courses.

Find out how to apply

To be eligible, you must be 18 years or older, hold an offer to join one of our 3 week Summer Study Abroad courses, and be enrolled on an undergraduate degree programme outside the UK.

• The scholarships cover the tuition-fee only and depend on you successfully enrolling for the course. Our cancellation policy still applies.
• Scholarship winners will be asked to take part in promotional activities to promote Summer Study Abroad and the scholarship scheme.

Course handbook

Summer Study Abroad - Graphic Communication Design (PDF 236KB) course handbook.