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This course has places available for 2020/21 entry.
If you're thinking about applying, or you've applied for a postgraduate course starting in 2020/21, see guidance for prospective students during the Coronavirus outbreak.
This is a dynamic, practice-led course that will prepare you with the critical and conceptual skills for working as an interdisciplinary designer in a world of emergent technologies in a shifting cultural and professional landscape.
The next Open Evening for this course will be announced shortly
Twitter: @intdescom
Lecture series: Something or other
Mich talks to us about her immersive final year project.
As part of their Collaborative Unit, students on the MA Interaction Design Communication course produced 10 new works for ‘The Eyes Have It’ event at one of the world’s leading museums of art and design.
Explore projects from graduating students from London College of Communication's MA Interaction Design Communication course, exhibiting as part of LCC Postgraduate Shows 2019.
MA Interaction Design Communication graduate, Michael Sedbon has won €25,000 for his project with Bio Art & Design Award 2019.
London College of Communication design students collaborated with curatorial collective Haunted Machines and the Design Museum for an event exploring the ‘Histories and Myths of the 21st Century Home’
Learn to work with a range of tools and technologies from traditional woodworking to digital fabrication.
The Digital Space is an open-plan, creative hub with computers set up with specialist software.
A multi-purpose space that supports students with: Creative Coding, Physical Computing, Projection Mapping, Games, and Virtual Reality.
MA Interaction Design Communication provides an opportunity for experimental practice in an area of design that increasingly explores the intersection of digital and networked technologies with the world.
This course immerses you in critical, speculative, and experimental practice to engage and provoke audiences with contemporary issues around topics such as new technologies, ecological concerns, politics - and how these all impact social world.
You will develop your skills and thinking through new combinations of research and practice to develop responsive, evocative, and complex design projects.
We define interaction design as the practice of making objects, spaces, and experiences that instigate new relations with humans, environments, and the systems that revolve around them – and through this, finding new ways to provoke imagination, discussion, and critique.
Through the course, you will develop practical skills in interaction design, design prototyping and physical computing, alongside research skills in human and post-human centred design, forecasting/futures, and critical and speculative design, combining these methodologies and ideas into new and unique forms of practice.
The course's integrated approach to critical thinking provides you with the opportunity to work with critical ideas in an applied design context (such as the impact of artificial intelligence technologies on human relationships), ensuring that designers take on both macro and micro opportunities for innovation, speculation and creativity crucial to building a portfolio of highly engaged work.
As well as placing you in a position to work across the broad spectrum of interaction and design, the course is interested in practice-based research, using the work of design as a way of questioning the world around us. This means that the course also prepares you for progression to further design research at MPhil/PhD level as well as to advanced self-directed experimental practice in fields of arts and design.
LCC has an outstanding team of practitioners and published researchers and enjoys a rich programme of visiting speakers. The course also benefits from cross-European collaboration with design industry professionals and higher education institutions.
This course is taught within the Design School.
MA Interaction Design Communication 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.
Each course is divided into units, which are credit-rated. The minimum unit size is 20 credits. The MA course structure involves six units, totalling 180 credits.
Term 1 of the course introduces you to the technologies and concepts that are core to the practice and theory of interaction design.
Following an induction programme that sets the scene for the course, you will see how contemporary interaction and design practice uses a range of technologies and concepts, and you will experience the interrelationship between theory and practice.
This phase allows you to acquire the important foundations of knowledge in design and interaction. These are critical for the development of subsequent stages of the course.
You will be introduced to key design prototyping and technical skills in this phase that will be essential for your practice throughout the rest of the course.
Term 2 offers you the opportunity to engage further with your critical practice to produce speculative and critical design projects.
In the previous year, students have been given the choice to either explore the deeper relationships between humans and machines, or engage with communities to research their ideas through ethnographical research and radical design.
Term 3 offers you the opportunity to use both the critical and technical skills gained in Term One to produce speculative and critical design projects.
You will be introduced to the applied skills needed to work with physical computing, sensors and data environments. During this unit you will also develop a project proposal for your final major project and thesis in Term Four.
You will undertake a final major research project which relates to the expanded field of design and interaction. This will involve a self-directed major practical project and the completion of a related thesis, which demonstrates your critical reflection, analysis and original research.
With access to broad theoretical models spanning the discipline, you will apply these models to your own specialist area of interest to produce a critically aware major project that after assessment will usually be presented at your postgraduate show.
Examples of Final Major Projects
If you are unable to continue or decide to exit the course, there are two possible exit awards. A Postgraduate Certificate will be awarded on successful completion of the first 60 credits and a Postgraduate Diploma will be awarded on successful completion of the first 120 credits.
Course Leader, MA Interaction Design Communication
Programme Director, Interaction Design and Visual Communication
Reader in Systems and Deviance; Co-founder and Lead, Supra Systems Studio
Course Leader, BA (Hons) Graphic and Media Design
We are committed to making university education an achievable option for a wider range of people and to supporting all of our students in achieving their potential both during and after their courses.
We welcome applications from people with disabilities. If you have a disability (e.g. mobility difficulties, sensory impairments, medical or mental health conditions or Asperger’s syndrome) we strongly encourage you to contact us on disability@arts.ac.uk or +44 (0)20 7514 6156 so that we can plan the right support for you. All enquiries are treated confidentially. To find out more, visit our Disability & Dyslexia webpages.
MA Interaction Design Communication has a particular aim to appeal to communication designers who are interested in exploring these new and emerging areas of design practice.
The course seeks students who have a critical understand of how technologies and digital culture are affecting design practices, and who are keen to work with network digital systems and in areas of design research and practice that challenge preconceptions.
Although not an entry requirement, you should be comfortable with some basic coding (some i.e. HTML CSS) in order to communicate ideas with colleagues, although strong creative experience in this area is an advantage. We will introduce you to various coding languages and design prototyping platforms during the course, but expect that individuals will develop their skills base within specific project work.
The course team welcomes applicants from a broad range of backgrounds, from all over the world. MA Interaction Design Communication attracts students who apply direct from an Honours degree course in a field relevant to graphic design, 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:
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:
Each application will be considered on its own merit but we cannot guarantee an offer in each case.
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.
For further details regarding international admissions and advice please visit the International Applications page.
Offers will be made based on the following selection criteria, which applicants are expected to demonstrate:
This course has places available for 2020/21 entry. Applications for 2021/22 entry will open in Autumn 2020.
All applications will be considered by the course team who will consider key elements when making a decision on your suitability to join the course:
This course allows offer holders to defer. If you have an offer of a place, but you would like to defer starting for a year, please contact our Admissions Service as soon as possible via your UAL Portal. Make sure you check our Admissions Policy before requesting a deferral.
If you are an EU offer holder, it is important to consider that, from 2021-22, you may be charged International fees, which are higher. Read our Coronavirus guidance for prospective students for details.
Before you apply, please take time to read the guidance below. You will be asked to provide the following items and upload documents when completing the online application form:
The online application can be saved as you fill it out, so you don’t need to complete it all at once. You will also have the chance to review all the information and make any necessary amendments before you press submit.
We recommend you apply by 28 February 2020 for equal consideration. However this course will consider applications after that date, subject to places being available.
If you are currently studying at another institution and have successfully completed 60 credits in the equivalent units/modules on your current PG course and wish to continue your studies at London College of Communication, you can apply to transfer.
The Admissions Tutor will consider applications on a case by case basis, subject to places being available. You must apply directly to the course via the course webpage as early as possible.
Further information about the external student transfer policy can be found on the Office for Students Information page.
Please provide a CV detailing your education, qualifications and any relevant work or voluntary experience. If English is not your first language it is important that you also include in your CV details of your most recent English language test score.
In the application, you will be asked to complete a personal statement (500-800 words) describing why you want to study on MA Interaction design Communication. Candidates will be expected to demonstrate critical knowledge of and enthusiasm for interaction design, and a well-articulated rationale for joining the course.
The personal statement is a very important part of your application and should demonstrate to the course team that you are interested in the subject and that you have thought very carefully about why you wish to study on the course.
Ensure that your personal statement it is well written, clear and free of any spelling mistakes. It is your chance to impress the course team by showing a strong interest in the subject, demonstrating what you feel you would bring to the course, your appreciation of what the course can offer you and how you feel it might help you in the future.
This can be demonstrated through work experience, previous studies and your personal experience.
Applicants must submit a study proposal (400-800 words) outlining the intentions of their MA research. Please include a description of the area of interest, field of study and the particular focus of the intended project, and an overview of how you intend to go about producing the project and the methodology.
This course has places available for 2020/21 entry. Applications for 2021/22 entry will open in Autumn 2020.
This section includes all the information you need on how to apply and how your application is considered, and what happens next.
There are two ways international students can apply to a postgraduate course at LCC:
For further advice on how to apply please visit the UAL International Application page.
All applications will be considered by the course team who will consider key elements when making a decision on your suitability to join the course:
This course allows offer holders to defer. If you have an offer of a place, but you would like to defer starting for a year, please contact our Admissions Service as soon as possible via your UAL Portal. Make sure you check our Admissions Policy before requesting a deferral.
Before you apply, please take time to read the guidance below. You will be asked to provide the following items and upload documents when completing the online application form:
Please note: we will ask you for copies of certain documents (for example, English language qualification/certificate and copies of any previous UK study visas).
The online application can be saved as you fill it out, so you don’t need to complete it all at once. You will also have the chance to review all the information and make any necessary amendments before you press submit.
Alternatively, international applicants can apply through an overseas representative in your country.
We recommend you apply by 28 February 2020 for equal consideration. However this course will consider applications after that date, subject to places being available.
If you have successfully completed 60 credits in the equivalent units/modules on y
If you are currently studying at another institution and have successfully completed 60 credits in the equivalent units/modules on your current PG course and wish to continue your studies at London College of Communication, you can apply to transfer.
The Admissions Tutor will consider applications on a case by case basis, subject to places being available. You must apply directly to the course via the course webpage as early as possible.
Further information about the external student transfer policy can be found on the Office for Students Information page.
Whether you are applying through a UAL representative or direct application you will need to complete an Immigration History check. If you do not complete the Immigration History Check we will not be able to proceed with your application.
Please provide a CV detailing your education, qualifications and any relevant work or voluntary experience. If English is not your first language it is important that you also include in your CV details of your most recent English language test score.
In the application, you will be asked to complete a personal statement (500-800 words) describing why you want to study on MA Interaction design Communication. Candidates will be expected to demonstrate critical knowledge of and enthusiasm for interaction design, and a well-articulated rationale for joining the course.
The personal statement is a very important part of your application and should demonstrate to the course team that you are interested in the subject and that you have thought very carefully about why you wish to study on the course.
Ensure that your personal statement it is well written, clear and free of any spelling mistakes. It is your chance to impress the course team by showing a strong interest in the subject, demonstrating what you feel you would bring to the course, your appreciation of what the course can offer you and how you feel it might help you in the future.
This can be demonstrated through work experience, previous studies and your personal experience.
Applicants must submit a study proposal (400-800 words) outlining the intentions of their MA research. Please include a description of the area of interest, field of study and the particular focus of the intended project, and an overview of how you intend to go about producing the project and the methodology.
After you have successfully submitted your application online, you will receive an email confirming your application and providing your login details for the UAL Applicant Portal. Please log into the portal, as this is where we will send you important updates and requests, and you can contact us with any questions you may have about your application.
Applicants should present a portfolio (maximum 20 images) that evidences their knowledge, understanding, skills and engagement with the field of interaction design and/or adjacent fields. The portfolio should demonstrate intellectual curiosity and open mindedness and a strong commitment to the subject as well as to sustained study at postgraduate level.
We are interested in the developmental narratives of projects and the 'thinking through making' and recommend that this is evidenced in the portfolio.
If you have links to web projects or other media, please note these in your CV.
Applicants are usually interviewed by the course team before a place can be offered. Interviews will take place at LCC, or via Skype/telephone.
You will receive the outcome of your application through the UAL Applicant Portal.
£11,220 (2020/21).
Course fees may be paid in instalments
£22,920 (2020/21).
Course fees may be paid in instalments
The course runs a trip each year to exhibit the work of our students at international art and design festivals in Europe, usually in September (subject to travel restrictions).
This is not compulsory but is strongly recommended as a way to enhance your learning, apply your knowledge to a different environment, and develop real-world skills in public exhibition contexts.
The cost is not yet confirmed but is likely to be around £900 per person and will be payable in February. Prices and details will be confirmed early in term 2 at which time students will be required to commit to the trip and pay, if they intend to travel.
In addition to tuition fees you are very likely to incur additional costs such as travel expenses and the cost of materials. We strongly suggest you read the information on our Additional Costs page.
Find out about the accommodation options available and how much they will cost.
UAL alumni can receive a 20% tuition fee discount on a taught Masters course at UAL. Visit the progression discount page to find out more.
A range of scholarships, bursaries and awards are available to postgraduate students at UAL.
Postgraduate loans of up to £10,000 are now available for eligible UK and EU students. A full list of eligibility criteria and information on applying can be found on the postgraduate loans webpage.
Graduates of the course are equipped to work in an increasingly technologically informed and interdisciplinary design world with real skills in areas such as: interaction design, user experience, design prototyping, physical computing, open source digital platforms, futurecasting, design research, experience design, communication design, value engineering, thought leadership and digital arts.
Roles and destinations of recent graduates include:
Some international students choose to remain in the UK to gain valuable industry experience whilst others return to their home countries to pursue successful careers.
A significant proportion of our graduates start their own companies and in some instances further develop their course Final Major Projects and take them to market.