MA User Experience Design

The course team welcomes applications from open and inquiring minds of all kinds. Applicants interested in deepening their practice to include user research and in pursuing further study as a way of developing a valuable professional qualification. Students open to learning in a new collaborative and critical way, eager to ground their work in real-world research and be willing to take creative risks and make mistakes along the way.

Applicants will have a portfolio of digital design work that demonstrates awareness of the creative and critical aspects of UX design and may also be returning from adjacent careers in the design industry such as graphic design, information design or interaction design.

The course attracts applicants from a broad range of backgrounds, from all over the world, from an Honours degree course in a subject such as:

• Graphic Design
• Interaction Design
• Interactive Media Design
• Web Design
• Communication Design
• Computer Science
• Digital Design
• Product Design
• Anthropology
• Sociology
• Or those with other, equivalent qualifications.

The course team also welcomes students with relevant experience or those who may have previously worked in the industry, or non-traditional backgrounds, as well as those already within employment. The course has been designed to accommodate flexibility in educational engagement. Your experience is assessed as a learning process and tutors will evaluate that experience for currency, validity, quality and sufficiency.

The 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.

APEL (Accreditation of Prior Experiential 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 (International/EU)

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), with 6.0 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.

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.
• 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 and be able to engage in 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.
• The portfolio should be conceptual and research-based, you must show your thinking and making process and a curious nature to explore, test and experiment.
• A willingness to work in the physical realm with networked digital systems and in areas of design research and practice that challenges preconceptions.
• A willingness to work with networked digital systems and an awareness of how they shape the varied contexts of human behaviour.
• Also to show a willingness to work as a team player, good language skills in reading, writing and speaking, the ability to work independently and be self-motivated.

Communicating with you

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 add @arts.ac.uk to your contacts to ensure that you do not miss any important updates re: your application to UAL.

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.

What happens next

Portfolio and interview advice

You will be expected to submit both an electronic portfolio of work and a 2-minute video as part of your application.

Part 1: portfolio of work (maximum 19 'images' files)

• The portfolio of work should evidence your aptitude, skill and engagement in the field of user experience design or an adjacent practice.
• Please submit an edited selection of work from up to 5 projects (maximum 19 images) accompanied by a short caption for each project acknowledging the motivation, development, realisation and impact (one/two sentences maximum).
• Indicate your role and contribution to any collaborative projects included. We welcome developmental work, sketches, tests, process-led experimentation in the portfolio.
• For those applying from non-design backgrounds, research-based around a relevant topic should be demonstrated. Please provide as much context as possible to explain your research, articulate the outcomes and impact.
• 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. In all instances, enthusiasm for the course is paramount.

Part 2: video (2 minutes in length, uploaded as 1 'image' file)

We’d like you to submit a 2-minute video to help us understand a bit more about you. Within your video tell us about a piece of work in your portfolio, the one you think is the best. Why did you do it? How did you do it?

Refer to the following guidance when recording your video:

• Your video must be a maximum length of 2 minutes in real time. It should have a maximum file size of 512MB and be recorded in landscape orientation
• Please use whichever method of filming is easiest for you e.g. mobile phone, laptop or digital video camera
• You must be visibly in frame, speak clearly in English, and look towards the camera
• You should record the clip alone and ensure that the audio is clear
• Upload your video to PebblePad as one of the 'image' files in the same upload as your portfolio of work
• Read further advice about PebblePad uploads and file guidance

In total, you must submit no more than 19 portfolio of work ‘images’ plus 1 video ‘image file’ (a total of 20 ‘image’ files) for this part of your application.

If you have declared a learning difference or disability in your application, or you have limited access to recording equipment, you may submit an audio or written file instead. Please use 'Contact Us' to ask the LCC Admissions team for advice on alternative formats if this task isn't accessible to you.

Applicants are usually interviewed by the course team before a place can be offered. Interviews will be held online, and details will be sent via the UAL Portal.

Graduates of the course could go on to work in commercial agencies such as RG/A and start-ups such as Kano or Onfido. They will also be in demand in public organisations such as GDS, and the non-profit sector such as the Museum of London or Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).

Career options include:

• User Researcher.
• Interaction Designer.
• Experience Designer.
• Digital Director.
• Interface Designer.