Communication Design | Application Guidance

Communication Design MA Application Process 2020/21

How do I make an application?

Your application to study for an undergraduate degree at Northumbria University is in two parts: • Online Application • Digital Portfolio & Portfolio Statement (Note - Digital portfolio is 15 pages and the Statement is 300 words)

When you apply, you will receive an email from Northumbria University confirming receipt of your application. If you are made an initial offer, you will be given instructions on uploading your Digital Portfolio.

Read the instructions carefully because they will give you important information on deadlines, maximum file sizes, upload instructions etc.

The following slides will give you guidance on compiling your Digital Portfolio & Portfolio Statement. It also includes course specific details on uploading your files, what to include in the Digital Portfolio & Portfolio Statement etc.

Application Process | MA Communication Design 2020/21

How do I make an application?

The key milestones in the application process are as follows: 1 - Apply through the online application form 2 - Receive an initial offer

• Conditional Offer • Unconditional Offer • Alternative course offer

3 - On receiving an initial offer, you will be given instructions on uploading your Digital Portfolio & Portfolio Statement 4 - Northumbria University specialist staff assess your application, Digital Portfolio and Portfolio Statement 5 - The outcome will be communicated through our admissions team and will be one of the following:

Application Process | MA Communication Design 2020/21

OPEN DAYS • Sat 28th September • Wed 27th November • Wed 12th February • Sat 21st March

Application Submission

Northumbria University specialist staff assess your UCAS application, Digital Portfolio & Portfolio Statement.

The outcome will be communicated through UCAS.

Your Application Journey

You receive an Email from us with an INITIAL OFFER and guidelines on what to include in the Digital Portfolio & Portfolio Statement + deadline and instructions on uploading.

What is the application Journey?

Email on receipt of application with INITIAL OFFER

Digital Portfolio & Portfolio Statement upload

Unconditional Offer Confirmation

Conditional Offer Confirmation

Alternative Course Offer Confirmation

EXPERIENCE DAYS • Sat 25th January • Sat 8th February • Sat 22nd February • Wed 11th March (PM) These events give you a great opportunity to work with specialist staff, in specialist studios and confirm your choice of course

Exam Results

Achieve Grades

CHOSEN COURSE

Don’t Achieve Grades ALTERNATIVE COURSE

Application Process | MA Communication Design 2020/21

What should be in my Digital Portfolio?

A digital portfolio should also be submitted in support Only complete applications together with personal of your application. statement, visual evidence and two referees can be considered. We examine portfolios, and may then Your portfolio needs to have between 5-8 projects invite you to have an informal chat if we have further (with at least 2-4 images representing each project). questions. The decision to offer a place will be based Please include developmental sketches and prototypes on your completed application form, portfolio, the as well as images showing the final produced piece. supporting statement and references.

Each project should be accompanied by short descriptions of the work (around 200 words), paying particular attention to the following questions: 1. What was the aim of the work?

2. Who was it for?

3. How have you responded to the brief? Please describe your design process.

4. What did you learn through the project?

Application Process | MA Communication Design 2020/21

What should be in my Digital Portfolio? (cont) Your Digital Portfolio should consist of 15 pages, showing the following: Page 2 (About You) - Introduce yourself by providing a short biography (300 words) of who you are, what you have done and why you are looking to pursue this specific programme. Consider this question ‘what are you looking to change in your practice?’

This can be a summary of the Personal Statement that you will provide in your Application form.

Page 3 to 13 (About Your Practice) — Show examples of your previous work from their starting points, as concepts and ideas, through their development to your final pieces. It is important that these pages demonstrate both your ability to generate and develop concepts, alongside practical skills and how you explore and use different media and materials.

As a guide, you could include 4-6 pieces of work in this section. For each project you need to show initial concepts, development work and final pieces, which could be shown as photographs of your sketchbooks, preparatory sketches and final pieces. These can be evidenced in a variety of ways which could include drawing/painting (analytical/ abstract), 2D/3D work, photography/CAD etc.

Note - You can arrange the images in whichever way you feel tells the story of a project in the most effective way. You could have one image on a slide, or several small images could be grouped together in one slide.

Application Process | MA Communication Design 2020/21

What should be in my Digital Portfolio? (cont) Your Digital Portfolio should consist of 15 pages, showing the following: Pages 14 to 15 (Other works) — If you have shown graphic design, illustration or interaction design work in the previous pages, we encourage you to showcase work that might not be traditionally considered communication design. This would illustrate personal work that you might have done outside of university or work.

We want students who are excited by the subject they choose and are engaged in the world around them. We want to see some independently generated work, i.e. self directed work which you have produced outside your practice or previous university work that demonstrates your own personal interests.

These pages should be made up of your own work, we don’t want to see lots of secondary source material.

Conversely, if your current practice is not entirely located in communication design, we encourage you to show work in this section that have links to communication design to help us understand how and why you want to explore this new area of study for you.

Application Process | MA Communication Design 2020/21

What format should my Digital Portfolio be in?

The Digital Portfolio should be submitted as an A4, 15 page Adobe Acrobat PDF. The maximum file size for this PDF is 15 Megabytes (MB).

Application Process | MA Communication Design 2020/21

How do I upload my Digital Portfolio?

The email containing your Initial Offer will also have a link to the Digital Portfolio upload area. Follow the instructions to upload the Portfolio.

Application Process | MA Communication Design 2020/21

MA Communication Design — Portfolio Examples The following pages give some Portfolio Examples.

Application Process | MA Communication Design 2020/21

Example 1 | James Seabright - Jerusalem Divided: New Voices from the Old City This project is a response to the ISTD 2019 Brief ‘Multipolar Typography’ This newspaper publication focuses specifically on the city of Jerusalem, the epicentre of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, exploring statements from the three religions that all claim ownership to the city. The aim of the publication is to develop a typographic dialogue between the three major religious voices within the city, creating a sense of unity and balance that also allows the reader to distinguish and understand differences. Through the use of the typeface Rotis, designed by Otl Aicher, the four dividing corners of the Old City are established and united under the same typographic family and differentiated through classification and colour. The use of this type family

is important in creating a sense of unity between polar opposites but also in recognizing the differences between the three sides of the debate. Jerusalem Divided began as a reaction to the United States’ recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December 2017, using this event as a trigger for the narrative, aiming to prove that the routine of contemporary side-taking is outdated and often best avoided. The conversation also incorporates voices of mediation from authoritative outsiders, ending with a concluding statement from the late Kofi Annan, who acts as a voice of reason within the newspaper.

This work received a merit grade and earned ISTD (International Society of Typographic Designers) membership.

Example 2 | Zoe Dodds - Bestiary, Buffy the Vampire Slyer I created a 416 page hard-back bound bestiary book, based on the tv show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was created as a limited edition book, so I used black cotton fabric to create a soft texture for the cover and screen-printed the title onto it. The illustrations are my own pencil illustrations so I could create varying tones, and the black section pages are also screen-printed to create a definite end to each section. The title “SLAYIN’” I chose to pay homage to The Slayer and to also use modern day slang that females use, i.e slaying that outfit. I used the typeface Caslon throughout the book in Regular, Semibold and Bold.

The main deep red colour (C=28 M=97 Y=80 K=28) is taken from the iconic red leather trousers and jacket that Buffy wore throughout the show. I have also used a similar red

for the ribbon along with a black one to complement one another and the colour scheme of the book.

In total the finished book has 13 signatures bound by coptic binding and cross stitching through every other signature to keep it together. There are 12 sections separating out the characters from the show, from main characters like Buffy and Dawn Summers, to episode villains like The Gentlemen. Each section is arranged in alphabetical order and has an alphabetised list at the start of the section, along with a full page corresponding image to the title, i.e. Demons have fire, Vampires have blood. The book is curved at the spine and at the end includes an Index of every character from the show and a colophon.