Postgraduate Studentships - Search for funding opportunities.
Postgraduate Studentships - Search for funding opportunities.
Study Details: 1 year / 45 week programme
Full-time study
The Visual Communication programme at the Royal College of Art supports designers to develop thoughtful, collaborative and socially engaged practices. We welcome those who are restless with the status quo, who embrace complexity, question dominant narratives, and see design as a space for reimagining how we live, communicate and relate to one another.
Our commitment to dialogic and participatory practice is long-standing. We understand communication not as transmission, but as conversation: situated, embodied, and grounded in listening. Visual communication here is not simply the production of artefacts, but a way of making sense of the world, making meaning with others, and making space for voices too often unheard.
In a world shaped by instability and injustice, we are rethinking the role of graphic design and illustration. These practices have often served the needs of persuasion, control and surface. Here, they become tools for inquiry, resistance and care. Our research-led and interdisciplinary approaches invite students to engage deeply with communities, with context, and with the politics of visual culture. We encourage design that does not smooth over complexity, but stays with it – designing with, not for.
Our students come to Visual Communication from disciplines including graphic design and illustration but develop the tools to allow communication and connections across disciplinary boundaries. This interdisciplinary environment draws from diverse geographies, rich cultural contexts and multiple fields of study.
Candidates are selected entirely on merit and applications are welcomed from all over the world. The selection process considers creativity, imagination and innovation as demonstrated in your portfolio, as well as your potential to benefit from the programme and to achieve high MA standards overall.
You will normally have completed a first-degree undergraduate qualification in a related subject or be able to evidence equivalent professional experience in related fields.
All candidates are required to submit an online portfolio of work to be assessed by the programme’s senior staff team. Candidates should create an online portfolio that best reflects their abilities, experience and interests. The portfolio must follow College guidelines for uploading work such as using the College application site and giving a brief description for each piece of work.
Encounters (45 credits)
AcrossRCA (30 credits)
Making Worlds with Others (15 credits)
Affinities (30 credits)
Independent Research Project (60 credits)
Ranked for twelve consecutive years as the world’s number 1 art & design university*, the Royal College of Art’s postgraduate programmes enable yo...
Thu 18 Jun 2026