This content is only partially available in English.

COMMUNICATION DESIGN M.A.

The aim of this master's degree program is to train particularly talented graduates from bachelor's and master's programs in the field of cross-media design practice and research, to deepen their qualifications and to provide them with a creative environment for design experiments.

The basic parameters have changed - the media where communication design can be found today are in a state of flux. The role of the observer has also changed: to become an active participant in design processes. But the tasks and self-image of the designers have also changed as a result. They are seen less and less in a traditional role in which the given design is merely translated. Rather, as visual authors, they take on responsibility for the content and reflect social, technical and cultural contexts in their designs.

In the Communication Design master's degree program, you will deepen your creative knowledge in interdisciplinary design projects and acquire analytical and conceptual skills in accompanying courses. You will rethink the content and methods of design work in an intensive studio atmosphere with your own workspaces, which encourages a constant dialog with lecturers and other students. In addition, you can directly implement design experiments and printmaking techniques in the workshops for photography, screen printing and bookbinding, as well as in the interactive workshop and computer pools.

Your professional prospects

Graduates of the master's degree program will work primarily in positions where a high degree of professional and personal competence is required. In addition to a self-employed entrepreneurial activity, possible professional fields are those of Art Director or Creative Director. As a communications designer you work in education and research, in agencies, publishing houses, design offices, cultural institutions and design departments in industry and media. Working as a design writer in the publishing sector is another possible career perspective. The Master of Arts degree is also a prerequisite for doctoral studies and enables you to pursue a career in higher-level civil service.

Studying and family

Our University has been awarded the certificate "Family-friendly university". Mainz University of Applied Sciences guarantees all students childcare facilities for children starting at the age of six months. For further information please contact the University's Equal Opportunities Representative.

At a glance

Degree: Master of Arts (M.A.)
Standard period of study: 3 semesters
Starting semester: winter semester
Aptitude test: yes
Read more

Application deadlines

Aptitude test (portfolio check)

for winter semester: May 15th to June 15th

Online application

for winter semester 2024/25: estimated as of now from mid-May  to July 15th 2024

What's in Store for You

The master's degree program is designed as a full-time program and is divided into five modules. In the first two semesters you will take courses and workshops from modules  1.1 to 1.4, while the third semester is reserved for your master's thesis (module 2.1).
The heart of the course is the Intermedia Project, in which a complex topic is developed across all media. This comprehensive design task trains not only design skills but also organisational skills.  
The intermedia project is accompanied by several workshops – practical, technical or design-related – to deepen the topic.  
In the research and analysis modules, academic work is taught and the individual thesis is accompanied from topic identification to implementation.  
This module deepens the competences for approaching complex design questions and strategies as well as methods of design research.  
This module imparts basic competences for a scientific approach to complex design issues and trains the ability to reflect analytically and theoretically.  
The last module focuses entirely on the preparation of the Master’s thesis. It combines design and theoretical research, requires artistic-conceptual and scientific-reflective skills.  

Course catalog and schedule — Summersemester 2023 (only available in German)

Read more

Program Structure

Semester 1SEMESTER 2SEMESTER 3
Intermedia project AIntermedia project BMaster-Thesis
Workshop AWorkshop BMaster documentation and colloquiums
ResearchAnalysis
Subject specialistation ASubject specialistation B
Theory MA ATheory MA B

Shhowcase

Our Showcase presents student projects, news, and additional information about our programme. Sign up to our newsletter to stay up to date.
View Website

Gutenberg Design Lab

The institute views itself as an interface between research and teaching in communication design. Free and applied research and third-party funded projects are institutionally anchored through the Institute of Design Laboratory Gutenberg (only available in German).
Read more

Archive (ONLY AVAILABLE IN GERMAN)

We can look back on a long and varied history of communication design. The project Timeline depicts these.
Read more

Online shop

Mainz University of Applied Sciences is one of the first design schools in Germany with an online shop for publications and design objects. There you can view and order selected publications of the Communication Design degree program online.
Read more

Who to contact

Prof. Dr. Ilka Becker
Head of Programme, Communication Design

Assistance

Marie-Theres Birk
Research assistant | Room H3.06
Micaela Zellhofer
Research assistant | Room H3.06
Marcel-Christopher Backscheider
Research assistant | Room H3.06

Office hours

 

Secretary

Room H3.02
kd (at) hs-mainz.de

Wed. + Thurs. 09am – 12pm
 

Address

Mainz University of Applied Sciences
School of Design
Holzstraße 36
55116 Mainz