Master of Arts in Digital Communication Environments

The Institute Digital Communication Environments at the HGK Basel offers internationally accredited curricula on the Bachelor, Master and Ph.D. levels reflecting the rich tradition of the Basel School of Design in particular and Swiss Graphic Design in general.

The City of Basel, located in the tri-national Rhine River valley, is a unique cultural environment with easy access to France and Germany.

While our Bachelor course focuses on the students’ ability to conduct a creative process, our Master programs strive to extend the students’ individual design vocabulary and to reach a higher level of reflection through the students’ ability to include knowledge and methodologies of scientific disciplines into the creative process. We offer a Master of Arts in Digital Communication Environments and an International Master of Design that is conducted in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

Both Master programs are based on the following assessment: In the context of digital communication channels, expanded qualifications are required. A design practice based purely on craftsmanship no longer meets the demands of visual communication in the digital era, nor does a reflection on visual messages entirely derived from theory or a purely technical approach to design. Connecting design practice with disciplines such as communication-, media-, and technology studies generates new qualifications in the conception and design of communicative messages.

Master of Arts in Digital Communication Environments

The master program offers three areas in which the students can improve their skills over the course of four semesters:

1. Improving the experimental and reflective practice in designing visual messages for analogue and digital communication environments
2. Getting acquainted with research methods from design-oriented research and experimental exploration of new technologies to empirical evaluation
3. Getting an overview of relevant positions in visual, media and communication theory as well as philosophy, anthropology and psychology in order to critically put design decisions, concepts and research questions into context

On the basis of a practical foundation in a design-oriented bachelor program or a theory-oriented bachelor’s degree in cultural studies, the main goal of the study program is a complementary fusion of skills between design and communication practice, research and theory.

Target group

The Digital Communication Environments master’s programme is geared towards students who already have a bachelor’s degree from an art or design university (e.g. Visual Communication, Communication Design, Media Design, Graphic Design, Photography) or a bachelor’s degree in the field of cultural studies (e.g. Art History, Media Science). The objective consists of combining design practices in digital communication environments with practically oriented research approaches and theories in the field of Visual and Media Studies. It is the only master's degree in the design field in Switzerland with 120 ECTS and thus the only one to meet the formal requirements for further PhD studies.

Information on the study program

The study program is based on the observation that neither a purely technical or craft-oriented design practice nor a purely theoretical one that interprets the messages in digital communication environments is sufficient for an insightful activity in the current professional field of communication. Only by combining the analytical, process-oriented and experimental design practice with current media technology and research methods and theory can relevant qualifications emerge. Only in this way can a contribution to current, socially relevant topics be made and an examination of the design of visual messages and the experimental design of digital communication channels be experienced as an independent knowledge tool.

The student group has an international makeup and the course is taught in English.

Program structure

Over three semesters, all students immerse themselves in the main modules: Design Practice, Practice-based Research and Theoretical Reflection. The fourth semester is dedicated to writing the thesis. In a wide range of elective modules (in the areas of technology, practice, research or theory), a customised study program can be put together that can be heavily guided by a specific project idea. By collaborating with students from a variety of academic and cultural backgrounds, students achieve a combination of practical, research and theory-based communication skills over the course of the program.

Modules

Design practice

Students work on complex issues related to the design of digital communication environments, further develop their design method and improve their technical skills for the experimental exploration of digital channels. In the Authorship (1st semester), the Archive (2nd semester) and the Interdisciplinary Focus (3rd semester) modules, they improve their knowledge of and experience with design processes. They further develop their language skills by talking about design processes in project teams with other students and in presentations.

Practically oriented research

In the Design Research (1st semester), the Inquiry into Future Technologies (2nd semester) and the Empirical Evaluations (3rd semester) modules, the students get to know different practically oriented research methods that can be used to scientifically back decisions in the field of communication. They learn how questions of Visual and Media Science, Science and Technology Studies or Social Sciences can be combined with practically oriented methods. Knowing the state of the art of a research question puts them in a position to define and work on their own research approach. In the research module, practical, technological and theoretical areas of knowledge are brought together.

Theoretical fields of knowledge

In the Visual and Media History (1st semester), the Theories of the Digital (2nd semester) and the Critical Theory (3rd semester) modules, the students improve their conceptual and strategic knowledge in the field of communication in digital environments. Acquiring knowledge about the theory and practice of visual communication and current technological developments as well as about related fields of knowledge helps them formulate their own practice-based research questions. The examination of theoretical fields of knowledge is a foundation for describing the state of the art of a knowledge area and articulating open-ended questions.

Collaborations

The master’s program is based on the close collaboration with partner institutions and encompasses an extensive network. Institutions active in the field of technology-based visual and media research are cooperation partners. Specific projects are being carried out with the University of Art and Design Linz, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts: Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation, the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Cincinnati, the Rhode Island School of Design, the Indian National Institute of Design (NID), the Milano Polytechnic University, the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), the Polytechnic University Hong Kong, the Hongik University of Seoul in South Korea, just to mention a few.

Goals and benefits

The master’s program prepares students to confront current communication challenges. The diversity of our society and, by extension, the diversity of perspectives it contains must be met with a diversity of voices in our visual messages. The fast pace of technological development offers new opportunities, but also requires critical questioning. Through the experimental use and development of new technological achievements, models can be developed that critically demonstrate their defined purpose or their deviation from it. The standardisation and omnipresence of digital tools and the flattening of visual expression that goes along with it requires new abilities to overcome the imposed restrictions and to understand communication as a culturally shaped phenomenon.

Career prospects

The master’s program imparts the autonomy needed to be as prepared as possible for future challenges in communications-related, creative, medial, teaching and research fields of work. The graduates have advanced specialist skills in order to establish themselves in leading positions of the communication industry (offices for visual communication, corporate communication, communication agencies, media agencies, publishing houses, journalism, TV, in-house communication teams, etc.). Some graduates establish themselves in the fields of research and teaching or in cultural entrepreneurship. They also have the necessary methodological skills to reflect on and further develop their own working methods within the context of social and technological change.

Facilities

With its studios, labs and central campus workshops, the HGK Basel provides an ideal environment for bringing together a curiosity for craftsmanship and a desire to learn technical skills and gain digital know-how. What’s more, all students have 24/7 access to their own workplace in the spacious studios.

Duration of Study

4 semesters/120 ECTS/60 US Credit Points. The master’s thesis is integrated into the fourth semester.

Language of instruction

English

Accredited by the British Skill Funding Agency (PCDL listed institution).

Application Deadline

The Master’s Program in Digital Communication Environments starts in September. The application deadline is March 15th, 2024. Submitting applications in advance of this deadline is encouraged.

Goals for Students with a Bachelor of Fine Arts

• Intensive experience with reflective design processes and methods in the context of complex projects
• Augmented theoretical-analytical skills through knowledge acquisition in the field of iconic and media theory.
• Increased aptitude for the methods of scholarship
• Theoretically supported, practical research experience (inquiry by design) in iconic and design research
• Heightened facility for the discussion of images