Study course

Visual Strategies and Stories

Master's course in the Design Faculty

Visual Strategies and Stories is an independent Master's degree programme in the Department of Design. The programme is aimed at students who approach their environments and living spaces with their own questions. The programme focuses on the development of design strategies that seek to address socio-political, cultural, artistic, scientific or personal issues.

Students work independently on their own creative Master's project and deepen their content-related, methodological and media-specific questions in one of the five specialisation areas: Photography, Illustration, Information Design, Intermedia Design and Type/Typography. The students are supervised by the professors and selected co-mentors from the specialisation areas. The course places great value on interdisciplinary exchange: In addition to specialisation, a combination of these teaching areas can also take place.

News

The Communication Design degree programme is a project-oriented course with various specialisations: Illustration, Type and Typography, Information Design, Intermedia Design and Photography. These are accompanied by numerous optional courses.

Nobody can say in which contexts designers who start their studies today will be working in ten years' time. This makes it all the more important to be able to reflect society and the market and to create the corresponding positions for yourself. Communication designers are faced with the complex task of selecting the relevant information from a wide range of complex information, rethinking it structurally and making these messages tangible and understandable for a modern society.

In addition to the ability to express themselves professionally in modern design languages, students develop the competence to work in an interdisciplinary manner and to design complex information and communication strategies - with the aim of playing a responsible role in the design and realisation processes of a global world.

Courses

Alle Lehrangebote

Communication design, visual communication and graphic design, media design, integrated design, information design, public design and so on: the inflation of terms and specialisms in the field of modern communication should not obscure the fact that authorship in relation to the conception of complex communication scenarios with independent statements makes communication designers observers of social phenomena and thus requires their own position to be determined.

Teaching content

In this context, the Visual Strategies and Stories Master's study course offers students the opportunity to implement and expand their individual interests and skills by dealing with independently researched topics.

The world of signs, codes and encodings, the staging of images and texts, also in a spatial context, as well as language itself as a means of expression are the subject of research, concept and design. Specialisations in illustration and information design are just as possible as interdisciplinary work with related design courses and cooperation with the Art Faculty.

Standard period of study

The Master's programme is offered as a two-, three- or four-semester course, depending on the type and content as well as the duration and number of ECTS credits achieved in the previous degree programme.

Course of study

The interdisciplinary Design Sciences programme offers Master's students a comprehensive range of seminars and lectures for in-depth studies in areas such as art, design and architectural history, design theory, the psychology of design and philosophy. Social skills training, teamwork, regular colloquia with invited guests from various disciplines and research into design topics with regard to their socio-political and social relevance form the basis of the programme.

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

university and examination regulations

Study-relevant legal bases

Application documents

The application documents include:

  • Curriculum vitae in tabular form
  • Proof of a university degree or corresponding transcripts of records
  • Letter of motivation: motivation, expectations, desired areas of focus within the master's program
  • Digital portfolio (PDF, max. 50 MB)
  • Publications, if available
  • Research project (exposé)

In addition to your letter of motivation (max. 3000 characters, including spaces), in which you outline your motivation, expectations, and desired area of focus (photography, illustration, information design, font and typography, intermedia design) within the master's program, please also submit a description of your research project (exposé). The exposé should include a description of the topic you would like to work on. For example, it can cover basic background information on the topic, content and methodological references, your interest, and possible approaches. The exposé should be 1–2 standard pages in length and submitted as a separate PDF file.

prerequisites

Master's study courses at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design are aimed at graduates of bachelor's or diploma degree programmes with a primarily creative-artistic focus. All applicants are subject to an entrance examination specific to the study course, although interested and professionally qualified graduates from other fields of study may also be accepted onto a Master's degree programme. We recommend that applicants with less than two years of professional experience and/or under the age of 25 complete subject-related internships or gain comparable practical experience.

Tuition fees, language certificates, scholarships

There are currently no tuition fees. Foreign applicants can prove their language skills with the TestDaf language certificate or the German Language Test for University Admission (DSH). In general, artistic aptitude is more important than a language certificate. Whether an applicant with English or German language skills can be accepted onto the Visual Strategies and Stories Master's programme is decided during the application interview. Scholarship opportunities are available for foreign students through the DAAD. Please note the DAAD's very long application deadlines.

Standard duration of course

The duration of the master’s course is flexible and depends on the duration of the preceding successfully completed degree:

  • Two semesters: In the case of a preceding completed degree in the same subject after a four-year bachelor’s course with 240 ECTS points or a comparable ‘Diplom’ degree.
  • Four semesters: In the case of a preceding completed degree in the same subject after a three-year bachelor’s course or for graduates of art/design courses in a different subject area or other courses

In the final semester, students work on a master’s thesis on an individual topic.

Publications

Alle Publikationen
Some Magazine #9 – Complicated
In der neuen Ausgabe des Some Magazine geht es unter dem Titel „Complicated“ ganz bewusst auch mal unübersichtlich zu.
Some Magazine #3 – Error
Studierende im Studiengang Kommunikationsdesign der Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle legen zum Thema »Error« die neue Ausgabe des Some Magazine vor. Issue #3 Autumn 2012
Some Magazine #2 – Electric
A Magazine between Design and Art Issue #2 Autumn 2011
Some Magazine #1 – Still Life
A Magazine between Design and Art Issue #1 Spring 2011
Design: Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle University of Art and Design Halle
Volles Programm: Das neue Buch über den Fachbereich Design der Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle in Halle.
Kunst/Art : Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle / University of Art and Design Halle
Kunst/Art : Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle / University of Art and Design Halle
Kunst/Art: Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle / University of Art and Design Halle
Kunst. Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle stellt neben Grundlagen- und Theorie-Angeboten künstlerische Projekte von Studierenden aus den verschiedenen Studienrichtungen in den Studiengängen Kunsterziehung, Malerei/Grafik und Plastik vor.