Digital Communication Environments MA

Academical qualifications
Admission to the aptitude assessment for the Master’s degree programme normally requires one of the following qualifications:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Design (Visual Communication) or a related field of study.
• A similar, equivalent degree in Design (at BA level pursuant to the “Dublin Descriptors").

If an applicant shows promising design potential, lateral entry from a different discipline is possible; in this case, please contact the Head of the degree programme.

Language of tuition
International students are welcome to apply for the Master’s degree programme. The language of tuition is English (B2 level or equivalent).

The detailed information on the aptitude assessment will be published on 1 November 2023.
To apply for a place at the HGK Basel, the required documents must be submitted by 15.03.2024.

Please send enquiries regarding specific degree programmes to the appropriate email address.

Info aptitude assessment 2024

Dates 2024

• 01.11.2023
  Publication of the detailed information on the aptitude assessment
  
• 15.03.2024
  Registration deadline and deadline for submitting the required documents for the aptitude assessment.
• 02. - 13.09.2024
  Introductory weeks at the HGK Basel (mandatory)
• 16.09.2024
  Fall Semester begin 2024/25

Study Regulations, Digital Communications Environments, Master (PDF Download)

All students engage with the fields of design practice, practice-based research, and theoretical reflection across the first three semesters. The following fourth semester is the thesis semester. Through working together throughout their studies, the students, who come from different educational and cultural backgrounds, gradually acquire a combined set of practical, research, and theoretical communication skills.

Design Practice

Students work on complex design questions in digital communication environments, continue to develop their methodology, and advance their skills of experimentally gauging digital channels. They develop an aesthetic position of their own. They deepen their knowledge and add to their experience with regard to design processes. They enhance their language competence with respect to design processes in student project teams and through presentations.

Practice-oriented Research

Students learn about practice-oriented research methods used for scientifically grounding decisions in the field of communication. They get to know how to link up questions regarding visual and media sciences, science and technology studies, and the social sciences by means of practice-based methods. Up to date with the state of the art of a research question, students are able to define their own research approach and apply it accordingly. In this research module, we blend practical, technological, and theoretical fields of knowledge.

Theoretical Fields of Knowledge

Students advance their conceptual and strategic knowledge regarding communication in digital environments. The acquisition of knowledge concerning theory and practice in image-based communication and current technological developments alongside adjacent fields of knowledge helps them to come up with practice-based research questions of their own. The engagement with theoretical issues provides a foundation for a state-of-the-art description of a specific area of knowledge and formulating the pertinent questions.

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 in a cultural studies field (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 of Arts in the design field in Switzerland that has 120 ECTS credits and thus meets the formal requirements for a PhD.

The study programme 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. The course is taught in English.

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 programme 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 programme.

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 Interdisciplinary Focus (3rd semester) modules, you will improve your knowledge of and experience with design processes. You will further develop your 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), Inquiry into Future Technologies (2nd semester) and Empirical Evaluations (3rd semester) modules, you will get to know different practically oriented research methods that can be used to scientifically back decisions in the field of communication. You will 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 you in a position to define and work on your 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), Theories of the Digital (2nd semester) and Critical Theory (3rd semester) modules, you will improve your 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 students 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 programme 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, etc.

The master’s programme 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.

The master’s programme imparts the autonomy needed to be as prepared as possible for future challenges in communications-related, creative, medial, teaching and researching 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.). Other graduates establish themselves in 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.

Each summer and winter the Institute Digital Communication Environments offers a series of week-long workshops at the Campus of Art. They are open to students, lecturers as well as professional designers. The workshops are conducted by lecturers of the Institute Digital Communication Environments in English and enjoy widespread international popularity. They address current topics and issues of visual communication such as generative design processes and design research, thus reflecting the old tradition of the “Basel School of Design” with its focus on typography and poster design. The workshops include a dense schedule of excursions, which help the participants to better understand the cultural context within the border triangle Germany, Switzerland and France. For more information click here.

With its studios, labs and central Campus.Workshops, the HGK 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.

The MA programme builds on a close collaboration with a number of partner institutions across the globe, all of them involved in technology-based visual and media research. Concrete projects are in place, for example, 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 Chicago; the University of Cincinnati; the Rhode Island School of Design; the Indian National Institute of Design NID; the Politecnico Milano; the National Taiwan Normal University NTNU; the Politechnic University Hong Kong; and Hongik University Seoul Korea.

Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW
Institute Digital Communication Environments (IDCE)
Freilager-Platz 1
Postfach

CH-4002 Basel

Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW
Institute Digital Communication Environments (IDCE)

Freilager-Platz 1, Tower: D 5.03
4142 Münchenstein / Basel

Phone: +41 61 228 41 11
Fax: +41 61 228 42 89
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