Graphic Design MA

We are committed to providing you with enhanced career prospects and the ability to achieve at the highest level.

Our graduates are professionally vital and well-informed, and are able to enter the design industry with a freshness of approach and the flexibility and adaptability to respond to change.

A contributory factor in this is the programme’s Design Agency project, which won the employability initiative category in the Guardian University Awards 2013.

This flagship initiative enables our graphic design students to form their own design agencies, creating their own brand and working collectively towards a common objective based on ability, regardless of age or experience.

Edinburgh-based design agencies act as mentor partners to these student agencies, developing long-term relationships that allow our students to show, over an extended period rather than just a few weeks on placement, what they can contribute to potential employers.

Find out more about compulsory and optional courses

We link to the latest information available. Please note that this may be for a previous academic year and should be considered indicative.

• Programme structure 2023/23

Our graduates work in a wide range of creative career paths. The variety of projects, approaches and opportunities we offer enable you to apply your knowledge and experience of the design process and your considerable skills to many disciplines. Typically, our graduates leave to become members of a graphic design agency.

Our extensive links with industry, built through industry-led projects and staff research, and our range of visiting speakers, ensures you will be aware of the full range of career possibilities and have a strong footing from which to develop your career.

Previous career paths have included:

• experiential design
• packaging
• advertising
• digital design
• interaction design
• exhibition design
• design research
• marketing
• retail design
• multimedia
• design management
• education

These entry requirements are for the 2023/24 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2024/25 academic year will be published on 2 October 2023.

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in graphic design or a relevant subject.

You must submit a portfolio as part of your application. Your portfolio should show your creativity and particularly your ideas: focus on the thinking behind your work rather than technique and show development as well as finished pieces. You should include a short description of the idea and context of the work you are presenting.

Your portfolio should:

• display a high standard of conceptual awareness and development

• reflect a clear ability to think laterally

• clearly present your research methods and routes, and show the development of ideas

• include evidence of your working process, from project inception to resolution, demonstrating experiments and explorations

• demonstrate original and professionally resolved work

• include high-quality images of completed work across appropriate and varied platforms

If you do not meet the academic entry requirements, we may still consider your application on the basis of your portfolio and relevant professional experience.

Students from China

This degree is Band C.

• Postgraduate entry requirements for students from China

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

• Entry requirements by country

English language requirements

You must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies, regardless of your nationality or country of residence.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.0 in each component.
• TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 20 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
• C1 Advanced (CAE) / C2 Proficiency (CPE): total 185 with at least 169 in each component.
• Trinity ISE: ISE III with passes in all four components.
• PTE Academic: total 70 with at least 59 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS, TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE, in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

• UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

• Approved universities in non-MESC

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than three and a half years old at the beginning of your programme of study.

Find out more about our language requirements:

• English language requirements

Tuition fees

• MA Graphic Design Tuition fees

Featured funding

• Edinburgh College of Art scholarships

UK government postgraduate loans

If you live in the UK, you may be able to apply for a postgraduate loan from one of the UK’s governments.

The type and amount of financial support you are eligible for will depend on:

• your programme
• the duration of your studies
• your tuition fee status

Programmes studied on a part-time intermittent basis are not eligible.

• UK government and other external funding

Other funding opportunities

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

• Search for funding