Programme

The one-year editorial design programme at maHKU consists of three parallel courses: discipline, critical studies and your individual research project, creating an optimal mix of design and theoretical research.

DISCIPLINE
You follow your specific Editorial Design path. The goal is to profoundly deepen skills,  themes,  and discussions relevant to Editorial Design. Collaboration with Fashion Communication students is part of the process.

The Discipline Course consists of four units:
1.    Exploration
2.    Analysis
3.    Elaboration
4.    Presentation

1: Exploration (week 1-8)
Editorial design is the craft of engineering meaningful vehicles for information. You will gain thorough insight in the underlying structure of publication design, its formal outcome, its accessibility and its meaning. Topical debates and issues will be explored in the various professional magazines.

2: Analysis (week 9-16)
You will analyze the structures and forms of visual interpretation, argumentation, and formulation as aspects of (visual) narratives. Studying sources ranging from early rhetoric to modern film scenarios and hyper-textual environments, visual narrative is studied as a way of translating information into a structured whole that can be experienced by its intended audience or users as a 'story'. You will see how the meaning of the 'story' is not only structured from within, but also by its link to external contexts.

3: Elaboration (week 21-28)
A newspaper or magazine, a website or signage system, a dashboard or information campaign; all are interfaces which enable their users to easily access information. The user’s perspective will be your main focus. You will study the craft of digital interface design as a facilitator for actions by users.

4: Presentation (week 29-36)
You will deepen your insight into the theoretical bases of cultural and media processes. You will include them in designing information structures, effectively embedding them into specific cultural and social contexts to achieve communicative success.


CRITICAL STUDIES
The Critical Studies Course focuses on the development of a critical stance in the theory of art and design. This will prepare you to design your own research concepts, apply topical theoretical texts from your own discipline field and use those from other disciplines. The Critical Studies Course aims to inspire you and help you write a Master research essay discussing innovative insights in your discipline and develop your own. The Critical Studies Course will also help you to contextualize your design project in a theoretical sense. 

The Critical Studies Course consists of three units:
1.    Visual Studies
2.    Concept Development
3.    Interdisciplinary Studies & Supportive Studies
The Critical Studies Course concludes with a series of individual research essay tutorials by your Editorial Design theory lecturer.

1: Visual Studies (week 1-8)
In interdisciplinary seminars with all MaHKU students, you will be presented with a variety of theoretical discourses and conceptual frameworks by theory staff tackling issues such as the role of research as an activity, communication models, and modes of analysis.

2: Concept Development (week 9-16)
With a focus on analysis and production of research concepts, in this discipline-based seminar we will discuss questions and issues such as: 
  • What is a concept?
  • How do editorial designers develop their concepts?
  • How do you write a short paper while deploying found concepts?
  • What are the classic concepts deployed in your field?
  • How do concepts act as research generators?

The seminars include two writing assignments as practical exercises for creating and deploying a conceptual framework.

3: Interdisciplinary Studies (week 17-20)
During a collective research project of encounters and dialogues with students from all MaHKU disciplines, you will be challenged to critically reflect on the boundaries of your own professional discipline. In 2011, the research theme will deal with Index in three consecutive seminars. In all three seminars, a guest lecturer will determine a methodology and formulate a research hypothesis. As a conclusion of each seminar, you will be working intensively in interdisciplinary groups on location to complete an assignment given by the guest lecturer and create a form of presentation. After each seminar, all interdisciplinary groups will present the outcome of their collaboration to the guest lecturer.

Supportive Studies (week 17-20)
Paralleling the Interdisciplinary Studies Unit, you will attend three interdisciplinary seminars by three different theory lecturers and study practised-based methods of writing a research essay.


INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH PROJECT
In the second half of the year you will be producing an individual design project and a research essay, modifying and transforming your project proposal into a full-grown research project.

You will report on the progress of your design project and your research essay in the form of visual research presentations including the chosen theoretical contextualization for your design project. These will then be evaluated in group discussions (research seminars), while your design lecturers and your theory lecturer monitor your research progress during regular individual tutorials. With room for various try-outs and the feedback from critical discussions, you should be able to communicate and adjust both your design project and your research essay as they progress. Your investigations and reports should demonstrate a dynamic interpretation of creative practice. In your research essay, you should contextualize your design project and connect with current issues and topics in your own design disicpline while deploying an innovative conceptual framework.

Your final work should have the capacity to function as an innovative source of inspiration for your design discipline and its professionals. You will present your design projectvin the Graduate Exhibition and publicly defend both your (5,000 word) research essay and your design project to complete your course through the MaHKU programme.