Graphic design
Image 1, 2 & 3 by Marta Guerra Belo
Image 4 by Gonçalo Picoito (special thanks to our DELLI student)
Image 5 by Luís Alegre
The MA Design explores and expands new publishing practices, deepening the relations between design and fields such as ecology, culture and food, around the idea of Publishing Futures. With this MA, you will be able to develop strategies to make pressing issues public, conceiving interactive and collaborative models through printed and digital media, as well as performance.
The role of designers has changed dramatically in recent years, expanding their opportunities and responsibilities for action and relationships, which now go far beyond the usual media. The MA in Design focuses on building preferable futures, exploring publishing practices in an expanded manner.
Revolving around the idea of Publishing Futures, the verb “publish” is used as a strategy to make public issues and problems that are pressing in contemporary societies. The study program is developed around classes or conferences, performances and installations in galleries and museums, new and old types of printing and reproduction, cinema/video, social networks or virtual reality and AI technologies, without forgetting the ancestry of paper publishing.
This MA degree explores the challenges of design practice from different perspectives of research, creativity and imagination, as ways of understanding a world in permanent change, offering students countless practical experiences through forums as pertinent as: Geographies and Food, Climates and Culture, Communities and Publishing, Archives and Futures. This innovative program is the second phase of the pedagogical strategy initiated in the BA Communication Design, as a teaching-learning-sharing platform that critically analyzes design as a discipline undergoing profound transitions, exploring different collaborative pedagogical models, and approaching design beyond its disciplinary margins.
Why choose our MA?
Complete an advanced training stage at the University, obtaining a Master degree, with national and international recognition; Maximize the efficiency of design in society, considering fundamental to have a broad, deep and varied knowledge of the surrounding environment; Promote the research and dissemination of catalyst ideas, supported by the University, and aimed at the alternative society models development; Access to international networks in which DCAM and Lusófona University are integrated, within the scope of research and knowledge sharing, as a catalyst for intellectual development; Theoretical, scientific and technical research of high university quality; Unparalleled technological conditions in the image sector, both National and European.
Research
The academic staff of the MA in Design is made of a group of researchers working in areas that inform the program, such as: design history, design criticism, design and ecology, community practices and pedagogy. With an international dimension and a vast network of contacts and partnerships, the work developed in this program seeks to transfer knowledge and methods to students, working as peers.
Through a holistic and critical understanding of publishing, students put into practice grounded and tangible work in projects guided by tutors and guest experts, developing creative content critically, and exploring innovative models of engaging and communicating with a diversity of audiences.
To develop and consolidate knowledge about the culture of design and the design of culture, through the empowerment of self-questioning and research, equipping students with the tools to think about design beyond their own discipline.
Students are guided in a substantial manner, in order to build their own practice throughout the course, developing academic skills and contact with the community and industry before completing a core project that suits their interests. The scope of the MA degree binds students, as a working group, to the futures they prefer and which design, in dialogue with other disciplines, make possible.
Skills
Understanding of the various types of teaching and learning, developing the ability to analyze and structure ways of learning and sharing knowledge; Articulate the design’s responsibility and its possible contributions to the current environmental and social crises, as well as possible future models; Use of publishing as a means of mapping, methodological and discursive analysis, as well as development of design practices; Knowledge about the creation and development of communities, as well as the role of collaboration in interdisciplinary practice; Critical ability to problematize pressing contemporary issues, through systems and implications of the consequences of design action or inaction.
Career opportunities
This MA establishes links with the creative industries through opportunities such as lectures and debates with guests from inside and outside of academia, feedback from institutional and industry partners, mentoring and tutoring, project development and an internship program. It teaches skills that are highly transferable, aiming to lead to careers in the broad sectors of content publishing and the creative industries, focusing on a broad audience, as well as developing tools to collaborate with other disciplines. It offers the opportunity to take part in real projects with established partners in publishing such as publishers, design studios, museums, galleries and associations.
Future studiesThis MA prepares students for future studies by introducing them to, and consolidating, a research culture. This implies the acquisition of research methodologies, as well as an understanding of the articulation of the institutions and infrastructures that support these activities (i.e. publishers, museums, archives, cultural associations, creative industries). Therefore, student-researchers will be prepared for future studies such as postgraduate courses, fellowships, residencies and doctoral programmes.
This program is open to applications from designers, artists and agents from the cultural and communications sector, at various stages of their practice and career, as well as candidates from sciences, humanities, politics, economics, sociology and other fields that intersect – or can benefit from – the interdisciplinarity and collaborative dynamics of contemporary design practice.
Teachers
António Cruz Rodrigues
Francisco Laranjo
Filipe Luz
Hugo Barata
Isabel Lucena
João Cunha
João Sousa Cardoso
Luís Alegre
Marco Balesteros
Marta Guerra Belo
Patrícia Cativo
Rita Carvalho
Silvio Lorusso
Study Plan
This MA run after work hours, from Tuesday to Thursday, from 6pm to 10pm.
Admitions conditions
Candidates are eligible to apply for the master's degree program if they fall into one of the following categories:
a) Holders of a bachelor's degree or equivalent;
b) Holders of a foreign academic degree obtained following a first-cycle of studies organized according to the principles of the Bologna Process by a participating country;
c) Holders of a recognized foreign higher academic degree that satisfies the objectives of a bachelor's degree, as determined by the competent statutory body;d) Individuals with an educational, scientific, or professional background recognized by the competent statutory body of the CUP as demonstrating the capacity to undertake this study cycle.
Selection criteria: 25% previous qualification (Bachelor Certificate Grade) + 75% Interview and CV/portfolio assessment. For candidates without a degree or qualification grade, the interview will be weighted at 100%.
Head of the ProgrammeLuís Alegre
SecretariatJoão Cunha
(if you have any questions about the master's programme or how to apply, please contact João)