Master in Graphic Design

The Master’s in Graphic Design at BAU offers a comprehensive and complete education for professional specialization in graphic design and visual communication. With a multidisciplinary spirit, the program covers various branches of design, including corporate identity, advertising, editorial design, packaging, and web design, as well as common disciplines such as typography, photography, illustration, design history, and design software.

The program is structured into seven modules that are taught simultaneously throughout the academic year, complementing each other to provide cohesive training. By the end of the master’s program, students will have a solid foundation in both the conceptualization and development of diverse projects and the use of digital and analog tools necessary to carry out any type of project.

With a highly practical approach, the goal of the master’s is to equip students with all the necessary knowledge to tackle any graphic design and communication task in a professional environment.

The master’s program is aimed at graduates (from university degrees or vocational training) in advertising, industrial design, journalism, fine arts, photography, illustration, interior design, audiovisuals, and applied arts in clothing, as well as professionals in the field without specific qualifications who wish to update their creative, technological, and methodological skills. Admission to the course is subject to a selection process that ensures the suitability of the student's profile to the program.

Module 1 – Introduction to Design Projects

The objective of this module is for students to begin developing informed opinions and a communication style of their own. Accompanied by theoretical content such as the study of the symbol and visual perception, students will complete practical exercises focusing on the relationship between typography and image.

• What is Graphic Design.
• Theory of form.
• Color.
• Aesthetic taste.
• Visual expression and synthesis.
• Composition and Communicative intent.
• Image-Color-Typography harmonies.
• Introduction to publishing.
• Introduction to printing.

Module 2 – Illustration

This module will present illustration applied to newspapers and magazines, editorials, interiors, fashion illustration and children's illustration. It will allow students to experiment with materials and styles while also introducing a comprehensive overview of the best contemporary illustration.

• Graffiti: Analysis, preparation, and creation.
• Children's Illustration: Analysis and creation.
• Opinion Illustration based on an article or news: analysis and creation.
• Collage: Analysis and creation.
• Fashion Illustration: Analysis and creation.

Module 3 – History of graphic design

The main objective of this module is to provide students with a general overview of the history of graphic design and its most important themes. The recap will begin with antiquity and the invention of writing, and conclude with contemporary graphics, placing particular emphasis on the origins and establishment of the Modernist movement (20th century).

• Introduction to the history of graphic design. From the origins of writing to the golden age of typography.
• Early years of the 20th century. The artistic avant-gardes: the origins of the Modernist movement.
• Bauhaus (Germany 1919-1933). Consolidation of the Modernist movement and the pedagogy of design.
• USA. The pioneers of North American graphic design.
• Europe in the 50s: rational/functional design. The International Typographic School (the Swiss School).
• USA in the 60s: graphic expression. The New York School.
• Europe, beyond functional graphics. The School of the Polish poster.
• From post-modernity to present-day graphics.

Module 4 – Typography

The student is introduced to the study and implementation of letters, their history (from the beginnings of Roman capital script, right through to the present day), concepts (formal and functional) and their different solutions and applications with regard to graphic design. After completing the course, the student will be able to judge and develop a typographical work by applying the criteria of readability, use of space, hierarchies, organisation and sensitivity when selecting an alphabet.

• Introduction to Typography: History, proportion, personality, and impact.
• Typographic Distinction: Classification and historical overview.
• The typographic language: Basic anatomy and Font families.
• Spacing and alignment: Introduction and application.
• Typographic design from personal calligraphy: Introduction to Lettering and its uses.
• Legibility and readability: Introduction, factors affecting legibility, and practice.
• The letter, line, block, advertisement, and headline as constructive typographic elements.

Module 5 – Photography

This module provides the core skills required to properly operate a photographic camera and its associated equipment. It will demonstrate the importance of photographic devices, processes and the use of light as fundamental aspects of image generation.

• The device: Translator of visual imagination.
  • Connection between photographic devices, processes, and light.
  • Historical and formal journey from drawing machines to the mobile camera.
  • Importance of combining devices with chemical and virtual processes.
  • Study and practice in reading light.
  • Creating a photograph through the interaction of these elements.
• Attention: Exercising observation.
  • Encouraging observation skills in students.
  • Relationship between imagination and conceptualization.
  • Identifying discursive elements between the mental and the tangible.
  • Helping to decipher visual language as a constructive tool in Design.

Módulo 6 - Technologies

Theoretical / practical space where the use of tools for design, layout, photographic and video editing will be taught.

The objective is for the student to know four of the most popular software in graphic design, which will allow them to develop the disciplines addressed in the master's degree.

Photoshop

• Resolution and formats.
• Color and selection.
• Basic photomontage.
• Layers and styles.
• Text and selection.
• Advanced composition.

Illustrator

• Bitmap vs vector.
• Basic and complex shapes.
• Illustration control.
• Typographic edition.
• Use and management of color.
• Use and work with images.

In-Design

• Interface and graphic structure.
• Design and conceptualization of a project.
• Text and image management.
• Use and management of color.
• Templates and styles.
• Integration of images and graphics.
• Prepress and creation of PDFs.
• Printing, correction and preparation for production.

Final Cut

• Introduction to the software.
• Interface and workflow.
• Selection, marking and editing.
• Types of adjustments.
• Acquisition and export of projects with the appropriate formats.
• Audio work and mixing.
• Use of transitions.
• Filters and speeds.
• Work with text and graphics.
• Finishing and export of the project.

Módulo 7 – Projects and Master's Final Project

The Projects module takes a specific assignment as its starting point. Through the different subjects, the tutors will guide the students in learning the different disciplines of design. This module has a special importance, given that all the exercises will make up the Master's Final Project.

The objective of this module is for students to be able to develop a larger project, emphasizing analysis and synthesis skills, as well as the ability to organize and plan.

The Master's Final Project (TFM) begins with the delivery of a briefing and the presentation of the guidelines to build the TFM Report.

This project groups together the work of Module 7, composed of the following contents:

Advertising

• Introduction to the briefing.
• Positioning and Benchmark.
• Moodboard.
• The idea. Concept of a brand and campaign.
• Creativity.
• Advertising and the advertising agency.
• New media.

Corporate visual identity

• Brand theory.
• Creation of a brand.
• Market study.
• Naming.
• Logo/symbol/typography design.
• Brand manual.

Packaging

• Die.
• Information hierarchies.
• Text distribution.
• The use of photography and illustration.
• Brand analysis.
• Know how to read the competition.
• The promotional flash.
• Color codes by category.
• Volume.

Editorial design

• Fundamental aspects of editorial design.
• Construction and development of grids and guidelines.
• History of printed publications.
• Visual connotations of different project typologies.
• Key role of magazines in contemporary culture.

Web design

• HTML language.
• Document structuring and information hierarchies.
• CSS Cascading Style Sheets.
• Information structure and web architecture.
• Usability.
• Interface design.
• Responsive formats and design.

During the Module, two workshops are held to complete the training:

• Naming Workshop: Study and development of the naming for the brand assigned in the brief of the Master's Final Project.
• Color Workshop: Workshop focused on the search and choice of colors that represent the brand assigned in the brief.

Two weeks before the presentation of the Master's Final Project, tutorials are carried out by a professor to review the projects and create the narrative of the final presentations before the tribunal.