MA Digital Communication Environments

MA Digital Communication Environments at the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW: Apply by March 15 for fall semester 2025/26.

The Master Digital Communication Environments at the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW (HGK Basel) in Switzerland provides a unique opportunity to extend your individual competencies in visual communication for today’s digital and analogue communication channels.

The following three areas are shaping the profile of the four semester Master programme and lead to the following learning outcome: Improving the experimental and reflective practice in designing visual messages for analogue and digital communication environments. Getting acquainted with research methods from practice-led research, experimental exploration of new technologies to empirical evaluation of visual messages. Acquiring an overview of relevant positions in visual, media and communication theory as well as philosophy, anthropology and psychology in order to critically put design decisions, concepts and research questions into context.   

On the basis of a practical foundation in a design-oriented bachelor’s study programme or a theory-oriented bachelor’s degree in cultural studies, the main goal of the study programme is a complementary fusion of skills between design and communication practice, research and theory.  

Within the framework of the three key areas described above, a broad offer of elective modules allows the students to develop their individual profile and complement their competencies. The study programme prepares our students for the continuation of their development in the practice, in the context of research or in the context of academia. Beyond the highly motivated and highly qualified faculty, our students praise: the cultural diversity of the student group, the proximity of the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW to other cultural institutions on the Campus of the Arts and in the city of Basel, as well as the state of the art workshops to realize projects. —Prof. Michael Renner, Head of the Institute Digital Communication Environments (IDCE), Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW.

Structure of programme
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.

Target groups
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 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 a Master of Arts in the design field that has 120 ECTS credits and thus meets the formal requirements for a PhD.

Career prospects
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 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.

Facilities
With its studios, labs and central campus.workshops, the HGK Basel provides an ideal environment for bringing together a curiosity for craftsmanship and a desire to learn technical skills and gain digital know-how. All students have 24/7 access to their own workplace in the spacious studios.

The application deadline is March 15, 2025, with the MA programme beginning in September 2025. More information about the programme and the admission process can be found online.

About studying at Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW
We aspire to be an inspiring and ambitious academy while being welcoming, joyful and transformative. We value the diversity of our student body, encourage collaboration and love surprises. On our campus, we offer studio spaces 24/7, excellently equipped workshops and labs, individual mentoring and counselling, international exchange programmes, open discourse spaces and social infrastructures. Our creative neighbourhood on the Dreispitz, the cultural city of Basel and our geographical location in the three-country triangle make the HGK Basel a unique place to study.