Communicating Complexity University of the Arts London (UAL)

Overview

The Communicating Complexity programme from  the University of the Arts London (UAL) provides both challenges and opportunities for how we understand, navigate and communicate this complex world. It also places communication designers in a potentially influential role as interpreters, facilitators and activators of knowledge, truth and insight.

Communication is at the heart of how we construct and convey power, how we motivate and mobilise, and how we shape the societies, communities and identities. This course understands communication as deeply intertwined with complexity. It is an increasingly vital skill in empowering responses to the most pressing and complex challenges – without resorting to simplification.

The Communicating Complexity programme at the University of the Arts London (UAL) is a creatively led communication design course in a world-leading graphic design programme. On this course you will be encouraged to advance experimental approaches to communication. Project briefs set in collaboration with a range of industries and sectors, as well as by your student cohort provide a springboard for creative and future-facing approaches. Course Learning Outcomes are referenced to UNESCO’s Learning objectives for achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Innovation in communication design is critical to even the most ambitious ideas and technologies as well as organisations seeking to make an impact at scale. By foregrounding complexity, this course encourages more inclusive, accessible, and culturally resonant inroads into the world’s challenges with the ambition to equip you with the ability to bring clarity, context, and criticality to engaging with and communicating complexity.

What to expect:

• Collaborative projects: The course is comprised of design challenges drawn from external organisations in different sectors, for example from government and media to healthcare and technology.

• Prioritising inclusive and accessible approaches: By welcoming complexity, the course welcomes multiple voices and methods simultaneously.

• Engaging with climate, racial and social justice in the Graphic Communication Design Community at Central Saint Martins.