MA Designer/Maker*
- Entry year
- 2025/26
- Course code
- W20L12
- Application
- University
- Level
- Postgraduate
- School
- School of Arts
- Campus
- City Campus
- Duration
- One year full-time
- Delivery
- Full-time, starts September
- Programme leader
- Sofie Boons
* subject to final UWE Bristol approval
This course is open for applications
Page last updated 23 September 2024
UWE Bristol’s MA Designer/Maker course has a wide appeal to experienced or aspiring practitioners from across creative disciplines. Our interdisciplinary outlook supports you, as the next generation of makers, to pioneer innovative material-led approaches in design practice.
The MA Designer/Maker at UWE Bristol re-asserts the role of craft and making in design, industry, and artistic contexts. The course supports the next generation of makers as they pioneer innovative material-led approaches in design practice. You will be encouraged to develop pivotal alternatives to urgent issues in design, in response to contemporary narratives and global discourse.
The course has a wide appeal to experienced or aspiring practitioners from across creative disciplines, offering time, resources and access to a creative community to support personal development. You’ll hone project management skills and work at an autonomous, professional level. Through hands-on engagement with matter, thinking through making and artefact creation, you will develop as a responsible, open-minded practitioner capable of responding with creative agility and resilience.
As a Designer/Maker, you will benefit from the School of Arts’ outstanding interdisciplinary expertise and technical resources. Our City Campus workshops and facilities provide access to a breadth of physical fabrication and advanced digital technologies. You can also take advantage of the specialist research expertise available at our Centres for Print Research and Digital Cultures Research.
As a creative student, you’ll be perfectly placed studying in Bristol, a socially and politically progressive city, widely recognised as one of the most creatively influential settings in the UK. Our strong partnerships with local organisations mean you’ll benefit from their input along with many valuable networking opportunities in this thriving creative context.
You will graduate with a globally recognised qualification and have a broad range of options available to you regionally, as well as nationally and internationally. Our MA Designer/Maker graduates leave with the skills and knowledge for careers as practitioners, creative industry professionals, freelance designers, and educators, as well as the potential to progress to PhD study. Following the MA Designer/Maker course, you may be inspired to launch your own products or develop a business enterprise.
The structure and content of this new course is currently under review and subject to final UWE Bristol approval. It will be published here as soon as possible.
You'll be based in the School of Arts design studios at one of our city centre locations. You will study through a combination of lectures from industry experts and researchers, technical workshops, seminars, one to one tutorials, and consultation with academic colleagues in the library. Studying alongside other designer makers, you’ll develop your skills and knowledge collaboratively.
All School of Arts MA courses actively encourage cross-disciplinary dialogue and multi-disciplinary interaction across our diverse community of postgraduate artists and designers.
See our glossary of teaching and learning terms.
This is a full-time course, which starts in September and runs for three terms over 12 months. Learning and teaching sessions typically take place over three days per week. Outside of your contact hours, you’ll have the opportunity to access the available resources.
You will be assessed through a range of methods throughout the year including presentations, portfolio, and practical and written work. You’ll spend your last term working towards your final outcomes for the year, which includes an opportunity to exhibit publicly.
Learn more about our assessments.
Bower Ashton houses the main library supporting the creative and cultural industries, student support services, and the extensive resource base that make up the facilities and resources. As well as fabrication for traditional and contemporary materials, including laser cutting, electronics and robotics, computer and digital media laboratories, these facilities also include video and animation resources; print studios incorporating letterpress, screen, and digital wide format; and photographic workshops.
You will also have the opportunity of studying and accessing facilities at other sites within City Campus. This may include attending lectures, including guest lectures, and seminars at Arnolfini and Watershed in Bristol city centre.
Learn more about UWE Bristol's facilities and resources.
Take a personalised virtual tour of the Design facilities and experience what a typical day could look like here for you.
Our support includes access to fantastic facilities, study tools and career consultants, plus practical help to access everything from funding to childcare.
A stunning city for student living with all the qualities to make you want to stay.
There is more to your experience here than study. Choose to make the most of it and try new things.
We provide support in the way you need it.
Discover our campuses and the wealth of facilities provided for our students.
You will be taught by practising designers, makers, and researchers, bringing their skills and expertise exclusively to you studying at postgraduate level.
You will have the opportunity to enter or continue employment in the creative industries in professional studios, as a self-employed designer/maker, as a designer running your own businesses, or in teaching in both formal and community education programmes.
You may also choose to progress to PhD study at UWE Bristol or elsewhere.
Our award-winning Careers Service helps you develop your employment potential through career coaching, a vacancy service for internships, placements, jobs, global opportunities, volunteering and community activity plus support for entrepreneurial activity, and access to employer events.
Learn more about our graduate destinations.
We're seeking highly motivated students from any background, committed to creative growth in our supportive School of Arts community. Most applicants would have an honours degree in the arts, but those with qualifications in other disciplines or prior professional experience are also encouraged to apply.
While some students enter the course after years of independent work, we also welcome entries from ambitious applicants directly from undergraduate courses.
For country specific entry requirements please find your country on our country information pages.
Applicants will be asked to provide a portfolio of practical or project-based work and a personal statement for review.
In your portfolio you may want to include your most recent or ambitious works alongside developmental or process-based details. The work you include can be in media from outside or beyond your chosen discipline, and may include personal or professional outcomes. We are looking for applicants with the potential to connect creatively with contemporary practice; the motivation to excel; and the capacity to contribute to our dynamic campus.
Your personal statement should communicate confidently and coherently your rationale for application: what you hope Master’s study will help you achieve in your future. You may want to include detail of the influences that have led you to application, and the attributes you think will be important for success as a postgraduate. We would like to know more about you, and your understanding of what we do.
Most personal statements we receive are around 500 words in length.
Applicants may be invited for an online interview, if we have any further questions about your portfolio.
International and EU applicants are required to have a minimum overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 with 5.5 in each component (or approved equivalent*).
*The University accepts a large number of UK and international qualifications in place of IELTS. To find details of acceptable tests and the required grades, please visit English Language requirements.
If you meet the academic requirements but require additional support to take your language skills to the required level, you may be able to attend one of our pre-sessional English courses. Students who successfully complete the pre-sessional course can progress onto their chosen degree course without retaking an IELTS or equivalent.
Read more about our pre-sessional English programme.
We accept applications throughout the year but if you are working to a funding deadline, you should build this into your application process.
Read more about postgraduate applications.
Read more about international applications and key international deadline dates.