Master in Design and Art Direction

Develop your creativity and dominate all kinds of languages, mediums and channels. The MA in Art Design and Direction will provide you with the capacity to lead the aesthetic strategy of any project, taking a direct approach to the unification of corporate messages with creativity and sensitivity.

How to apply

Presentation

At a time when ideas are transmitted primarily through images, art directors are becoming fundamental agents in the production of messages and communicative contexts.

Art direction is a profession with broad and specific specialisations that is taking on an increasingly relevant role in the different creative industries. Art directors require in-depth knowledge of the nature and expressive resources of languages, including the written word, photography, video, objects and interaction. They do not only interpret strategic proposals, but also manage development, production, field work and creation.

The Master in Art Design and Direction approaches this world from a three-fold perspective defined by the following principles: experience, experimentation and expression. The programme is strongly disruptive in its approach to identifying, questioning and destroying conventionalisms in the world of design and creativity.

Combining theory with practical work, you will develop a generative creative process and explore the interdisciplinarity of languages and creative forms, preparing yourself to become more creative, versatile, daring, critical and competitive in this professional setting.

Access and Admission Requirements: Students with degrees in Design, Communication, Advertising or Fine Arts. Professional profiles related to the world of creativity and expression (photography, art, fashion and illustration), professionals with proven experience in architecture, psychology or journalism. In these cases, prospective students are required to provide a professional portfolio in the creative arena.

At Elisava you can take master and postgraduate courses of different degrees of specialisation that combine theoretical knowledge, reflection, experimentation, and practical projects. Find the design master you are looking for.

Study art direction in Barcelona

Studying art direction is an option for the future at a time like the present. The growing demand for professionals with a broad vision of the world of design and communication makes evident the vitality of the sector and the need to adopt a strategic vision.

There are many places to study art direction, but no scenario can offer the facilities and experiences of a cosmopolitan city, open and adapted to change as Barcelona.

If you are thinking about studying abroad, you can study a Master in Art Direction in Europe. Barcelona is a city with an open spirit that offers its inhabitants a great quality of life. Its excellent educational and recreational offer; your safety, the efficiency of your transportation and health services; and an attractive climate that invites you to enjoy the life of the city has made it one of the most requested European cities. For these and many other reasons, if you want to study a MA in Art Direction in Spain, Barcelona is the best option for you.

For all these reasons, studying art direction in Barcelona is a clear choice. Our city is today an important center of cultural activity, in which the sector is experiencing one of its best moments.
postgrau-direccio-art-01 Chocolates Workshop in Antoni Miralda’s studio
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Objectives

  • Learning to think strategically in the fields of communication and design.
  • Understanding the key role of strategic communication for companies, institutions and brands in general.
  • Learning to design a global and multi-channel strategic action.
  • Undertaking projects in real contexts, reflecting on changes and trends in the new media reality (paid, owned, earned)
  • Enhancing creative aptitudes and the ability to make transitions between languages, thereby offering added value in a constantly changing market.
  • Encouraging immersion in audiovisual culture, promoting multidisciplinarity and interrelations regarding languages and creative platforms.
  • Expanding knowledge regarding the fundamentals of neurological and social communication.
  • Establishing different lines of theoretical and practical work to create persuasive audiovisual messages.
Highlights

Master in Design and Art Direction programme

1 Communication and context

Main theoretical concepts for the analysis and proposal of creative solutions with a particular focus on neurobiological activations.

1.1 Neurobiology of Communication
A journey through the evolution and revolution of communication, from the Big Bang to the functioning of brain mechanisms.

1.2 Communication Theories
Explanation of the fundamental principles of human communication and its strategic and persuasive dimensions. Through semiotic analysis, the formal mechanisms and relevant elements that construct the specific identities and meanings of brands, products, and corporate images are described.

1.3 Presentations
Theoretical and methodological study of personal communication. Through a series of steps, you will be introduced to the argumentation of ideas and audience persuasion.

 2 Analysis and strategy

Tools for planning and generating campaigns through comprehensive marketing methodologies and practical exercises from a 360°, global and multi-channel perspective.

2.1 Analysis and Strategy
A journey aimed at generating an effective marketing strategy, divided into environment analysis, segmentation and target definition, segmentation strategy, positioning, corporate strategy, strategic definition, and strategic development.

2.2 Value Proposition, Concept, and Expression
These are the core elements of the creative strategy. The brand defines the message it will project to its audience and the type of relationship it establishes with potential users.

2.3 Transmedia Strategy
The atomization of audiences, media, languages, formats, and channels has created a fertile ground for the transmediality of communication.

2.4 Chart
Creation of a document or synthetic map that visualizes, verifies, and communicates the logical and evolutionary process of the different stages that make up a strategic communication project (briefing, analysis, strategy, value proposition, creative concept, claim, and expression).

2.5 Media Landscape
A brief history of the media spectrum and the impact that its evolution has had on the market and society.

 3 Languages, mediums and channels

Languages, mediums and channels for innovative and disruptive communication.

3.1 De Madison a Pinterest
Comprender el negocio publicitario y mediático que actualmente se encuentra en íntegra evolución. Análisis de los cambios en el sector, de los Mad a los Math Men, con descripciones detalladas de cada período y considerando la herencia que Madison Avenue ha perpetuado en la actualidad.

3.2 Radio Moritz
De la estrategia al contenido: Caso práctico desarrollado por una empresa real que acerca otras maneras de desarrollar la comunicación utilizando medios propios y medios ganados. Una mirada particular al uso de los eventos y al uso de las redes.

3.3 Redes y formatos
Dentro del efervescente contexto virtual, las pautas que funcionaban en los medios masivos han quedado obsoletas. Estudiaremos las nuevas posibilidades digitales que permiten a los creativos generar estrategias de comunicación desde lógicas innovadoras y originales.

 4 Professional context and art direction

Fundamentals of art direction and related theories, as well as typologies, functions, resources, action areas and professional contexts.

4.1 The Origin of Cool Aesthetics
Definition and etymology of the term “cool.” An exploration of the history of “cool,” its socioeconomic context, and its aesthetics.

4.2 The Art Director in Various Contexts
Through real practical examples, professionals from different fields will explain the work processes involved for an art director and their relationship with other creative professionals.

4.3 Creative Research
Work process for generating aesthetic treatments. Introduction to a method of search, archiving, and tagging.

 5 ​Inspiration and audiovisual culture

Immersion in the visual culture, which constitutes the raw material for formalising aesthetic solutions based on the sum of languages.

5.1 Imaginaries and Trends
Analysis of eight key attributes that define our environment and create major market trends, fashions, and hypes.

5.2 Aesthetic Categories
Building perspectives to develop critical capacity regarding contemporary aesthetic phenomena.

5.3 Decades
A cross-sectional and multidisciplinary overview of the 20th and 21st centuries through the exploration and analysis of some of their most significant cultural expressions.

5.4 Images of the 20th and 21st Centuries
How audiovisual language has influenced artistic direction, visually reflecting ideas, sensations, interests, and complex trends.

5.5 Script and Storyboard
Different expressive modes for conveying audiovisual project proposals.

5.6 Scenography, Costumes, and Staging
Professionals from theater, film, and television will share their experiences.

 6 Resources and creative and project methodology

Methodologies to conceptualise and create visual universes and aesthetic strategies.

6.1 Narrativity
Study of the construction of narrative structures to understand their informative capacity and their ability to actively engage the audience.

6.2 Cocotrans
The management and treatment of references through the processes of copying, combining, and transforming.

6.3 Sequential Narrative
Historical and theoretical approach to the mechanisms of sequential narrative as the seed of various contemporary visual narrative forms.

6.4 (Audio)Visual Narrative
Immersion in the world of audiovisual semiotics, understanding the narrative elements of a moving visual discourse.

6.5 The Word
An essential resource for the creative profession, as it allows for the establishment of project foundations. This is due to its three capacities: creative, prefigurative, and descriptive.

6.6 DDDD Method
Discover, Define, Develop, and Direct.

6.7 A Team
Description of the functions of each member of the art team, both in the pre-production phase and in the production and post-production of a film.

 7 A project is a journey

Final Master Project on a communication strategy with its different phases (from the research phase to presentation).

If you want to know more about the MA in Design and Art Direction download the brochure here or check the master’s website:
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Do you want to know more about the Masters’ School?

Each academic year, students with very diverse professional and cultural profiles of more than 80 nationalities from all over the world attend their master’s or postgraduate training at Elisava. We want to promote connections and networks among students beyond the context of each master’s degree to promote the exchange of knowledge through very diverse projects: we organize interdisciplinary workshops and conferences; transdisciplinary projects with students from several master’s degrees; collaborations with companies, institutions and NGOs…

Interdisciplinary workshops Collaborations with companies, institutions and NGOs Elisava Masters’ Talks and lectures Elisava Alumni

Masters’ Scholarships

Do you want to study the MA in Design and Art Direction at Elisava? In this section you will be able to check all the information on the annual call for scholarships, which recognize, reward and disseminate the talent and excellence of future master’s students.

Elisava Masters’ Scholarships