Visuelle Kommunikation (Visual Communication)

The creative production of expressive images, graphic art and texts for public usage plays an important role in visual communication. The field of designing the exchange of information has now expanded beyond the use of traditional, graphically expressive media. Visual communication refers to the entire humandesigned environment and its modes of communication. Planning campaigns and multifaceted events can be just as much a part of this still loosely defined professional field as that of dramaturgically organizing complex sensual impressions and communicating with audio-visual, electronic media and in digital networks.

This degree programme is taught by the following professors:

The degree programme Visual Communication offers the following courses:

Standard duration of programme Deadline for application Application
8 Semesters 31 March How to apply

In order to develop innovative procedural and design models for a wide range of tasks, it is crucial that our future designers master concept-driven, artistic and design approaches and can apply theoretical, scientific and technical knowledge to relevant problems.

In this rapidly changing world, it is especially important to work in a flexible and conscientious manner. Students in this degree programme must learn to think methodically and independently, critically evaluate others (as well as themselves), and understand communicative, media-related processes and their aesthetic, social and environmental functions. The method of instruction described earlier, i.e. »interdisciplinary project work«, enables, encourages and even requires students to think in this way.

Our students and alumni design magazines, catalogues, manuscripts, guidance systems and websites. They take photos, produce books, films, commercials, TV graphics, posters and postcards. From simple logos to complex corporate design campaigns for cultural institutions, industry and trade, the entertainment business and advertising, they employ visual strategies to create compelling images and appearances.
The most critical skill they possess is an ability to communicate specific messages through a sophisticated interplay of words, texts and images, systems and structures. Their work promotes communication, educates and informs the public, reveals, clarifies and delights.

Following the prescribed duration of study of eight semesters, students obtain a »Bachelor of Arts« degree, the first-level certificate of professional qualification. 

In the follow-up two-semester master's degree programme "Visual Cultures", students gain transferable skills for design-related professions in Visual Communication which focus on the problems and issues of Visual Cultures.

» To the online registration for the aptitude test in the bachelor's degree course

Standard duration of programme Deadline for application Application
2 Semesters 31 March How to apply

In a complex and dynamic world, it has become essential to understand visual codes, their design requirements and potentials. The written word has been the ideal for scientific substantiation and argumentation for ages. Today, visual rhetoric and various visualization strategies are playing an ever-increasing role in knowledge acquisition and decision-making processes in science, research, economics and politics. Along with artistic imagery and illustrative approaches, the spheres of experience and knowledge in digital media culture are relying more and more on analytical visualization tools (e.g. mapping, images statistics, navigation, etc.).

In addition to the traditional focus on the theory and history of visual communication (art history, image science, aesthetics, communication design, media-specific design theories), Visual Culture (along with Visual Studies and Visual Research) explores new areas of instruction and research that offer a new perspective of reflection and provide access to a larger range of professional opportunities in the field of visual communication, such as those employed in the artistic, political or marketing activities in digital networks for purposes of information/communication, action and archiving. The analytical categories of the image and imagery (forms of visual perception, politics of visibility and cultures of viewing, intercultural problems) and interdisciplinary research in communication and media science have evoked new methods and approaches to communication aesthetics.

The master’s degree programme »Visual Communication/Visual Cultures« requires a particularly high degree of initiative. Students in the programme also have the possibility to realize commissioned projects and topics with a high degree of practical relevance both inside and outside the university. The supervision of the master’s project takes place in group consultations as well as in individual one-to-one discussions. As part of their studies, students are provided with the facilities of the university and the Faculty of Art and Design (for example, workshops, laboratories, libraries).

Project-based study
The master’s degree programme in Visual Communication allows students to form a concentration in any of the chairs of the degree programme. Currently, these include Graphic Design, Typography, Information Design, Staged and Documentary Photography, Image/Text Design, Advertising, Film/Video and Visual Culture. The students’ master’s projects are supervised by at least one professor from the practical area of the degree programme and another from the theoretical area. When candidates apply for admission to the degree programme, they should explicitly state the area of practical application in which they are interested.

The master’s projects are based on suggestions provided by the students, who continue to develop and complete them on their own in continual dialogue with their supervisors. The relatively liberal academic structure allows students to personally plan and carry out their master’s projects, which take the research character of their design into account and enable students to establish a well-founded position in technical discourse. The interdisciplinary interweave of scientific and design-related components in the master’s degree programme also prepares graduates for an advanced career in academics, e.g. possible admission to the doctoral programme at the Faculty of Art and Design which concludes with a PhD degree in Art and Design/Fine Art/Media Art.