Diploma in Arts - Communication

at Massey University - Wellington Campus New Zealand

When you study photography at Massey, you’ll be taught by award-winning photographers and designers. You’ll learn alongside other aspiring photographers in a challenging yet supportive environment.

Join the ranks of Massey photography graduates whose careers span the range from fine art to commercial, photojournalism to fashion photography.

Use state of the art digital suites and printers with technical support and explore alternative and historical wet-based photographic processes.

Commonplace across all major broadcasters and platforms is the audience's desire to consume factual series, bite-size web content and formatted shows from around the world. Factual Production is usually associated with non-fiction broadcast and includes formats such as documentary, chat shows, comedy, quiz and reality shows etc. In addition to broadcast TV, these formats are distributed across a number of different digital platforms both real-time and pre-recorded.

You will go on a journey of discovering compelling real-world true stories and characters lighting the screens of Aotearoa, as well as the international market. This deep dive into factual development, production and post- production reveals the mechanisms of fun and formatted, multi-camera, and studio shows all the way to long-form storytelling around the big issues of the day and character-based features.

We will investigate how the story or format defines the best approach to making the content, alongside explorations to discover your unique, creative voice. 

Create, critique, and connect with your media world with the Graduate Diploma in Arts (Media Studies). You will gain the equivalent of an undergraduate major in media studies without completing a second bachelor’s degree.

Interested in television and popular culture? Social media and the blogosphere? Film and cultural theory? Media studies can help you unlock your creative potential and develop practical skills to excel in your career.

The Graduate Diploma in Arts (Media Studies) is a bridging tool for graduates in other subjects to get the equivalent of a major in media studies.

Massey’s Graduate Diploma in Fine Arts is for skilled graduates who want to gain new knowledge and skills in fine arts.

In the large art studio courses you’ll have the support to work in any media in an interdisciplinary studio environment. This includes sculpture, painting, drawing, performance, installation, moving image, photography, printmaking, site-responsive work, curatorial activities and art writing.

Other study could include a range of studio courses that develop your practice further. Critical and contextual studies also help expand your knowledge of art and design discourse.

The Postgraduate Diploma in Design is an opportunity for you to upskill in creative practice, modern textile design technology, and theory.

Your study of public relations delivers knowledge and skills that are in increasing demand – public relations is one of the fastest-growing specialist areas of communication.

The Massey Bachelor of Communication (Public Relations) will build the skills you need for a successful career in public relations. You will develop your interpersonal and inter-group communication abilities. You’ll also learn strategic thinking, planning, writing, research and information processing skills.

You’ll learn how to help organisations to communicate in persuasive and ethical ways with their staff, customers, regulators, communities, investors, and society. Public relations practitioners:

• Organise events
• Write and edit media releases
• Write and edit online and print newsletters and publications
• Manage risk and crisis communications
• Develop strategic public relations plans, and
• Build relationships through digital media.

With Massey’s Diploma in Arts (Portuguese) you’ll gain general knowledge and understanding of the Portuguese language and Brazilian culture. Brazilian Portuguese has a slightly different grammatical structure to European Portuguese, but is similar enough that speakers of Brazilian Portuguese would understand and be understood by speakers of European Portuguese.

You don’t need any knowledge of Portuguese to enrol. You’ll progressively develop communication skills in oral and written Portuguese, from introductory to advanced level. You’ll gain an understanding and appreciation of Brazilian culture and heritage. You’ll also learn to apply your knowledge to analyse, communicate ideas and solve basic problems in diverse contexts. This will make you highly employable in a range of careers.

Concept design is about visualising and developing the ideas behind film, television, gaming, performance, products and interactive experiences.

In the Bachelor of Design with Honours (Concept Design), you’ll use traditional and contemporary art forms to communicate your concepts for new objects, characters or environments. This could include drawing and sculpting 3D models, as well as making digital plans and renders.

You could be designing characters, creatures, props, vehicles and machines, all the way to building entire worlds to form the foundations of feature films, theme parks, events, toys or exhibits.

Concept design is one of the first stages in every design process. Concept designers create the basis for further production and development, rather than finished products.

The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) has a strong collective philosophy. By bringing together students from design and fine arts, the MFA fosters intense conversations and exploration. Embed yourself in a rich dialogue about your creative practice in Massey’s transdisciplinary MFA qualification for artists and designers.

For designers and artists
Choose whether you want to graduate with an MFA in design, in fine arts or without endorsement if you believe your work cannot be framed in terms of either discipline.
We have had students join the qualification whose undergraduate training is in fashion design, photography, textile design, industrial design, graphic design, fine arts and even music.

The Bachelor of Design with Honours (Integrated Design), you’ll select courses from two or more of the other seven majors in the Bachelor of Design with Honours. You’ll push your study beyond traditional design boundaries.

Choose courses to form a unique programme of study, in consultation with the qualification leader. You can choose courses from the following disciplines:

• concept design
• fashion design
• industrial design
• photography
• spatial design
• textile design
• visual communication design (including graphic design, illustration, advertising and branding, interaction design and more).