How Falmouth University’s online MAs are helping creatives find their true voice

Looking to level up your creativity without putting your career on hold? Falmouth’s online MAs offer a world-class creative education that can fit around your existing career and commitments. We chat with staff and alumni to find out how it all works in practice.

Let’s face it, the creative industry is a bit of a whirlwind at the moment. Everything from the rise of AI to the shakeout of agencies means that whatever stage you are in your career, you’re probably thinking about your future more carefully than ever.

For some, that might mean pursuing an MA, but with rent and bills to pay, most of us won’t have the luxury of taking one or two years out of work. That’s why Falmouth University is offering the opportunity to study at home, part-time, enabling designers, artists and storytellers to access world-class creative education in a way that fits around their existing careers and commitments.

You might feel an online MA is somehow a lesser option than being physically present on campus. If so, that would be a mistake. In fact, in many ways, it’s a better experience.

To discover why, I spoke to Bryan Clark, head of graphic design at Falmouth University, and Jasmine Hortop and Max Bloom, who took online MAs in Illustration
and Graphic Design respectively. Read on to find out why signing up to a Falmouth Masterclass taster session could be the first step in developing your distinctive creative voice.

Making online better

The first thing that sets Falmouth’s approach apart is its commitment to creating a truly bespoke experience. “Falmouth has 120 years’ experience delivering creative education, but we’re not just taking our campus-based courses and putting them on video call,” explains Bryan. “We see teaching online as a creative opportunity. We’re distilling a large amount of professional, educational and academic experience to teach online MAs that encourage exploration, risk-taking, and deep reflection on personal practice.”

Indeed, Falmouth is something of a pioneer in this space. “We’ve been offering online MAs for nearly 10 years now, way before COVID,” Bryan points out. “That’s given us time to really hone things in a way that enables creatives with different learning styles to study in the way that suits them, especially if you’re neurodivergent.”

Falmouth has applied this mindset to developing online MAs in a wide range of areas including Graphic Design, Illustration, User Experience, Digital Marketing, Photography and Fine Art. And it’s an approach that appeals to recent graduates looking to specialise and established professionals seeking renewal or change.

Graduate Max had already been working as a graphic designer for a few years when he applied. “I had some really good practical experience in the industry and a pretty solid portfolio, but I was mostly self-taught,” he says. “I realised if I wanted to progress my career and improve as a designer, I’d need to push myself and get a qualification.”

Jasmine, meanwhile, had been working as an illustrator for around eight years, both in-house and freelance. “While I was getting consistent commercial work, I was craving the space to slow down and reconnect with my own creative voice,” she recalls. “I wanted to develop work that felt more aligned with my values. I already had a portfolio that reflected some of this, but I was looking to refine and deepen it.”

Exploration and risk-taking

So, what of the courses themselves? At the heart of Falmouth’s approach is helping students discover and develop their own distinctive creative perspectives.

“We’re encouraging students to find and identify their own voice,” explains Bryan. “But it’s not just an academic exercise. It’s about creating work that industry will look at and think: ‘That’s a really fascinating way of looking at a subject’.”

For Jasmine — a Cornwall-based freelance illustrator and muralist, who was recently shortlisted for the World Illustration Awards — this focus on personal development proved transformative for her career. “I’d been wanting to develop a stronger sense of sensitivity and authenticity in my practice,” she explains. “The narrative module was especially pivotal in helping me define my visual language and style, particularly within the themes I’m most passionate about.”

Max, who currently lives in London and works at Dentsu, one of the world’s largest marketing and advertising agencies, experienced a similar breakthrough during his time with Falmouth. “The MA was completely shifted my perspective on design,” he explains. “I had some very simple but life-changing epiphanies throughout the course that still stay with me today.”

Importantly, Falmouth’s online courses maintain strong connections to industry, with tutors typically being practising professionals themselves. “One of my lecturers, Stuart Tolley, is a book and editorial designer I was a really big fan of, even before I began the course,” recalls Max. “I’m currently working on my first design book, and it’s been really useful being able to contact Stuart for advice. I absolutely loved my tutors at Falmouth; they were all incredibly inspiring people. “

Jasmine tells a similar story. “My tutor, Merlin Evans, was just fantastic in encouraging me to push more explorative collaborations, away from the more commercial work I’d been doing up till then,” she remembers. “She really helped me work through the fog of what I was creating and identify new opportunities.”

Truly global connections

The courses attract people from all around the world, giving students the chance to connect and collaborate with diverse cultures and ethnicities. “This creates an environment where people from all over the world can engage in innovative discussions about design, art or illustration,” Bryan points out.

Jasmine found this diversity particularly valuable during her time with Falmouth. “Studying with a truly international cohort was really eye-opening,” she enthuses. “It offered an insight into the diverse creative approaches, styles and perspectives being explored across different cultures and contexts. I found it especially inspiring to see how others tackled similar themes through completely different lenses.”

And this diversity isn’t just a nice extra; it’s purposely harnessed to make the courses themselves more meaningful. For example, the Graphic Design course challenges students to identify local issues that need improvement—from educational access to transportation or clean water. But here’s the twist: “The next stage isn’t students solving their own problem,” Bryan explains. “They’re going to solve one of their fellow students’ problems. So then you get this lovely interplay of trying to understand different cultural perspectives.”

Building bonds

Even though students are connected remotely, they typically develop strong bonds with each other. That was certainly the case for Max. “My cohort started a Discord server,” he recalls. “And we used that as an informal space to vent, post memes, and share our collective misery when we were doing our final projects.”

Meeting in real life is also encouraged; all courses have an optional in-person event during the year. These are mostly based in the UK or even at Falmouth’s campuses in Cornwall, but have been as far afield as Berlin in the past.

In-person meet-ups are also something that often happens naturally while building connections with other students. “There were two other Londoners in my cohort, and a few more living just outside London, and we’d regularly meet up for drinks,” reveals Max.

Bryan adds: “We’ve had some scenarios where online students have got together to form companies. The virtual connections become a real scenario. Students have told me they’ve made friends for life—even though they weren’t expecting to.”

Find your creative future with Falmouth

The message is clear. Whether you’re looking to specialise your skills, redirect your career, or simply reignite your creative passion, Falmouth’s online MA courses offer a flexible, supportive environment to help you achieve your goals.

As Max advises: “It’s definitely not an easy two years, but it’s completely worth it. The MA is a safe place to just try things. Some of it might work, some might not, but the main thing is what you learn and get out of it.”

Want to know more? A series of taster classes, explaining more about each course and how to apply, are taking place over the next few weeks. Sign up here.