Friends! You are about to make a choice regarding your educational track for the next two years. To ensure your decision is well-informed and convenient, we have compiled essential information on each specialization within the «Communication Design» profile.
There are four specializations in total: — Branding — Typography, Typeface, and Multi-Page Publication — Motion Design — Media and Design
Each specialization falls under the «Communication Design» profile. The variable disciplines across any specialization are standardized. The art practice block is tailored to your chosen specialization.
BRANDING
(Moscow, St. Petersburg, Perm Campuses)
You will complete every stage of creating a modern, high-quality brand—from preliminary research to developing all corporate identity elements and presenting your final work. By the third year, you will be able to design a multi-page publication, a calendar, work from a real client brief, learn all the nuances of working with a genuine client, and practice design thinking.
The first module focuses on developing a design mock-up for a flip calendar (or another original design) for the following calendar year, based on a theme assigned by the curator. You will gain fundamental knowledge of creative calendar concepts and constructions, and the principles of building a calendar grid. The calendar mock-up must allow for mass production.
Creative Competency Map: https://creativemap.hse.ru/timetable/1356/7657
Experimental Notation Calendar 2024, Yulia Ilyina
During the second module, you will design your own display typeface with a minimal set of Cyrillic and Latin characters, numerals, and punctuation, and then develop a project based on it. The display typeface becomes the primary tool for visual expression.
Creative Competencies Map: https://creativemap.hse.ru/timetable/1356/7400
GPB typeface, Anastasiya Sharapova
In the third module, you will master the skill of working with a pre-made brief as part of a project. You will be able to independently research and analyze the brief’s topic and develop solutions for two competition projects. This time, you may encounter highly specific client requirements and contest conditions that you must meet.
Creative Competencies Map: https://creativemap.hse.ru/timetable/1356/7399
Maxim Bochkin, Gleb Potryasaev, Mikhail Grinevich, KARAT identity
In the fourth module, you will undertake another project based on a real brief from an external client. You will establish communication with the client under the guidance of a curator. Project themes are restricted to branding and visual communication. The external client brief project can be substituted with your original, large-scale project, which involves independently defining the problem and/or aligning the project theme with the priorities of the Art and Design School and/or the Laboratory. A design thinking project requires selecting a professional area for execution, defining the project genre, creating a concept, producing, designing, and taking the project to the implementation stage. External partners may participate in the project. Students from other educational disciplines, faculty members, external authors, and experts may be involved in the work.
Creative Competency Map: https://creativemap.hse.ru/timetable/1356/2684
In this module, you will also submit a proposal for your thesis project. For the thesis proposal, you will prepare a presentation outlining no more than five potential topics for your final qualifying work. The thesis topic must be ambitious, large-scale, and relevant. These could be a real client project, a startup venture, an exhibition design, or something similar. The priority topic can be presented with supplementary materials that reflect its specificity and area of study (e.g., a brochure, video, etc.). All topics are considered only in conjunction with accompanying visual research topics, which form an integral part of the thesis project.
https://creativemap.hse.ru/timetable/1356/1831
MOTION DESIGN
(Moscow, St. Petersburg, Perm Campuses)
Students in this specialization acquire a comprehensive set of competencies related to motion and multimedia design, mastering the fundamentals of visual communication, video, and audio editing. They create animation for high-demand formats such as multimedia projects and 3D product reveals, and learn modern workflows for motion graphics.
Module 1. Typographical Accidents: Film Titles
In the first module, you will design alternative opening titles for a chosen, aesthetically significant classic film—titles that exist separately from the film’s video content.
The video piece should support and develop the film’s aesthetic and meaning, or engage in a dialogue with it. Furthermore, you will develop identity elements designed to promote and market the film.
https://creativemap.hse.ru/timetable/1260/12171
Credits for the film «Resident’s Mistake»
excerpt from the credits of the film Kamikaze Girls
Zodiac Film Credits
Module 2. Multimedia Project
The second module involves developing animated content for use on multi-screen and/or unconventional media, including projection mapping.
Within the scope of the project, students also conceptualize the context for the content—whether it’s a promotional event, a festival gathering, or something else. Students study spatial composition, the direction of viewer attention, and working with the ambient space; they master tools for the rhythmic organization of scenes and the overall timeline.
The module’s goal is to introduce students to the art of spatial storytelling and the use of sound to organize space.
https://creativemap.hse.ru/timetable/1260/5319
Mapping for the Great Gatchina Palace
Media installation for the LED screen at the Nizhny Novgorod Ice Arena for the Intervals 2026 festival
