Character Design
Freestanding course
Freestanding course, bachelor’s level
15 credits
Malmö | daytime | 100%
31 August 2026 - 8 November 2026
Applications open 16 March
International students
International students
Full tuition fee: 53,000 SEK
EU/EEA students are generally not required to pay tuition fees.
About the course
The course aims to give fundamental theoretical and practical knowledge of figure/character development for various visual narrative media, including games.
Character design externalises or visualises internal and/or invisible qualities of figures within narrative contexts. From these traits, the reader/ viewer/gamer/etc. builds her/his expectations in regard to the story's development or games options.
The development from stereotypical figure to individual character consolidates or disrupts given expectations.
The course offers introductions to various media and their properties, including relevant aspects of psychology of media, focus on forms of storytelling and portrayal of figures. Theoretical work interlinks with experimental development of figures for various media to develop a systematic approach to character design.
Course content
The course is divided into three parts:
1. Storytelling, figure constellations. Text analysis for character design and useful creative writing methods. Properties of medial canals and elements of their storytelling. Basics of copyrights and other relevant media laws (7,5 credits).
2. Individual project in character design for one specific medium (chosen in dialogue with supervisor) (4 credits).
3. Film/drama/literary/media theory, and graphic storytelling (3,5 credits).
Part 1 contains a short introduction to the basics of storytelling in media, starting with technical aspects, forms of narration, and artistic practice. This part of the course offers practical and theoretical issues. Students analyse and reflect on results reached and put them into relation to the course's literature/reading obligations. Characters/figures and visual material are produced experimenting with tools, styles, and medial canals. This part of the course develops practical competences of character design, narrating, layout of individual aspects of figures/characters, digitalisation, production. Results are presented in seminars.
Part 2 is dedicated to one individual project that has to be developed for usage in a previously agreed on performance or publication in a mass-medium (e.g. comic, film or game). The topic and medium are chosen by the student in dialogue with her/his supervisor. The project-work is done independently, with limited supervision. It is used for further analysis and development in the final paper.
Part 3 runs parallel to the entire course and consists of lectures, group-discussions, and written/drawn/built exercises. Theory is integrated in the practical elements and the students continuously describe their reflections and analyses in oral or/and written form. The whole course completes with a written reflection on the practical development of a set of figures/characters for a specific narrative use (usually: comic, film, play, or game).
Syllabus and course literature
You can find a list of literature in the syllabus, along with other details about the course.
Entry requirements and selection
Entry requirements
General entry requirements + English 6.
Selection
34% Upper Secondary Grades - 34% Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test (SweSAT) - 32% University Credits
Course literature
Current literature list is available in the syllabus for the course
Course evaluation
Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).
