Masters Degrees (Design Strategy)

About the course

This unique international, multi-disciplinary course will develop design managers and leaders as catalysts for strategic innovation and change.

The programme comprises compulsory modules of theoretical and analytical topics in areas such as innovation, creativity, team-working and leadership. Special features include analytical design exercises, multimedia educational material, research methods, case studies, design audits and international placements.

The aim of the course is to create closer links between design and industry and to widen the horizons of design management students, enabling you to make informed reference to the world beyond design – to users, the market, new technology, economics, politics, law and the global environment.

Aims

All organisations use design, but few master its use strategically. This course provides the skills and knowledge to students wishing to enter this exciting and rewarding field of endeavour.

This innovative course was one of the first Master’s programmes - globally - that sought to explain the relationship between innovation and design and the importance of applying a strategic approach using design thinking, design methods and process.

Today we remain a unique course internationally and attract students from all over the world, from different creative and design backgrounds, both with one purpose…to become masters of design strategy.

By the time you graduate you will be equipped to:

apply thinking, design methods and process to identify opportunities for innovation and drive changes in commercial, public and/or no-for-profit organisations
explore how strategic design could be used to deliver a whole spectrum of innovation ranging from an innovative business model right through to new products/services
show expertise in your chosen specialism in exciting fields, such as social innovation
critically evaluate the relationship of design, creativity, innovation and enabling technologies
demonstrate personal initiative in addressing challenging issues relevant to industry and other organisations and /or the design profession.

Course Content

The balanced combination of critical examination and rigorous academic research and creativity is a unique characteristic of our Design Strategy and Innovation MA programme at Brunel. You will do a three-phase programme:

Phase One modules: Taught Element (September - December)

Strategic Design Management
Branding Strategy Studies
Innovation Strategy and Management
Design Research

Phase Two Modules: Taught/Tutored (January - April)

Design Innovation Futures: Seminar & Workshop Programme
Design Innovation Research Project 1
Design Innovation Research Project 2

Phase Three Module: Student-led (May - August)

Dissertation

Special Features

'Rich Design' - This is a term we use to describe the many extracurricular activities on offer for Design and Branding students at Brunel.

Brazilian week - We host an annual visit from top Brazilian designers, with joint activities organised with Brunel students. It’s an extremely exciting and rewarding experience for both our students and visitors.

Design consultancies - Many design staff at Brunel are practicing design consultants in their own right, and also work closely with several design consultancies, including Design Bridge. an international brand design agency. This has resulted not only in this company participating in Design Futures, but offering student projects, internships and also graduate employment positions.

Eminent speakers - Every year, our ‘Design Futures’ event offers students the chance to use their research to find design-based solutions to issues facing the world. Design Futures also features eminent guest speakers from all aspects of the design profession, who offer their views on the future of design and its role in meeting global challenges.

Industry and professional focus: London is arguably the most important design and creative capital in the world. Brunel Masters plays a key part in this vibrant landscape. Consequently students leave with a realistic and cutting edge set of skills and knowledge. A world renowned consultancy has praised Brunel design graduates for their ability to ‘hit the ground running’ – meaning they start work understanding modern branding and are able to immediately contribute to strategic thinking within a company.

International flavour: Our MA Design courses draw a truly international mix of students, creating a diverse pool of creative talent at Brunel that attracts employers.

Work Placements

Our students have completed placements and design audits with following major companies and corporations: Grange, Wolff DIms, British Airways, Xerox Europe, HSBC Bank, Black and Decker, IDEG and Hasbro UK.

This might explain why many of our alumni now work for some of the world’s leading consultancies including Saffron, New Edge, Design Bridge, Imagination and Seymour Powell, as well as ‘blue-chip’ companies such as Lenovo, Samsung, British Airways, The Virgin Group, Dyson and HSBC amongst others. Some like Brunel so much they elect to stay on with us for a few more years and study design research for their PhD.

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As a cultivated form of invention, design shapes, modifies and alters the world around us for better or worse, and the need for modern design to be more sustainable and ethically responsible has never been more important.

Many multinational companies, research centres, governments and individuals acknowledge that a change in attitude to the way we design products, spaces, communications and communities is a positive step and long overdue. Indeed, over the last 10 years, commercial understanding of sustainable design has transformed, shifting from being about risk and compliance to a dynamic leadership issue.

Our Sustainable Design MA helps you to rethink the parameters of good design in an unsustainable age. Working alongside experts in ecology, psychology, design and business, you will gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to focus your practice and become a more effective agent of change.

Why study with us?

• Interdisciplinary approach to sustainable design that incorporates ideas from ecology, psychology and business with a balance of theory and practice
• Campus in one of Europe's most progressive and creative cities
• World-renowned staff, including sustainable design expert Professor Jonathan Chapman
• Guest lecturers from industry including Louis Joseph (head of global strategy at Puma), Richard Gilbert (director of The Agency for Design) and Oliver Heath (founder of OH Designs)
• Diverse student body with backgrounds in graphic design, illustration, architecture, fashion, education, politics and product design

Areas of study

• Sustainable Design: Present(s)
Semester one, 20 credits

You start with a foundation in sustainable design principles, theories and methodologies. Themes include cradle to cradle, low-carbon building and production, design for recycling, biodegradability, biomimicry, alternative energy, ecological thinking, permaculture, and disassembly.

• Research Methods
Semester one, 20 credits

This module gives you an overview of design research methods and how they are used in professional practice. It enables you to construct the kind of research questions, hypotheses and methodologies that underpin innovative design, as you develop a more autonomous position in the process of critical inquiry.

• Studio
Semesters one and two, 60 credits

The Studio module spans two projects – ‘Behaviours’ and ’Matters’. The Behaviours project takes place in semester one and provides you with a theoretical context for the studio-based investigation, analysis and generation of essential design criteria that shape patterns of consumption.

In semester two, you undertake the Matters project, a studio-based experience that places emphasis on materiality and the nature of physical experience as mediated through the design, production and physical manifestation of things.

• Sustainable Design: Future(s)
Semester two, 20 credits

This module takes the form of a series of seminars, workshops and discussion groups where specialist practitioners, writers, researchers, manufacturers and theorists present their work on sustainability. It covers themes including consumer motivation, behaviour, phenomenology, deep ecology, temporality, consciousness, emotional durability, materiality, defuturing and experience-authoring.

• Master
Semester three, 60 credits

The Master project represents the culmination of your work throughout the course. It allows you to apply all of the experiences and skills that you have accumulated, as you choose an area of sustainable design that you want to pursue in detail.

You work is structured by an individually defined 'statement of intent' that provides the framework through which you will be assessed. This process enables you to explore distinctive areas of expertise with a unique approach to the ubiquitous issues of sustainability and design.

The final body of master work must be developed through practices relevant to you and your statement of intent. These might include the development and production of design proposals, a written thesis, a documentary, an ad campaign, an article for a leading publication, a touring exhibition or a combination of the above.

Our studio

From 2016, students will work in the new Masters Centre, which provides studio, seminar and tutorial space for all postgraduate students in the School of Architecture and Design.

Students on MA Sustainable Design will have dedicated studio space with access to workshop and digital model making facilities. More specialised materials and making requirements can be supported on an individual basis with colleagues in engineering, crafts and arts.

Careers and employability

After graduation, many students secure influential positions within major global businesses, charities and NGOs.

A number of our students establish independent design agencies, social innovation labs and research centres. Many decide to continue their research in the form of a PhD, and have a particularly strong record of achieving fully funded studentships, both here at Brighton and internationally.

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Objectives

By the end of the program, students will have acquired the key competencies to manage fashion, design and luxury companies successfully and will be able to evolve professionally within the cosmopolitan, culture-intensive and hypercompetitive environment typical of these industries.

LOCATIONS

Students have the opportunity to follow the MSc in Fashion, Design and Luxury Management program in the following locations:

- Grenoble - http://en.grenoble-em.com/grenoble-vibrant-and-welcoming
- Paris - http://en.grenoble-em.com/paris
- London

WHY CHOOSE TO DO A MSC IN FASHION, DESIGN AND LUXURY MANAGEMENT?

The MSc in Fashion, Design and Luxury Management is designed to provide international companies in these industries with the profiles they need to be highly competitive in a complex environment.

The fashion, design and luxury industries are design-intensive and innovation-oriented industries, providing very good opportunities for growth in a hypercompetitive environment. For this reason, companies in these industries are seeking to recruit experts aware of the specific dynamics of these fields, able to manage companies and develop brands in a successful way.

Students enrolled in the MSc Fashion, Design and Luxury Management will benefit from a high-level faculty with both academic and professional experience.

Taught entirely in English, this program offers students the international perspective and the industry-specific culture they will need in order to become skilled managers in these hypercompetitive industries.

Through their coursework, students will acquire the management tools and techniques and the overall industry culture needed to develop and govern fashion, design and luxury brands in a highly competitive global and complex environment. The course covers essential management skills as well as more industry-specific competencies:

- Principles of luxury and luxury brand management
- Luxury sectorial analysis
- Technology and innovation in the fashion and design business
- Creative fundamentals of fashion and design
- Sustainable design, luxury and fashion management.

Program

MANAGEMENT ESSENTIALS

- Intercultural Management and International Negotiations
- Global Leadership and People Management
- International Trade
- Marketing
- Branding and Brand Equity Management
- Strategic Management
- Finance and Accounting

FASHION, DESIGN & LUXURY MANAGEMENT

- Technology and Innovation in the Fashion and Design Business
- Industrial Design
- Interior Design and Merchandising
- Sustainable Luxury and Design
- Luxury Sectorial Analysis:
- Food, Wine and Hospitality
- Boats, Cars and Motorbikes
- Jewelry and Watches
- Perfumes, Cosmetics and Eyewear
- Accessories and Leather Goods

- Distribution Channels and Digital Marketing in the Fashion Industry
- Fundamentals of Fashion and Design
- Principles of Luxury and Managing Luxury Brands
- Integrated Communications Strategy
- Production, Operations, Purchasing and Supply Chain in the Fashion Industry
- Customer Management and Customer Intelligence
- The Legal Context of the Design and Fashion Industry

STUDY TRIPS

Students will take part in an international study trip of one week in one European Fashion Capital. They will have the opportunity to meet with leading industry professionals and visit companies in the fashion, design and luxury industries.

During the company visits students will work on a project relating to one of these industries and in alignment with their future career ambitions.

INTERNSHIP

Each student will undertake an internship of a minimum of three months in a company of their choice at the end of the classroom part of the program. The internship will contribute directly to the content of the Final Management Project and may take place anywhere in the world.

FINAL MANAGEMENT PROJECT

The second year of the program is dedicated to the Final Management Project which will be undertaken under the supervision of a GGSB professor.
Students will focus on a management aspect of the fashion, design and luxury industries; they are also encouraged to choose the subject of the Final Management Project in coherence with their future career goals. It is possible to complete the project in parallel with an employment or an internship in France or abroad.

FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Foreign language skills are essential in a globally competitive business environment. The program is taught in English, and no prior knowledge of French is required to attend the program. Students have the possibility of learning French or another foreign language such as Spanish or Chinese during the program.
This language component, although not compulsory, is highly recommended for students who intend to pursue an international career, since companies in the Fashion, Design and Luxury industry are currently recruiting personnel speaking the language of the country in which they are based, in addition to English and in-demand languages like Chinese or Russian.

LOCATION

The MSc in Fashion, Design and Luxury Management will be offered at the GGSB Grenoble, Paris and London campuses.

PROGRAM BENEFITS

Students enrolled in the program will:

- Acquire and develop the specific management skills required for a successful career in fashion, design, and luxury industries
- Benefit from teaching staff with extensive scientific and professional industry experience
- Enjoy study trips with visits to companies and industry-specific fairs and events
- Study in a multicultural and creative learning environment
- Understand the creation of value in the fashion, design and luxury industries

Careers

It is expected that graduates of this MSc program will either take up positions in multinational companies in the fashion, design and luxury industries or will become entrepreneurs able to found and develop their own companies.

The program will prepare graduates for positions in sourcing, purchasing, product development, product management, public relations, events, store retail management, people management and entrepreneurship.

Admission

Candidates should have excellent written and oral communication skills, as well as strong interpersonal skills and the motivation to pursue an international career.

No prior knowledge of the fashion, design and luxury management industries is required, but applicants should demonstrate a strong interest in this area and have a clear idea of how the program will help them achieve career goals.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

- Bachelor-level undergraduate degree in any subject with good grade average.
- Work experience is not compulsory.
- Fluency in English (see test requirements below).

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This course is concerned with the advanced exploration and application of principles of graphic design within the contexts of research and professional development. Engagement with digital and making technologies is central to discovering and harnessing new thinking in design.

This course is of particular relevance to those interested in effective visual communication and developing innovative concepts and approaches in publication design, illustration, motion graphics, corporate identity, photography, design for digital media and graphic design for advertising.

Design Network

Based in the heart of the School of Art, MA/MFA Design: Graphic Design and Art Direction is part of an innovative design network — a community of staff and students exploring design ideas in a discursive, cross-disciplinary studio environment. Critically informed practical designers, the group works experimentally, inspired by new insights and possibilities.

While studying towards a particular qualification at MA/MFA level, students experience their subject in the broader context of contemporary design practice.

Specialist Environment

Dedicated spaces for the postgraduate community have been developed to enable the postgraduate community to flourish. These spaces, for thinking and practice, are located centrally within the School of Art, allowing easy access to an extensive range of workshops where the combination of traditional and state of the art equipment opens up a world of exciting possibilities.

Course Content

The MA Design: Graphic Design and Art Direction is made up of four units totalling 180 credits.

The programme is designed to help you acclimatise to the challenges of MA level research and practice, enabling you to identify and describe a clear direction for your postgraduate design study.

You will be encouraged to develop design propositions that encompass key design issues and have complexity and ambition, taking full consideration of the relative contextual drivers.

You will also be encouraged and supported to extend your experience in the professional sphere either through a practical project, research context, exchange, work experience, or other negotiated professional set of interactions with an external partner, groups of students and creative industry.

Towards the end of the programme you will undertake a major project to consolidate your past research and practice into fully realised collections, pieces, proposals, business plans, or exhibitions – whatever means is appropriate to the work. You will also have developed a strategy for the continuation of your practice located and contextualised to the profession or discipline.

If you choose to progress to MFA Design: Graphic Design and Art Direction award you will study a further two units of 60 credits each.

This route is focused on the continuation of your practice aligned to the research and selection of appropriate public or professional venues and platforms to disseminate a significant body of work. You will be required to produce work for a public audience in the most relevant and appropriate form along with any implicit publicity and dissemination material.

Resources

We have developed a dedicated postgraduate area occupying an entire floor of the main School of Art building, offering an exciting space to be, both intellectually and practically. The centre is located in the newly refurbished Chatham Tower with studios, design laboratories, seminar rooms and extensive workshops that form the nucleus of this vibrant, cross-disciplinary learning environment.

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This course promotes the investigation and interpretation of interior space, inside and outside of the traditional architectural envelope, whilst considering human occupation, engagement and experience as the catalyst. This may manifest in a variety of outcomes and will allow you to work within your chosen speciality such as building re-use, exhibition or shop design, branding, identities or environmental graphics, performance or set design, temporary installations or ‘event’ design, furniture or artefact design. The specialist workshops provide you with opportunities to explore materiality, fabrication and realisation of your ideas, through technical rigour at a variety of scales whilst studio teaching is underpinned by engagement with industry.

Design Network

Based in the heart of the School of Art, MA/MFA Design: Interior Design is part of an innovative design network — a community of staff and students exploring design ideas in a discursive, cross-disciplinary studio environment. Critically informed practical designers, the group works experimentally, inspired by new insights and possibilities.

While studying towards a particular qualification at MA/MFA level, students experience their subject in the broader context of contemporary design practice.

Specialist Environment

Dedicated spaces for the postgraduate community have been developed to enable the postgraduate community to flourish. These spaces, for thinking and practice, are located centrally within the School of Art, allowing easy access to an extensive range of workshops where the combination of traditional and state of the art equipment opens up a world of exciting possibilities.

Course Content

The MA Design: Interior Design is made up of four units totalling 180 credits.

The programme is designed to help you acclimatise to the challenges of MA level research and practice, enabling you to identify and describe a clear direction for your postgraduate design study.

You will be encouraged to develop design propositions that encompass key design issues and have complexity and ambition, taking full consideration of the relative contextual drivers.

You will also be encouraged and supported to extend your experience in the professional sphere either through a practical project, research context, exchange, work experience, or other negotiated professional set of interactions with an external partner, groups of students and creative industry.

Towards the end of the programme you will undertake a major project to consolidate your past research and practice into fully realised collections, pieces, proposals, business plans, or exhibitions – what ever means is appropriate to the work. You will also have developed a strategy for the continuation of your practice located and contextualised to the profession or discipline.

If you choose to progress to MFA Design: Interior Design award you will study a further two units of 60 credits each.

This route is focussed on the continuation of your practice aligned to the research and selection of appropriate public or professional venues and platforms to disseminate a significant body of work. You will be required to produce work for a public audience in the most relevant and appropriate form along with any implicit publicity and dissemination material.

Resources

We have developed a dedicated postgraduate area occupying an entire floor of the main School of Art building, offering an exciting space to be, both intellectually and practically. The centre is located in the newly refurbished Chatham Tower with studios, design laboratories, seminar rooms and extensive workshops that form the nucleus of this vibrant, cross-disciplinary learning environment.

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Do you have a keen interest in the value of creativity and design and how this can best be used as a strategic tool for organisations?

The MA Design Management course will allow you to harness the power of design and innovation in a corporate context.

Offering industry engagement in fashion management or design strategy and innovation, you will develop transferrable design knowledge that will enable you to recognise the value of design and provide effective leadership and management within this sector. You will also have the opportunity to undertake a series of collaborative projects with third parties or organisations currently working within this industry.

On completion of this course you will leave with an in-depth understanding of how design can contribute to leadership, sustainability and business or social innovation, in addition to possessing the necessary skills to build and manage organisational growth through the development and launch of new products, services and brands.

This course has several available start dates and study methods - for more information, please view the relevant web-page:
January full time - https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/study-at-northumbria/courses/design-management-ma-dtfdmf6/

September distance learning - https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/study-at-northumbria/courses/design-management-dl-sept-dtddmt6/

January distance learning - https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/study-at-northumbria/courses/design-management-dl-jan-dtddmf6/

Learn From The Best

Our academic team is made up of research-active experts with extensive knowledge of the design industry. This knowledge is integrated into all aspects of their teaching to ensure that all content within this course is relevant to the workplace and current and emerging trends.

All staff within this department have a strong commitment to developing your skills and knowledge by developing your critical thinking and your ability to apply your skills to complex real-world problems.

They will be there to support you through every step of your course, ensuring you leave with confidence and full understanding of all aspects of this dynamic industry.

In addition to our teaching staff, you will also have access to specialist communities of practice that will provide the foundation for your learning journey through research networks and cross-organisational collaboration. These communities will provide industry engagement in design strategy and innovation or fashion management.

Teaching And Assessment

The MA Design Management course incorporates learning through investigation and the application of design methods in a business context.

The theory-based aspect of the course covers essential elements such as creative thinking, intellectual property, inter-cultural communication, research principles, reflective practice, contemporary influences and commercialisation.

These contextual modules provide the perfect foundation for the remainder of your degree, which develop your understanding the field of design management.

Teaching is delivered via a mix of lectures, seminars and tutorials, which are assessed by coursework and design projects. You will also have the opportunity to participate in collaborative projects and, where possible, field trips to allow you to put your skills into practise in a real-world context.

Upon completion of the taught modules, you will undertake research report under the supervision of your dedicated tutor who will provide advice and guidance at all stages.

Module Overview
DE7001 - Design Thinking (Core, 30 Credits)
DE7002 - Design Process (Core, 30 Credits)
DE7003 - Project / Thesis (Optional, 60 Credits)
DE7003 - Project / Thesis (Core, 60 Credits)
DE7006 - Design Management 1: Articulating Design Value (Core, 30 Credits)
DE7007 - Design Management 2: Strategy (Core, 30 Credits)
EF0126 - E.S.A.P. in FADSS Level 7 (Optional, 0 Credits)

Learning Environment

This course is delivered at the Northumbria School of Design, which is located at City Campus East – a dedicated learning space that is located within Newcastle city centre.

Throughout the duration of your course you will have access to state-of-the-art facilities such as our University library – which is ranked in the top three in the UK – and well equipped working space, The Hub, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Your learning experience will be enhanced though the use of technology and learning materials such as module guides, assessment information, lecture presentation slides and reading lists will be available via our innovative e-learning platform, Blackboard. You can also access student support and other key University systems through your personal account.

Research-Rich Learning

The MA Design Management course is taught by our team of research-active academics who incorporate their individual areas of specialism into the course’s contextual modules to ensure they reflect the realities of the design industry and today’s modern working environment.

The development of your own research skills is at the core of the MA Design Management course content and you will develop research-informed methods of understanding the complexity inherent in real-world situations. These methods will enable you to make better decisions, advance the field of your practice and add new knowledge that will help you perfect your skills in your own particular discipline.

Supported by subject specialists and industry networks, you will also have the opportunity to join an expert-led community of practice in focussed on design strategy or fashion management to further enhance your learning experience.

Give Your Career An Edge

The MA Design Management course will allow you to develop your leadership skills and understanding of how design can be utilised by businesses to enhance opportunities and facilitate growth.

You will engage with industrial multidisciplinary projects based on real life situations, allowing you to enhance your CV and personal development through collaboration with those currently working within this dynamic industry. Some of the recent examples of industry projects include work on oral healthcare with Procter and Gamble, wearable technology projects with the CPI National Centre for Printable Electronics, person-centred healthcare services with the Academic Health Science Network and the development of innovative kitchenware with Lakeland.

You will also develop your business and employability skills, in addition to achieving a master’s level qualification in this discipline.

Your Future

Once you have completed the MA Design Management course you will possess an in-depth understanding of how to harness the power of design within a corporate context. You will also be suitably qualified to take on managerial and leadership roles within the design sector.

This course will prepare you for broad range of jobs within design companies, private organisations and the public sector, in addition to specialist jobs within your chosen specialism. Completion may also enhance promotion prospects in some professions.

This course will also provide you with a strong foundation for progression to PhD studies.

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Design Innovation and Brand Management are the commercial powerhouses of all global organisations. These need to be understood and applied to the fast-growing business and luxury markets worldwide. This course will help you become an innovator, attracting design savvy and communication conscious entrepreneurs.

This course will enable you to apply contemporary management and design thinking in a professional context, helping you compete in the growing global markets using your creativity, strategy and management theory.

The key to successful brand development is an understanding of business strategy in relation to design thinking models and a diverse and inquisitive mind as to the relationships involved in incremental or radical innovation. Branding connects to the consumer through a range of tools; identity, experience, advertising and manipulation, while design innovation is more about new thinking processes, new associations/relationships between functionality and aesthetics and new technologies.

Learn about these fascinating contemporary areas and gain relevant professional skills, preparing you for success in your career.

Course detail

Students study luxury design, design innovation and its relationship to the experience of creative management through brand strategies. This is then applied creatively to a range of live industry projects. Through carefully designed modules you will explore a range of evolutionary and revolutionary processes that build a professional understanding of current global environments.

As well as this critical industry knowledge, you will also:
• Have the unique opportunity to collaborate across other post graduate courses delivered in the London School of Film Media and Design and the London School of Music
• gain specialist skills and knowledge in your course
• gain insight and professional practice from working alongside students from the other courses, replicating collaborative industry practices
• explore a range of evolutionary and revolutionary processes to build a professional understanding of today's competitive global environments related to design, innovation processes and the management of brands
• develop your own project driven by your new knowledge: the culmination of your Masters experience
• apply management and design thinking to support organisations to compete in the growing global markets combining creativity, strategy and management and visual language as communication powerful tools
• learn to research, apply and present/pitch design innovation and branding campaigns with mentored design partnerships or teams on industry set briefs.

Jobs and placements

The Professionalisation module is an immersive module that covers the key professional creative and technical skills that anchor industry.

Through seminars and practical workshops you will:
• explore the working life of a professional
• gain a better understanding of industry narratives
• understand historical approaches used within the field of advertising, branding and communications.

The Internship or Industry Mentored Brief is an important module and an integral element of the MA Luxury Design Innovation and Brand Management. This is a module designed to develop the experience of design, branding and communication through experience in industry or doing a professional live mentored brief, with one of our mentors.

The University of West London has its own 'W5 Productions' which will support appropriately-skilled students find relevant work placements or an industry mentored brief in the creative industries.

Career and study progression

The MA Luxury Design Innovation and Brand Management develops graduate attributes that prepare you for a range of possible careers, depending on your interests and talents.These include:
• Brand and design managers
• Marketers
• Client account handlers
• Project managers
• Creative directors
• Senior designers
• Design team leaders
• Art directors
• Advertising managers
• Account planners
• Strategic thinkers
• Communication Consultants
• Content creators and managers
• Client account executives

The UK attracts many global brands, setting up flagship stores to attract domestic and overseas visitors to private retail locations. Retailers continue to look to enter new markets in potential higher growth regions, seeking to improve their existing operational performance in these markets to achieve sustained growth. This course has been designed to lead to employment and is targeted towards students whose career developments and interests lie within this field and the growth sector of the Design and Fashion Industries.

How to apply

Click the following link for information on how to apply to this course: http://www.uwl.ac.uk/students/postgraduate/how-apply

Scholarships and bursaries

Information about scholarships and bursaries can be found here: http://www.uwl.ac.uk/students/postgraduate/scholarships-and-bursaries

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The Design Innovation MA/MSc provides a framework for developing innovative design products in all areas of design, with a strategic understanding of marketing and business strategy. It enables you to enter the creative industries at a high level of responsibility, ranging from establishing your own businesses to working in multinational corporations. You will complete an individual major project (either creative practice-based or research-focused) which runs throughout the course, supported by relevant taught modules. You will also be supported by specialist academic expertise across a range of design areas.

You can tailor the course to your career aspirations by selecting a specific pathway of study from a diverse range of options, which comprises: Footwear Design; Furniture Design; Interior Design; Digital Design; Museum and Exhibition Design; Product Design; Retail Design; or Visual Communication Design. Alternatively, you can elect to simply focus on Design Innovation in its own right. Students benefit from visiting lecturers who specialise in exhibition design, museum curation, retail design, sustainable design, business planning and creative digital design. At the same time, a range of industry, museum, charity, and arts organisation representatives regularly present and coordinate live projects.

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The MA Design: Products & Furniture course is aimed at the designer with a passion to develop innovative products, furniture, systems or services. The course encourages a broad and diverse range of approaches to design practice that reflect the designer’s personal philosophies and creative methodologies while engaging in the realities of designing for new and emerging markets.

As designers, you'll be encouraged to explore the multidisciplinary field of design and challenge the norms in design thinking. The course sets out to challenge pre-conceived attitudes to the relationship between traditional craft skills, new technology and modern manufacture; encouraging the cross fertilisation of ideas and approaches informed by collaborative working and hands on experience.

You will:
-Develop a comprehensive understanding and critical awareness of emerging technologies, materials and philosophies, including recent thinking with regards to innovative design technologies and materials
-Design and negotiate a personal learning agreement, focused on your own design interests and expertise, strengths and weaknesses to maximise your development potential
-Benefit from internationally recognised research activities undertaken by our academic staff, supported by grants from a variety of funding organisations including the European Union, UK Government and UK Research Councils, the Royal Society, the Arts Council, and industry.
-Work and study in a strong student design community, focused on studio-based working and based around supportive, peer-to-peer learning which helps to set out work in a professional context.
-Interact with industry professionals through a variety of lectures and workshops
-Work on an exciting range of projects driven by links with industry
-Learn in a multi-disciplinary environment with academic staff and students across departments at NTU
-Work in industry-standard studios, facilities and laboratories on our City Campus and benefit from expert technical support

What you'll study

You'll study modules designed to expand your awareness and understanding of product design while developing a wider appreciation of a designer's role within modern society, and the impact of new thinking in business in the design industry.

The course focuses on the needs of future professional design practice and work to promote the understanding of both local and international business and support entrepreneurial approaches to developing products and services, and the development of strategic design for business success.

Through it's project-based nature, the course emphasises the importance of independent learning, collaborative team working, creative problem solving and self-organisation skills. You'll develop a practice-based project for your final Major Study Project via the creation of a learning agreement as part of the Research Methods module; this is written in consultation with tutors and informs your final learning outcomes.

How you’re taught

Learning and teaching methods will comprise:
-Lectures to introduce and develop concepts and to explore the application of concepts
-Practical workshops
-Studio sessions, workshops and laboratories to develop skills and appreciate concepts
-Seminars and tutorials to provide academic sites
-Case study and project work to develop a deeper understanding of concepts and applications
-Project presentations to develop confidence and identity in professional practice

By the end of the course you'll be able to:
-Situate your work within the context of design theory and practice and critically reflect on the wider social, ethical, economic, global, environmental and sustainability issues in your discipline
-Demonstrate extensive knowledge appropriate to product design and comprehensive understanding of techniques applicable to your practice
-Demonstrate originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in product design
-Demonstrate an understanding of the role and potential of evolving production processes and evaluate their part in successful design outcomes
-Appraise and anticipate trends through analysis of projected cultural, economic and technological developments

Careers and employability

This course has been developed to meet the needs of industry in the UK and overseas. It is specifically designed to increase the employability of its graduates in a business context by identifying new service, strategy and product opportunities, and conducting projects in collaboration with industrial partners. You'll become more strategically aware and technically literate, and will communicate concepts and outcomes at an advanced level in an ever changing global market place.

On completion, graduates will have acquired skills and knowledge to set up their own businesses, to work in manufacturing industries, design consultancies, and research and development organisations, or to progress to PhD study by engaging in further research.

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Innovative industrial products are now produced in many parts of the world, and the strategy for originating these products is an emerging area of study.

This MSc in Industrial Product Design covers areas such as branding, the social impact of design, design management, design innovation, design technology and global design issues.

WHY CHOOSE THIS COURSE?

This course has been developed with your future employability as its focus, by choosing to study at Coventry you will benefit from:
-A flexible course structure, whereby modules can be studied in the workplace, others in full-time attendance mode
-The benefit of gaining further education in the structure and business of industrial product design
-Close collaboration with Coventry University's Centre of Excellence for Product and Automotive Design

WHAT WILL I LEARN?

Modules you will expect to take when studying the Industrial Product Design MSc degree:
Term 1
-Creative Studies
-Ergonomics
-CAD Modelling
-Product Design

Term 2
-IPD project
-Product Design
-Professional Practice
-Research Methods

Term 3
-MSc Project

The course covers areas such as branding, the social impact of design, design management, design innovation, design technology and global design issues.

TEACHING CONTACT HOURS

We do not offer a part-time evening or weekend pattern of delivery, but if you wish to study part time during the day, please contact the course director to explore further.

HOW WILL THIS COURSE ENHANCE MY CAREER PROSPECTS?

The course can lead to management of design functions within industry, consultancy roles, work for publicly funded organisations or to research.

GLOBAL LEADERS PROGRAMME

To prepare students for the challenges of the global employment market and to strengthen and develop their broader personal and professional skills Coventry University has developed a unique Global Leaders Programme.

The objectives of the programme, in which postgraduate and eligible undergraduate students can participate, is to provide practical career workshops and enable participants to experience different business cultures.

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INSTITUTE FOR DESIGN INNOVATION

The focus of this programme is ongoing development of Design Practice. You will take part in a series of processes and projects that will build a real and relevant portfolio of work.
Learning through doing is at the core of our London campus experience. A key feature of our MA/MSc Design Innovation programme is a project with industry looking at studying a real business or social problem and working collaboratively with others to innovate and design a solution.

See the website http://www.lborolondon.ac.uk/study/institutes-programmes/design-innovation/

Programme Aims

a) To enhance design skills and knowledge through theoretical and practical application individually and in multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary teams

b) Develop collaborative behaviour through active learning and team work, analysing and evaluating problems and responding to challenges in real time

c) To enable graduates to develop their critical thinking and insight to improve their effectiveness as designers

d) To enable graduates to develop their analytical and research skills through undertaking a substantial design and evaluation project with a focus on a particular area of design.

Programme Structure

To complete the MA/MSc Design Innovation students must complete 8 x 15 credit modules (4 in the first semester and 4 in the second semester). In the first semester 3 modules are compulsory with the option to choose your final 1 module from another Institute. In the second semester all 4 modules are compulsory. All students must complete a Dissertation worth 60 credits.

ASSESSMENT

Modules are assessed by a combination of essays, group exercises, presentations and time constrained assignments. Subject to your choices, there may also be exams.

Students will be asked to produce project briefs, concept drawings, user scenarios, storyboards, project blogs and multimedia documentation.

CAREER PROSPECTS

Upon graduating, you will be equipped with advanced knowledge to enhance your career opportunities in design and branding consultancies, in-house design and marketing departments as designers and design managers. You will become a professional versed with design skills and interdisciplinary teamwork. Graduates will also have the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and career prospects further by undertaking an MRes or PhD programme.

COMPULSORY MODULES

- Identity, Culture and Communication
- Design Thinking
- Reflection and Action
- Meaning Making in Design
- Foresight and Strategy
- Design Innovation Project
- Collaborative Project
- Dissertation

SECOND SUBJECT MODULES

Choose one module only
- Introduction to Mobile Internet and Media Clouds
- Principles of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management
- Sport Media and Marketing
- The Key Topics in Media and Creative Industries
- Introduction to Diplomacy
- Business Model Development

Find more information on modules here http://www.lborolondon.ac.uk/study/institutes-programmes/design-innovation/

Scholarships

We are investing over half a million pounds (£0.5m) in our scholarship and bursary scheme to support your studies at Loughborough University London in 2017. This package of support celebrates and rewards excellence, innovation and community. Our ambition is to inspire students of the highest calibre and from all backgrounds and nationalities to study with us and benefit from the wider Loughborough University experience and network. Our range of scholarships, bursaries and support packages are available to UK, EU and international students.View the sections below to discover which scholarship options are right for you.

What's on offer for 2017?
Inspiring Success Programme
-For unemployed and underemployed* graduates living in the East London Growth Boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets or Waltham Forest
-Award value: 100% off your tuition fees
-We are joining forces with The London Legacy Development Company to offer a two day programme of specialist support for graduates, including workshops, skills seminars and networking opportunities to increase students' employability and support those looking to enter into postgraduate education.
-Eligibility: At the end of the programme, eight students will be selected for a 100% scholarship to study a masters course of their choice at our London campus in September 2017.

Dean's Award for Enterprise
-For students looking for the skills and support to launch a new business
-Award value: 90% off fees to launch your business idea
-Eligibility: The award will be given at the discretion of the Dean and the Senior Leadership Team, based on a one-page submission of your business idea.

East London Community Scholarship
-For any students who obtained their GCSE’s or A-levels (or equivalent qualifications) from The Growth Boroughs – Barking and Dagenham, Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest
-Award value: 50% off your tuition fees
-Eligibility: Competitive scholarship based on one-page submission showing your contribution to our community.

Alumni Bursary
-For all Loughborough University alumni
-Award value: 20% off your tuition fees
-Eligibility: International and UK/EU alumni holding a current offer for LoughboroughExcellence Scholarship
-For international and UK/EU high achieving students
-Eligibility: Any student holding a high 2:1 or first class undergraduate degree or equivalent from a recognised high quality institution will be considered.

Find information on Scholarships here http://www.lborolondon.ac.uk/study/scholarships-and-bursaries/

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This course is studio-centred, integrating both design and craft practice where social responsibility, integrity and professional practice are placed at the heart of MA study.

We encourage active research defined by hands-on project work with community, in close partnership with local councils, organisations and communities beyond Manchester School of Art, highlighting how this network supports and informs our design and craft practice. This route calls students to question the ways in which, designers cooperate, collaborate and contribute to society.

Exploration of both hands-on and digital innovation is encouraged in the development of design, making and communication practices. There is access to an extensive range of material and CAD/CAM workshop facilities and opportunities to experience a diverse range of creative cultures, including related design and craft disciplines such as Graphic and Fashion Design.

Design Network

Based in the heart of the School of Art, MA/MFA Design: Lab is part of an innovative design network — a community of staff and students exploring design ideas in a discursive, cross-disciplinary studio environment. Critically informed practical designers, the group works experimentally, inspired by new insights and possibilities.

While studying towards a particular qualification at MA/MFA level, students experience their subject in the broader context of contemporary design practice.

Specialist Environment

Dedicated spaces for the postgraduate community have been developed to enable the postgraduate community to flourish. These spaces, for thinking and practice, are located centrally within the School of Art, allowing easy access to an extensive range of workshops where the combination of traditional and state of the art equipment opens up a world of exciting possibilities.

Course Content

The MA Design: Lab is made up of four units totalling 180 credits.

The programme is designed to help you acclimatise to the challenges of MA level research and practice, enabling you to identify and describe a clear direction for your postgraduate design study.

You will be encouraged to develop design propositions that encompass key design issues and have complexity and ambition, taking full consideration of the relative contextual drivers.

You will also be encouraged and supported to extend your experience in the professional sphere either through a practical project, research context, exchange, work experience, or other negotiated professional set of interactions with an external partner, groups of students and creative industry.

Towards the end of the programme you will undertake a major project to consolidate your past research and practice into fully realised collections, pieces, proposals, business plans, or exhibitions – what ever means is appropriate to the work. You will also have developed a strategy for the continuation of your practice located and contextualised to the profession or discipline.

If you choose to progress to MFA Design: Lab award you will study a further two units of 60 credits each.

This award is focussed on the continuation of your practice aligned to the research and selection of appropriate public or professional venues and platforms to disseminate a significant body of work. You will be required to produce work for a public audience in the most relevant and appropriate form along with any implicit publicity and dissemination material.

Resources

We have developed a dedicated postgraduate area occupying an entire floor of the main School of Art building, offering an exciting space to be, both intellectually and practically. The centre is located in the newly refurbished Chatham Tower with studios, design laboratories, seminar rooms and extensive workshops that form the nucleus of this vibrant, cross-disciplinary learning environment.

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Wearable Futures is a cross-disciplinary umbrella programme for designers who are interested in the cluster of technologies and experiences that have the human body and its covering as their centre of focus.

The course offers a holistic environment based on the integration of creative computing, digital craftsmanship and material cultures, while also incorporating the technologies and advances in hardware that are impacting on manufacturing techniques and associated applications. Wearable futures has come about as part of Ravensbourne’s current commitment to become creative leader in the field of wearable applications and body-centric design. Ravensbourne's digital research culture is contributing significantly in this context.

The main conceptual framework for the course will be provided by theories of digital craftsmanship, body-centric technologies and phenomenological readings and speculative philosophy. These will form an important research foundation for building Ravensbourne’s critical reach and will assist in helping you to sift and prioritise the current trends and thought relating to fashion and discussion around the body within data informed spaces. An interdisciplinary field of study will include interaction and experience design (UX), “making” and open source culture, design innovation and applied philosophy. You will be introduced to philosophical trends and these will tie in with your practice and help you to develop a critical view incorporating design fiction and other emerging theories. You will engage with research methods such as participatory, user study and user-centered design.

"One of the exciting things about the design industries today is that boundaries of former categories such as fashion, product or experience design have been broken down" - Alexa Pollman, Subject leader, MA Wearable Futures.

The course is a platform for investigation, dissemination and analysis around contemporary theory and practice in the wearable industries. The course’s core role will be to foster your understanding of this market and to identify latent demand within the commercial sphere and to highlight future applications and directions. The aim will be to help you to influence the decision makers so that wearable solutions will be accepted and meet the cultural and ethical expectations when designing for the human body and the garment-industry. You are expected to consider the cultural and social role inherent to fashion as a part of wearable futures.

Wearable futures students will focus their investigations on the key flashpoints of the body as an interface for what is a symbiotic, physical and digital exchange. As part of the design methodology of the course, you will be asked to develop future scenarios and narratives in order to help you and your clientele to understand the concomitant social, environmental or cultural challenges of designing for a matter as delicate as the human body.

"At the moment we’re still very much in the “task” piece of wearable computing, not in the symbolic “how do we make sense of it” piece. I think in the wearable space we are still bringing all the old metaphors of computation with us and still interpreting them in a somewhat literal way—that they are a smaller smartphone, or a little computer. It will become much more interesting when we let go of that and work out the promise that wearable computing will make to us." Genevieve Bell, Anthropologist at Intel

Get to know the subject leader: Alexa Pollman

- Tell us about yourself

For me, garments are social reactors and I like to challenge the current notion of ‘wear’. I have experienced the industry from different angles: my original profession was in fashion design, but I have also worked as a creative consultant and spent my fair share of time in showrooms, for both – big and small brands.

I completed the Design Interactions Programme at the Royal College of Art, and collaborating with various disciplines has enriched my perspective as a designer.

Luckily, I have been awarded different grants that have allowed me to pursue my own work - Peut-Porter is my design consultancy agency and platform which researches and provides forecasts on wear and fashion. Currently, I am Designer in Residence at the Design Museum London and will have new work on show from September 2015.

- What's your opinion on the current state of wearable futures?

We currently find a variety of opinions on wearables and truthfully spoken, I see a lot of problems occurring with their application. This is why it is important to train specialists who can engage with the topic in a much broader sense than is currently being done by the industry. Our wearable futures students will be asked to be highly innovative but at the same time engage with the cultural and social impacts of body-centric design. We need them to bridge the gap between artisans and material or textile specialists and the tech world.

The fashion system successfully uses technology in many experience-based ways and this seems like a very natural process to me as the narrative, experience-based aspect seems inherent to fashion. Wearable futures will not only produce gadgets and devices, it will help to define our relationship to technology when it enters our personal spheres, it will look at the moral and ethical side of data-capturing as well as its technological possibilities and ask students to research and design future aspects and needs of wear.

- Is this course right for me?

This course will focus on body-centric design – a topic which is currently being explored in a massive range of disciplines. We will ask for an extremely flexible mind, someone who is eager to work with various media and collaborate with science, engineers and artists to create their own definition of wearables.

Studying an MA should allow a student to find his or her very own position, strength and reason to design. Whether their work will have a technological, experiential , future or fashion focus will in the end be very much up to what they have decided to explore in the process. We want students to become ambassadors who understand not only the technological aspects and applications of wear but the medium that they will most closely be working with – the human body.

- Why are you so passionate about this course subject?

I think the course has potential to become a wake-up call – what are we doing to ourselves and our bodies? How much more obsessed with data capturing and monitoring will we become? We can’t ignore the trends and tendencies but we need to discuss and open up the field, get some creative minds together and talk about the cultural meaning of ‘wear’ and how that can work intriguingly when paired with technology.

For me, one of the big pluses of Ravensbourne is the fact that it doesn’t have a ‘traditional’ fashion orientation but instead is very interested in the digital and technological aspects of education. I especially feel that our MA courses have a lot to offer in terms of a general interdisciplinary approach, more so because they take in a small amount of people. Designers need one another to work and explore their role and as the MA’s share the same space, we will surely see a lot of cross overs with the other courses. Also, we have had quite some interest from big industries and I think we will see some exciting collaborations happening here in the future.

Course structure

1. Technology Issues – will ask you to engage and experiment with technologies used in the body-centric design sector. The three provided project briefs will explore such fields as data-capturing, 3D Printing and alternative production methods or sensory technology. You will work with fellow students and develop quick mock-ups to understand the mediums at hand and create wear with a focus on experiences.

2. Business and Innovation – will help you understand the business and innovative practices used in the creative industries. Could your idea become a successful product and how can you find a niche to place yourself in? Wearable Technology is one of the quickest growing markets of the industry and your contribution to the field could have manifold impacts.

3. Concept & Prototyping – will allow you to develop your personal design method and introduce you to an holistic design-strategy. You will be asked to present your concepts employing various media and design speculative, narrative and plausible futures in order to challenge and understand the needs, hopes and dreams related to wearables.

4. The Research Process – will help you to investigate and strengthen your concepts and ideas by teaching you the skills and methods needed to ground you personal project in an academic context.

5. The Major Project – represents the culmination of the design work and the research you conducted in your studies. In this unit, you will forge a specialist project and work self-managed and practice-based, seek advise from specialists outside the college and present your personal take on the future of wearables.

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Based on cross-disciplinary working team, the Master applies creativity development of the best design agencies and think tanks, and stimulates the collective thinking, in order to share know-how and empower all related skills.

The philosophy of the course, project and client based, offers to participants the opportunity to experiment and put into practice mindset and methodological processes (design thinking) by carrying out real projects, through a process based on team work and learning by doing.

All projects are followed by Leader Advisors who are also practitioners, selected for their expertise on the different project topics. Conferences and seminars offer the opportunity for debates with specialists and agencies, distinguished personalities from a range of design disciplines as well as others including entrepreneurship, technology and economy. High-profile Italian and international businesses and social enterprises enrich the Masters programme by disclosing their skills through projects, case studies and strategies.

The preliminary stages of this Master introduce students to the culture of design thinking and related methodologies through lectures, workshops and laboratory works. Subsequently, participants face different project phases, experimental and interactive courses (with different purpose, complexity and goals) based on learning by doing.

At the same time students can attend nurture courses to get involved in the strategic, technological and expressive area of design, bringing ideas and insights in order to feed the personal and professional growth of the whole team.

Students are called on to take a proactive and professional role with the clients in order to overcome the academic reality. They will benefit from a practical experience, where team work change according to the brief and the proposed teaching strategy.

The Master in Design enables students to meet with different production systems, which keep stimulating and take them to develop their own project methodology, allowing them to produce unique concepts. This process gives concrete answers to the needs of the market by the use contemporary languages and signs.

The course culminates in an exhibition where students present their dissertations and internships to a committee made by other candidates and experts.

The course is recognised by MIUR (Ministry for Education, University and Research) as an Academic Master Level I.

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Excel at shaping innovative and human-oriented design strategies

Is your heart set on a design career in an innovative setting? Do you want to shape design strategies and see your ideas from conception to implementation? If so, this Master’s programme at Macromedia University, Germany’s top private university in the field of design and communication, is the right programme for you.
This programme is aimed mainly at designers who wish to apply a broad understanding of design to real problems and human-oriented design tasks. At Macromedia University, we believe that creative and innovative professionals distinguish themselves through broad expertise on diverse subject matters. Therefore, applicants without concrete design background are also welcome.

Design thinking is the core of this programme. Students learn to integrate the management and design perspectives fostering innovations through “Design Thinking”. Students have the opportunity to apply their knowledge on real projects with our industry partners who innovate leveraging upon design and management. Within interdisciplinary teams, students develop solutions to problems in the area of design, be they in relation to strategy, service design or human-centred design.

Learning by doing:
With a large network of more than 500 partner companies, our students have unmatched proximity to the media and design industry. Through exciting practice-projects with our partners, students have the opportunity to gain real work experiences while studying. See what kind of exciting projects our students get to work on here:http://www.macromedia-university.com/projects.html

The benefits of choosing Macromedia University
• Top position in CHE Ranking 2014/15
• Small classes with intensive, individual supervision
• Globally recognized, state-approved degrees, accredited by FIBAA
• Campuses in Berlin & Munich: two of the Top 5 “Most Affordable Cities for Students 2015” worldwide
• Authentic, practice oriented projects with over 500 well-known companies
• Highly qualified professors and industry insiders as lecturers
• International students from all continents
• Career perspectives in Germany: 18 months visa after successful graduation
• Master’s degree over three days a week (e.g. from Thursday to Saturday)
• Pre-Semester course available online
• Buddy network for international students
• Several Programmes entirely in English
• Campus locations situated in the very centre of Germany’s industrial locations
• Worldwide network of Partner Universities


Registration deadline:
Summer term: Non-EU 15.01 / EU 15.02
Winter term: Non-EU 15.07 / EU 15.08


Contact us:
Our student advisors are always happy to answer any questions you may have. You can use our online chat or contact us via WhatsApp to talk to us. You can also give us a call or use the information request form on our international website http://www.macromedia-university.com.

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