Masters Degrees (Furniture Design)

See the department website - http://cias.rit.edu/schools/american-crafts/graduate-woodworking-graduate

The MFA program in furniture design is structured around the individual student’s needs, interests, and background. As such, the program seeks to strengthen students' techniques, advance their aesthetic and design sensibilities, and hone their personal expression. The first year of the program exposes students to a broad range of critical issues related to the conception and production of art, serves to inspire and provoke their critical reflection, and facilitate the development of a preliminary thesis topic. In the second year students propose and fully engage in a thesis project, which culminates in a major exhibition in the spring.

Admission requirements

To be considered for admission to the MFA program in furniture design, candidates must fulfill the following requirements:

- Hold a baccalaureate degree in a field of art, science, or education from a regionally accredited institution in the United States,

- Demonstrate, through the quality of the undergraduate record and creative production, a genuine, professional potential,

- Submit official transcripts (in English) of all previously completed undergraduate and graduate course work (undergraduate degree should include 50 semester hours of studio courses), and

- Complete a graduate application

- International students whose native language is not English must submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language. Minimum scores of 550 (paper-based) or 80 (Internet-based) are required. Scores from the International English Language Testing System are accepted in place of the TOEFL. An IELTS score of 6.5 is required. For international students coming from countries where the baccalaureate degree is not given for programs in the practice of art may be admitted to graduate study if the diploma or certificate received approximates the standards of the BFA, BA, or BS degrees, and if their academic records and portfolios indicate an ability to meet graduate standards.

Additional information

Studio Residency program

The School for American Crafts offers a Studio Residency program for students in ceramics, furniture design, glass, and metals and jewelry design. Residence positions are limited and are awarded after the review of all applicants’ portfolios, transcripts, and references. An interview is required. Accepted residents are required to register for one independent study credit during each semester of residence.

Accepted residents are expected to be present in their assigned studio during class hours and to contribute up to 10 hours of work per week in the main studio. These work hours are coordinated and overseen by the faculty in the resident's discipline. In exchange, the school will provide workspace, access to facilities, and supportive instruction. The resident is invited to participate in the full range of studio activities.

Participants may be those seeking additional studio experience prior to undergraduate or graduate study, early career professionals, or teachers on leave who wish to work again in an academic studio environment. The faculty in each discipline will make decisions concerning appropriate candidates.

Inquiries should be made to the Studio Residency Program, School for American Crafts, College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology, 73 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623-5603.

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This Masters programme in Product and Furniture Design recognises and prepares students for the diversity of design practice and employment opportunities open to graduates entering the design industry.

The three semester course is based at a highly rated design institution within easy reach of central London. It offers students a unique educational experience with respected contributors lead by renowned designer Sebastian Bergne.

Students are given time in an exceptional learning environment to develop their personal approach to design, learn new skills and apply them to carefully structured projects with industry partners that prepare them for their preferred career direction.

Key features
-This course is part of the Design School's Postgraduate Framework, which promotes interdisciplinary practice opportunities, underpins research, supports personal trajectory and industry contact, and includes a supporting lecture series.
-The core staff team is supported by expert full time and visiting studio tutors. These include, David Weatherhead, Julia Georgallis, Rosemary Anrude and Lauren Davies.
-The action of "making" is the signature of the course. We seek critical thinkers and makers that seek to challenge and evolve contemporary practice through the physical domain.

What will you study?

The course proposes a hands-on approach to design, encompassing research techniques, teamwork, learning through making and developing finished objects intended for craft, industrial production or conceptual prototype.

Students are expected to have a robust personal approach with direction and purpose reflecting their own area of study. Students are required to be self-directed, reflective and practical in approach. The course is studio and project based. Activities can include specialist lectures, workshop inductions, group and personal tutorials, seminars and symposiums.

Assessment

Assessment will be made at the completion of each module. Module marks are added to achieve a total final mark. Assessment will be made through practical design projects, presentations, main masters project and exhibition.

Course structure

This course is part of the School of Design's postgraduate programme.

The structure – shared with students from the Communication Design MAs, Fashion MA, and Sustainable Design MA – enables you to explore your individual specialist interests within an integrative learning environment that provides a comprehensive understanding of the value and role of interdisciplinary methods and ways of working. The influences and impact of thinking from other related design subjects on your own specialist study is an important aspect of the identity and the community of interdisciplinary practice at masters level in the School of Design.

This structure is designed to help progress and develop your independent learning, encouraging you to construct and explore projects concerned with areas of particular personal interests. The overarching course philosophy, based upon an emphasis on research, methodology and design thinking, allows individual and personal concerns to be explored through focused study in product and furniture design.

The two shared modules of the School of Design's Postgraduate Framework both commence with a symposium, in which high-profile external speakers present their work and contribute to a debate on a topic of relevance to all courses in the Framework.

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Summary

You’ll enjoy an extensive programme of lectures and assignments, delivered by an enthusiastic team of staff made up of theorists, practitioners and researchers.

The course is focused around a creative studio hub and provides a supportive environment where you can develop your personal design agendas. MA Product and Furniture Design challenges perceptions around 'alternative living', exploring what else might be possible in a world already full of things.

Studio-based sessions are complemented by a virtual learning environment, giving you 24/7 online access to the latest information, course documentation and examples of previous student work.

Modules

Trimester 1: Realism and Conceptualism; Design Culture.

Trimester 2: Exploratory Research Practices; CoLAB.

Trimester 3: Major Project.

Assessment

Studies include structured, project based learning activities which develop creative, design and making skills, research and investigative abilities, evaluation and independent learning to an advanced level. It includes individual and group tutorials, tutor-led and student-led seminars, lectures, and workshops as well as report writing and project work.

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The Master course intends to form knowledgeable designers of the most advanced models of relationship between the product development processes, market dynamics and technological developments. It also intends to complete the training of professionals in R&D, marketing and brand management in the furniture sector, offering them a better understanding of design management skills as a lever to create a competitive advantage.

The Master is based on the capacity of Italian companies, working in the furniture industry, to use design as a fundamental lever of competitive advantage and a structural element of corporate culture. The core of the program is focused on the knowledge generated from the advantageous relationships instilled between the Italian production system and the network of professions involved in design. The Master sets its cultural roots in the “Italian model” of rapport between enterprise and design, while also aiming to develop new knowledge in innovation that responds to the challenges posed by technological, social and market changes.

The program’s structure takes on a systemic vision of the role of design in the furniture industry, teaming new fields of interest to the traditional focus on product development, along with the growing importance of brands and its tangible and intangible elements of expression.

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This Master of Design is new for 2017.

A professionally focused program of advanced study in contemporary design practice, the Master of Design course includes specialisations in interaction design, multimedia design and collaborative design.

You can also take a range of units from across these three to construct an advanced studies in design specialisation. This program is ideal for those keen to enter the expanding fields of professional design engagement, or design practitioners aiming to upgrade their expertise. You’ll be trained in advanced design thinking and processes that’ll equip you to create design solutions that engage experiential, communication, object and spatial contexts.

Visit the website http://www.study.monash/courses/find-a-course/2017/design-f6002?domestic=true

Overview

Please select a specialisation for more details:

- Advanced studies in design
This pathway allows you to construct, with approval, an individual program of study from across interaction design, multimedia design and collaborative design. This enables you to tailor your unit choices while addressing the fundamental principles of advanced design practice and thinking. It’ll inspire you to connect research and practice across the design disciplines, and to become a thoughtful design practitioner. You’ll broaden your knowledge of key design constructs, deepen your professional learning in design areas of interest, and advance your capacity as a design professional.

- Collaborative design
Collaborative design places you conceptually and practically at the intersection of interior, graphic and industrial design practice. The program will set you design challenges involving image, text, products, narratives, systems, ervices, public and private space, materiality and virtuality. You’ll develop independent conceptual and practical design skills alongside an ability to be part of collaborative design processes. You’ll expand your awareness across design disciplines; develop multidisciplinary design expertise; and build broader skills in leadership, professional adaptability and complex project planning.

- Interaction design
The interaction design specialisation develops your skills in the design of contemporary artefacts, products and services that engage with interactive, user-focused technologies and processes. These can include, but aren’t limited to, health and medical equipment, ‘smart’ furniture, educational toys, wearable technologies, information kiosks and transport systems. You’ll use a diverse range of interactive processes, including the application of advanced technologies; electronics and programming; physical and virtual interface manipulation; engineering and material fabrication; and rapid prototyping. The specialisation gives you an understanding of the relationship between interactive activities, products and human behaviour.

- Multimedia design
Multimedia design develops your skills in digital communication environments. This includes: designing for the web; motion and animation; and interactive touchscreen devices and surfaces. Emphasising an advanced knowledge of existing and emerging digital design processes and systems, this specialisation embraces projects of varied scale, from hand-held smart devices to large public interactive screens. It develops your ability to build a communication narrative; use multimedia processes to fill community and business needs; and understand the end-user’s engagement with projects or products such as websites, apps and other screen-based media.

Course Structure

The course comprises 96 points structured into 3 parts:

Part A. Preparatory Studies for Advanced Design (24 points), Part B. Advanced Design Studies (24 points), and Part C. Advanced Design Applications (48 points).

- Students admitted at Entry level 1 complete 96 points, comprising Part A, B & C
- Students admitted at Entry level 2 complete 72 points, comprising Part B & C
- Students admitted at Entry level 3 complete 48 points, comprising Part C

Note: Students eligible for credit for prior studies may elect not to receive the credit and complete one of the higher credit-point options. A zero credit point unit in Art, Design and Architecture Occupational Health and Safety will also be undertaken. This unit is required of all students in the Master of Design and must be undertaken even if credit is obtained for Parts A or B.

Part A: Preparatory studies for advanced design
These studies provide you with the conceptual thinking and technical skill set required for advanced postgraduate study in this area. The studio unit brings together conceptual and technical abilities developed in the other two units.

Part B: Advanced design studies
In these studies you will focus on the application of conceptual thinking and technical skills to advanced design problem solving. You will analyse and create a project outcome based on research, critique, and the application of design processes appropriate to your specialisation. You will also choose a selective unit that will further build capacity in your chosen specialisation.

Part C: Advanced design applications
In these studies you will focus on the application of advanced design problem solving skills at a professional level. You will consolidate skills and practice of design research methodologies and may extend your research trajectory to further study. Part C is also supported by a selective unit to allow you to build capabilities in your chosen specialisation.

In the final semester you will pursue a major design project or participate in a leading industry project. The exegesis unit formalises the research component of Part C. The final semester brings together advanced technical ability, conceptual thinking, entrepreneurial studies and design management in practice.

For more information visit the faculty website - http://www.study.monash/media/links/faculty-websites/design-and-architecture

Find out how to apply here - http://www.study.monash/courses/find-a-course/2017/design-f6002?domestic=true

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This pathway enables you to develop your own individual approach to spatial design within a creative multi-disciplinary environment . It supports the development of a personal trajectory while providing room for exploration, and encourages you to explore ideas and issues concerning design of the interior in numerous environments, from the room to the city. You can explore areas of landscape architecture, exhibition design, interior design, furniture design and design for the stage.

Course Overview

Our Master’s programme has been designed to support and enhance the skills of art and design practitioners who want to work in the cultural and creative industries. Awarded by Falmouth University and delivered in partnership with Hearst Magazines UK, publishers of ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Esquire and Harper’s Bazaar, together we have designed an exciting and industry-connected Master’s to equip you for the real world.

The 12-month MA supports students across a range of Art & Design specialisms and you will be given the unique opportunity to explore your area within an interdisciplinary global culture. Bringing together students from a variety of disciplines through dialogue, idea-exchange and collaborative activities, the course prepares students for the hybrid and dynamic nature of contemporary creative practice. By enabling the pursuit of specialist subject expertise alongside opportunities to acquire the skills, experience and outlook necessary for professional success, we give our graduates the confidence to take the next step toward building their own creative futures.

The course is open to graduates from any art and design related degree subject and who already have knowledge and experience of a specialist area. Our MA will allow you to enhance your skills within your existing area, taking it in your own direction with support from a subject tutor. We currently support pathways in Fine Art, Communication Design, Illustration, Animation, Photography, Fashion Design, Fashion Communication, Product Design, Craft and Spatial Design.

Alternatively, you may be looking for a Master’s degree, but you are not clear which specialist pathway to follow, this course is designed to support those students arriving from a variety of undergraduate programmes with varying degrees of focus. The scope of the award in Art & Design is flexible enough to provide opportunities for you to experiment and try out new approaches before finding your focus.

Unique Opportunities

This programme offers outstanding specialist tuition combined with extensive academic contact and studio access. As a Master’s student, you will have:

• exclusive access to media and industry expertise through Hearst Magazines UK and their teams
• regular workshops with key industry stakeholders
• industry projects
• internship opportunities through Hearst Magazines UK and other creative industry contacts
• your own individual design space giving you flexibility on where you study
• lecturers who are visible and accessible five days a week
• opportunities to expand and enrich your ideas through daily interaction with students across other disciplines

The inter-disciplinary nature of the course and the teaching team, along with the wider staff expertise within the college means that specific tuition can be provided on a ‘bespoke’ basis if and when needs arise. In addition to support from academic staff, you will have regular group and one-to-one access to our Study Skills Coordinator for support with writing, research and academic skills.

Our dedicated Welfare Team are resourced and prepared to support all students. Should you require help with English language, support is available from our in-house provision. 

Course Structure

The course is structured to provide you with a wide range of activities in the modules at the start of the course, together with the opportunity to experiment and explore different methods and approaches. As you move through the programme you will then start to focus and identify individual ambitions, and plan and execute your final project.

Semester One

EXPERIMENTAL PRACTICE

Introduces you to new methods and approaches. You will take part in a series of set projects, which will encourage collaboration, experimental practice and creative activity.

THEORY AND RESEARCH

Within this module you will be exposed to a series of lectures and seminars around a series of shared themes that cut across theory and practice. You will be inspired to try out fresh and innovative methods in practice and you will work collaboratively and individually.

Semester Two

FOCUSING PRACTICE

This module will support your development of independent and self-initiated project work in your specialist area. To build your portfolio you will take part in live briefs set by our partners in the creative industries and supported to enter local and international competitions.

ART & DESIGN FUTURES

You will be asked to look ahead by engaging in the issues shaping the professional practice of art and design today. Lecturer talks will introduce you to a diverse range of contemporary art and design practices to inspire and orient your own career pathways. This module also gives you the opportunity to organise and complete a work placement enabling you to gain valuable professional experience.

Semester Three

FINAL MAJOR PROJECT

You will spend the final semester working on a self-initiated project in your area of specialism, underpinned by the cross discipline culture of the course. Your final submission will be a portfolio of work and a written report culminating in a final MA show.

Careers and Employability

With staff and visiting tutors active in the creative industries worldwide as researchers and practitioners, as artists, designers, writers, and curators you will be exposed to issues, debates and challenges that are transforming art and design practice in the 21st century.

More specifically, the modules encourage you to reflect upon the broad and hybrid nature of art and design and the emerging global workplace in which you will ultimately take your next steps. To offer you real-world experience through live briefs and the work placements, we collaborate with both international media and communication organisations (such as our partner Hearst Magazines UK) as well as local creative businesses on our doorstep in Cambridge—one of the UK’s centres of leading-edge creativity and innovation.

Visit the website for full specifications: http://www.csvpa.com/art-and-design/ma-art-design/course-details/about.htm

Click here to apply online: https://www.csvpa.com/apply-online/step1

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Study interaction design at an advanced level and explore new approaches to design creating dynamic proposals that respond to the needs of our rapidly changing society.

At Sheffield Institute of Arts interaction design is cross-disciplinary and investigates human-technological futures via design related interactions that lie between the digital and the physical. Using a practice based approach you explore the designing of interactive digital products, environments services and systems.

Interaction design is most often studied by graduates from a variety of backgrounds including • interaction design • digital media • fine art • product design • graphic design • furniture design • architecture • computer science. Your projects are supported by lecturers who are design specialists, researchers and practitioners. Modules are supported by lecturers who are design specialists in areas as diverse as • exhibition design • HCI • medical products • materials development • design thinking • social design • design anthropology.

During the course you work with experts in other departments as well as outside of the University.

As a postgraduate design student you join an established network of creative people that encourage and support you to drive your studies to the next level. Our postgraduate framework of design courses has been designed to allow you to come together with students from different disciplines, backgrounds and cultures to share teaching and learning experiences and explore your creative identities through dialogue and practice.

The primary intention of the programme is to allow you to achieve your personal employment ambitions, whether as a design professional in the creative industries, or in related areas such as marketing or research. You are also well placed to go onto further study at PhD level.

Employability

The course has a strong vocational focus to prepare, encourage and develop your confidence for employment.

The MA/MFA programme has a strong relationship with the University’s Art and Design Research Centre (ADRC), who take an active part in engaging MA Design students in research, knowledge transfer and live projects. You are also encouraged to seek industrial sponsors or collaborators for your individual project work and are given advice and support in doing this. This long established link with our Research Department supports a continuing tradition of graduates from the MA/MFA working as research assistants and/or continuing their studies to PhD.

If you are a part-time student in relevant employment or on sabbatical, you have the opportunity to plan course projects based in your workplace and relevant to your own and your employer's aims. This brings real-world experience to the course. You may go on to work as a professionally employed designer or design manager, work independently as a designer/producer or work as a researcher in design or new product development. You may also wish to go into teaching design in further and higher education.

Project-based course

You choose your own project content and this is supported by lectures and seminars dealing with professional practice issues and reviewing your progress. You also take part in regular group and individual tutorials.

Your final major project is the culmination of your research and studio-based design practice. It demonstrates that you can deal with difficult contemporary questions and take a leading role as a design professional.

Research-led expertise

We are one of the oldest established art and design institutions in the UK, renowned for producing internationally recognised research. Your projects are supported by lecturers who are design specialists in areas as diverse as medical products, materials development, furniture and sustainability.

Vibrant and supportive learning environment

During the course you regularly take part in constructive critical debates about your own work and that of your peers. You need to communicate your research, ideas and designs in ways that are appropriate to professional leadership.

You study alongside MA and MFA Design students for part of your course and benefit from a vibrant, international, collaborative and supportive postgraduate environment.

Excellent facilities and creative resources

You have access to a huge range of creative resources to experiment and engage with including • 3D printing for rapid prototyping • state-of-the-art hardware and software • photography studios • a creative media centre • a gallery • well-equipped workshops.

You also have access to our award-winning learning centre featuring a specialist art, design and media library and extensive online resources.

MA and MFA study

MA and MFA students complete the same modules during the course except that MFA students complete an extra project module. The MFA project encourages you to develop professional skills that help you to identify, instigate, and deliver projects with external partners, such as communities, galleries or businesses. You find a project partner, agree a brief and then deliver the project to a professional standard.

This course is part of the Sheffield Institute of Arts (SIA), an amazing, diverse community of makers – where staff, students and partners work as equals to deliver real innovation and creativity. SIA opened in 1843 and is one of the UK's oldest Art and Design Schools. We have recently moved into the Head Post Office, a redesigned Grade II listed building. It includes state-of-the-art workshops which provide you with a unique studio-based learning environment in the heart of the creative community.

Course structure

FULL-TIME STRUCTURE

Semester one

• project 1 • theory supporting practice

Semester two

• project 2 • negotiated project

Semester three

• major project

Semester four – MFA students only

• MFA project

PART-TIME STRUCTURE

Semester one (year 1)

• theory supporting practice • negotiated project

Semester two (year 2)

• project 1 • project 2

Semester three (year 3)

• major project

Semester four – MFA students only (year 4)

• MFA project

Assessment

Assessment and feedback are vital parts of the learning process in creative disciplines. Most assessment is through individual project work which combines research and creative practice. Assessment calls for both excellent creative work and well-documented research. 

Employability

As a graduate from this course you might become a • creative technologist • experiential marketer • interaction designer • artist • designer • maker • product designer • design researcher • interface designer • systems designer • UX designer • design academic • PhD student.

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The session will provide a chance to meet the course leader and some current students who will share their projects and experiences. You will also take part in a design activity that will give you a real taste of what we do on the course in addressing social and sustainability challenges.

Choose Kingston's Sustainable Design MA

This course is aimed at designers, creative workers and other specialists who want to direct their practice towards progressive sustainability and social agendas. It focuses on the value of design as a vehicle for addressing social and ecological concerns in both developed and developing world settings. It will equip you with the knowledge, capabilities and confidence to challenge the status quo by applying design thinking to the generation of design-led interventions for a sustainable future.

Key features
-The overarching course philosophy, based on an emphasis on research, methodology and design thinking, allows individual and personal concerns to be explored through focused study in sustainable design.
-The course takes an inter-disciplinary approach to the study and practice of sustainable design, by recruiting students from all creative and design backgrounds and beyond.

What will you study?

The Sustainable Design MA is directed towards the goal of creating a more sustainable and equitable society. You will explore innovative and practical ways to help realise those visions, emphasising design, creativity, empathy, innovation and activism.

The course encourages critical thinking about the social and ecological agendas it addresses. The course is design-based, but not confined to design practice - it includes a significant amount of theoretical and contextual studies. It is possible to choose a dissertation option for the final major project.

You will be taught by leading academics and practitioners in sustainable design, social design, social innovation, participatory design, strategic design, service design, design-led innovation, and related topics. The course incorporates collaboration with partners such as Design Council, Futerra, Greengaged, Sorrell Foundation, ThinkPublic and Uscreates.

Assessment

Design project work, live projects, research project folders, 5,000-word critical essay, and a major design research project.

Course structure

The Sustainable Design MA course is part of the School of Design's postgraduate programme. The structure – shared with students from Communication Design MA, Product & Furniture Design MA, and Fashion MA – enables you to explore your individual specialist interests in sustainable design within an integrative learning environment that provides a comprehensive understanding of the value and role of interdisciplinary methods and ways of working. The influences and impact of thinking from other related design subjects on your own specialist study is an important aspect of the identity and the community of interdisciplinary practice at masters level in the School of Design.

This structure is designed to help progress and develop your independent learning, encouraging you to construct and explore projects concerned with areas of particular personal interests. The overarching course philosophy, based upon an emphasis on research, methodology and design thinking, allows individual and personal concerns to be explored through focused study in sustainable design.

The two shared modules of the School of Design's Postgraduate Framework both commence with a symposium, in which high-profile external speakers present their work and contribute to a debate on a topic of relevance to all courses in the Framework.

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This course is an innovative collaboration between Manchester School of Art and the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Manchester Metropolitan University. It brings together students from creative and manufacturing backgrounds to foster original approaches to product and furniture design for manufacture whilst exploring personal philosophies and cultural contexts.

Supported by extensive hand, machine and digital workshops across a range of materials, you will investigate and challenge the application and use of materials and processes within making and manufacturing to embrace opportunities for innovation across a breadth of product and furniture design practices.

As part of the wider MA/MFA Design Network, a series of options units are delivered to enable you to further expand your creative agendas and design methodologies.  Within these options, you can choose to develop design ambitions within a business context, through a unit delivered by the Manchester Metropolitan Business School, which cultivates project planning and management skills, raises understanding of markets and marketing opportunities, and highlights the financial factors and concerns that impact on production design decisions within a commercial manufacturing environment.

Features

Graduates will develop theoretical and practical skills suitable for roles in; design consultancy; design for engineering and manufacturing; design management; and design research for industry or academic research and teaching. The programme will also prepare graduates who wish to go on to self-employment, establishing and running their own design/manufacturing businesses.

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The Digital Design MA is concerned with the creation of any digital or computer related content or products. This includes digital media, digital products, digital interiors, digital exhibitions and installations, digital graphics, digital fashion and even digital branding and marketing. You can specialise in the following:

• Digital media design, including multimedia design, web design, 2D and 3D computer animation, visual and special effects for TV and film, mobile app design for tablets and smart phones, computer and video games, virtual and augmented reality and 2D and 3D visualisation

• Digital product design, including the design of any computer-based or screen-based product such as smartphones, smart TV’s, tablet devices, smart watches, games consoles, smart household appliances, information systems and 3D digital printing

• Digital interior design, including digital display and projection design, intelligent interiors, digital lighting design and digital furniture design

• Digital exhibition, museum and installation design, including digital heritage resources, digital archeology, interactive kiosk and installation design, virtual museums and exhibitions

• Digital graphic design, including the design of e-books, e-learning, interface design, interaction design and digital signage

• Digital fashion design, including the design of wearable computing, smart clothing design and digital fabrics

• Digital branding and marketing design, including digital corporate identity design, logo design, social media marketing, digital channel advertising and promotion

You will have access to industry standard software and hardware such as Adobe Creative Suite and Autodesk MAYA while working in a dynamic environment with ongoing multimedia research and commercial projects. There are also opportunities to work on digital design projects set by external companies and other organisations. You will develop the skills and ideas to go on to employment as a digital designer or to set up your own business as a freelancer after graduation.

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This unique multi-disciplinary course is taught by architects, engineers and physicists involved in practice and research. It focuses on the theory and practice of developing low carbon and sustainable buildings.

The course includes a number of interlinked modules that simulate the design and development of a sustainable project. This enables students from different disciplines to develop skills and understanding relevant to their own discipline, be it design or consultancy, and in relation to a national and international context.

Why choose this course?

The course is run by the School of Architecture, which is recognised as one of the country's leading schools of architecture and is consistently ranked by The Architect's Journals one of the five best schools in the UK. You will gain an advanced understanding of the key sustainability issues related to buildings enabling them to strategically influence feasibility and design processes within the built environment. The course attracts some of the best students in the field from a diverse range of ages, backgrounds, gender and nationalities. This offers opportunities for interdisciplinary, globally aware teaching and learning.

The range of subjects draws on the research strengths of the teaching staff and enables research to inform the teaching modules. You are encouraged where possible to take part in staff research projects. You will have the opportunity to go on an annual field trip. This is an opportunity to directly experience some of the very best of sustainable design projects in another culture. Previous field trips have been to Germany, Scotland and Denmark. Students from this course have gone on to work in a wide range of occupations from architectural and engineering practices and research consultancies to development work, furniture design, owning and operating electricity utilities, and even carbon trading.

This course in detail

The course is organised on a modular credit system, 60 credits for postgraduate certificate, 120 credits for the postgraduate diploma (9 months full-time, 20 months part-time) and 180 credits for the master's degree (12 months full-time, 24 months part-time).

Modules combine a ratio of taught to self-led study. For example, a module of 20 credits approximates to 200 hours of student effort, up to 36 hours of which will normally be devoted to lectures, seminars, individual tutorials or other staff contact. The remainder of the time is devoted to student-led study and assessment.

Please note: as courses are reviewed regularly, the module list you choose from may vary from that shown below.

The core modules for the MSc and PGDip are:
-Building Physics (20 credits)
-The Sustainable Built Environment (20 credits)
-Post-occupancy Building Evaluation (20 credits)
-Advanced Low Carbon Building Technologies (20 credits)
-Modelling and Passive Strategies (20 credits)
-Sustainable Design in Context (20 credits)

The compulsory modules for the MSc are:
-Research Methods and Design (10 credits)
-MSc Dissertation (50 credits)

Teaching and learning

The teaching and learning methods reflect the wide variety of topics and techniques associated with sustainability, low-carbon and resource efficient design.

Staff-led lectures provide the framework, background and knowledge base, and you are encouraged to probe deeper into the topics by further reading and review. Analysis, synthesis and application of material introduced in the lectures are achieved through professional and staff-led workshops, group and one-to-one tutorials, student-led seminars, case studies, and practical work that anticipates the design project.

The course attracts students from a diverse range of ages, backgrounds, gender and nationalities. This offers opportunities for interdisciplinary, globally aware teaching and learning. You are exposed to a variety of cultural perspectives and issues through the use of international case studies and draw on their diverse strengths through peer learning and group work.

An annual field trip is an opportunity to directly experience some of the very best of sustainable design projects in another culture. Previous field trips have been to Germany, Scotland and Denmark.

The range of subjects draws on the research strengths of the teaching staff and enables research to inform the teaching modules. You are encouraged where possible to take part in staff research projects.

We attract some of the best students in the field, drawn by the integrating basis of the programme and its solid theoretical foundation on expertise within the University.

Careers and professional development

Graduates will possess an advanced understanding of the key sustainability issues related to buildings enabling them to strategically influence feasibility and design processes within the built environment. They will be familiar with a range of models, tools and methods with which to quantify, predict, evaluate and manage building performance, and will be able to use them and switch to other tools based on an understanding from first principles.

Drawing on a working knowledge of how to minimise energy, carbon emissions and resource consumption in buildings through the various stages of their life cycles, they will be able to take account of changing, incomplete and uncertain information related to the environment. They will also have well developed skills in auditing, analysis, reporting and presentation and a thorough understanding of the interdisciplinary subject area.

Students from this course have gone on to work in a wide range of occupations from architectural and engineering practices and research consultancies to development work, furniture design, owning and operating electricity utilities, and even carbon trading.

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This course encourages the exploration and understanding of the methods and processes at work in contemporary visual communication, and will further develop your personal practice and approach to graphic design. It focuses on individual research and inquiry and helps you to develop your understanding of the significance of the wider cultural role of the visual designer. In addition, you will be introduced to disciplinary and interdisciplinary models of thinking that will underpin your own focused study on the course.

Key features
-The emphasis on problem finding, research methods and critical thinking is intended to enhance your long-term employment possibilities through an understanding of the changing global, technological and social context of design.
-The course is taught by academics who are also practising designers and researchers in design. This is supported by studio visits and visiting tutors from industry, live projects, competitions, lectures and workshops.
-Core modules are studied with students from across the Design School's postgraduate community.

What will you study?

Project work will challenge you to develop and enhance your existing ways of working. You will explore the importance of research in underpinning your practice and will be encouraged to build your own visual language and ‘tools' in response to set briefs within each module. In the final stage of the course, you will propose and develop your independent major project. You will be taught by experienced academics and specialist tutors from industry who encourage you to develop your understanding of the relationship between words, pictures and their means of communication and transmission.

Assessment

Project work: visual research, written project report/summary, exhibition, and final major project.

Course structure

This specialist pathway of the Communication Design MA course is part of the School of Design's postgraduate programme. The structure – shared with students from Product & Furniture Design MA, Sustainable Design MA and Fashion MA – enables you to explore your individual specialist interests in graphic design within an integrative learning environment that provides a comprehensive understanding of the value and role of interdisciplinary methods and ways of working. The influences and impact of thinking from other related design subjects on your own specialist study is an important aspect of the identity and the community of interdisciplinary practice at masters level in the School of Design.

This structure is designed to help progress and develop your independent learning, encouraging you to construct and explore projects concerned with areas of particular personal interests. The overarching course philosophy, based upon an emphasis on research, methodology and design thinking, allows individual and personal concerns to be explored through focused study in graphic design.

The two shared modules of the School of Design's Postgraduate Framework both commence with a symposium, in which high-profile external speakers present their work and contribute to a debate on a topic of relevance to all courses in the Framework.

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The Design MA at DMU provides you with an opportunity to design and pursue your own personal arts study programme at master’s level, while being supported and supervised by leading national and international scholars.

The programme allows you to study in a way that is most appropriate to your own individual circumstances, and has been designed to suit your preferred learning style(s). You can take up to 90 credits from our taught postgraduate provision, while the rest of the programme will be completed through negotiated learning agreements. Study can be full-time, part-time, or a mixture of both. You can exit the programme early (after 60 credits) with a postgraduate certificate, or (after 120 credits) with a postgraduate diploma. The shortest period of study for the master's award is one year full-time.

There are a wide range of subject areas to choose from, and you can create a programme of study which is interdisciplinary and unique to your specialist interests or skills. The programme also allows you to be supervised by leading national and international scholars, researchers and practitioners drawn from the unique breadth of specialist areas available in the Faculty of Arts, Design and Humanities.

You are able to exercise choice and control over the aims of your course, the content and context of your studies, and the criteria against which your achievement is assessed. You can take up to 90 credits from our taught modules (subject to approval), and you design your programme of study between and across the subject areas that we offer.

The wide range of specialisms that we offer on the Design MA includes:
• Architectural history
• Architecture
• Architecture conservation
• Art and design education
• Art and design history
• Ceramics
• Design crafts
• Design innovation
• Design management
• Fashion management
• Footwear design
• Furniture design
• Glass
• Interface design
• Interior design and architecture
• Product design
• Retail design
• Silversmithing
• Spatial design
Assessment can be as varied as you want it to be. It will be defined in the learning contract; so you can negotiate assessment tasks and methods.

All students must take a 15 credit Research Methods module (by attendance or by distance learning) at the beginning of the course, and all students will also have to undertake a Major Project, Dissertation or a Work Placement at the end of the course to achieve the master’s award.

You will be assigned two dedicated mentors who are subject specialists. They will provide academic support throughout the course. DMU academic and research staff are experts in their field. They are actively engaged in a wide range of external activities including research, consultancy, publishing and exhibiting in both a national and international context.

DMU has excellent technical expertise available to support postgraduate students. Within the faculty, there are professionally equipped workshops with specialist technicians to support your master’s work.

Graduates have gone onto consultancy, entrepreneurship, arts and design management, research and teaching. Many students choose this course as a preparation for an academic career and enter further MPhil or PhD level study.

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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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Designed for NYC

New York City boasts the country’s largest number of creative-sector jobs and attracts top design talent. Local industry events and collaborations with commercial and nonprofit partners deepen connections to the field. In the MFA Industrial Design program, students combine advanced making skills with critical inquiry to design for production at all scales, from low volume to high volume, employing methods ranging from desktop manufacturing to systems involving global supply chains. Students develop their knowledge and skills at the university’s state-of-the-art product prototyping and testing facilities.

A Connected Curriculum

The MFA Industrial Design curriculum balances competing interests such as economical production and sustainability, consumerism, social and environmental improvement, and global and local production, investigating ways to integrate and reconcile these forces as a whole. In their second semester, MFA students explore limited-run making in New York City, and in the third semester they can investigate large-scale global production through virtual collaborations or study abroad at sites including Parsons Paris. A specialized thesis project offers opportunities to develop designs that advance — or challenge — industrial design theory and practice.

Parsons’ Master of Fine Arts in Industrial Design program offers an innovative two-year, 60-credit full-time graduate curriculum that prepares students to negotiate the seemingly contradictory forces at play in the growing product design industry. Students explore the way goods can be produced in both localized contexts (a “making in place” approach, which relies on regionalized needs and constraints) and globalized contexts (employing design principles focusing on universal needs). Parsons’ School of Constructed Environments includes graduate students in Architecture, Interior Design, and Lighting Design, creating a unique learning community.

This program is part of Parsons' School of Constructed Environments (SCE). Learn about the SCE community and explore our SCE blog to see what students, faculty, and alumni are doing in NYC and around the world.

Find out more information here: http://www.newschool.edu/m/parsons-industrial?utm_source=find_a_masters&utm_medium=hyperlink_listing&utm_campaign=pm_parsons_grad&utm_term=industrial_design

A Community of Designers

The faculty of design practitioners aims to develop a community of designers committed to improving industry, protecting the environment, and promoting the quality of life. The MFA Industrial Design program attracts motivated, reflective students with experience in product design but also accepts candidates from other design professions and disciplines such as engineering, fine art, management, and anthropology. An innovation-focused university with programs in the social sciences, business and management, media studies, and the performing arts, The New School offers complementary courses that enrich design practice.

Future Opportunities

Students graduate equipped with the ability to integrate the many considerations involved in product design and to lead as socially aware makers, strategists, and industry specialists. Graduates emerge prepared to design innovative products and lead the industries that produce them as well. Career paths include industrial design, product development, manufacturing, furniture design, humanitarian and service design, toy design, design management, and architectural building systems.

Find out more information here: http://www.newschool.edu/m/parsons-industrial?utm_source=find_a_masters&utm_medium=hyperlink_listing&utm_campaign=pm_parsons_grad&utm_term=industrial_design

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