Art & Design - Design (with Specialist Pathways) - Clare Street

MA in Design (with Specialist Pathways)
This exciting MA in Design is aimed at candidates from creative backgrounds and related fields of study who have a desire to enhance their knowledge and understanding of design capability to positively impact the planet, its societies, and our shared economies. This programme will enable the learner to apply design methods, to explore complexity, to identify business and social enterprise opportunities and to address key needs of the future . Working individually and collaboratively in a hybrid studio format, students will build their core skills and competencies in design, creativity, visualisation, prototyping, mapping, critical thinking and participatory design to develop intellectual rigour and creative research methodologies which respond to contemporary design challenges and opportunities. Through the MA, Students are facilitated to select from a range of specialist pathways to build a mastery in their chosen field of design. This programme empowers students to understand how design can make a real difference to the future of the planet, how to be transformative professionals through their careers, how to enact social change and how to design better ways of living. Join us on that journey!

What Will I Learn?
The MA in Design will broaden participants' design knowledge and develop skills in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary design. Partakers in the programme will be prepared to work confidently and competently within a variety of design contexts. Students will collaborate effectively and operate while responding to developments in the field of contemporary issues. Throughout the MA programme students will also have access to an extensive list of industry professionals, artistic practitioners, academic faculty, and creative advisors.

Notes on Masters Project
Over the course of their studies, MA in Design students work towards their Masters Project. Depending on the nature of the research, the electives they choose, and the desires of the student, the outcome of the Major Project may be one of a number of diverse and contrasting possibilities. It might be a tangible artefact, a prototype, a socially responsible product, a digitally designed object, a cultural design policy, an interactive educational space, a design management framework, a service design, a re-purposed design, a theoretical study, a proposal for an industrial ecology scheme etc. Regardless of the nature of the students' designs - and how these come to fruition – the students' outcomes are meaningful, impactful, and transformative.

What modules will I study?
Modules List
Core 1: Collaborative Project - Credits: 10
Core 2: Design Research Methods - Credits: 10
Core 3: Circuits of Dissemination - Credits: 10
Core 4: Contemporary Design Issues - Credits: 10
Elective 1: Applied Actualities - Credits: 5
Elective 2: Applied Animation - Credits: 5
Elective 4: Applied Fabrication - Credits: 5
Elective 5: Applied Fashion - Credits: 5
Elective 6: Applied Futures - Credits: 5
Elective 7: Applied Graphics - Credits: 5
Elective 8: Applied Materials - Credits: 5
Elective 9: Applied Strategies - Credits: 5
Elective 10: Applied UI/UX - Credits: 5
Masters Project - Credits: 30

What are the entry requirements?
Any primary degree with a minimum award of Second Class Honours Grade 2. Recognition of prior experiential learning (RPL) from applicants will also be considered for places based on relevant professional and life experience. Equivalent qualifications including the pre-NFQ NCEA National Diploma and applicants holding equal qualifications on the European and International frameworks will also be considered. International students must exhibit a proficiency in the English language.

International Applicants
Non-EU applicants should apply directly to the International Office at LIT allowing plenty of time for completing the visa process. Applications for January 2022 start should be made by December 1st at the latest.
Contact: International@LIT.ie

Expressions of interest/applications open for 2023

1 Year Full-Time

Are there opportunities for further study?
Upon successful completion of the Masters in Interdisciplinary Design Practice programme graduates will be able to go on to pursue further study at PhD level.

What are the career prospects?
At this moment in time, designers remain empowered with crucial roles but these days the designer is not always the prominent identity. This MA IDP programme provides the student with a platform to secure employment not only independently or in design-intensive sectors, but also to pursue interdisciplinary engagements as a team partner at a strategic level in alternative establishments across a broad range of sectors. The MA IDP programme would be of benefit to anyone interested in an executive level career in design practice or a cognate discipline.

Future Careers
Graduates will be prepared to work independently or as a team partner at a strategic level across a broad range of sectors. Graduates will use their interdisciplinary design skills to work in a number of pathways including: individual entrepreneurial business, design studios, professional services, government and private organizations, cultural institutions, technology and services sectors.