MA Design Management

Program Overview

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The Design Management MA program equips students with the skills to manage creative design practice, teams, and processes in various industries. It blends creative design with business management, marketing, and innovation, preparing graduates for leadership roles in design-led companies. The program offers opportunities for collaboration with industry professionals, international travel, and project-based learning, fostering critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills.

Program Outline

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Extracted Information from "Design Management MA" Course Page

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Degree Overview

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Overview:

This postgraduate course aims to equip you with the skills to manage creative design practice, practitioners and processes in a corporate context across a broad range of creative and manufacturing industries. It will attract students from all creative disciplines as well as those from business and marketing.

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Objectives:

• Develop leadership and management skills in creative practice.
• Manage design teams and cross-functional teams effectively.
• Foster innovation in product development.
• Generate valuable stakeholder insights.
• Lead the creation of new products from concept to completion.
• Adapt and apply these skills in a diversified job market.

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Program Description:

• Blends creative design with business management, marketing, design strategy, entrepreneurship, innovation, sustainability, design leadership and practice.
• Equips students with project management skills, milestone reporting, decision-making, budget management, and core business practices like intellectual property and finance.
• Fosters collaboration with industry professionals from diverse areas like graphic, fashion, communication design, consumer and industrial product design.
• Provides students with multiple options for expressing creative explorations: academic writing, oral and visual presentations, digital portfolios and online content.
• Offers opportunities for working with live client projects, international travel experiences, and potential for Collaborative Online International Learning projects (depending on availability).

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Outline

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Structure:

• Full-time: 1 year
• Part-time: 2 years
• 16-24 months (with professional experience option)

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Course Schedule:

• Refer to the "Modules" section for a detailed breakdown.

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Modules:

• Collaboration in Practice (30 credits): Students collaborate across postgraduate disciplines to develop broader understanding of context, work with external collaborators and apply ideas in real-world contexts.
• Design Management Specialism 1 (30 credits): Explores the global, economic, cultural and social contexts of design management, equips students with market research skills and strategic analysis tools to develop commercial competitiveness within organizations, and fosters awareness of different commercial functions (marketing, CSR).
• Professional Context (20 credits): Examines the professional contexts of the chosen discipline, explores intersections between creativity, innovation, problem-solving and entrepreneurship, uses real-world examples to aid in professional practice, employability, portfolio development and communication approaches.
• Design Management Specialism 2 (30 credits): Prepares students for a career as a freelance creative or in multi-national corporations, explores project management in the creative industries, different team functions and stakeholder perspectives, and equips students with appraisal skills.
• Creative Futures and Social Change (10 credits): Explores the changing world of work for Arts and Humanities graduates, considers the impact of new technology and globalization on jobs and skills, empowers students to realize their potential in this changing environment, and guides them through a process of reflection on their professional identity and career future.
• Design Management Specialist Investigation (30 credits): Requires students to implement the first part of the plan defined in the "Design Management Final Project" module, generating a personal project brief or initial creative directions inspired by the data, discourse or analysis of the chosen field.
• Design Management Final Project (30 credits): Students independently plan, develop and apply strategies for data gathering, data analysis and data interpretation to create an extended original collection of work related to their own aspirations (e.g., service design, product design, design engineering, entrepreneurship).
The project will demonstrate application of skills and knowledge in tools and strategies to deliver a creative design management response to business decisions, brands, organizations, strategies and innovative approaches to design success.

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Assessment

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Assessment Methods:

• Group work
• Presentations
• Reports
• Projects
• Coursework
• Individual assignments

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Assessment Goals:

• Ensure fair assessment of all students.
• Monitor student progression towards achieving intended learning outcomes.

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Teaching

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Teaching Methods:

• Staff-led sessions
• Group projects
• Guided learning
• Directed skill sessions

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Faculty:

• Staff who may have experience working with companies like Philips, Canon and Samsung (subject to change)

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Teaching Approach:

• Fostering a studio-centric working environment to replicate the creative industry's ways of working.
• Engaging students with themes and insights at the forefront of the field.
• Encouraging experimentation with creative techniques.
• Enabling creation of complex and ambitious projects for diverse audiences.
• Promoting collaboration and participation across disciplines and contexts.
• Inspiring critical reflection on personal skills and goal achievement in the context of the continuously changing design management environment.

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Careers

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Potential Careers:

• Design team leader
• Design project manager
• Design researcher
• Design policy maker
• Design manager
• Creative producer
• Account manager

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Career Opportunities:

• Top UK and international design-led companies such as DCA (Warwick), Cambridge Consultants, PDD, Seymour Powell (London), Kinneir Dufort Design Ltd (Bristol), Princess Yachts, GE, Dyson, VAX, Ryobi, WPP, Lego, JMDA, Jaguar Land Rover, and many other household names.

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Graduate Skills:

• Knowledge of design management and associated disciplines.
• Ability to experiment with creative techniques.
• Capacity for creating complex projects for diverse audiences.
• Collaborative skills across disciplines and contexts.
• Critical reflection and goal achievement skills.
• Leadership and communication skills.

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Other

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Additional Information:

• The course may be offered on a part-time basis, with varying teaching arrangements depending on the number of part-time applicants.
For further information, request details on part-time study options.
• Students may have opportunities to work with industry teams, but these are subject to availability and additional costs.
• The course utilizes emerging technologies to enhance the student experience.
• Specific details regarding module availability, teaching arrangements, international experience opportunities, and fees may vary and should be confirmed with the university.

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Tuition Fees and Payment Information:

• UK, Ireland , Channel Islands or Isle of Man
£11,200 | £15,200 (with prof. experience) Request fee information
• EU
£11,200 | £15,200 (with prof. experience) per year with EU support bursary
• £18,600 | £22,600 (with prof. experience) per year without EU support bursary
Not available
• International
£18,600 | £22,600 (with prof. experience) Not available