Search MA Programs in Design Studies in North America 2019

The Suffolk Master of Arts in Graphic Design is a practice-oriented program that is customizable so you graduate with real-world studio work in your portfolio. As the field of design expands, Suffolk is focused on exposing students to sophisticated design, communication skills, and new technologies.

Learn essential skills for the Internet age: web publishing and design, social media, multimedia production, information graphics and much more.

This master’s degree is designed to be completed in one year, or over a fall, a spring and a summer semester. (Working professionals may want to take longer to complete it.) It will prepare recent graduates or practice professionals to excel in the exciting field of digital journalism and in other media- or communication-related fields. As an applicant to the master’s degree in Digital Journalism and Design, you stand to gain an immediate professional benefit: a USFSP-Poynter Certificate of Proficiency in Digital Technology for Journalists.... [-]

Master of Fine Arts in Media Design PracticesArt Center’s graduate program in Media Design Practices offers a two- or three-year Master of Fine Arts curriculum that helps ambitious designers from a variety of backgrounds become design leaders and researchers in emerging fields. We are dedicated to defining new practices in design. Our graduates are prepared for a lifetime of invention.Our vision is to educate designers not for the world as it is, but as it is becoming, to think hard about what it means to use our agency as designers to make the world as we may want it to be.To take this on, we offer two tracks: Lab and Field. Each track, in its own way, orients the designer toward the challenges of the future and the changing role of design.In the Lab track, students work in a studio context, using design to pose questions through applied and speculative projects that engage with emerging communication technologies and cultural practices. We move beyond the problem-solving paradigm to position the designer as a researcher with a distinct point-of-view who uses design to understand and engage with the world. We are expressly preparing media designers to take high performing roles in domains that are future-oriented and whose effects are far-reaching: information and communication technology, foresight units, industry R&D, scientific research labs, communication media, knowledge production, infrastructure and policy-making, and entrepreneurial or independent practices.In the Field track, run in collaboration with Designmatters, students work in a real-world context where social issues, media infrastructure,... [-]

Master of Fine Arts in Industrial DesignArt Center’s Graduate Industrial Design program, Grad ID, offers a two-year, six-term Master of Science curriculum focusing on theory and practice for the production of insightful research, the development of human-centric designs and the creation of new business opportunities.We combine Art Center’s renowned excellence in visual design and “making skills” with the knowledge, theories and methods essential for making design solutions for complex and unstructured problems. In doing so, we prepare students to assume leadership roles throughout creative organizations.Our faculty of internationally renowned educators—accomplished professionals across a range of design, technology and business fields—help our students develop their abilities through projects and critical dialogue in a design studio environment.We design with a consciousness that our products and innovations exist in a larger social and ecological context. Our program’s methodology, which takes a systems-level view and strives to balance the business, technological and human aspects of any challenge, is called Strategic Innovation. This creative process produces empathetic solutions to essential human needs. This broadly applicable approach allows designers—and enterprise—to be resilient, and to grow.... [-]

Interior Design (M.A.)

Whether you are just beginning a career as an interior designer or advancing your current professional interior design knowledge and skills, Marymount University can fit your needs – offering two tracks in its Interior Design program.

Marymount’s Master of Arts in Interior Design program strives to nurture your intellectual growth, independent learning, and an increased capacity to engage in interior design practice.

The coursework of the M. Wilhelmina Boldt Interior Design program strengthens and supports the knowledge, skills, and techniques necessary in competent, interior design practice while providing the foundation for the exploration of a specific aspect of the profession. Graduates are expected to understand, use, and conduct scholarly research to expand the profession’s body of knowledge and to assume leadership roles in the field.... [-]

Applicants to this program come from diverse backgrounds such as architecture, interior design, industrial design, art history, law, and teaching, as well as undergraduate wood programs. In the first year, students identify issues in their technical and aesthetic background and, along with faculty, create a program of study to address these areas. Simultaneously, they discover directions in their work that are promising for further exploration.

Based upon this experience, students develop a thesis proposal and, in the second year, create a comprehensive body of work. This work culminates in the end-of-the-year graduate thesis exhibition in the college gallery and a written thesis in support of the work.... [-]

MFA in Graphic Design

Graphic design is a professional major that addresses a range of advanced visual communication problems, with an emphasis on meaning, form, and function. In a professional studio setting, students work with faculty on the understanding and implementation of theories, principles, and methods related to concept development, design process, context, history and criticism, research, evaluation, visual aesthetics, typography, systems thinking, information design, inter - and cross-disciplinary collaboration, as well as social and ethical responsibility. Course assignments and thesis projects incorporate both theory and application in the solution of hypothetical and actual graphic design problems. Courses within this major evidence a balanced approach toward the integration of digital media and traditional processes. Final design outcomes focus on small- and large-scale, two- dimensional or three-dimensional printed artifacts and environmental graphic design solutions, with opportunities to develop relevant for time-based and/or interactive digital applications as well. Special lectures, guest speakers, exhibitions, and workshops complement studio and seminar goals. Students have ongoing access to RIT resources such as the Graphic Design Archive and the Cary Graphic Arts Collection, the Artists’ Books Collection, and the collections of the Vignelli Center for Design Studies.... [-]

MFA in Industrial Design

Industrial design involves the integration of form and function as products are designed and created through the combination of materials, process, computer-aided design, and human factors. Aesthetic sensitivity, technical competence, and analytical thought are developed and applied to meet the challenge of designing products for human needs. Studies include product, exhibit, and furniture design.

The master of fine arts degree program is designed for career enhancement or redirection. The educational experience is project-oriented, requiring research into design methods and technologies. Cross-disciplinary collaboratives provide an experiential dimension. The first year of study includes seminar courses in design history, issues, research, theory, and methods, which are common to all graduate students in the School of Design. In addition, studio courses involve extensive design work with respect to environmental issues, the meaning of artifacts, and critical analysis. Extensive course work using three-dimensional software for product modeling and animation fills out the program. In the second year, students conduct research and develop a thesis project, which is presented in a graduate thesis exhibition or presentation and is documented in a written thesis report.... [-]

Led by program head Clare Brown, the Masters of Arts in Exhibition Design is one of the few accredited graduate programs in the nation devoted to interpretive exhibition design. The curriculum is focused on design-thinking and experiential design, which students learn through a balanced integration of academic, technical and real-world design opportunities. Throughout the program, students are challenged to consider human factors in the creation of meaningful experiences and engaging spaces. Students obtain the professional and technical skills needed to create narrative environments and museum exhibitions, through user-centered design.... [-]

MSU's Master of Arts (MA) in Art will expose you to a variety of artistic media, disciplines, techniques, and technology as you pursue your interests. This 30-hour degree enables you to choose from three concentrations: art education, graphic design, and studio art.

This program is available on the Morehead campus.

You may choose one of the following three concentrations:

A concentration in art education offers you a customized program designed to further develop your studio, intellectual and professional background enabling you to grow as an artist, a teacher, and a leader. Courses address the historical and contemporary issues in art theory, studio art, and art education, bridging the connection between the individual artistic process and the creative development of your students through enhanced teaching practices.... [-]

At Kennesaw State University, we're preparing a new generation of leaders in globally integrated organizations. The M.A. in Integrated Global Communication is an innovative and contemporary program designed for communication professionals who appreciate how economically interdependent and socially interconnected the world is today.

Market share, mindshare and competitive positioning are vital ingredients for organizational success. Achieving these goals on a global scale requires special knowledge and skills to effectively communicate shared meanings across countries and regions with diverse cultural, political, and economic characteristics. Global communication refers to the information flow that transcends national boundaries, that is mindful of organizational goals and objectives while being sensitive to peoples of different cultures and races, and that recognizes political and economic differences among global organizational stakeholders.... [-]