The MA in Design ? Critical Practice transcends the traditional disciplines within design (e.g. product, graphics and furniture) offering you the opportunity to develop your specific design practice at Master?s level in relation to other areas of design. Where relevant, you are encouraged to pursue inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary work ? in collaboration with fellow students or following your own projects. The emphasis on developing a contextualised practice sets this programme apart from other Master?s in Design. It does this through a two-fold consideration of context: discursivetheoretical and practico-material. It encourages the development of design practices where the discourses and practical considerations of design come together. In understanding and engaging with the way discourses infuse design practice, you can develop your knowledge and understanding. The MA helps you to: ? take a critical approach to design (outcome) and designing (activity). ? study and analyse the socio-cultural contexts in which design is produced and consumed (past, present and future). ? research and explore past and emergent technologies so that you are able to deploy these and new technologies in the conception and production of design. ? engage with the discourses in and around design that inform the practice of designing. ? review methods and processes used in design, and other research methodologies. All of the above will give you a greater understanding of design and its contexts, which in turn will allow you to build a more evolved practice. You gain strong transferable skills in areas such as project management, creative facilitation, research methods etc. You also develop your skills in using a number of communication, material and production technologies (e.g. electronic tagging, RFID, rapid prototyping), which are useful in various workplace settings. What you study The MA in Design ? Critical Practice and the MRes in Design programmes share a number of courses. The asterisked courses in this MA programme are shared with the MRes in Design. The MA is structured around three strands of study: Context Methods and Processes Studio Projects. * Context courses ?(Term 1) Practice of Space* ?(Term 2) Creative Technology* * Methods and Processes (Terms 1 and 2*) This course is the hub of the MA and MRes programmes available in the Department of Design, building a bridge between theory and the Studio PracticeResearch Projects. It is a course of methods and processes for both theorists and practitioners, which acts as a link between the MA and MRes, comparing and contrasting the aims of each programme. This course introduces and reviews the methods and processes used in design practice and research. The course focuses on the ?objectives of research?, and also moves to look at how research can be interpreted and used to improve the process of designing, and influence other actions and practices. * Studio Projects In these courses, you apply in practice what you have learnt on the Context and the Methods and Processes courses. Through practice you draw together your learning from the other strands and understand them in application. The other strands have been created to informunderpin the studio practice courses. Full-time students spend at least two full days in studio andor workshop on these projects (part-time students at least half a day). Tutors will be available to give tutorials for half a day per week, giving an average of one day per week tutor contact (including presentations). For part-time students there is one evening in the week set aside for seminartutorials and one evening (optional) when they can have access to the Department?s workshops. Links with industry Companies andor professional studios will sponsor the studio projects of the first two terms. We are keen to ensure educational integrity, so the projects will be produced in consultation with companiesstudios that are sympathetic to the intended learnin
The MA in Design ? Critical Practice transcends the traditional disciplines within design (e.g. product, graphics and furniture) offering you the opportunity to develop your specific design practice at Master?s level in relation to other areas of design. Where relevant, you are encouraged to pursue inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary work ? in collaboration with fellow students or following your own projects. The emphasis on developing a contextualised practice sets this programme ap...
