The Stamps Master of Design (MDes) program is a place for future-focused, rigorous experimentation. Situated in a cross-disciplinary art and design school, the program encompasses a broad range of practices, a deep history of craft, and cutting-edge fabrication facilities. From print media and physical prototypes to digital experiences and immersive environments, you will find faculty and facilities to mentor and support your design work.
Working with Stamps’ diverse faculty and the resources of a premier research university, the program emphasizes interdisciplinary problem-solving, community engagement, and critical making. The program will prepare you to become a strategic leader, visionary designer, researcher,or educator who can address complex challenges, societal needs, and emergent opportunities with tangible, forward-looking interventions.
MDes Studio
The MDes Studio is a dedicated studio located in the Faculty and Graduate Studios building, equipped with personal workspaces, shared prototyping spaces, and fabrication facilities to support your day-to-day work. In addition to the MDes studios, the Faculty and Graduate Studios community includes the Stamps MFA program and faculty studios.
Students have 24/7 access to the MDes studio as well as metals, fibers, ceramics, sculpture, wood, printmaking, digital media, and digital fabrication studios in the nearby Art & Architecture building. Students can also utilize a wide range of resources and equipment only available at a top research university, including audio engineering studios, robotics labs, virtual reality studios, specialized libraries, institutes, collections, botanical gardens, and much more.
The MDes Community
As a multidisciplinary program, MDes students have the ability to articulate their own design practice – aesthetically, methodologically, and contextually – within a lively community of varied and individualized approaches. Our studio environment is a uniquely generative space for developing ways of working, and locating the values, curiosities, and territories that drive your design practice.
Our program has a commitment to socially conscious practice. The curriculum emphasizes methods and tools of social practice and engagement, and students have opportunities to directly connect with communities and critical topics through studios and projects. Value-driven design guides our work in the program and fosters community collaboration and conversations.