31 New Design Programs in the USA: MS, PhD, MBA and Certificates
A comprehensive list of new and consolidated educational programs
“Everything we have around us has been designed. Design ability is, in fact, one of the three fundamental dimensions of human intelligence. Design, science, and art form an ‘AND’ not an ‘OR’ relationship to create the incredible human cognitive ability.”
— Nigel Cross, Designerly Ways of Knowing (2007)
As the world is rapidly changing, design is reshaping its duty from styling to more beyond “forms follow function.” Now design is playing a significant role in strategy and innovation in organizations across industries. No matter if you are a designer, or you may think of learning design someday in the future, I hope this list could be an inspiration to you.
1. Master of Design Methods (MDM), IIT Institute of Design
The Master of Design Methods (MDM) program is for exceptional professionals of any discipline with a proven track record of leading innovation initiatives. Graduates accelerate their careers with a deep understanding of what design thinking can bring to their organizations. They build lasting skills and knowledge that can be applied to a wide range of challenges within large and small enterprises.
2. MS in Design Engineering (MDE), Harvard GSD (since fall 2016)
Successful innovation and visionary leadership require a broad understanding of the relationships between technology and people, and the MDE program seeks to foster and develop graduates who will be able to address and tackle major challenges facing society with transformative, multidisciplinary solutions. The two-year, four-term MDE program offers students the skills and knowledge to take a collaborative, innovative approach to technically deep, complex, multi-scale, and open-ended problems.
3. MS in Design Studies (MDes), Harvard GSD
Areas of concentration: Art, Design, and the Public Domain; Critical Conservation; Energy and Environments; History and Philosophy of Design; Real Estate and the Built Environment; Risk and Resilience; Technology; Urbanism, Landscape, Ecology.
4. MS in Engineering, Design Impact, Stanford University
This is Stanford’s new two-year Master of Science, Design Impact degree. They work together on big, thematic problems. For the classes of 2019–2021, Design Impact themes will be: Empowering Power: giving people control of their own energy resources; Empathic Autonomy: personalizing healthcare in the digital age.
5. MA in Design studies, Parsons School of Design
The curriculum guides students to investigate new theoretical and design-oriented routes through which to acquire a critical understanding of design and its complex intersections with both the present and the future. MA Design Studies enables you to consider design as a fundamentally cross-disciplinary endeavor, drawing on the unique range of fields available throughout Parsons and other colleges within The New School.
6. Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Design Management and Communication, Georgetown University
Bringing together the worlds of creative management, design thinking, and business strategy, our program extends beyond the limits of traditional design programs. You’ll develop a holistic understanding of creativity and the design process while mastering the managerial insights and leadership strategies needed to deliver business-focused outcomes.
7. Master of Professional Studies (MPS), CMU Design
The MPS is a one-year program that helps you develop expertise in design for interactions within the context of services and social innovation.
8. Master of Integrated Innovation (MII-PS), CMU Design
The Master’s of Integrated Innovation for Products and Services (MII-PS) is a one-year professional degree for students with a design, engineering or business background or previous experience in these areas. The program unites three disciplines to cross-train students to become elite innovators.
9. MS in Integrated Design, Business and Technology, USC Online
Instructors work in cross-disciplinary teams, covering subjects that include conceiving and developing solutions to complex design, business and technological challenges; using data and research to create a portfolio of problem-solving approaches, and how to manage and adapt to uncertainty. The program creates leaders with the knowledge and skills to shape and build today’s evolving economy.
10. Master of Integrated Innovation for Products & Services, CMU Integrated Innovation Institute
The Integrated Innovation Institute is home to three master’s degrees that focus on the integration of disciplines to create valuable and holistic solutions for industry and societal issues. Graduates are elite innovators prepared to enter industry in product design and development, product management, user research, design engineering, software engineering, project management, as well as entrepreneurial ventures.
11. PhD in Design, IIT Institute of Design
IIT Institute of Design was the first design school in the US to create a doctor of philosophy (PhD) in design, and it continues to have the largest doctoral program in design. This PhD is a program for those who wish to teach or conduct fundamental research in the field of design. Students who have earned their PhD degree have gone on to lead design programs at other universities, teach, consult, and guide global corporations in their pursuit of innovation and value.
12. PhD in Transition Design, CMU Design
Fundamental change at every level of society is needed to address the issues confronting us in the 21st century. Climate change, loss of biodiversity, depletion of natural resources and the widening gap between rich and poor are just a few of the “wicked problems” that require designers to explore new approaches to problem solving. Transition design engages with these kinds of interconnected problems.
13. Professional Doctorate (DDes), CMU Design (currently paused)
This three-year, full-time, non-residential degree involves distance learning with intensive residential components on the CMU campus in Pittsburgh. The format of this degree makes it possible for professional designers to undertake doctoral studies in Transition Design while continuing their employment.
14. Doctor of Design (DDes), Harvard GSD
The three-year program is geared towards applied research that advances design related knowledge in a broad range of scales from product design to buildings and landscapes to urban design and regional planning.
15. Design & Innovation: PhD in Management, Case Western Reserve University
Weatherhead’s PhD in Management brings together the disciplines of information systems and marketing to prepare scholars for path-creating research on consequential issues faced by organizations and managers. This world-class management doctoral degree program in the Department of Design & Innovation.
16. PhD in Human Centered Design and Engineering, University of Washington
The PhD in Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington provides unparalleled depth and experience for students interested in studying the conception, design, implementation, evaluation, and effects of technologies.
17. Ph.D in Human Behavior and Design, Cornell University
The Ph.D. in Human Behavior and Design at Cornell University is a multidisciplinary program integrating the social sciences and design. Research focuses on environmental settings across a range of scales (from products to buildings to cities), that support safe, healthy and productive behaviors and foster sustainable design and lifestyles. This program draws its strength in four areas: Environmental Psychology, Facility Planning and Management, Human Factors and Ergonomics, Sustainable Design Studies.
18. PhD Design Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Within the Design Studies Graduate Program, faculty and students investigate a wide range of subject matter and apply a variety of methods, with the common goal of understanding how design (broadly conceived) relates to, responds to, and affects our lives. The program’s graduate faculty is comprised of interdisciplinary scholars, designers, scientists and artists who mentor and assist graduate students as they build individual programs of study. Three tracks are: Design History, Environmental Design Research, Textile Science.
19. Master of Design + MBA, IIT Institute of Design
The MDes + MBA program marks an important milestone in the co-evolution of design, management, and innovation. It combines a user-centered, method-based approach to innovation with core management education. Students with a bachelor degree in design can graduate after two years (including summer sessions for MBA courses). Non-designers must complete a two-semesters of foundation before beginning the MDes program. MBA courses can be taken during foundation.
20. MBA in Design Strategy (DMBA), California College of the Arts (since 2008)
The evidence supporting that design-based perspective on business and value creation is overwhelming. According to studies of US and UK companies, design-led companies consistently beat other companies in terms of stock performance, employee satisfaction, and innovation.
21. MA in Design Management, SCAD (on campus and online)
SCAD is home to a robust design management program that is recognized industry-wide for producing outstanding graduates ready to excel in the professional world as advocates of design innovation and creative problem-solving. As a student here, you can turn your passion for design into a vital professional asset, joining forces with major brands in collaborative projects, and landing coveted internships at progressive organizations hungry for your ideas.
22. MA in Business Design and Arts Leadership, SCAD (on campus and online)
A new convergence is occurring between the creative sphere and the business world. The program’s curriculum merges business principles and design knowledge with entrepreneurship and arts administration, emphasizing strategic thinking, data-driven analysis, planning, management and leadership.
23. MS in Strategic Design and Management, Parsons School of Design (on campus and online, since fall 2012)
The Master of Science in Strategic Design and Management program brings together a diverse group aspiring to initiate and lead change in emerging fields: business professionals wishing to address business challenges through design, design practitioners seeking to acquire expertise in business and leadership, and entrepreneurs looking to develop transformative business propositions for an evolving global economy.
24. M.P.S in Design Management, Pratt Institute (weekend classes, since 1995)
M.B.A. recipients selected to lead design functions often lack the design experience necessary to guide design decisions or to lead creative people. Recognized by Business Week as one of the world’s best design programs, the Design Management program (DM) is a two-year program created to bridge the disciplines of design and business management.
25. Multidisciplinary MBA + MS Design Innovation, Northwestern Kellogg
This is an immersive dual-degree program that gives students a rigorous business education integrated with a strong foundation in design innovation. MMM graduates receive an MBA from Kellogg and an M.S. in Design Innovation from the Segal Design Institute at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.
26. MBA/MA in Design Leadership, Johns Hopkins + Maryland Institute College of Art (since 2012)
The program is focused on building the management capacity of individuals from a range of disciplines that include design and art, science and technology, and business. Students aspire to become transformative leaders who engage organizations through creative processes that result in innovative solutions to real-world challenges.
27. Integrated Design & Management, MIT
Integrated Design & Management (IDM) is dedicated to enabling the learning and development of extraordinary, innovative leaders who will bring new levels of creativity, vision, and integrity to business and society.
28. Design Leadership for Business Certificate, Parsons School of Design (launch in fall 2017)
A new certificate in Design Leadership for Business, a course of study that recognizes the benefits design solutions can offer leaders facing business challenges across industries. Those who take this course sequence will develop skills in design thinking methodologies and emerge equipped to lead innovation and implement creative strategies for inspiring new perspectives across functional areas.
29. Berkeley Certificate in Design Innovation, UC Berkeley
The Berkeley Certificate in Design Innovation connects the design approaches and disciplines from four schools (College of Engineering, College of Environmental Design, College of Letters and Science — Arts and Humanities Division, and the Haas School of Business) to ensure that students know how to innovate. The program trains students to take responsibility for the entire life cycle of innovation, from idea to execution and beyond.
30. Customer-Focused Product and Service Design, Cornell University
This certificate consists of six two-week courses and provides you with a firm foundation for applying the industry-standard systems design methodology to superior product and service design.
31. Stanford Innovation and Entrepreneurship Certificate
This program teaches you essential skills and effective strategies for working in and managing innovative organizations — and for starting new ones. In online entrepreneurship courses designed to engage and inspire, you will learn by doing from some of Stanford’s best in the field.
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