Design Innovation and Management (Taught)

With a flexible curriculum to accommodate your creative ambitions, this course will prepare you to take a critical position to forge a successful career in the globalised creative world. The key business skills that you will gain make this course the ideal platform for creative entrepreneurs to launch their own design businesses and consultancies, or for those who hope to take up senior roles in design strategy or brand management. The course is designed for students with a good working knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite applications, such as Photoshop, Acrobat, and InDesign, and will develop these technical skills to an advanced level.

You will select a specialist area of study from diverse options, ranging from retail, museum and exhibition, and product design, to interior, fashion, visual communication, and design innovation. Learn to devise creative solutions to complex issues surrounding sustainability and explore the role of design and innovation as a driver for change. Your learning will culminate in either a work-based project or individual major project (either creative practice based, or research focused), drawing on the professional expertise and specialist knowledge of our academics.

Throughout the course we will empower you to experiment boldly and support you to take risks. You will be encouraged to challenge conventions and develop innovative approaches to tackling contemporary design challenges, with the cutting-edge facilities for you to refine your talents and realise your creative visions.

Key features

• You can be awarded an MA or MSc depending on your route through your studies and final Major Project. You can also exit the course with a Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate award depending on the credits you have successfully achieved.

• Specialise in varied design areas, from retail, museum and exhibition, and product design, to interior, fashion, visual communication, and design innovation.

• You will develop the design skills and innovative approach required to become a successful and impactful entrepreneur in the creative industries.

• You can tailor your course to develop your personal interests and support your career aspirations or establish the design concept for your own business.

• Gain expert knowledge from visiting guest lecturers and work on real-world live projects set by professionals from industry, museum, charity and arts organisations.

• Join a community that is working together to co-design new ways of thinking to redefine the future of creative practice.

• With an optional year-long work placement you can gain valuable experience to further enhance your practical and professional skills.

• Our award-winning Vijay Patel building has been designed to provide the space and facilities where all of our art and design students can develop their ideas and flourish.

• The School of Design’s close-knit community of postgraduate students and staff creates a supportive learning environment for design students from around the world.

Modules

Block 1: Creative Design Research Studio

This module will introduce you to a critical appraisal of current creative and research processes in a professional multidisciplinary context, which will support you to move beyond design research skill development toward high-performance working and enable you to develop a range of applied skills that will boost your potential employability.

Block 2: Research Methods and Cultural Context

In the module you will be introduced to advanced research skills. You will consider the role of research within the context of design and management, and reflect on your personal attributes, skills, and values as a contemporary researcher.

Block 3: Select one from the following:

• Sustainability Strategy and Design

Debates surrounding sustainability have become increasingly prominent due to greater awareness among consumers of environmental and ethical issues, as well as initiatives by many companies to improve their sustainable credentials.

• Narrative Spaces

This module will explore how the design of spaces can tell a story. You will consider the interaction between objects, space and stories, in order to better understand complex ideas, messages or emotional connections and empathy.

• UX and UI

This module is designed to prepare you for a career in UX/UI design. You will develop the skills to design a user interface that enhances the user experience using tools and techniques used in industry.

• Technology for Design

Technological advancements in design and manufacturing are rapidly evolving. Designers across all specialisms are exploring how technology can support them in creating and innovating to develop new practices, drive change, and impact the way we live.

Block 4: Select one from the following:

• Business and Marketing Strategies

The manoeuvring of a creative concept to market using business and financial skills is crucial to the success of the Creative Entrepreneur. Confident handling of commercial and creative theoretical and practical tools forms a major part of the activities of the entrepreneur. On this module you will identify potential for a new product/service/experience and mobilize the necessary business resources to realise your ideas.

• Design Problem Solving

In this module you will be supported to develop innovative approaches to tackling difficult local and global design problems, while also consolidating and developing your subject specific skills. The module supports the experimentation of a range of research and analytical tools that can be used to inform design. The aim of the module is to support you to become a creative, resilient designer who will thrive on your ability to draw on your genuine curiosity.

Blocks 5 and 6: Select one from the following:

• Major Project – Dissertation

Your learning will culminate in a dissertation on a research topic of your own choosing. You will demonstrate your ability to use initiative and ingenuity, make complex decisions and act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional level.

• Major Project – Design Innovation

In this module you will be supported to demonstrate a systematic and comprehensive understanding of the techniques applicable to your own research and advanced scholarship in the completion of a major project. You will demonstrate your ability to use initiative and ingenuity, make complex decisions and act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional level.

• Work-based Project

This module provides the opportunity to develop and demonstrate skills acquired from the course in a practical context - for example working with a fashion, textile or design company on the development of a prototype innovation. It is anticipated that this work-based live project will include experience of working on the design or development of products within an area of fashion, textiles or design.

https://www.dmu.ac.uk/study/courses/postgraduate-courses/design-innovation-and-management-degree/design-innovation-and-management-degree.aspx