Master in Industrial Design (Graduate)

Jonas Milder
jmilder@uarts.edu
Director
215-717-6256

The Master’s Program in Industrial Design is a graduate laboratory for postindustrial design. Students and faculty are actively exploring how to design for new social and industry conditions in which behavioral, material, technological, and business landscapes are shifting. We are committed to developing new models of design practice that are multidisciplinary, collaborative, and team-based. We stress process, with an emphasis on research, conceptualization, communication, and appropriate form giving.

The program is built upon partnerships with industry, particularly in the manufacturing sector, that are adjusting to global economic changes and to increased environmental awareness and demand for more sustainability. Collaboration with UArts MID affords our industry partners an opportunity to re-think their practice through design innovation, invention, and new business models. These partnerships provide students with an education that is driven by both academic excellence and opportunities to apply their learning to real world situations.

We are an interdisciplinary program, so we welcome applicants from diverse fields such as industrial design, the fine arts, architecture, sociology, law, business, engineering, and information technologies. What unites the students is their enthusiasm for design and material culture, as well as an interest in the social impact of design on our society. Each candidate is carefully selected to assure a comprehensive balance of disciplines in the program.

Two-year, 60 Credit Curriculum

The two-year, 60-credit curriculum (for students holding a bachelor’s degree in an art or design field or equivalent) consists of studio, methods, and seminar courses. The curriculum is project-based, which means that each semester, course content is integrated around studio-based projects.

Because design is a collaborative profession, most studio projects will be team-based. During the first and third semesters of study, first-year students will work with second-year students with an MID industry partner in a shared studio. Semester two is more individually oriented. The final semester of the two-year program is devoted to a master’s thesis in which the candidate will work more independently with a group of internal faculty and/or outside professionals to develop a thesis project that must advance the candidate’s chosen field of study.

Three-year, 78 credit curriculum

The three-year, 78-credit curriculum (for students from disciplines other than art and design) provides a prerequisite year of basic design skills, concepts and competencies with six credits of graduate coursework that will prepare students to enter the two-year MID program.

Like the program itself, the faculty represent a wide range of approaches to the practice of design. This means that students have access to currently practicing design professionals with backgrounds in fields ranging from architecture, graphic design, cultural anthropology, and psychology, to industrial systems, and environmental design. The Industrial Design Department thus offers a unique core faculty group who share a common philosophy and commitment to the design process.

Specialized Facilities

In the graduate design studio, each student has access to Apple desktop computers with a professional suite of software. The department also provides access to digital cameras and projectors for process documentation and presentation.

Students in the MID program have access to an Envisiontec Perfactory 3D printer. The printer automatically constructs physical models made of methacrylate (a plastic material) from digital CAD models. The Perfactory prints single objects as large as 7.5 x 6 x 9 and larger objects may be built in sections. The plastic may be used as the final product, or it may be painted, combined with other materials, transformed into other materials, transformed into other materials using molding and casting techniques, or transformed into metal through investment casting or electroforming.