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The Master of Science in Design (MSD) is focused on what you want to do rather than what you want to be. It is about issues in design, such as product innovation, communication, and healthcare and healing environments—issues that go beyond traditional design skills. Consequently, the MSD is essentially about design research; that is, the up front investigation that provides a greater understanding of a design challenge.
The MSD Program prepares designers for leadership positions in business, industry, government, NGOs, and education by focusing on what you want to do, not what you want to be. The "Master of Science" implies a strong research orientation while the modifier "in Design" designates professional terminal degree status.
The MSD Program has four goals:
- To provide graduate education for students who have a baccalaureate degree in industrial design, interior design, and visual communication design, or a related design discipline.
- To provide the opportunity for the development of specialized research skills to support the professions of industrial design, interior design, and visual communication design.
- To provide the opportunity for design professionals to gain the necessary research skills for academic and professional careers.
- To develop critical skills that enable the graduates of the program to contribute to the literature of design through articles, essays, and books or to participate in conferences related to their concentration.
- The nature of the program: The MSD is research degree in design, and not an extension of the undergraduate studio experience found in many master’s degrees in design. Consequently, the degree is meant for design students who wish to pursue an investigative path in design, one that leads to discovery and development of intellectual capital.
- The size of the program: The MSD is relatively small, a feature that enables faculty and staff to maintain a professional yet friendly atmosphere of care, service, and academic excellence.
- The culture of the program: The MSD is collaborative, with clear interaction among many design disciplines such as industrial design, interior design, visual communication design, and Arts/Media/Engineering (AME).
- The diversity the student body: Students come from the U.S. as well as Mexico, Costa Rica, Korea, India, Thailand, and China.
- The credibility of the program: The MSD is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).
- The ranking of the program: The MSD is rated in the top 10 graduate programs nationally (Report 2006).
- International reputation: The College of Design was selected by BusinessWeek as one of the top 60 global D-schools!
The MSD program was established in 1989. Unlike the more traditional practice-oriented MFA programs the primary goal of the MSD was to create and foster a research orientation and bias in graduate design education. This direction was especially suited to Arizona State University because its status as a research-intensive institution.
The faculty members associated with the MSD Program in the College of Design have always been at the center of its development. Their regular contributions have always lent credence to the research direction of the graduate program. For example, the Lighting Simulation Laboratory was opened in 1990 and Professor Michael Kroelinger was appointed as its first coordinator. The Human Factors Research Laboratory, coordinated by Professor Knight and now by Professor Don Herring, was launched in 1992. Its principal purpose remains the same: to support graduate research in design. More recently, Professor Paul Rothstein created InnovationSpace, an interdisciplinary design laboratory focused on integrated innovation. This research facility now has the ongoing academic and fiscal support of both the W.P. Carey School of Business and the Ira Fulton School of Engineering. Beginning in fall 2008, the MSD will offer a concentration on New Product Development based on concepts developed in InnovationSpace.
Grants and funded projects have also been an important part of faculty research. One early research project— a significant one at that—was the $1 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to study and design a prototype of a wet lab in support of collaborative teaching for the biological science programs. Professors Lorraine Cutler and Lauren McDermott, along with faculty members of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, were members of the team that undertook this project, begun in 1994 and completed in 1997. Since then, there have been ongoing and important research grants for bio-medical design, sponsored projects of various types through InnovationSpace, and, more recently, a project to support micro-enterprises in Mexico funded by USAID/TIES.
At the individual level, faculty research and scholarship has been strongly focused on investigation, research and the creation of design knowledge. Professors Beverly Brandt and José Bernardi continue to be leading authorities in the history of Interior Design and Latin American architecture, respectively. And Professor Prasad Boradkar research and publications in material culture continue to break new grounds.
Three new concentrations have been added to the MSD and will be offered beginning in fall 2008. New Product Development has already been mentioned but there is also Healthcare and Healing Environments and Interaction Design. All three offer opportunities in emerging areas of design.
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