Design

This workshop explores the social impact and implications of design. You will reflect and become more aware of the issues and complexities of working on social issues (in and with society), focusing on the complex relationships between people, social structures and the environment. You will learn and apply methods through practical work to help you develop a socially sustainable and impactful product, service or research project. The workshop will help you to explore the needs, habits and perspectives of different actors that are relevant to your project and thus contribute to the social impact of your project.

During this workshop, you will learn how to work using design methods, social business strategies, and entrepreneurial principles. These approaches will help you recognise, tackle, and resolve social or environmental challenges. The workshop aims to create business acumen to foster positive societal transformation by devising inventive and enduring answers to social and/or environmental issues, all to enhance the welfare of communities, individuals, and the environment.

Whether you are developing a new product or service, researching complex social design issues, advising clients or formulating your own profile, Design Research generates new knowledge. While “research for design” informs the design process and “research on design” provides new fundamental knowledge about design, “research by design” enables creative solutions to complex problems. In this course, you will deepen the basics and methods of the subject in seminar units and joint project work.

You will develop complementary skills and competencies in the courses “Design Processes and Story Frameworks”, ”Organising the MAD Festival”, “Design Criticism”, “Design Ethics”, “Postcolonial Critique and Practice”, “Operational Planning and Fundraising in Entrepreneurship/Research”, “Show Your Work”, “Present your Projects” and “Visual Storytelling”.

The Master Design Festival is designed, organised and supervised jointly by you and your fellow students. You will develop your group work skills and learn the basics of event management. Held every autumn, the Master Design Festival allows you to invite and network with practitioners, luminaries and business leaders.

The Junior Design Research Conference serves as an annual exchange between all Master students in Design in Switzerland – across institutional boundaries. You will have the opportunity to participate in the conference through lectures and workshops.

As part of the Master Design, you will undertake an excursion to a city abroad. Over four days, you will visit different hotspots, such as companies, exhibitions, cultural institutions or universities. In addition, we will observe, discuss and reflect on current discourses and urban changes in the context of the city we visit.

To acquire project-specific theories, methods and competencies, you can attend courses offered by the Department of Design and Fine Arts, the Y Institute, the Berne University of Applied Sciences BFH or partner institutions such as the University of Bern.

You will participate in a retreat with your peers, a senior student, as well as the head and assistant of the programme in order to get to know each other, your projects, and the Master Design philosophy.

You will develop your project in close collaboration with one or two supervisors of your choice. These can be HKB staff but also experts from outside the institution. Within the framework of your curriculum, you have a certain number of working hours at your disposal, which you can arrange individually with your supervisor/s. The supervisor/s can be changed at the beginning of each semester.

You will regularly present your project development to a committee of experts and your fellow students. Your project idea will then be discussed in the plenary. The committee will support you in the development of your project.

The project development results in the master’s thesis, which you will submit at the end of your studies. It consists of the following three parts:

• a) in the specialisation “Entrepreneurship”: a business concept based on a design-based product or service
• b) in the specialisation “Research”: a scientific research plan for a design research project
• a documentation of the project development in the form of an annotated progress report;
• an examination, consisting of a public presentation of the business concept or research plan (max. 20 minutes), a handout and follow-up questions from the exam committee (max. 25 minutes).
   

In this introduction, you will learn about all the possibilities of the labs and workshops of the Department of Design and Fine Arts. You will also get to know the staff, who are happy to give you advice on technical issues and help you realise your project ideas wherever possible. Attending the introduction will entitle you to use the workshops and labs independently during your studies at the HKB.

The reading list contains literature recommendations from the Master Design. You will read twelve freely selectable titles from this list during your studies. The list is regularly evaluated by the students, lecturers and the Master Design management team. It reflects relevant design topics as well as standard works in the fields of design research and entrepreneurship.

The Forschungs-Mittwoch offers insights into the research activities of the HKB. The event series presents research work and puts it up for discussion. In some cases, ongoing or completed HKB projects are presented, in other cases, national and international guests are invited. The Forschungs-Mittwoch in the field of design is organised by the Institute of Design Research and the Master Design.

The Institute of Design Research (IDR) is one of four research institutes at the Bern Academy of the Arts HKB. Interdisciplinary teams investigate the various forms of designed communication in the research fields Knowledge Visualisation, Social Design, Environmental Communication Design, Design and Rhetoric, Design History, the project field Entrepreneurship and Creative Economies and the research group Health Care Communication Design. Projects are carried out in collaboration with partners from academia, within the public and private sectors in Switzerland and abroad. Some of the projects include dissertation projects within the doctoral programme “Studies in the Arts” (SINTA), which is run in collaboration with the University of Bern. The IDR and the Master Design collaborate closely in various ways: Researchers at the Institute contribute their approaches and findings as lecturers in the Master Design. Students of the Master Design develop research projects, which they realise as researchers at the institute. The team meetings in the research fields, as well as the research day of the IDR, are open to the students of the Master Design. Additionally, the IDR jointly organises the public lecture series Forschungs-Mittwoch with the Master Design.

Entrepreneurial thinking and action are key objectives of our educational and research mission. The Business Lab at the HKB motivates and empowers students, alums, and staff in our areas of expertise to develop art and design into sustainable and competitive business models. The Master Design is in regular exchange with the Business Lab. It supports Master Design students and alums in the development of entrepreneurial projects by advising them in start-up funding, networking and operational planning.

The Berner Design Stiftung promotes and communicates contemporary design from the canton of Bern and is responsible for the cantonal collection of applied art. The Master Design is in regular contact with the foundation. Master Design students can apply for the different funding schemes, provided they meet the relevant application requirements.

The Master Design programme sees the field of healthcare design as a promising and important field for future practitioners. Therefore, it has maintained a close relationship with the Swiss Center for Design and Health – the competence centre of national importance in Switzerland. Through joint events and personal exchanges between the institutions, opportunities are created, including the possibility of doing your master’s thesis on the premises of the SCDH.

The Master Design programs at WdkA and HKB share many similarities. Students in both programs learn to explore their design inquiries through various methods such as making, research, and storytelling. Through their design research, students contribute to new practices. The curriculum includes workshops, lectures, and coaching sessions. The programs’ similarities have led to a partnership focused on mutual development and exchange. Master Design students can apply to spend a semester or take individual courses at the WdKA through the International Office of the HKB.

School requirements

The prerequisite for admission to the aptitude test is a Bachelor’s degree, a FH diploma or an equivalent degree.

Professional requirements

You have some work experience, in teaching or in research, at least in the form of an internship.

Knowledge + Skills

Amongst other things, you have:

• the ability to recognize and formulate a socially relevant problem;
• the ability to think and act conceptually, creatively and relationally (design, analysis, reflection)
• the motivation to work entrepreneurially (Entrepreneurship) or scientifically (Research).

Language Skills

You are fluent in spoken and written German or English and have basic knowledge of the other language. 

Foreign applicants

Foreign nationals require a valid travel document recognised by Switzerland, and also a visa is often required. In addition, international students must apply for a residence permit immediately after acceptance of their place of study and be able to produce a financial guarantee. They must also organise health insurance before commencing their studies. Please inform yourself in detail about your specific entry requirements.

Further Information

Commencement of studies: Thu, 5.9.2024
Application deadline: Mon, 15.4.2024
Aptitude assessment: Tue, 9.4. and Thu, 11.4.2024