The wicked problems we face — poverty, healthcare, climate change, terrorism — require design expertise in deep collaboration with other experts and community stakeholders.
Through Integrative Design, we have the ability to respond thoughtfully, thoroughly, and with informed intent to the complex, multi-causal challenges the world faces today.
The two-year MDes in Integrative Design graduate program at the Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan leads the charge to create and strengthen a new kind of designer able to respond to the creative challenges of the 21st century.
Alongside industry and non-profit partners, students in the MDes program address real-world wicked problems through hands-on, project-based learning in the context of one of the world’s premier research institutions. Each year, the University of Michigan spends $1.48 billion on research, demonstrating deep and resourced commitment to the advancement of new knowledge.
MDes students analytically interrogate the Social, Technological, Economic, Ecological, Political, Values-based, Aesthetic, and Ethical (STEEPVAE) issues surrounding the wicked problem at hand. STEEPVAE is an effective, human-centered analytical framework for understanding the complex, provocative challenges in our world — and its applications are endless.
MDes students conduct their creative work and research in the MDes Studio, a new studio space designed to support collaboration — it is flexible and reconfigurable, with spaces and tools for both group and individual work, as well as a broad range of prototyping processes. The MDes studio is located in a 33,000 square-foot building that also houses faculty studios, project spaces, wood shop, metals shop, digital media studio, and large shared working and meeting areas.
All graduate students also have 24/7 access to state-of-the-art metals, fibers, ceramics, sculpture, wood, printmaking, digital media, and digital fabrication studios in the Art & Architecture building. Students can also utilize a wide range of resources and equipment only available at a top research university, including audio engineering studios, robotics labs, virtual reality studios, specialized libraries, institutes, collections, botanical gardens, and much more.
Each cohort comprises graduate students who wish to transform their professional careers through critical thinking and making, and systematic analysis and investigation of complex, real-world problems.
Hand-picked with an eye for diverse global perspectives and knowledge from across the design disciplines and beyond, the MDes cohort is relatively small in size, ensuring optimal collaboration in an environment where all members are seen, heard, and active.
Successful applicants will be:
We have a strong placement rate for our graduates, who leave the program with a roster of industry contacts, the ability to leverage the power of cross-disciplinary collaboration in unprecedented ways, and expertise in the application of STEEPVAE.
Learn more about the collaborative nature of our MDes program in this video, documenting a design charette that teamed MDes students with faculty, industry leaders, and healthcare professionals.
