Our two-year graduate design program — MDes — 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, MDes students address real-world problems through hands-on, project-based learning in the context of one of the world’s premier research institutions. In 2024, the University of Michigan spent $2.04 billion on research, demonstrating deep and resourced commitment to the advancement of new knowledge.
MDes Studio
MDes students conduct their creative work and research in the MDes Studio, a shared 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, MFA studios, project spaces, wood shop, metals shop, digital media studio, and large shared working and meeting areas.
All graduate students also have access to the School’s 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.
The MDes Cohort
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:
Collaborators seeking an integrative design approach to solving complex problems
Creative Leaders looking to push the design discipline and industry forward
Experienced Designers wishing to transform their career path or professionals in other fields who want to transition to a design-engaged practice
Career Changers proficient in specialized, complementary skills they would like to incorporate into an integrative approach
Researchers prepared to revise and expand their understanding of cross-disciplinary research and design methods
Innovators with a commitment to social innovation, sustainability, and change for the common good
Self-Starters excited to bring together people and resources to create sustainable change
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.