Master of Design
Clockwise from top left: Alonso Molina Adame, Sepideh Parand, Kaiwen Yang.
Change society. Change an industry. Change the world.
We seek designers who aspire to create experiences and transformations locally and globally. Root yourself in our campus community while building connections with industry.
Program basics
Our two-year Master of Design (MDes) is built on critical, practice-based creative research. You choose the intensity and mode of delivery to match your circumstances. Faculty, staff and peers will be with you every step of the way, mentoring, challenging and supporting you.
All program pathways include a thesis project — a creative product with both media and written components — developed through in-studio classes and research seminars taught by skilled and attentive faculty supervisors.
Choose between three MDes program pathways:
NEW! MDes Information Futures
Our new MDes Information Futures stream is a two-year online graduate degree offering students advanced research, practice and industry-aligned skills in information design and systems design through a practice-based, future-oriented lens. Courses are delivered synchronously with week-long hybrid residencies in the Fall and Spring terms.
Like our other MDes pathways, Information Futures highlights socially engaged, practice-based research on information and systems design that is relevant across multiple applications and work environments.
Information Futures is specifically designed for students looking for online learning and creating, championing learners in remote locations and students who prefer virtual accessibility. Join Information Futures and push the boundaries of the field and the future of information design!
What will you learn?
- Our specialized curriculum provides access to various community-building and mentorship opportunities in a critical and expansive academic experience.
- You’ll gain best practice tools and skills for working in the virtual realm, aligning with current industry standards.
- You’ll develop a thesis project that addresses themes touching on social, cultural and environmental sectors, as well as policy and government work, health and education, and editorial and communication design.
- You’ll learn thesis project approaches ranging from new critical and speculative methods to engaging with Indigenous-centered research practices.
- You’ll take your place at the forefront of creative and professional innovation and become a powerful designer, facilitator, communicator and researcher ready to lead across a range of professional and creative landscapes.
MDes Interdisciplinary
MDes Interdisciplinary is a two-year, full-time, on-campus graduate program centered on creative research and material exploration. This degree takes a human-centered approach to design, examining communities' social, technological and experiential needs.
You'll focus on conceptual and theoretical design issues through a practice-based and creative approach. With an emphasis on making, you'll redefine sustainability and the role of design in our contemporary world.
What will you learn?
- Alongside explorative coursework, you'll develop an interdisciplinary design practice through research seminars and studio classes.
- You'll engage with various emergent and established design realms through independent thesis development on a topic of your choice.
- More wide-ranging and more exploratory than the Interaction stream, the Interdisciplinary pathway emphasizes playfulness and hands-on learning, allowing you to understand how material choices relate to community, sustainability and social progress.
- Participation opportunities in public presentations and exhibitions, as well as a series of lectures from renowned designers.
- With access to an expansive on-campus suite of studios, labs, and research facilities, you'll be immersed in innovative and formative play within a design field of your choice.
MDes Interaction
Our MDes Interaction pathway is a two-year, on-campus degree with coursework, creative research, and material exploration. The MDes Interaction program has a UX/UI focus but goes far beyond that, too. Students investigate and challenge design approaches related to nature, services and systems, human relations with technology, ethics in data, and much more.
As an MDes Interaction student, you'll participate in innovative and generative coursework and independent thesis development.
What will you learn?
- You'll identify and develop a research focus area within the interaction design realm. This may involve researching human behaviour, the overlap between the physical and digital, the use of ephemeral materials, psychology in design and other related topics of interest.
- In a studio-practice and research-based environment, you’ll learn to challenge assumptions on how we engage with one another and the world around us.
- With access to various on-campus labs (including a VR lab) and participatory research guidance, you’ll lead and contribute to futuring, speculative writing, and experimental and collaborative design.
- Research seminars, studio classes, public presentations, and lectures from renowned designers and scholars will inform, deepen and supplement your design practice as you complete your coursework and thesis project.
Explore our curriculum.
Want to learn more about the specifics of our MDes program? Explore detailed course descriptions and curriculum pathways.
"I walked into Emily Carr with curiosity, desire, and questions, and I walked out with passion, inspiration, and more questions. For me, design is no longer just about learning skills and theories, but a tool of exploring and a way of thinking. For these two years, we dived into different problem spaces and actively engaged in this little world to explore, participate and ponder about how can we use our interdisciplinary knowledge and design actions to make this society a better place. I'm not sure what this journey will bring me, but it will have a meaningful impact on my life.”
Stories from Our MDes Community
"The Master of Design program [at] Emily Carr has enabled me to meet and collaborate with some of the brightest minds in the creative industry. As a creative professional this allows me to expand the conceptual and intellectual scope of my work, thus elevating my work in the increasingly global market."
Our Studios + Facilities
Above: MFA students in their personal studios. Below: MFA candidate prOphecy sun in the Motion Capture Studio.
Graduate programs at Emily Carr University have a strong focus on studio practice with rigorous individual and group critiques that aim to balance the integration of theory, practice, and production.
As a graduate student, you will have your own studio space at your disposal throughout the program, and to shared, dedicated work areas. Graduate students work with Technical Services Coordinators who help with their various studio needs.
A wealth of resources and integrated studios, labs, and workshops housing a wide range of media, analogue and new digital technologies will be available to you. Find detailed descriptions of our shops and studios on our website.