Start of studies
Winter semester
Standard period of study
3 semesters
Language of instruction
German
Registration deadline
June
Scope of study
90 ECTS points
Semester fees
107,53 Euros
3 + 1 for Bachelor with 6 semesters
Admission requirements for the programme are a completed university course of at least seven semesters (210 ECTS) with an overall grade of at least “good” (2.5) and a passed aptitude test.
Applicants with a standard period of study of six semesters (180 ECTS) can be admitted under the condition that they make up for the missing semester as a so-called supplementary semester within the Master’s programme.
3 – 1 for Bachelor with 8 Semestern
Applicants with a standard period of study of eight semesters (240 ECTS points) may be exempted from the Master’s semester by the examination board. Prerequisites for this are, for example, a specific, completed vocational training or the recognition of periods of practical work experience in the corresponding occupational field. Periods of practical training abroad can also be recognised.
1. semester
Focus internship
25 ECTS | PR
Fokus internship course
3 ECTS | PR
Fokus internship seminar
2 ECTS | S, ExL
2. semester
Focus-Project Mentor-Review
8 ECTS | SU, Ü, PR
Focus-Review
10 ECTS | SU, Ü, PR
Cross-sectional lectures
4 x 3 ECTS | SU, Ü, PR
3. semester
Focus-Project Mentor-Review
4 ECTS | SU, Ü, PR
Master’s seminar
6 ECTS | S
Master’s thesis
20 ECTS | MA
First Semester
The first semester is an internship semester. During this phase, you will gain and work on practical experience in an internship for your self-defined project, the focus project.
For this purpose, you will look for a partner from a business or culture who is interested in your project. The duration of the Focus Internship (25 CP) corresponds to an 18-week internship with a 40-hour week.
At the university, your mentor will accompany your internship and the project in a Focus Internship seminar for two semester hours per week (2 CP).
In practice, this seminar takes place twice a semester for two days each at the university. Topics are technical questions about the project, support and supervision of the internship.
After the internship, you will write a focus internship report. This is intended to present the interdisciplinary findings and experiences in the design-professional practice.
- 2 SWS at the university (2 CP, corresponding to 60 working hours)
- Internship in business or culture (25 CP, corresponding to 750 working hours)
- Focus internship report (3 CP, corresponding to 90 working hours)
Second Semester
They spend the second semester entirely at the university. Teaching and supervision are made up as follows
- Cross-cutting lectures to deepen specialist knowledge (12 SWS)
- Mentor Review with corrections of the focus project by the mentor (4 SWS)
- Focus Review with coaching and seminars on the Focus Project (9 SWS)
23 SWS at the university (30 CP, corresponding to 900 working hours)
Third Semester
The third semester is also entirely at the university. The mentor will continue to provide support. Newly added are events on the topic of scientific work. You write your Master’s thesis.
The third semester at a glance:
- Mentor Review with intensive corrections of the focus project by the mentor
- Master seminar with a focus on scientific work and writing
- Writing the Master Thesis
8 SWS at the university (10 CP, corresponding to 300 working hours)
Writing the Master Thesis (20 CP, corresponding to 600 working hours)
Focus projekt
In your focus project, you investigate a task you assigned yourself. “Which room concepts support teamwork? How can we save energy while cooking? What helps facilitate grocery shopping for senior citizens?” Education in the master’s program starts with a question. A question you pose yourself – out of genuine interest, thirst for knowledge, and curiosity. It turns into the crucial starting point of your studies. The aim: To find answers in three semesters.
In your first semester, you are doing practical research in a business, a cultural institution, or in other institutions that suit your quest for answers to your questions.
Supervision in the university
Even if you manage the focus project yourself, it is closely supervised at the university. The mentors are responsible for the project. During the internship semester, they are responsible for a constant comparison of the interim results with the original research question.
Your Focus Project will also be the focus of numerous feedback discussions and correction sessions during the further course of your studies. At the end of your “research trip”, you will document your results and the way to get there in the master thesis.
Active in focus Project
During the internship semester with a suitable partner, you will research the facts for your project. Depending on the task at hand, you can also conduct experiments, field research, make observations or carry out test series. Whatever you do – you will always go in search of.
Learning to research makes you fit
“Research-based learning” is the name of the teaching method in which students work independently on a self-initiated project. This is the leitmotif in our master.design within the Focus Project. The advantage: Since you spend three semesters working intensively on a challenging question, you acquire a clear academic profile. Furthermore, you will train the following skills so that you are well prepared for challenging tasks in your job:
- to take responsibility for leading something independently to a goal
- Interdisciplinary teamwork during the internship and at the university
- Reflection on your approach and working methods
- Learning to deal with failures, developing alternative ways
- The perseverance to stay on a project in good and bad days
Organization
When applying for a place in master.design, you outline the issue of your project and look for a possible mentor for your work. You also name potential project partners for the internship focus. If you are admitted to the course of studies, you arrange your internship semester. The focus project is also the topic of your master thesis.
Focus Internship
25 ECTS
Weighting
Practical training
Form of teaching
As an intern, you’re usually at the copy machine? This is not the kind of practice we mean with our focus internship. According to our training model, you only stand at the copier for longer if you completely redesign it.
The first semester is an internship semester. But you could also call it a “research semester”. During this time you research the basics for your focus project with a partner from industry, research or culture. Two examples:
A student deals with the topic “mobile office” in his focus project. He does his Focus internship at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering. There he researches sociological, ergonomic and psychological aspects of office work. In experiments, he observes test persons during mobile office work. A student develops a protection concept for firefighters in action. Using modern sensor technology, the deployment is to be better monitored in the future. In case of danger, for example, the occurrence of invisible respiratory poisons, the firefighters are to be warned via a communication system. The student is spending her internship with a manufacturer of sensor and communication technology. She also spends time as an intern with the fire department and does research with occupational physicians.
Duration of the internship
The scope of the Focus Internship is 18 weeks and thus corresponds to a four-month internship with a 40 hour week. You can spend this time with one or more project partners. Depending on the requirements of your project, it is therefore quite possible that you will work for two months with one project partner and two months with another. In all forms, a total of 840 hours must be completed and certified by the institutions.
The organisation
The students look for their internship positions independently and on their responsibility. The respective internship coordinators provide assistance and advice by the respective internship coordinators and the teaching staff at master.design. When you apply for a place, you already indicate possible project partners for your focus internship as well as a concept for the course of your internship. But only after the university has confirmed your place of study will you make a binding arrangement for your internship. A tip: Please clarify the exact content of the internship with your project partner during the interview. This is the best way to avoid disappointment. It is essential that you can take on tasks on your responsibility during your internship semester and that you are integrated into teams wherever possible. At the university, your internship will be accompanied by your mentor and a master coach.
The internship report
After completion of the Fokus internship, you will write an internship report. In it, you will document the first results of your investigation and reflect on your practical experience. The minimum length of the paper is 35 pages. The citation method corresponds to the usual scientific forms.
Focus internship course
2 ECTS
Weighting
Seminar, External course
Form of teaching
In the first semester, the mentor accompanies your internship in the Focus Internship Seminar (2 SWS)
Normally, you meet your mentor and other lecturers of the university once a month to deal with the following:
- The conception of the project
- Feedback
- Technical questions about the project
- The course of the internship
Cross-sectional lectures
4 x 3 ECTS
Weighting
Seminaristic lessons, practical training, exercise
Form of teaching
In the cross-sectional lectures of the second semester (12 hours per week per semester), you broaden your skills in the fields of design, management, and communication.
In the cross-sectional lectures, ten professional fields are covered and offered – the so-called „Fachspektren“. You can choose four of these, according to your interests and preferences. Every lecture takes 3 hours per week per semester and values three credit points (CP). The result is a total of 12 CP in the second semester.
Materials
- New technologies – innovative materials
- New trends in materials research
- Nanotechnology
- Materials which are showing unusual properties
- Lightweight material
- Ecological and sustainable materials
- Material extraction from nature
- Alternative materials by the use of new substances
Ergonomics
- Basics of Ergonomics
- Anthropometric and systemic ergonomic data
- Analysis and optimization of human actions and achievements
- Usability tests of functional sequences, operation and interaction with objects, machines and interfaces
- Interdisciplinary development of approaches for products, rooms, and public spaces to the point of virtual interfaces (interface design) and scenarios of the interaction of humans and objects (interaction design)
Design and Science
- Technology and scientific transfer in the field of design
- Interdisciplinary processes of development
- Design as a process-oriented discipline
- Interdisciplinary work, cross-linked thinking
- Science as a source of inspiration for design
- Design as a source of inspiration for science
- Connection of complex design processes with other creative disciplines, i. e. marketing, advertisement, PR, the media
Innovation and Process Management
- Systematic development of innovation
- Internal and external organization of processes of development
- Time and resource management
- Interdisciplinary coordination and hosting
- Systematic development of comprehensive structures for continual management of processes of innovation and its documentation
Marketing & Communication
- Market and trend analyses
- Siting
- Communication with different target groups
- Messages/ positioning
- The technology of conceptional design
- Action planning
- Public Relations
- Press Relations
- Advertising
- Communications design
Temporary Room Solutions
- Analysis of temporary room solutions in the private or public sphere focusing on their customization, the psychology of perception, functionality, profiles of preconditions and requirements, style
- Typology of temporary rooms (considering work, entertainment, communication, education, consuming, traffic)
- Systematization of issues that are the basics of the different methods of planning and drafting
Adequacy & Target Orientation
- Analysis of situations and systems to achieve integrated perceptions and interpretations of complex scenarios of needs and requirements
- System theory and theory of complex systems
- Methodological system analysis
- Definition and exploration of trends
- Sociological and psychological basics
- Development of abstract and concrete objectives and appropriate methods
- Self-management
- Monitoring of time and resources
Sozialer Raum
- Development of design tasks based on knowledge of social issues
- Determination of requirements based on recent findings in science and research
- Architects as initiators and coordinators of processes of development
- Development of social spaces, moving away from an object-oriented discipline towards a process-oriented discipline
Sustainable Space
- Development of design tasks based on criteria of sustainability
- Issues and self-image of ecological and energy-efficient construction in the German-speaking countries
- Consideration and implementation of the findings of the stages of drafting, planning and implementation
- Comparative evaluation of already existing buildings regarding targeted results in the fields of energy consumption, comfort, customization, functionality, life cycle, etc.
- Training in the fields of sustainable regional, spatial and detailed planning
- Development of ecological spaces, away from an object-oriented discipline towards a process-oriented discipline
Focus Review
10 ECTS
Weighting
Seminaristic lessons, practical training, exercise
Form of teaching
In the Focus Review your work with a master coach. Furthermore, it aims at broadening your knowledge even more.
Coaching – Besides your mentor, in the focus review, a master coach is attending the organization of your studies and the management of your focus project. Development of Expert Knowledge – In addition to that, you take courses that improve your skills in design processes. In the Focus Review, you are studying in groups of 12 students maximum.
General topics:
- Implement projects within a team
- Design and brand
- Strategic design development
- Design-networks
- Managing design projects
- Analyzing the design potential of businesses
- Quality management in product development
- Project and cost management
- Communication of design competences
Professional issues
- Payment of design services (fees, licenses)
- Drafting contracts
- Liability and warranty
Mentor Review
8 ECTS
Weighting
Seminaristic lessons, practical training, exercise
Form of teaching
The so-called Mentor Reviews in the second and third semesters still focus on your focus project.
Every week you are presenting your mentor with your work progress. You are receiving feedback and corrections.
In the Mentor Review, you meet other students who picked the same thematic focus. In these groups of at most two participants, you will experience a lively exchange of ideas. This way, networked studying is made possible: beyond your own project, the discussions of other student’s projects improve your skills as well.
Master’s seminar
8 ECTS
Weighting
Seminar
Form of teaching
Curiosity is a kind of resource, which creative people have to have already. In the Master’s Course (6 hours per week per semester) of the third semester, you train the ability to pose trendsetting questions and to find answers to these questions.
Every good designer is a scientist as well and every good architect a discoverer. Whoever wants to develop innovative concepts needs scientific curiosity in addition to knowledge. In the Master’s Course, you learn how to sharpen your cognitive interest. Scientific work is the main content of the course.
- Unfortunately, for scientific work there is no silver bullet. Similar to designing, it is important to find your own style. We want to support you in this with the following contents of teaching:
- Trendsetting issues of architecture, interior design, and design
- How to develop your own questions and define problems
- How to shed light on these questions with the help of methods of scientific work
- Learn how to write scientific texts: planning and structuring
- Writing your master’s thesis
Master thesis
20 ECTS
Weighting
Master of Arts
Your master’s thesis is a challenging individual item which demonstrates all your skills.
Because you are able to deal with your master’s thesis topic from the beginning of the first semester, you have a lot of time to develop a creative and independent piece of work. This way, time pressure is minimized, from which a lot of students suffer at the end of their studies when dealing with the task of writing a scientific work.
You write your master’s thesis supervised by your mentor, who has attended you from the beginning of your first semester. Your thesis is an internationally acknowledged scientific work and, in the first place, serves as documentation of the following skills:
- to pose a particular issue
- to do research
- to write down your scientific research in an approved way (cite correctly, etc.)
Depending on your scientific problem, your master’s thesis deals with the following features:
- A complex design draft including draft versions, models, three-dimensional visualizations, renderings, or the like.
- The written scientific work and comprehensive documentation of the design draft
- A presentation including a colloquium, or a public presentation
Wir sind akkreditiert
Der Studiengang Master Design ist durch die Akkreditierungsagentur Aquin akkreditiert.