Master [Design Innovation and Transformation Design] From Glasgow School of Art

The world we live in and the issues we face are becoming increasingly complex. The practice of design as a profession and as a form of exploring the world and creating knowledge must respond to this. We now recognise it is not enough to solve problems. Expanding opportunities exist for design to play a strategic role in mapping complex situations and enabling transformation towards preferable futures.

Transformation Design focuses on change-oriented approaches to design, which engage with complex social or systemic issues. We seek to understand complexity and work with stakeholders in participatory design processes to combine multiple alternatives, images, narratives and aesthetics, and develop strategies to trigger processes of transformation.

Through this programme you will experience collaborative working and real world engagement preparing you for a dynamic design career. We research and teach through projects that combine strategic thinking with hands-on exploration to shape future contexts in areas such as healthcare, education, housing and politics. The programme is studio based and many projects are ÔliveÕ with organisations as diverse as Toshiba, the Scottish Government, Tesco Bank and Alzheimer Scotland, offering you a professional portfolio of work upon graduation.Ê

In this course you will learn to applyÊinnovative design practices and emerging approaches to the increasing body of work, which addresses complex systemic issues. You will explore new forms of design in relation to public participation, social and technological innovation and policy-making. You will develop your own personal perspective on Transformation Design and define new roles for the designer within complex social, economic and political contexts.

The course is ideal for those who wish to work at a strategic level collaborating with diverse stakeholders including policy makers, industry and those in the third sector. Graduates of this programme should be able to demonstrate a critical faculty, an awareness of Design Innovation as a way of thinking about the present as it relates to the future, and understand the complexity of contemporary life as an issue for exploration rather than a problem to be solved.