Design MS
Major: Design
Degree Awarded: Master of Science in Design
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 48.0
Co-op Option: None
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 11.0105
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 04.0401
About the Program
The Drexel MS Design is an innovative, interdisciplinary, and distinguished evidence-based design program that will help you become a design leader in the 21st-century workplace.
Students work across multiple sectors in service design, market research, and product development to learn an evidence-based approach with a set of core design competencies taught in this program. We have studio and seminar options available to suit your experience needs. Created to serve students across all design disciplines, creatives, and those looking to make a career change, our program is a self-tailored yet structured and guided design program. This engagement-oriented program includes extensive coursework in social interest design, design-led strategy, and future-oriented technologies, preparing you to be an integral part of a development team in the design industry. Students in the program produce evidence-based thesis projects that are published through Pro-Quest Dissertations upon completion of their degree.
College and Curriculum:
The MS in Design program is part of the nationally-ranked Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, housed in award-winning, technologically enhanced facilities and taught by faculty who have worked at the top of their fields. Situated in the Department of Architecture, Design & Urbanism, the program benefits from its associations with faculty and students in the Interior Architecture & Design and Urban Strategy graduate programs; students are also taught and advised by faculty from product, graphics, and public health. The program provides a forum for students to pursue projects within design, technology, social impact, community, environmental design, and health. This flexible program operates with a core curriculum that is built on and augmented by a customized set of electives and the three-term thesis sequence. The curriculum, though self-directed, is grounded in real-life problems, research, studio class work, problem definition, and iterative making.
This 48-credit STEM-designated program can be taken either full or part-time; we offer a range of coursework to suit all schedules, including those with full-time work commitments. With over forty successful Alumni, our diverse range of current and past self-developed student topics include circular design, assistive technologies, mental health services, shelter systems, artificial intelligence, blockchain for human uses, services for sustainable living, and healthy service, space, and product development. The program includes making, research, fabrication, collaboration, and human-centered design thinking.
Professional:
Students from this program work as service designers, product developers, research strategists, market researchers, and research coordinators. Our Alumni are in mid-level and higher positions in the financial, fashion, beauty, product, utility, higher education, and built environment sectors, to name a few. Alumni from our program work across multiple industries, in complex settings, with interdisciplinary teams. Students in our MS Design Program are specifically educated and challenged in evidence-based design and strategy across diverse contexts. All are exposed to various research and design practices through multiple real-life collaborations with academic and professional partners.
Additional Information
For more information, please contact the Design Program Director D. S. Nicholas dsn35@drexel.edu.
Admission Requirements
Undergraduate baccalaureate degree in or related to design.
Additional Information
For more information, visit the Graduate Admissions webpage.
Degree Requirements
| Core Requirements | ||
| DSRE 620 | Design Problem Solving | 3.0 |
| DSRE 625 | Technologies of Making | 3.0 |
| DSRE 630 | Data Visualization for Design Professionals | 3.0 |
| DSRE 635 | Translational Design Research | 3.0 |
| DSRE 641 | Contemporary Design Theory | 3.0 |
| DSRE 645 | Design Research Thesis Proposal | 3.0 |
| DSRE 650 | Thesis Research and Practicum | 3.0 |
| DSRE 750 | Thesis in Design Research I | 3.0 |
| DSRE 760 | Thesis in Design Research II | 3.0 |
| DSRE 770 | Thesis in Design Research III | 3.0 |
| Design History or Research Option | ||
| Select one of the following: * | 3.0 | |
| History of Modern Design | ||
| Research Methods in Communication, Culture and Media | ||
| Research Methods and Assessment of Creative and Innovative Thinking | ||
| Research Methods I | ||
| Contemporary Art Issues | ||
| Electives ** | 15.0 | |
| Total Credits | 48.0 | |
- *
Or other course with advisor approval
- **
Select 15.0 credits from 500-600 level courses, including I599, I699, T580, T680, in AS-I, CRTV, DIGM, DSRE, ENTP, ENVS, EPI, FASH, INFO, PBHL, RMER, UXID
Sample Plan of Study
Full-time Sample Plan of Study
| First Year | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credits | |
| DSRE 620 | Design Problem Solving | 3.0 |
| DSRE 625 | Technologies of Making | 3.0 |
| Design History or Research Option | 3.0 | |
| Credits | 9 | |
| Winter | ||
| DSRE 630 | Data Visualization for Design Professionals | 3.0 |
| DSRE 635 | Translational Design Research | 3.0 |
| Elective | 3.0 | |
| Credits | 9 | |
| Spring | ||
| DSRE 641 | Contemporary Design Theory | 3.0 |
| DSRE 645 | Design Research Thesis Proposal | 3.0 |
| DSRE 650 | Thesis Research and Practicum | 3.0 |
| Credits | 9 | |
| Summer | ||
| VACATION | ||
| Credits | 0 | |
| Second Year | ||
| Fall | ||
| DSRE 750 | Thesis in Design Research I | 3.0 |
| Electives | 6.0 | |
| Credits | 9 | |
| Winter | ||
| DSRE 760 | Thesis in Design Research II | 3.0 |
| Electives | 6.0 | |
| Credits | 9 | |
| Spring | ||
| DSRE 770 | Thesis in Design Research III * | 3.0 |
| Credits | 3 | |
| Total Credits | 48 | |
- *
Note: This term is less than the 4.5-credit minimum required (considered half-time status) of graduate programs to be considered financial aid eligible. As a result, aid will not be disbursed to students this term.
Part-time Sample Plan of Study
| First Year (Part-Time) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credits | |
| DSRE 620 | Design Problem Solving | 3.0 |
| DSRE 625 | Technologies of Making | 3.0 |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Winter | ||
| DSRE 630 | Data Visualization for Design Professionals | 3.0 |
| DSRE 635 | Translational Design Research | 3.0 |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Spring | ||
| DSRE 645 | Design Research Thesis Proposal | 3.0 |
| DSRE 650 | Thesis Research and Practicum | 3.0 |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Summer | ||
| Electives | 6.0 | |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Second Year (Part-Time) | ||
| Fall | ||
| DSRE 750 | Thesis in Design Research I | 3.0 |
| Elective | 3.0 | |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Winter | ||
| DSRE 760 | Thesis in Design Research II | 3.0 |
| Elective | 3.0 | |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Spring | ||
| DSRE 641 | Contemporary Design Theory | 3.0 |
| DSRE 770 | Thesis in Design Research III | 3.0 |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Summer | ||
| Elective | 3.0 | |
| Design History or Research Option | 3.0 | |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Total Credits | 48 | |
Program Level Outcomes
- Demonstrate an innovative and creative approach to problem solving as it relates to diverse research scenarios in various design fields.
- Formulate an expressed and observable research strategy
- Demonstrate a knowledge of a variety of design and research experiences, approaches, and viewpoints
- Display a sensitivity to social, cultural, ethical, and environmental values through knowledge and application of evidence-based design processes
- Critically analyze their own work and academic research literature with respect to the global impacts and experimental design
- Use divergent and convergent thinking to generate novel and relevant ideas, strategies, approaches, and outcomes in design
- Distinguish larger, complex societal forces and systems that affect design directions, trends, and public policy