What is Design ? You are probably aware we live in an age of convergence and complexity. Just as professionals are exploring the limits of specialization and the converse needs for cross-disciplinary collaboration the computer has emerged as the common tool where all professionals do their work. These forces of specialization, collaboration, and technological integration are shaping a new landscape for design practice where the most successful designers will not only be highly specialized but also have a broad understanding of design that transcends previous professional boundaries. For this reason, our Graduate Program in Design is both specialized and cross-disciplinary. The Master of Design (MDes) Program both broadens a designer's perspective through exposure to knowledge from other fields, processes, research methods, and design thinking activities that integrate all design disciplines, and the Program focuses a designer's perspective through generation of specialized knowledge in Industrial Design, Visual Communication Design, and Interaction Design. The School of Design offers the Master of Design degree through a two-year program intended for students with undergraduate degrees and work experience in digital, fashion, graphic, or industrial design. The Master of Design degree is a post-professional, research-oriented, terminal degree. The program is closely associated with the College of DAAP’s Center for Design Research and Innovation. The Graduate Program in Design is both specialized and cross-disciplinary. The program does not have traditional professional distinctions of graphic or industrial design but an integrated design major with two overlapping areas of research emphasis: Visualization and Product Interaction. Visualization is an integration of graphic, motion graphics, and digital design that has to do with enhancing human understanding through visual means. Product Interaction is an integration of industrial, product, and interaction design that has to do with enhancing human experience through interaction with things, systems, and our built environment.

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