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Interior Design MA

Prepare to take a creative and critical position, rethink existing interiors, redesign spaces, and forge your individual identity in the field of interior design.

Overview

Our Interior Design MA aims to support you to experiment boldly, meaningfully challenge conventions, and consider innovative approaches to the future of interior design. Our stunning and sophisticated facilities offer an inspiring place for you to foster and refine your talents. 

During this course you will develop, research and practice design thinking to an advanced level, integrating strong research methods into the creative process.  

Have the freedom to tailor your studies with our flexible learning ethos. Choose from modules such as Sustainable Design - exploring sustainability as a driver of innovation and a core aspect of marketing strategies - or Digital Design Futures, where you will discover emerging digital technologies and use them to envision daring and innovative design strategies of the future.  

The course will also prepare you to take up a career in a range of industries. We will teach you the diversity of interior design strategies across sectors, from considered display, interpretation, and conservation requirements in museum and exhibition design to innovative interior solutions and strategies that can impact on buyer behaviour in shopping and retail.  

During the final part of the course you will apply this knowledge to the formulation, investigation and detailed development of a major design brief. This project is a chance to hone your skills as an independent researcher and gain first-hand experience of important professional skills, including digital manufacturing processes, reporting, and creating design presentations.  

Key features 

  • With our flexible learning approach, you can choose from a range of specialisms and tailor your design project to your career aspirations.
  • An optional year-long work placement will enable you to gain valuable experience to further enhance your practical and professional skills. 
  • Become part of a community working together to co-design new ways of thinking to redefine the future of creative practice. 
  • Our teaching team keep the curriculum current, with expertise across the interior design spectrum and an ethos of supporting you to take risks with your work. 
  • Our award-winning Vijay Patel building  has been designed to provide the space and facilities where all of  our art and design students can develop their ideas and flourish.  IT facilities include PC, CAD, graphics and multimedia labs, with software for drawing, multimedia, painting/DTP, 3D modelling, animation and video. 
  • Study in a lively multidisciplinary environment alongside working and upcoming designers, where you will benefit from both collaborative and individual learning experiences. 
  • You will graduate with the skills to forge a successful professional career in your chosen specialism, or to continue on the academic pathway to PhD level study. 

 

Scholarships:

DMU offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships and bursaries to help you realise your academic ambitions.

International Scholarships

Find out about available scholarships and country specific fee discounts for international students. 

 

More courses like this:

Design Innovation MA/MSc

  • UK
  • EU/International

Programme code: W25071

Start date: September 2023

Duration: One year full-time. Two years part-time.

Fees and funding: 

2023/24 tuition fees for UK students: £8,986 per year.

Find out more about course fees and available funding.

Additional costs: Here at DMU we provide excellent learning resources, including the Kimberlin Library and specialist workshops and studios. However, you should be aware that sometimes you may incur additional costs for this programme.

Programme code: W25071

Start date: September 2023

Duration: 

September: One year full-time.


Fees and funding: 

2023/24 tuition fees for EU and international students: £15,800 per year

Find out more about course fees and available funding.

Additional costs: Here at DMU we provide excellent learning resources, including the Kimberlin Library and specialist workshops and studios. However, you should be aware that sometimes you may incur additional costs for this programme.

Entry criteria

Typical entry requirements 

You should have the equivalent or above of a 2:2 UK bachelor’s honours degree in Interior Design or a related subject.

If you have other professional qualifications and industry experience we will consider your application on an individual basis. 

Interview and portfolio

Applicants and relevant qualifications should submit a portfolio of work (please see our Interior Design MA application portfolio advice for full details).

Non-standard applicants will be invited to attend an interview with a portfolio.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language an IELTS score of 6.0 overall with 5.5 in each band (or equivalent) when you start the course is essential.

English language tuition, delivered by our British Council-accredited Centre for English Language Learning, is available both before and throughout the course if you need it.

Structure and assessment

 

Course modules

Teaching and assessments

 

Modules

Research Methods (Compulsory)
Teaches you a range of conceptual and practical research skills, such as questionnaire design and interview techniques. As part of this module, you will formulate your major project proposal, specifying your aims, objectives, research methods and expected outcomes. You will also learn how to undertake the literature review for your major project.

Creative Design Studio
Through a series of lectures and group projects, the module introduces you to a critical appraisal of current creative processes in a professional multidisciplinary context.

Action Research Laboratory
This focuses on responding to live external challenges and opportunities. In this context, you will be supported to develop innovative approaches to tackling difficult local and global design challenges, while also consolidating and developing your subject specific skills

Interior Design Major Project
Following on from research undertaken in term two, and with expert tutor guidance, you will develop a major design project in term three. With the support of design tutors and technical staff, you will use your design project to demonstrate your thorough understanding and development of spatial design strategies and your abilities in analysis, evaluation and critical design thinking.

Optional Modules:

Design as a Strategic Business Tool
Looks at how design itself can be the driving force behind the strategic management and development of digital design and creative businesses. You will audit the use of design, design management and design thinking in the creative industries and business.

Digital Design Futures
Exploring new and emerging digital technologies, you will propose links to Interior Design, potential collaborations between Interior Design and other fields of study, imagining future design strategies which may be at the very edge of what is currently possible.

Sustainable Design
This module introduces the broad concepts of sustainability, resource efficient design and eco-design while also discussing sustainability as a core aspect of corporate and marketing strategy, as a driver of innovation and as a management practice.

Museum and Exhibition Design
Examines innovative designs and strategies specifically for museums and exhibitions. It focuses on display, interpretation, conservation, marketing, management and funding, cultural identity, heritage, inclusive design, sustainability, education and audience.

Service Design
Examines the role of design in the service industries. You will pay particular attention to ethical, political, social and ecological concerns, all of which require approaches that focus on design and the designers’ role in maintaining sustainability.

Design for Retail
Covers all aspects of in-store retail design, including product, environment, technology, communication and service. You will also examine brand perception, buyer behaviour and engagement with the retail experience.

Business Planning for the Creative Entrepreneur
Develops your business knowledge and planning skills enabling you to identify the potential for a new product or service. You will study the key issues in starting a business and covers topics such as business plans, leadership, investment and risk management.

Technology for Design
Provides a platform for designers from various fields to explore a range technology and potentially help to advance their knowledge and practice in this area. This module recognises that digital technology and the development of new equipment, materials, artefacts and devices are all growing exponentially.

Note: All modules are indicative and based on the current academic session. Course information is correct at the time of publication and is subject to review. Exact modules may, therefore, vary for your intake in order to keep content current. If there are changes to your course we will, where reasonable, take steps to inform you as appropriate.

Overview

Assessment methods include report submissions, individual and group presentations (oral and design based presentations) and a major design project submission.

Contact hours
In your first two terms you will normally attend around 12 hours of timetabled taught sessions including lectures, tutorials and workshop and studio sessions each week, and be expected to undertake at least 23 hours of independent study each week. Your third term will be pre-dominantly self-directed (including meetings with your supervisor), during which you can expect to undertake 35 hours of independent study each week.

 

 

Facilities and features

Art and design facilities 

Our award-winning Vijay Patel building has been designed to provide the space and facilities where all of our art and design students can develop their ideas and flourish. 

The creative industries require imaginative graduates who can develop new ideas and products. Students use our sophisticated and contemporary workshops, labs and studios to experiment and test in the same way they will in industry, while the open and transparent spaces in the building encourage collaboration between disciplines. In doing so, the building prepares students for industry and helps develop them as future leaders in their respective fields. 

Take a look at our stunning showcase of the building at dmu.ac.uk/aad.

 

Library and learning zones

On campus, the main Kimberlin Library offers a space where you can work, study and access a vast range of print materials, with computer stations, laptops, plasma screens and assistive technology also available. 

As well as providing a physical space in which to work, we offer online tools to support your studies, and our extensive online collection of resources accessible from our Library website, e-books, specialised databases and electronic journals and films which can be remotely accessed from anywhere you choose. 

We will support you to confidently use a huge range of learning technologies, including the Virtual Learning Environment, Collaborate Ultra, DMU Replay, MS Teams, Turnitin and more. Alongside this, you can access LinkedIn Learning and learn how to use Microsoft 365, and study support software such as mind mapping and note-taking through our new Digital Student Skills Hub. 

The library staff offer additional support to students, including help with academic writing, research strategies, literature searching, reference management and assistive technology. There is also a ‘Just Ask’ service for help and advice, live LibChat, online workshops, tutorials and drop-ins available from our Learning Services, and weekly library live chat sessions that give you the chance to ask the library teams for help.

 

More flexible ways to learn

We offer an equitable and inclusive approach to learning and teaching for all our students. Known as the Universal Design for Learning (UDL), our teaching approach has been recognised as sector leading. UDL means we offer a wide variety of support, facilities and technology to all students, including those with disabilities and specific learning differences.

Just one of the ways we do this is by using ‘DMU Replay’ – a technology providing all students with anytime access to audio and/or visual material of lectures. This means students can revise taught material in a way that suits them best, whether it's replaying a recording of a class or adapting written material shared in class using specialist software.

 

Opportunities and careers

Find the people who will open doors for you

DMU's award-winning careers service provides guaranteed work experience opportunities DMU Careers Team
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Placements

During this course you will have the option to complete a paid placement year, an invaluable opportunity to put the skills developed during your degree into practice. This insight into the professional world will build on your knowledge in a real-world setting, preparing you to progress onto your chosen career. Placements will normally take place between semester two and three. 

Our careers programme, DMU Works, can help to hone your professional skills with mock interviews and practice aptitude tests, and an assigned personal tutor will support you throughout your placement. 

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DMU Global

This is our innovative international experience programme which aims to enrich your studies and expand your cultural horizons – helping you to become a global graduate, equipped to meet the needs of employers across the world.

Through DMU Global, we offer a wide range of opportunities including on-campus and UK activities, overseas study, internships, faculty-led field trips and volunteering, as well as Erasmus+ and international exchanges.

 

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Graduate careers

Many of our graduates progress on to exciting creative careers designing environments and interiors in retail, public spaces and leisure. Previous students have taken up roles at leading companies such as Conran Design, Pinewood Studios, Kelly Hoppen, Tesco’s Design Think Tank, Blue Print, Haley Sharpe, and Foster + Partners.  
 
The focus on research and developing your skills as an independent learner will be an excellent stepping stone to study at PhD level.  DMU also offer extensive support for entrepreneurial ambitions, and graduates would also be in a strong position to consider developing a new business with help and advice from the university’s DMU Works Enterprise Team. 
 
Interior Design graduate Rawan said: “The overall journey was enlightening, not just on the academic field but in all other personal and cultural aspects. Everything I have encountered during this journey has lifted me up and enriched my knowledge and store of experiences, from the positive learning environment provided by DMU to the professional courses I have taken and the individuals I have met.” 

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