The Master of Design consists of 42 credits taken over a period of three semesters or one calendar year. An additional non-resident semester is available (by application) to students who require extra time to complete their Thesis Project. Students prepare a Graduate Design Research Exhibition as the fi nal requirement of their program, along with a short public presentation after the Thesis Project has been approved.
Students do 15 credits of coursework. In addition, students will produce a Thesis Project Plan.
• MDES 6200 Graduate Design Studio (6 credits)
• MDES 6030 / 6000 (9 credits)
Topics may include:
• Graduate Design Seminar 1
• Research Design and Methodology
• Design and Rhetoric
• Design Issues [topic]
• Graduate Design Seminar 2
• Design Management and Entrepreneurship
• Typographic Workshop
• Experience Design
The project plan is a short document outlining the books, journals, and other material the student plans to read, and the actions s/he plans to take next semester to help focus on a thesis topic. A student’s plan should also include a timeline indicating how and when s/he will define, focus and complete his/her thesis project. At the conclusion of the fi rst semester, students will have already selected a Thesis Project Advisor, will add two other faculty members to their Thesis Project Advisory Committee and will have developed a clearly articulated thesis plan.
Students complete 12 credits of coursework, a Thesis Project Advisory Committee is established for each MDes student, and a Thesis Project Proposal is delivered to the Committee in the first week of December. The entire class applies for space in the Anna Leonowens Gallery for the Graduate Design Research Exhibition, which is held in early April. Students choose one of three options for coursework:
1. Teaching
2. Professional Practice
3. Practicum ** (This option is currently under review)
Option 1:
For students interested in teaching design
• MDES 6600 Graduate Studio 2 (6 credits)
• MDES 6500 / MFAR 6100: Pedagogy Seminar (3 credits)
• MDES 6112 Thesis Proposal (3 credits)
Option 2:
For students interested in the practice of design
• MDES 6600 Graduate Studio 2 (6 credits)
• MDES 6650 Professional Practices (3)
• MDES 6112 Thesis Proposal (3 credits)
Option 3:
For students wishing to do a practicum***
• MDES 6700 Practicum / Field Study (6 credits)
• Elective Course 6xxx/4xxx (3 credits)
• MDES 6112 Thesis Proposal (3 credits)
*** The Practicum option is currently under review
Please note that not all options may be available every year. Certain replacement courses may be prescribed at the discretion of the Director of the Master of Design Program and / or the Master of Design Committee.
All students in the MDes program will submit and present a Thesis Project. The length of the Thesis Project document will not normally exceed 50 pages. The Master of Design program follows from the belief that, as Nigel Cross contends, there are ‘designerly ways of knowing’ that are substantially different from the world-views of those in the sciences or the humanities. Accordingly, the Thesis Project differs from a conventional academic thesis in the following ways:
1. The starting point of a thesis is a "hypothesis", while the starting point of a thesis project is a model (usually a visual one) which is rooted in the practice of design.
2. The objective of a thesis is a "proof," while the aim of a thesis project is to refl ect on the work with the aim of making general statements about the applicability of the model to the artificial world around us.
3. The role of research in the thesis is to gather evidence to buttress a pre-conceived hypothesis, while the role of research in a thesis project is to better understand the model in question. The term "Thesis Project" is used to emphasize that the student’s research and theoretical work is grounded in design practice, and that design thinking may manifest itself in visual, synthetic forms of expression. Therefore the form of the Thesis Project will be an amalgam of visual artifacts and the written word.
Students will present a formal Thesis Project Proposal in the first week of December. This 20-minute proposal using visuals in PDF format will outline the theoretical basis for the Thesis Project, describe in detail the central issue of investigation and include a comprehensive final thesis outline.
The MDes class applies for space in the Anna Leonowens Gallery for the Graduate Design Research Exhibition to be held in early April. Deadline for applications is October 1. Application forms are available on the NSCAD Website, under the Anna Leonowens Gallery site.
Students complete their final semester with 15 credits of coursework. The Thesis Project First Draft is delivered before the Winter Break, and before the end of the semester the Graduate Design Research Exhibition is held in the Anna Leonowens Gallery.
MDES 6800 Graduate Studio 3 (6 credits)
MDES 6900 Graduate Design Thesis Exhibition / Review (9 credits)
Before the end of the semester the MDes class prepares and mounts a group exhibition in the Anna Leonowens Gallery. Each student will be assessed on the quality and craftsmanship of their portion of the exhibit presentation, the accuracy, fi delity and interpretative quality of the visual presentation as it relates to the written thesis research work. During the tem of the exhibition, two hours will be set aside so that each student can briefl y and informally present their work to the public and their Thesis Project Advisory Committee.
The Thesis Project Advisory Committee may decide:
• to accept the Thesis Project
• to accept the Thesis Project with revisions
• to reject the Thesis Project
A student may not graduate until the Thesis Project has been accepted. If the Committee requires revisions to the Thesis Project, the student will normally have up to two weeks before the end of the Summer Semester to complete these revisions. The Thesis Project Advisory Committee will then consider the revisions, and the Thesis Project can be accepted as complete if the revisions were completed as required.
All students may be required to complete a number of courses that relate to their area of study at an undergraduate (3500 level or higher) level. If a particular course or area of study is not offered at NSCAD University, students may be given permission by application to and approval of their Thesis Advisor and Division Chair to take courses at another degree granting institution. Courses may be chosen from other graduate courses, studio courses, or liberal arts offered either at NSCAD or elsewhere.