Designing with Conversation
We talk to recent graduates exhibiting in Designing in Turbulent Times at the Lethaby Gallery. The designers here exploit creative tools to provoke or inform conversation
MA Industrial Design
Applications closed 2020/21
We are no longer accepting applications for 2020/21 entry to this course.
Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, we are unable to say at this point if places will become available before the autumn intake. Please check this page regularly as places may become available later in the cycle and if they do, we will reopen applications.
Coronavirus updates
If you've applied for a postgraduate course starting in 2020/21, see guidance for prospective students during the Coronavirus outbreak.
MA Industrial Design will teach you to be strategic, respond to trends, initiate new design approaches and thrive in multidisciplinary teams.
The course is internationally recognised as a leader in postgraduate industrial design education. It is part of the Product, Ceramic and Industrial Design programme.
Why choose this course at Central Saint Martins
- World-class education: Central Saint Martins' Product and Industrial Design courses are recognised for world-class excellence by the award of the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Further and Higher Education 2013.
- A changing discipline: The course provides a platform to question what the industry looks like today. We continually reappraise the scope of product and industrial design practices, addressing critical and socially responsive design.
- Notable networks: We work actively with external partners from the industry, commerce and enterprise, as well as our extensive network of alumni and staff.
- Integrated teaching: A key factor of MA Industrial Design is integrated study and studio learning. The course adopts a studio-based approach, exercised through project work and workshops.
Open days
The next round of open days will take place from November 2020 to January 2021, please check back here by October 2020 to book.
Scholarships, awards and funding
Subject specific awards
The Conran Foundation Scholarship
Rodney Fitch Scholarship
MA Industrial Design Bursary
Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Industrial Design Studentships
UAL UK/EU Postgraduate Scholarships
UAL International Postgraduate £5,000 Scholarships
UAL International Postgraduate £30,000 Scholarships and ISH accommodation award
Students Lily Saporta Taguiri, Zhen Jiang, Lucy Mulholland and Xiang Guan discuss their Degree Show work.
Queen's Anniversary Award awarded for Innovation in Design Education.
Student work
Course catalogues
MA Industrial Design stories
Reader: Matt Malpass
To mark our new Readers, we hear more about their research plans. Here, Matt Malpass, Reader in Critical Design and Course Co-ordinator for MA Industrial Design, discusses the wider role of critical design and why we're living in a bad episode of
Taking Shape: Sixtine Neufville
Throughout Show Two: Design, we’re celebrating the work of our graduating students and asking them to share the process behind the practice.
Show Two: Maison/0 Green Trail winners announcement
From across Show Two: Design, the best of sustainable innovation is celebrated with the Maison/0 Green Trail Awards.
Course overview
Traditionally, industrial design is associated with the improvement of goods and services through creative intervention. However, as the nature of production and consumption has changed, so has the role of the industrial designer. Increasingly, they are required to conceptualise new products and systems with limited user experience. Inevitably, this places an emphasis on the social value and accessibility of technologies. In this context, psychological and emotional factors are often as important as rational and physical ones. This requires a different set of critical skills.
As a pioneering course in the field, MA Industrial Design adapts to these changes in business models and consumption patterns. On the course, you will question how and why particular goods and services are produced. We recognise the need for drawing on current thinking and practice in other discipline areas, including social psychology, behavioural science, cultural theory and innovation studies. The course does not impose a particular manifesto or rule-book for design. Instead, it is concerned with the development of industrial design as a discipline and profession.
MA Industrial Design will encourage you to question what industry is today and to consider changing paradigms. You will continually reappraise the discipline, addressing critical and socially responsive design. You will explore the application of industrial design in both market-led and societal contexts. This constant review of what industrial design is creates a culture independent of a particular style or dogma. Instead, it encourages diverse engagement, reflection, negotiation and prototyping of the discipline.
MA Industrial Design applies this intellectual development directly to design practice. It will teach you to take on strategic roles, identify and respond to trends, initiate design approaches and thrive in multidisciplinary teams. While the course honours the traditional legacy of the subject, we continue to reframe what industrial design is and means.
Course units
The MA Industrial Design curriculum has four emphases in practice: enterprise, publics, discourse and service. These areas locate practice and allow you to challenge, question and advance the discipline. Each emphasis promotes the view that people should be at the centre of the design process. The course develops innovative approaches to understanding users and their wants and needs. Recently, this has included the development of design methods informed by theatre and performance. Storytelling and scenario building techniques are also used as research, ideation and communication strategies.
The course has a strong ethnographic focus. You will explore relationships between people, design, emerging technologies and behaviours in different contexts. These approaches are embedded into studio projects, allowing you to work with anthropological design methods and design practice.
Industrial design for enterprise
This positions industrial design as a commercial practice. Here, innovation and entrepreneurial thinking provide solutions which meet the needs of real people. It is responsive to new commercial conditions – from start-ups to established multinational businesses. As part of this area of study, you will question existing industrial paradigms, professional roles, opportunities for manufacture and routes to market.
Industrial design for publics
This area applies industrial design processes to societal issues. It considers the dynamic challenges that require new ways of thinking and doing. Industrial design for publics applies co-design and participatory design methods. Problem stakeholders are engaged in the design process to jointly frame and tackle such challenges. It is a form of design-led social innovation. In this context, we encourage the development of links with social enterprises, government, local authorities, charities and NGOs.
Industrial design for service
As part of industrial design for service, you will look at the discipline from a strategic perspective. You will work with different disciplines and explore processes for the service and interaction design sectors. Taking a user-centred and systemic view, you will focus on the design and evaluation of multi-media, multi-modal and multi-platform interactions that support user experience through physical, digital and hybridised products.
Industrial design for discourse
Industrial design today is increasingly applied as a form of critique and speculation within disciplinary, scientific and societal frames. In this context, designers reflect on the role of design in society. In doing this, designers challenge established discourse, presenting alternatives for the field. In design for discourse, you will question the discipline itself and how it engages discourse.
MA Industrial Design consists of three units, each of which is structured around studio projects. They are devised to allow you to adopt a strategic and proactive role within the discipline.
Unit 1: Methodological and Critical Approaches to Design
This unit is made up of a series of projects which vary in length. These will introduce you to a variety of research methods and issues relevant to the discipline. These are directly implemented in the realisation of design work.
Unit 2: Positioning and Professional Practice
Unit 2 reviews professional design practice by engaging external agencies and expertise. You will reflect on this activity through design practice.
Unit 3: Self-Directed Design Research
This unit requires you to specify, manage, implement and evaluate a self-directed design project informed by themes and issues identified in Unit 2.
Mode of study
MA Industrial Design is offered in extended full-time mode which runs for 60 weeks over two academic years. You will be expected to commit 30 hours per week to study, which includes teaching time and independent study.
The course has been designed in this way to enable you to pursue studies, while also undertaking part-time employment, internships or care responsibilities.
Credit and award requirements
The course is credit-rated at 180 credits.
On successfully completing the course, you will gain a Master of Arts (MA degree).
Under the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications, an MA is Level 7. All units must be passed in order to achieve the MA but the classification of the award is derived from the mark for the final unit only.
If you are unable to continue on the course, a Postgraduate Certificate (PG Cert) will normally be offered following the successful completion of 60 credits, or a Postgraduate Diploma (PG Dip) following the successful completion of 120 credits.
Learning and teaching methods
- Learning through doing
- Project work
- Collaborative work
- Learning through making
- Prototyping and manufacturing
- Design theory
- Drama and performance methods
- Research and ideation
Assessment methods
- Critiques
- Personal tutorials
- Individual design work (2D, 3D, 4D)
- Group design work (2D, 3D, 4D)
- Pin-up and onscreen presentations
- Performances
- Planning documents
- Portfolio submission
- Video submission
- Critical journal
- Dissertation
Staff
Nick Rhodes
Programme Director, Product Ceramic and Industrial Design; Course Leader, MA Industrial Design
Dr Matt Malpass
Course Coordinator MAID, Quality Coordinator PCID
Professor Ralph Ball
Course Tutor, MA Industrial Design; Subject Leader Furniture, MA Design (Ceramics); MA Design (Furniture); MA Design (Jewellery)
Adrian Allen
Associate Lecturer, MA Industrial Design
Michael Burton
Associate Lecturer, MA Industrial Design
Michiko Nitta
Associate Lecturer, MA Industrial Design
Tutor: Betti Marenko
Associate Lecturer: Erika Renedo Illarregi
Associate Lecturer: Mark Simpkins
Associate Lecturer: Nigel Burgess
Associate Lecturer: Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad
Associate Lecturer: Stephen Hayward
How to apply
Opportunities for all
We are committed to making university education an achievable option for a wider range of people and to supporting all of our students in achieving their potential both during and after their courses.
We welcome applications from people with disabilities. If you have a disability (e.g. mobility difficulties, sensory impairments, medical or mental health conditions or Asperger’s syndrome) we strongly encourage you to contact us on disability@arts.ac.uk or +44 (0)20 7514 6156 so that we can plan the right support for you. All enquiries are treated confidentially. To find out more, visit our Disability & Dyslexia webpages.
Entry requirements
The standard entry requirements for this course are as follows:
- An honours degree in a relevant field: product design, 3D design, furniture design, service design, interaction design, architecture, engineering and ergonomics. Applicants are also considered from related disciplines but portfolios from these areas must demonstrate some proficiency in industrial design skills, however, and demonstrate that personal and professional aspirations are compatible with the aims of the course
- Or an equivalent EU/international qualification
And normally at least one year of relevant professional experience.
AP(E)L – Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning
Exceptionally applicants who do not meet these course entry requirements may still be considered. The course team will consider each application that demonstrates additional strengths and alternative evidence. This might, for example, be demonstrated by:
- Related academic or work experience
- The quality of the personal statement
- A strong academic or other professional reference
Or a combination of these factors.
Each application will be considered on its own merit but cannot guarantee an offer in each case.
English language requirements
IELTS level 6.5 or above, with at least 5.5 in reading, writing, listening and speaking (please check our main English language requirements webpage).
Selection criteria
We select applicants according to potential and current ability in the following areas:
- You can generate and communicate a range of ideas (Portfolio Review)
- You can analyse a design problem from a number of perspectives and generate a range of design responses to a particular problem (Portfolio Review)
- Demonstrating your personal and professional aspirations are compatible with the aims and objectives of MA Industrial Design (Personal Statement/Interview)
- You can demonstrate the necessary fluency in your design process to be able to benefit from the postgraduate course (Portfolio Review/Personal Statement/Interview).
Making your application
We are no longer accepting applications for 2020/21 entry to this course. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, we are unable to say at this point if places will become available before the autumn intake. Please check this page regularly as places may become available later in the cycle and if they do, we will reopen applications.
Applications for 2021/22 entry will open in Autumn 2020.
You should apply by clicking on the link to the direct form below. The application form can be saved as you fill it out, so you do not need to complete it all at once. You will also have the chance to review all the information and make any necessary amendments before you submit the application form.
Before you apply, please take time to read the guidance below. You will be asked to provide the following information when completing the online application form:
General information
Personal details (including legal full name, date of birth, nationality, addresses)
Current English language level
Current and/or previous education and qualification details
Employment history
Personal Statement
You will need to submit a short statement about why you want to study MA Industrial Design. This gives us a picture of your interests and your suitability for our course.
Here are some tips for what you could include:
- Please give your reasons for applying to your chosen course?
- Please provide details of your particular subject interests, relevant experience or abilities?
- What you wish to achieve on the course, and your career aspirations?
We cannot consider your application if you do not provide all of the information above.
Application deadline
To guarantee equal consideration for entry you must successfully complete an online application with all supporting documents by 24 January 2020, and submit a digital portfolio by 31 January 2020.
Deferring your place
This course allows offer holders to defer. If you have an offer of a place, but you would like to defer starting for a year, please contact our Admissions Service as soon as possible via your UAL Portal. Make sure you check our Admissions Policy before requesting a deferral.
If you are an EU offer holder, it is important to consider that, from 2021-22, you may be charged International fees, which are higher. Read our Coronavirus guidance for prospective students for details.
We are no longer accepting applications for 2020/21 entry to this course. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, we are unable to say at this point if places will become available before the autumn intake. Please check this page regularly as places may become available later in the cycle and if they do, we will reopen applications.
Applications for 2021/22 entry will open in Autumn 2020.
There are two ways international students can apply:
- One of our official representatives in your country
- A direct application.
If you are applying directly you click on the link to the direct form below. The application form can be saved as you fill it out, so you do not need to complete it all at once. You will also have the chance to review all the information and make any necessary amendments before you submit the application form.
Before you apply, please take time to read the guidance below. You will be asked to provide the following information when completing the online application form:
General information
Personal details (including legal full name, date of birth, nationality, addresses)
Current English language level
Current and/or previous education and qualification details
Employment history
Personal Statement
You will need to submit a short statement about why you want to study MA Industrial Design. This gives us a picture of your interests and your suitability for our course.
Here are some tips for what you could include:
- Please give your reasons for applying to your chosen course?
- Please provide details of your particular subject interests, relevant experience or abilities?
- What you wish to achieve on the course, and your career aspirations?
We cannot consider your application if you do not provide all of the information above.
Immigration history check
Whether you are applying online or through a UAL representative you will need to complete an immigration history check to establish whether you are eligible to study at UAL. If you do not complete the check we will not be able to proceed with your application.
We cannot consider your application if you do not provide all of the information above.
Application deadline
To guarantee equal consideration for entry you must successfully complete an online application with all supporting documents by 24 January 2020, and submit a digital portfolio by 31 January 2020.
Deferring your place
This course allows offer holders to defer. If you have an offer of a place, but you would like to defer starting for a year, please contact our Admissions Service as soon as possible via your UAL Portal. Make sure you check our Admissions Policy before requesting a deferral.
After you apply
Communicating with you
After you have successfully submitted your application, you will receive an email confirming we have successfully received your application and providing you with your login details for the UAL Portal. We will request any additional information from you, including inviting you to upload documents or book an audition, through the portal. You should check your UAL Portal regularly for any important updates and requests.
What happens next
Initial application check
We check your application to see if you meet the standard entry requirements for the course. If you do, you will be invited to submit a portfolio through the UAL Portal.
Portfolio Review
Your portfolio should demonstrate your ability to skilfully generate and communicate a range of ideas addressing problems relevant to the discipline of industrial design including:
- The generation and communication of a range of ideas
- The analysis of a design problem from a number of perspectives to generate a range of design responses to a particular problem
- The necessary fluency in your design process to be able to benefit from this postgraduate course
- Your thinking and decision making through a design process
Interview
Following the review of your application and portfolio, we select a number of applicants to move on to the next stage of the process. These applicants will be invited to a telephone interview. Notification of these will be sent out by mid-February 2019. We aim to complete all interviews by end of March and to communicate all decisions by mid-April 2019.
How we notify you of the outcome of your application
You will receive the outcome of your application through the UAL Portal.
Fees & Funding
Home/EU fee
Tuition fees for 2020/21: £6,455 per year. Please note that fees for second year of study will be subject to inflationary increase.
You can pay course tuition fees in instalments for this course.
International fee
Tuition fees for 2020/21: £16,450 per year.
You can pay course tuition fees in instalments for this course.
Additional costs
In addition to tuition fees you are very likely to incur additional costs such as travel expenses and the cost of materials. Please read the information on our additional costs page.
Accommodation
Find out about the accommodation options available and how much they will cost.
Progression discount
UAL alumni can receive a 20% tuition fee discount on a taught Masters course at UAL. Visit the progression discount page to find out more.
Scholarships and awards
There are a number of scholarships and awards available to students on this course. Use our search tool to find out more information.
Careers and alumni
A typical graduate should have a thorough knowledge of contemporary product design and development, and be able to adopt a critical perspective on both their own work and that of their contemporaries. In addition, the emphasis on self-directed study should equip graduates with appropriate methods and strategies for successful project management both within teams and as individuals. The typical aspiration of graduates is to find work in the consulting field. Following significant shifts in this industry over the last 10-15 years, many graduates working in consultancy find themselves in roles that can be described as designer, design strategy, service innovation, forecasting, or management in addition to straightforward new product development.
The second largest area of graduate employment is through in-house design for manufacturing companies. Increasingly students establish their own studios and have moved to work in charitable organisations and the third sector. A number develop careers in commercial research and also progress to study at PhD. Graduates are now distinguished and respected designers and design managers in international companies.
Employers of recent MA Industrial Design graduates include: Plan UK, Projects by If, Mother, Catapult Satellite Industries UK, Itsu, Arup, Microsoft, Open Desk, Fitch, Tangerine, Seymour Powell, Nokia, LG, Samsung, Herman Miller, The Future Laboratory, Tangerine, Lenovo, BenQ, Acer.
