PolyU Design: Design Strategies (MDes)

The Master of Design (Design Strategies) is directed at people who are established in their careers and wish to deepen and enhance their strategic thinking and methods by integrating design, business, and technology. The specialism is intended for both design and non-design professionals with solid working experience in or related to the areas of design, such as communication, brand management, production, marketing, engineering or teaching. Those who are considering becoming entrepreneurs, taking on more responsibility for design-led business development, or translating new technology into designed experiences and practical applications will benefit from this specialism. Design Strategies has been rated as one of the World’s Best Design Thinking Programs by BusinessWeek.

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Application Timeline - Sep 2019 Entry
Applications start: 27 Sep 2018
First Round Review deadline: 14 Dec 2018
Info Session: 13 Mar 2019
Application deadline: 30 Apr 2019
Late application deadline: 31 May 2019

Anyone who is interested to be considered, please inform us about your intent to submit a late application with your updated CV before 23 May. Upon faculty's approval, you will have 5 working days at most to submit a complete application with all required documents.

Aims

This specialism seeks to locate design strategically in the context of business and technology by exploring best practices as shown in case studies, human-centered explorations to identify previously unrecognised user needs and desires, comparative analyses of business opportunities, successes, and failures, analyses of branding strategies, and with particular attention to the local context of transforming original equipment manufacture (OEM) to original design manufacture (ODM), and finally to own brand management (OBM). The specialism is applicable to both business and nonprofit organisations and extends across local and global issues.

Objectives

This specialism seeks knowledge in design that facilitates the integration of design, technology and business by:

creating value by design
applying design to business development
transforming OEM/ ODM to OBM
branding products and services for domestic and international markets
exploring culture differences and issues in local and global contexts
understanding customers’ needs and goals

Learn more about: International academic collaborations

Programme structure

Design Strategies has a flexible approach to learning for engaged professionals. Subjects are taught on weekends with most subjects taken in any order after the completion of a selection of core subjects. For example, a typical 3-credit subject requires three weekends spread over a 4–5 week period. Not a studio programme, the purpose of this specialism is academic — to deepen design understanding and integrate design in its business and technological context through reading, thinking, discussing, and writing. The programme concludes with a report that synthesizes individual experience and interests with programme materials leading to strategic development for an organisation or in the pursuit of social or cultural goals.

Common Core Subjects (compulsory) (1 credits)
SD5400 Vision and Change (1 credit)

Specialism Core Subjects (compulsory) (17 credits)
SD5001 Innovation Tools for Strategic Design (3 credits)
SD5002 Design and Culture: Cultural Identity and Authorship (3 credits)
SD5018 Research and Analysis for Design (3 credits)
SD5104 Branding: From Local to Global Strategies (3 credits)
SD5303 A Proposition for Design - Vision and Opportunity (5 credits)

Electives* (18 credits)
SD5012 Future Contexts for Design (3 credits)
SD5014 Consumer as Producer: Critical Trends in Product Development and Consumer Culture (3 credits)
SD5015 Globalization and Design (3 credits)
SD5019 Design Criticism and Visual Arguments (3 credits)
SD5021 Chinese Traditions and the 21st Century (3 credits)
SD5022 Special Topics in Contemporary Design I (3 credits)
SD5023 Special Topics in Contemporary Design II (3 credits)
SD5112 Strategic Design: Regional Case Studies (3 credits)
SD5113 Strategies for Sustainable Product-Service Systems (3 credits)
SD5163 Managing Value Creation (3 credits)
SD5201 Collaborative Design and Technology (3 credits)
SD5202 Innovative Products and Services Development (3 credits)
SD5215 Introduction to Ergonomics (3 credits)
SD5216 Introduction to Intellectual Property: Fundamentals and Strategy (3 credits)
AF5340 Finance and Accounting for Design Business (3 credits)
MM5761 Marketing Management (3 credits)

Electives* offered by other specialisms
SD5502 Information Architecture & Visualization (2 credits)
SD5507 Graduate Seminar I: Theories in Interaction Design (2 credits)
SD5508 Graduate Seminar II: Human Computer Interaction (2 credits)
SD5509 Prototyping and Scripting (3 credits)
SD5520 Concept Workshop (1 credit)

* Remarks: Not all elective subjects are offered every year. Time table will be provided by individual MDes Specialism before the academic year begins. Students should refer to the Definitive Scheme Document and may consult Specialism Leader when choosing electives.

Class delivery mode & duration

Normally classes are held during weekends except one core subject and one elective that are delivered on weekday evenings. Each subject requires three weekends spread over 4–5 weeks. Normally it takes 2 years to complete the specialism.

Specialism leaders

Laurent Gutierrez — Professor, PhD, MArch, BArch, PgD, BT, BTS

Laurent Gutierrez is a Professor at the School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University where he leads the Environment and Interior Design discipline and the Master of Strategic Design as well as Innovation Design Management (IDM/MBA). He is also the co-director of SD SPACE LAB. He is currently doing a PhD on the “Processes of Modernization and Urbanization in China focusing on the Pearl River Delta region”. His research areas include Strategic Planning, Urban Environment,Relationship between Design, Art and Politics in Asia.

Dr. Sandy Ng — Assistant Professor, PhD, MA, BA

Sandy began her teaching career, sponsored by the Asian Pacific Scholarship at the University of Hawaii in Mānoa in the United States. Her passion for the display and reception of art led her to curate a two-part exhibition titled “The Three Perfections” that examined the significance of Chinese calligraphy at the Honolulu Museum of Arts. Inspired by the multicultural society in Hawaii, she is concerned with the process and effect of cross-cultural exchange on artistic expression. While pursuing her studies in Great Britain, she taught Cultural Studies subjects at the University of Sussex. Before joining the School of Design, she taught in the Fine Arts department at the University of Hong Kong, offering thematic courses that scrutinized cultural manifestations in contemporary societies.

Teaching staff

Recent collaboration partners

Learn more about: Industry collaboration

Application

Entrance requirement

A Bachelor’s degree or the equivalent; and a minimum of two years of professional experience in a design related field is required. Candidates with other tertiary qualifications complemented by substantial relevant professional experience will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

A complete application includes

Application form
Letter of intent
Three letters of recommendation (Academic/ Profession)~
Evidence of academic qualification, i.e. Official Full Transcripts and Degree Certificates
IELTS/ TOEFL report*

~ Design Strategies applicants need to provide an employment proof for meeting entrance requirements.
* If you are not a native speaker of English, and your Bachelor's degree or equivalent qualification is awarded by institutions where the medium of instruction is not English, you are expected to fulfil the following minimum English language requirement for admission purpose: A Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) score of 80 for the Internet-based test or 550 for the paper-based test; OR An overall Band Score of at least 6 in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

Interview
All admissions must go through the interview process. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to attend an interview in person (for local applicants) or over internet video calls (for non-local applicants).

Number of credits: 36
Normal Period of Study: 2 Years (part-time)
Tuition: HK$162,000 (local) / HK$183,600 (non-local); Initial Programme Fee: Local student HK$18,000 (4 credits x HK$4,500)/ Non-local student HK$51,000 (10 credits x HK$5,100)

Financial Aid

No scholarship is available for non-local students for 2019/20 admissions.

For local residents, two types of financial aid are available through the Government's Student Finance Office: (1) Continuing Education Fund and (2) Extended Non-means-Tested Loan Scheme (ENLS)

Some subjects in MDes scheme are included on the Continuing Education Fund (CEF) list of reimbursable courses for local residents. For further information on CEF or reimbursable courses list, please visit CEF official website.

Extended Non-means Tested Loan Scheme (ENLS) offers interest-bearing loans to eligible students for covering tuition fees. For details of the scheme, please refer to the Government’s website.

Type of VISA (for International Students)

This programme – with classes held on Friday evenings/ weekends – has a student group consisting of local professionals, expatriates, as well as non-local students.

For those of you who have been staying in Hong Kong under various types of visa/ entry permit: holders of a valid employment may apply to this programme as locals, and holders of dependant visa or a visa under IANG as non-locals but do not require a student visa.

People’s Republic of China and foreign nationals may apply as non-locals. You will need a student visa or a multiple entry visa to take this programme, depending on your place of residence during your study.

Non-locals moving to Hong Kong for study will need a student visa and are required to enroll at least 9 credits in compulsory semesters (Semester 1 and 2).

For those who are based in cities close to Hong Kong and able to make travel arrangements to attend classes, you will need a multiple entry student visa. This visa permits multiple journeys to Hong Kong, and allows a maximum number of stay for each journey and for a year according to the class timetable. A study plan, in addition to other documents, will be required for applying for this visa.

Applicants will be informed by the University’s Academic Secretariat about the visa application process when receiving the Notice of Offer.

Visa applications are processed and determined by the Immigration Department of the Government of HK SAR. The process normally takes 8 - 10 weeks upon receipt of all the required documents.

MDes Talks: Student Blog

MDes Talks is a series of Student Blogs contributed by students in different specialisms under the Master of Design Scheme. It is set out to share students’ first-hand experience in the d-school pedagogy, their projects, takeaways, and student life in general.

Enquiry

Should you require further assistance, feel free to contact us by email at sdsteph@polyu.edu.hk or by phone +852 3400 3440.

Design Strategies (MDes)