Study Plan for Master of Design (2025–2027)

Master of Design is a two-year programme. Students who complete the programme are well equipped for a professional career in design. Some students might also choose to pursue an academic career.

Teaching language is English.

Master of Design (120 ECTS) follows the structure of the five-year master programme, and offers four different paths of study:

• Industrial Design

• Interaction Design

• Service Design

• System Oriented Design

The first year of the degree is structured around courses and projects from the different paths of study. The first semester of the second year is dedicated to the chosen specialization, or to interdisciplinary work based on system-oriented design. Parallel to this, the students start to plan and find a theme for their diploma projects. The final semester is dedicated to the diploma project.

Knowledge: Knowledge is the understanding of theories, facts, concepts, principles and procedures within subjects, subject areas and/or occupations.

• The students are expected to be capable of establishing an independent area of application, contribute original angles of perception and solutions, and practise the discipline at a high international level.
• The students are expected to know the subject’s unique history and place in society and be capable of reflecting on the subject’s cultural and technological preconditions today and looking forward.
• The students have knowledge and experience of research and development work.
• The student have the ability to reflect on their own work and transcend their own frame of reference.
• The students take responsibility for their own development and are capable of using their knowledge and skills in new fields.

Skills: The ability to use knowledge to solve problems and complete tasks. There are different types of skills – cognitive, practical, creative and communicative.

• The students are capable of developing concepts and solutions through design-related surveys, ideation, cooperation and carrying out projects.
• The students are capable of developing, adapting and communicating about aesthetic design choices.
• The students master the subject’s methods, tools and forms of expression and are capable of using them in creative processes in a targeted, professional and experimental manner.
• The students are capable of communicating values and concepts and facilitating dialogue and interdisciplinary processes by applying a broad range of design methods and tools.
• The students are capable of reflecting on and positioning their own contribution to the field in relation to ethical issues that arise when practising design.
• The students are expected to be capable of taking on different professional roles and demonstrate good cooperation skills when cooperating with other professional groups.

General competence: General competence is to be capable of applying knowledge and skills in an independent manner in different situations by demonstrating cooperation skills, responsibility, and the ability to reflect and take a critical approach in education and professional contexts.

• Designers educated at AHO should be able to adopt a holistic approach to both problem-solving and identifying new windows of opportunity.
• With a focus on people and an empathic approach, designers educated at AHO should be capable of working with a wide range of different users, stakeholders and systems.
• Designers educated at AHO are familiar with methods for and an approach to complexity and systemic challenges in society, industry and culture.
• Designers educated at AHO are expected to be capable of taking responsibility for the consequences of their practice and projects and taking into consideration different users and technologies, as well as ecology, nature and long-term sustainability.

You must be able to document a bachelor degree or equivalent undergraduate education, with relevance to design. See "admission" for more information.

The programme requires that students have basic computer tool skills and access to their own laptops. Specific requirements will be given by AHO. Students will receive training in the software used during their studies. Students will also have access to licenses for most of the software, which can be installed on private clients.

Master of Design follows the structure of the five-year master programme, and will mainly employ the same learning methods. Teaching will mainly be carried out in the form of studio courses with process-based tutoring. The programme includes an extensive use of guest lecturers, to make sure that the students’ learning process is always closely connected with the surrounding world. Cases and excursions are used to reflect working life as well as challenges and areas of competence specific to the design industry.

In addition to studio courses, the students have specialization courses that can be seen as tools to support and help the student execute the process in the studio courses. The pre-diploma and diploma work should be connected, and prepare the students for a working life based on interdisciplinary work and project based commissions.

Assessment criteria in all courses are based on student effort, development, processes and presentations. Teaching based on tutoring requires evaluation methods that reflect the students’ academic effort and level of maturity. The assessment criteria therefore reflect these elements in most courses. The final diploma project is evaluated by external examiners, who determine whether the learning outcomes of the study programme have been achieved.

The academic year is 40 weeks, and students are expected to spend 40 hours per week on their studies. This workload includes several different activities, such as lectures, tutoring, workshops, group work, independent studies and exams.