2019-2020 G R A D U AT E PROGRAMS
DESIGN INNOVATION
GRADUATE PROGRAMS
MASTER OF DESIGN IN DESIGN INNOVATION
DESIGN INNOVATION BOOTCAMP
The Master of Design: Design Innovation (MDES) program at MassArt is a full-time, two-year graduate program that prepares the next generation of innovators to lead organizational and social transformation at corporations, nonprofits, educational institutions, and entrepreneurial ventures. Emphasizing four key skill areas — empathy, analysis, contextual understanding, and communication — the program is designed to teach students how to effectively define and solve problems, and to impart critical leadership skills for mobilizing and motivating
View more social posts from past Bootcamp events and other MDES updates:
teams toward successful outcomes.
@massart_mdes
PAST BOOTCAMP RETREATS
MDES Bootcamp 2019, Photo by Divya Mangadu (MDES ’20)
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Every fall, MDES Bootcamp brings Design Innovation students and faculty together for intensive training and team-building exercises. During the retreat, students work in leadership and supporting roles on developing and proposing solutions to a variety of challenges. Faculty introduce a set of specific problems for the group to address during Bootcamp, and the community engages with the issues from the perspective of potential clients, while also considering more global and theoretical lenses. The themes explored at Bootcamp are then carried throughout the year, as students continue to collaborate and strategize together during a range of group projects.
2019 | Mount Snow, Dover, VT Corporate Education: How Might We Rethink the Corporate Workshop Formula to Help Companies Unleash Their Potential? 2018 | Battenkill, VT UX Strategy: In the Rapidly Evolving World of UX/CX/UI/VR/AR, What is the Relationship and Value of New Technologies and Design Strategies to Business? 2017 | Battenkill, VT Legalization of Marijuana in Massachusetts: How Can This Legislation Lead to New Jobs, Services, Product Experience, and Economic Growth? 2016 | Boston, MA How Will Augmented Reality Change the World? Using Pokemon Go As a Framework, Envision Productive Uses for AR in the Next Five Years. 2
DESIGN INNOVATION FACULTY
CURRICULUM
JAMES M. READ, PROFESSOR / MDES PROGRAM COORDINATOR
The Design Innovation program at MassArt is built around a humancentric, holistic, and iterative approach to blending design and
With over thirty years of design experience, James has been a practicing designer since 1984 and is Principal/Owner of JMRead, LLC. His professional work ranges from architectural furnishings to juvenile products, eyewear, and sporting goods.
business thinking. The curriculum consists of approximately 60% design and 40% business content, and aims to bring quantitative James M. Read
business metrics to the designer’s qualitative problem-solving process within the context of an art and design college.
LARS FISCHER, PROFESSOR Lars has been a practicing designer since 1988. As Principal/Owner of Redfish Product Development LLC, he currently provides design consulting services to clients in a range of industries: medical, juvenile, sports, laboratory, military, consumer, and aviation. Lars Fischer
JENNIFER BRISELLI, VISITING LECTURER As VP of Experience Strategy & Service Design at Mad*Pow, Jen Briselli leverages experience strategy and design thinking to create meaningful experiences and compelling digital solutions that are good for people and good for business. Jennifer Briselli
RECENT VISITING LECTURERS
KRISTA SINISCARCO, VISITING LECTURER Krista has been working in instructional, UX, and service design for over 15 years. She is currently the Director of Experience Strategy at Cantina Consulting where she leads multi-disciplinary teams in solving complex problems across a variety of industries.
Benjamin Little, Co-founder and
Krista Siniscarco
“Design Innovation can
Director of Adapt Strategy
be the change agent to
Chloe Cangardel, Vice President,
solve some of the world’s
Digital Service Design, Wells Fargo
most difficult problems.”
Brian Mullen, Innovation Strategy Manager, Brigham Innovation Hub
In addition to its core MassArt faculty, the design innovation program hosts a leading group of talented and pioneering professionals each semester as visiting lecturers. Classes are co-taught by design and business professors in a fully integrated, collaborative teaching model.
Scott Karambis, Head of Strategy, The Fantastical, Marketing & Advertising
Jon Campbell, Head of Experience
– James M. Read MassArt MDES Program Coordinator & Founder
& Service Design, EPAM Continuum
Amy Heymans, Founder, Chief Experience Officer, Mad*Pow
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STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES The direct placement of the Design Innovation program in a college of art and design immerses students in a thriving creative community, where they make things with their hands while engaging the mind. Design Innovation students are afforded numerous opportunities to gain professional experience during their course of study. All graduate students are eligible to apply for a range of paid on-campus assistantships. Off-campus internships are encouraged, and many Design Innovation students take advantage of paid positions that enable them to earn credit, during the academic year and the summer break. Current MDES students have recently completed internships at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation and iRobot.
“I am confident that the MDES curriculum will yield future leaders in the field and I look forward to working with them.”
–Amy Heymans Co-founder & Chief Experience Officer, MAD*POW GRADUATES OF THE DESIGN INNOVATION PROGRAM WILL BE POISED TO ENTER THE WORKFORCE AS SERVICE DESIGNERS, EXPERIENCE DESIGNERS, DESIGN STRATEGISTS Left: Stephanie Quinones-Millet (MDES ‘20, standing) working on design sprints during her summer 2019 internship at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation in Cambridge, MA
AND INNOVATION LEADERS. THESE HYBRID DESIGN AND BUSINESS PROFESSIONALS ARE POSITIONED TO INFLUENCE GROWING INDUSTRY AREAS BOTH NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY, OFFERING A DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT KIND OF LEADERSHIP TO THE MARKETPLACE. 6
STUDENT PROJECTS SPOTLIGHT CO-CREATION WORKSHOP FOR STUDENT DEBT CRISIS Using visitors to MassArt’s Spring 2019 Accepted Students Day event as their research group, the team sought to better understand the student debt crisis. Bringing students and parents into the design process, the team planned and oversaw a co-creation workshop. Activities were hands-on, including one that asked students and parents to create a tangible object that might help to solve student loan problems. The data gathered at the event informed the subsequent design process, as students worked together to create products and services aimed at improving financial literacy.
DESIGN FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: CLEAN ENERGY ADOPTION IN RURAL INDIA Students investigated the residential biomass burning problem in the rural states of northern India. The team conducted qualitative research, talking with a small sample of women currently living in poverty-stricken areas of rural India who would be potential users of their proposed solution. As a final output, the team constructed a comprehensive service blueprint for a Sustainable Advocacy Program named “Agnee,” which means fire in Hindi and symbolizes power and strength. Ultimately, this service would engage women directly in the design process, advancing quality of life for themselves and their families.
Co-creation Workshop with newly-accepted MassArt undergraduate students and parents. The workshop was designed and managed by Design Innovation students enrolled in Integration Lab in the spring of 2019
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DESIGNING FOR FOSTER CARE AND ADOPTION With a local family services agency as their client, students sought to improve the experiences of those involved in the Massachusetts foster care system. In the face of a large, systemic problem with no simple solution, students conducted extensive interviews and secondary research, proposing small stepping stones to a better future. These included catering existing guidelines to make that first introduction between a child and adoptive parents as comfortable as possible, and modeling fun-spirited events to promote meaningful interactions between foster children and potential adoptive parents. The team also proposed a custom-built database designed to strategically integrate technology into an often cumbersome process.
Above: Agnee project design mock-ups and team, during the Fall 2018 course Integration Lab B: Social Responsibility Left: Agnee project design mockups and team, during the Fall 2018 course Integration Lab B: Social Responsibility Below: Mock-ups of Communication Workflow and Welcome Book for Foster Care and Adoption project by Divya Mangadu (MDES ’20) and Radhika Dhepe (MDES ’20)
Above: Design Innovation students brainstorm and refine concepts for their Foster Care and Adoption project during Experience Lab II, Spring 2019
Agnee project design mock-up
DESIGN INNOVATION AT MASSART IS FOR
OUR INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TRAINS
HIGHLY MOTIVATED PROFESSIONALS WHO
STUDENTS TO IDENTIFY UNDERLYING PROBLEMS,
ASPIRE TO LEAD THE DESIGN AND PLANNING
DEVELOP ACTIONABLE SOLUTIONS, AND MAKE
OF NEW PRODUCTS, SERVICES, SYSTEMS, AND
STRATEGIC BUSINESS DECISIONS WITHIN THE
ORGANIZATIONS. WE INVITE THOSE WHO ARE
CONTEXT OF REAL-WORLD ECONOMIC, SOCIAL,
PASSIONATE ABOUT INNOVATING A BETTER
AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES.
TOMORROW THROUGH DESIGN TO APPLY. 9
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ABOUT MASSART Founded in 1873, MassArt has a unique legacy of leadership as the first freestanding, public college of art and design in the country and the nation’s first art school to grant a degree. MassArt’s mission is both lofty and grounded: to prepare students from diverse backgrounds to positively impact every society they join, and to become leaders in the creative economy as artists, designers, and educators. Since its founding, MassArt has consistently advocated for access to and equity in art, design, and education. Our alumni have long been agents of change in Boston and beyond, driven by independence, entrepreneurship, and passion.
FALL 2020 PRIORITY APPLICATION DEADLINE: January 6, 2020
CONTACT US Graduate Admissions: gradadmissions@massart.edu Facebook.com/MassArtBoston
Associate Director of Graduate Admissions: Stacy Petersen Domurat 617.879.7238
@MassArtBoston @MassArt