Arts and Culture - Design Cultures 

Overview

The specialisation Design Cultures, of the Master's programme Arts and Culture, focuses on design in relation to our direct environment, interior spaces and buildings, graphic communication, dress and fashion, and other artefacts. Both material and digital design coexist in our society and they require adequate analysis. 

Design Cultures offers this analysis by taking a humanities perspective and connecting today's material cultures with their historical context and particular media. In doing so, this master explores design history and theory in connection with contemporary issues such as identity, sustainability, and multiculturalism.

The Arts and Culture - Design Cultures programme offered by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam provides this analysis by taking a humanities perspective and connecting today's material cultures with their historical context and particular media. 

The programme Design Cultures is a one-year, full-time, English-taught study which is worth 60 credits. Though the programme is built around a core set of obligatory courses, students will have ample opportunity to define their own individual tracks by means of electives, internships and, of course, the Master’s thesis. 

Career prospects

• Completing the Master’s programme in Design Cultures means you will have gained a sharp understanding for all kinds of design, and you will also be able to situate these in their various contexts. Our graduates are nowadays chiefly active in the fields of editorship, teaching, academic research and brand development. 

• For most students with a practice-based BA, having an academic MA degree has been decisive to get their jobs. The main skills that students gain at the MA Design Cultures are developing knowledge, learning to do research and improving their writing skills. You will have a solid grasp of the cultural landscape and you will be able to think, speak and write about relevant topics at a highly advanced level.