Design Management Heriot-Watt University

Overview

Our MSc Design Management will provide those already within the creative industry with the opportunity to gain core and relevant skills in business and management and for those working in an established business environment looking to gain experience and knowledge in developing creative strategies. The postgraduate master’s degree will develop your skills and knowledge to enable you to produce insightful projects and instigate problem-solving across all departments and stakeholders that support the product in areas of services, communications, technology, and brand entity.  

You’ll approach design management by applying innovative process analysis, a new way of thinking and professional application to current industry problems to achieve positive outcomes. The programme will enable you to confidently deliver innovative business strategy, whilst producing innovatively designed products through creative teams and creative problem-solving.  

MSc Design Management will allow you to develop productive working cultures whilst remaining focused on the customer and staff journey, enabling businesses to acquire the strategy goals via effective design. It blends creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, and management.   

The programme offers specialised courses in strategic design, sustainable design and management, change management, and user experience design. You’ll develop decision making skills and understand how design is used in the organisation for product development and associated departments. You’ll apply your learned skills, techniques, and knowledge to undertake your masters project and fine-tune your expertise within the industry.  

Upon completion of the programme, you’ll be able to effectively manage design and creative strategies and communicate ideas critically and effectively to a wide range of individuals and organisations, through professional visual, written, and verbal communication. 

Your Student Experience

Our Expertise

Your learning will be informed by our Fashion and Textiles faculty and staff, whose work covers many key areas including: 

• Smart Nanotextiles – Nanofibres and Nanoyarns 
• Fashion Technology  
• Fashion Sustainability 
• Design Innovation 
• Printed Textile Design 
• Medical Compression Design 
• Textile and Apparel Supply Chain Management 
• Brand Management and Marketing 
• Garment Making and Pattern Cutting 

Your Learning Environment

During your studies, you’ll benefit from our unique and purpose-built workshops and studios, providing you with a supportive, creative, and academic setting to study Design Management. 

You’ll have access to our fully equipped apparel workshops, spacious studies with blended use workspaces, technical workshops, and our premium Computer Aided Design (CAD) suites. The state-of-the-art industrial production equipment will enable you to develop your skills, whilst exploring and establishing your interest within the world of Design Management.  

At our highly creative and practical Scottish Borders Campus, located in the heart of Scotland’s luxury textile industry, you’ll be part of a diverse yet dedicated community of students studying Communication and Design, Constructed and Virtual Environments, Fashion and Textiles, and Textiles and Design. You’ll collaborate with students from your programme, and across the campus, to develop deep connections with your peers and set you up with an established industry network upon graduation.  

We appreciate all students are different, and the programme has been designed to be as inclusive and dynamic as possible.  

Outside of the classroom, you can join a range of societies at our Edinburgh Campus, including Art Society which provides a space to explore your creativity and meet people with similar interests, and the New Designers Society which provides support for students attending the New Designers Exhibition in London.  

Teaching and Assessment  

Taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials, and workshops, you’ll get to know and build relationships with the teaching staff, academics, and technicians. You’ll be assessed by coursework, exams, and your masters project, and will receive support and feedback throughout the programme.  

Customise Your Learning

You’ll follow a comprehensive course structure, learning topics including design thinking and innovation, strategic design, sustainable management, change management and research methodologies. You’ll research, identify, and consider a customer journey, evaluate product value and translate operations across all departments and processes within an organisation. You’ll have the opportunity to customise your learning, by choosing an optional course from design technologies and user experience design. This will allow you to focus in on the areas of design management that interest you the most.  

In your final semester, you’ll complete your masters project, in which you’ll consolidate your knowledge and skills to carry out a structured research investigation. You’ll be required to demonstrate your mastery of Design Management, by ‘deep diving’ into one or more specialisms within fashion or textile design at the forefront of the discipline.  

You can choose whether to study the programme full-time or part-time. This flexibility allows you to fit your postgraduate studies around your lifestyle. If you decided to study part-time, you register for two courses per semester and progress to the dissertation at the end of your second year. 

You may have the opportunity to Go Global on our Inter-Campus Transfer. Opportunities for postgraduate study abroad are assessed on a case-by-case basis and if you are interested in studying at our Dubai campus or Malaysia campus for a semester or longer, you should contact the Go Global Team.