Design

Overview

The design programme educates at The Oslo School of Architecture and Design leading practitioners of the discipline. AHO is internationally respected and a preferred partner among the world’s leading universities.

Master of Design has a broad approach to design that emphasises the relevance and importance of design within contemporary society. It promotes design that actively shapes industry, organisations and daily life. The programme is founded on an Industrial Design tradition, but today equally includes Interaction Design, Service Design and Systems Oriented Design. Within this two-year Master, students can either specialise within these directions, or chose a hybrid route. During the studies, students collaborates with industry partners and take part in the school’s research activities.

This programme reflects the emerging fields of design that respond to societal challenges, new technologies and increased complexity by creating services, products and interactions that delight, improve and challenge.

Learning outcomes

Designers educated at AHO:

• are capable of establishing an independent professional area of work, contribute with original angles of perception and solutions, and practise the discipline at a high international level;
• can develop concepts and solutions through design-related investigation, ideation, collaboration and projects;
• know the unique history of the subject, its position in society and are able to reflect on the subject’s cultural and technological preconditions today and looking forward;
• master the subject’s methods, tools and forms of expression and are able to use these in a targeted, professional and experimental way in creative processes;
• have knowledge and experience of research and development work;
• can communicate values and concepts, facilitate dialogue and interdisciplinary processes by applying a broad spectrum of design methods and tools;
• have the ability to reflect on their own work and transgress their framework of understanding;
• take responsibility for their own professional development and can use their knowledge and skills in new fields;
• can reflect on and position their own professional contribution in relation to ethical issues that arise when practising design; 
• are able to take on different professional roles in a reflected manner and demonstrate good cooperation skills when working with other professional groups.