Social Design

Overview

Throughout the 1-year Social Design program from Maryland Institute College of Art, students will:

• Increase Social Literacy—Develop a deeper understanding of the issues of equity, power, race and privilege that exist at the heart of the social problems we aim to address.
• Deepen Design Literacy—Establish an ethical framework to guide personal practice and learn human-centered design methods to build empathy with and engage people in making and doing.
• Create Professional Pathways—MA in Social Design alumni are pioneering and innovative leaders in the public, private, non-profit, entrepreneurial and academic sectors. Click here for a snapshot of what our alumni are doing.

Who Should Apply

An ideal candidate for the M.A. in Social Design would be a professional, practitioner, or recent graduate who:

• believes design and the design process can, and should, play a role in advancing equity and social justice;
• can offer a unique perspective to the program;
• is prepared for a collaborative, immersive, hands-on graduate experience;
• is excited about and able to work collaboratively with different disciplines, knowledge bases, and points of view;
• is interested in developing and cultivating a personal point of view and approach to social design;
• has worked or studied in a relevant field including (but not limited to), design, architecture, business, writing, anthropology, sociology, public health, fine arts, engineering, environmental studies, non-profit, and more.