Media Design School was founded in 1998 to provide trained graduates for creative, design, digital and technological companies so that they could respond to the opportunity of a rapidly expanding global industry. 

Media Design School is New Zealand's most awarded tertiary institution for creative and digital technology qualifications, offering a range of courses in Game Art, Game Programming, Graphic Design, Creative Advertising, Motion Graphics, Interactive Design, and 3D Animation and Visual Effects.

Home to New Zealand's longest running and most established 3D animation and game development programmes, we are the #1 animation school in Australasia and ranked within the top 5 in the world (Animation Career Review 2019). 

Not only was our graphic design degree ranked #1 internationally (Rookies 2016), but MDS was ranked among the top 10 Motion Design schools in the world and #2 in the Southern Hemisphere (Rookies 2018). 

Media Design School has faculty research expertise in the following areas:

• Creative and emergent technologies
• Games design and development
• Interaction design and digital arts
• Transmedia storytelling
• Design methodologies
• Algorithms and computer programming
• Film-making and visual effects
• Graphic design, illustration and contextual studies

Our students are employable

93% of our graduating class found work within 6 months (2017). Better still, alumni are headhunted by some of the world's most influential studios. Plus, their starting salaries are higher than average!

Business incubator for gaming and design students

The MDS Studios programme nurtures students to start their own production company and take their concepts to market. Bring your ideas to life!