Master's Programme in Collaborative and Industrial Design

Study objectives

Content outcomes

The Master’s programme in Collaborative and Industrial Design (CoID) focuses on design's role in society. It provides skills to work as design entrepreneurs and in a range of roles within industry, business, communities, education and the government. The programme extends industrial design into interaction design, service design, co-design and other emerging fields in which design activities can enhance the quality of the environment and people’s life. Students learn empathic, critical, strategic and technical skills needed in design innovation processes. They are also encouraged to explore novel roles in design industry.

Skill outcomes

The CoID programme perceives design as a human-centred and multidisciplinary collaborative activity. It provides its students creative skills in problem-setting, problem-solving, and teamwork. Over the duration of the programme, students develop an understanding of design in relation to contemporary culture and to the innovation system, be it local or global, private or public. The students achieve an ability to design, lead design work, and collaborate with non-designers, and thus gain the skills to shape change in contemporary communities and companies.

Students are trained in concept design, co-design, service design, strategic design, and design research. They learn skills needed to capture and reframe design briefs and problems to justify their insights and make well-grounded design concepts. They learn to construct these concepts with models and prototypes and to argue for and test their design ideas through research. They learn strategic design skills needed in entrepreneurship and to manage innovation in business settings, as well as co-design skills to manage social innovation in organisations and the public sector.

Academic skills

The CoID programme fosters students’ skills in designing, communicating, writing and visualising. Students gain an understanding of design research methods and learn to apply them in academic, societal and business contexts. The programme provides the students with skills needed to continue in doctoral studies. These include skills in academic research and analysis of information, in applying these in ill-structured and ambiguous design and research tasks, and in reporting their findings rigorously.

For more information on the Collaborative and Industrial Design Programme, please visit coid.aalto.fi.

Study language(s)

The language of instruction in the Master’s Programme in Collaborative and Industrial Design (CoID) is English.

Career opportunities

Graduates develop abilities to work in design industry and to create and apply design-driven understanding to answer to the challenges of today and tomorrow. Career opportunities vary from entrepreneurship to expert tasks in public organisations and in international business tackling contemporary problems at a global scale. The programme prepares its graduates also for careers in corporate design research and for doctoral studies.

Content of the studies

The CoID programme is based on design-based problem setting, elaboration, problem-solving and communication. An essential part of the education is project-based. The contents of the education cover: design thinking and communication; briefing; concept design and prototyping; research, implementation and evaluation; and new and emerging themes in design. These skills are applied all the way from product development for business and industry to problems originating from the public sector and non-governmental organisations.

For further details on the education content, see the study guide for the academic years 2018-2020.

Internationalisation

The CoID programme’s learning community is international and multicultural. Furthermore, students are encouraged to apply for international exchange studies or internships and gain experience in international competitions, exhibitions, conferences, and trade fairs.

Admission procedure and programme-specific requirements

Applicants for the CoID programme in apply in the master’s level admissions in the field of Art and Design. The programme seeks students with skills to develop processes and structures, to create innovative design solutions both individually and in team settings, with personal and artistic insightfulness, ideation skill, and goal-orientation and motivation.

Eligible applicants for the programme have earned a Bachelor of Arts (Art and Design) or completed equivalent studies. The Master’s Programme in Collaborative and Industrial Design consists of advanced studies which can be completed in two years.

Students are granted admission to the programme through a two-phase process. In the first phase students are evaluated based on the application as a whole, including portfolio, previous studies, CV and letter of motivation. In the second phase, the most suitable applicants are invited for an interview, from which a smaller subset of applicants is offered a study place. Applicants accepted to the programme may be required to take supplementary studies.

The applicants are evaluated in two stages on the basis of their CVs, personal study achievements (artistic and/or scientific) and motivation, which are also discussed in the interview.

Stage I: documentation

1. Motivation letter
2. Degree certificate and transcript 
3. CV
4. Portfolio

Portfolio

In the portfolio, applicants display work that shows their designerly insights and skills. The portfolio must contain diverse samples of the applicant’s previous scientific, professional and/or design projects.

Designwork can be provided as technical drawings, computer renderings, sketches, illustrations, storyboards or photographs. Include six (6) work samples in the portfolio. The work contained in the portfolio must be catalogued, listing at least the title and/or theme, purpose and year of completion of each piece. The catalogue must also detail where and when the work has been completed, exhibited, displayed or published. Each work should be accompanied by a brief explanation. The contribution of the applicant in the work should be stated in case the work has been completed in a group. The applicant’s name, address and phone number and the degree programme applied for must be indicated clearly on the portfolio.

The portfolio should be uploaded as a single PDF-file. The uploaded PDF-file should not exceed 100 MB. The intake committee will only evaluate the material displayed in the PDF-file. Links to external material (e.g. website) or video material will not be considered during the intake process.

CV (curriculum vitae)

Applications must include the applicant’s CV indicating personal data, educational background, work experience, exhibitions, publications and articles, awards and grants, study trips and positions of trust.

Motivation letter (in the application form, max. 4000 characters)

Write a motivation letter explaining your reasons for applying for this programme and your particular interest(s) in the field as well as your goals and expectations for the studies to be completed at the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture. Describe your strengths and interests, vision of art and design, aspects related to the work and creative goals.

The letter of motivation must clearly answer the following questions:

1. What is your biggest achievement/success in the field of design?
2. Why are you applying for Aalto University?
3. What do you want to learn by studying at the Collaborative and Industrial Design programme?
4. What is the role of the master’s programme for your professional development?
5. What would you like to do after completing the master’s programme?

Language of the application documents

All the application documents should be submitted in English.

Stage II: interview

Selected applicants from Stage I will be invited for a face to face interview. The interviews can be conducted over Skype or telephone if necessary. The interview is intended to evaluate the applicant’s potential to complete the studies successfully.

Read more about Collaborative and industrial design (CoID) community on their website.