Master course design and media: creating the world – inventing the future

work Master DM

Our world is changing at increasing speed. Design and media are becoming ever more important in this dynamic situation. On the path away from a form of society marked less and less by industrial production, towards one defined more and more by the flow of information, the people who shape this flow are taking up positions which are both economically and socially decisive.

The Design and Media Master Course at Hochschule Hannover prepares its graduates for taking responsibility in this transformative process. What this means is not only seeing themselves as passive witnesses to this change, but also being aware of their active role: design creates the world, design produces the future. Designers are the driving force behind this dynamic development and also central controlling instances.

Designer personalities with this reflective approach look beyond the boundaries of their own discipline and see themselves inside a broad societal horizon. That enables them to take leadership positions in the fields of culture, media and business. The prospects for graduates can be found in middle and higher management of design companies or cultural institutions, in access to government service, to higher education teaching and for self-employment in the media and design fields.

With that aim, the Master Course goes further than the Bachelor Course and provides, during a regular study period of two semester terms, relevant additional qualifications in the fields of conceptual design, theory and method, communication, design management and supplementary specialized options. At interdisciplinary interfaces, students work with creatives from all specializations on joint designs, with the results being scientifically scrutinized and generally applicable design solutions being devised from them. Qualifications such as formulation of goals, team development and self-management are called for. In addition, value is attached to a deeper study of current design theories and a historical understanding of design practices. The metaperspective obtained in this way enables the graduates to develop their own well-grounded position within the creative industry.

The excellently equipped and specially set up Master laboratory plus the high density of individual tutoring by both professors and outside experts ensure a study course that is both demanding and rewarding.

Study philosophy: Hanover Model

The ambitions and guidelines of the “Master Course Design and Media” can be summarized in a five-point programme.

1. Creating the world, inventing the future

The digital revolution has set in motion fundamental changes in society as a whole, and in the cultural and creative fields in particular. We proceed on the assumption that this is not a transition from one old and stable status to a new one, but that progress is only ever possible in a transformational and dynamic process. Where change ends, growth freezes.

If growth can no longer be measured quantitatively (more and more products for more and more needs), but only qualitatively (better and better products for a world with limited resources), the capacity for creativity overtakes the capacity for the production of things. Philosophers and engineers, musicians and programmers, poets and designers together create the world in which we live. We are not ruled by the market, we are ourselves the market. Design occupies a key position in this world-creating segment. That entails a heavy responsibility, but also a decidedly positive and optimistic outlook.

2. Creativity as a key skill

Design in a key position can be justified by the definition of creativity as a key skill. With post-industrial society gradually turning into a knowledge-based society, and with information being traded instead of commodities, creativity in the form of a capacity for flexible problem-solving is being invested with the power that factories and other means of production used to possess. Creativity (or imagination) is the organ of continuous change and boundary-crossing. In that sense, designers are specialists in communication which is interdisciplinary and transcends institutions and cultures.

Beyond a competitively defined capitalism, the creative economy can set an example for a growth model that operates by working not against but with one another. Progress can thus be thought of as a contest between creative ideas instead of mutually exclusive competition. Creativity means the shaping of interdependency instead of dominating and crowding out competitors.

3. Design as a societal agent

The challenges are enormous: climate change and environmental devastation, financial crises and poverty-driven migration, wars for scarce resources, incompatible ideologies with universal ambitions, globalization and demographic change – to name just a few of the pressing problems. Design exerts an influence on them: for example by selecting certain materials, formal languages, production methods or distribution channels. Of course, none of these problems can be solved at a stroke by a successful design. Every design decision can however nudge a tendency towards one direction or another.

We regard every designer as an individual, and design overall as a cultural practice, as an agent that produces what it suffers from. Theoretical discourses are to that extent not a subsequent abstraction of what design does; but it is only reflection and self-justification that puts the designer in a position to make responsible decisions. Design is, when understood in that way, always a theory put into practice. We’re convinced that not only is good design a vital agent in the whole of society, but also activates the users to act creatively themselves. Good design is participatory, it opens up options and does not restrict them.

4. Designer personality

The Master Course is, given that understanding, intended to assist in the development of the graduate’s personality. Creativity as the greatest possible freedom to act can enable action to be experienced as an existential act (exist=stand out, emerge). Design is understood as an intentional activity, but without being driven by any psycho-dynamic background, by external interests or self-interest. A designer personality of this type will focus on the matter in hand and will be equipped with emphasis, connectability, motivation, tolerance, professionalism, attitudinal skill and dialogue ability.

Far from being an aesthetic genius, the designer personality should regard itself as a productive part of a community, team, company, culture or society, and with its accomplishments deriving their value in context and in relation to the accomplishments of others. At the same time, it is aware of its power to influence, initiate and motivate the overall process.

5. Design as a process

Design is in the Master Course understood as the entirety of those processes which transform information into things and which translate things to actions. Design is not only applied to an object or a product; process sequences from manufacture and use to disposal or re-use are partially shaped by design. The goal of staying focused on as many factors and areas affected by design as possible, harnessed with the knowledge that complete control is impossible, is what distinguishes our understanding of design.

Design always dictates conditions by constantly privileging certain modes of use, options for action or movement patterns, while making others more difficult. Coping with these conditions in a frank and reflective way is what we believe to be a criterion for successful design.