The next decade asks us to reconsider the role and relevance of design in every aspect of our world, connecting humans beings and the planet. In CCS's Systems Design Thinking program, you will strengthen your ability to leverage the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems within a city to survive, adapt, and grow in the face of climate change and other issues facing our planet. You will become an expert in understanding emotional intelligence, social influence, and service orientation. You will design initiatives and projects in a forward-looking, inclusive, and integrated way, re-and up-skilling your “human” competence to address multiple challenges at one time, improving services and saving resources. Your experience will be uniquely shaped by being in Detroit. With its UNESCO City of Design designation and its multi-layered reality, Detroit welcomes you to participate in project-based work and hands-on experiences. Is your portfolio demonstrating versatility, critical thinking, rigor, point of view, and accomplishment working with visual media? If yes, join us.

The Color & Materials Design MFA Program prepares students for a career in Color, Materials, and Finish (CMF) Design. The curriculum invites students to discover new and innovative color and material research to create meaning between products and experiences and their user or audience. Graduates of the College’s MFA program in Color & Materials Design program work in both physical and digital spaces to advance ideas through color and materials innovation, technology, and storytelling. In the CCS Color & Materials Design program, students explore the latest advances in materials, and their color and finish applications, through hands-on experimentation and use of state-of-the-art prototyping facilities. Using this knowledge to solve design problems, students collaborate within the design team structure to develop narratives that offer creative concepts and design executions. As they learn how to look for patterns—in markets, cultures, and geographic regions—they gain insight into consumer behaviors.

Graduates of the Interaction Design program will create richly interactive products, environments, and services that enhance meaning and expand possibilities in people’s daily lives. Students in MFA Interaction Design at CCS undertake creative practice at the intersection of technology and design. You will learn how to sketch, hack, tinker, and prototype with hardware and software and come to view code as a creative medium. You will create practical and critical interactions and experiences for humans with objects, spaces, and interfaces. Your studies at CCS will be grounded in experimental, speculative, and applied design practices that will prepare you for the changing nature of work and collaboration in the 21st century. You will have access to CCS’s world-class studios and technical resources, allowing you to further your own skills and knowledge through hands-on experience with new and emerging technologies and prototyping methods. Through critical inquiry and design provocations, you will sharpen your insights and become adept with models of interaction and communication. Upon graduation, you will be equipped to work inside of tech companies and design firms, from established players to startups. Or you might decide to go it alone! You might design a professional online network for consultants who want to work together flexibly and enhance their skills and reputations along the way. You might prototype a mobile app for small businesses that need real-time alerts and coordinated schedules to keep productivity high and costs low. Or you might invent entirely new experiences for sharing rides in the self-driving car. This unique program balances research, modeling, and making, teaching you how to step beyond the limits of today’s technology and market demands to shape desired futures through design. For your career, you can choose where you want to contribute: from designing products to coding prototypes to running product strategy or a combination. You will have the skills to persuade and influence your co-workers, who will be experts in technology, marketing, and business, by understanding their language and working as their peers. You will have an appreciation for the challenges of innovation and for what is required to start your own enterprise.