12 monthsProgramme duration
18 Aug, 2027Application Deadline
SepStarting Month
Programme overview
Main Subject
Art and Design
Degree
MA
Study Level
Master's
Study Mode
On Campus
Course summary
How can design shape better business decisions? And what happens when creative thinking becomes part of strategy, leadership and long-term value?
If you want to bridge the gap between design and business, MA Design Management is for you.
At Winchester School of Art, you’ll explore how design principles can inform strategic decisions and help organisations respond to complex industry and societal challenges. You’ll combine creative thinking with management theory, developing the critical analysis and decision-making skills needed to work across both worlds.
Your learning will focus on the issues reshaping design and business today. Explore strategic planning, sustainable practice and ethics, digital transformation, Generative AI, User Experience (UX) design and inclusive, human-centred approaches.
You’ll also examine what responsible design looks like in practice. Through academic research and theoretical frameworks, you’ll question how design decisions affect people, organisations and society, and consider how creative approaches can support business value and competitive advantage.
Industry speakers and museum study trips will bring additional perspectives into your learning, helping you connect design theory with wider professional and cultural contexts.
Art & Design at Southampton is ranked 8th in the UK for research quality (Complete University Guide 2027), giving you the opportunity to develop your thinking in a research-led creative environment.
Find your place at Winchester School of Art and build the confidence to bring design into the conversations where strategy, leadership and change take shape.
Key features of this course
**Connect design with business strategy.** Explore how creative thinking and design principles can support strategic planning, decision-making and value creation within organisations.
**Question what responsible design means.** Investigate sustainability, ethics and inclusive human-centred design, developing a stronger understanding of the responsibilities behind professional design decisions.
**Explore the technologies changing the field.** Examine digital transformation, Generative AI and User Experience Design, considering how emerging tools and approaches are influencing organisations and design practice.
**Develop your strategic leadership skills.** Through modules including Strategic Design Management and Leadership and Ethics, explore how design managers can influence direction, guide teams and respond to complex challenges.
**Learn from professional perspectives.** Hear from specialist industry speakers and take part in museum study trips, broadening your understanding of how design operates across different contexts.
**Build a strong academic foundation.** Develop research, critical analysis and decision-making skills through modules including Design Management Principles and Practices, helping you evaluate ideas rather than simply apply them.
Your future career
Design management needs people who can move between creative ideas and strategic decisions, understand different stakeholders and recognise how design can support wider organisational goals.
You’ll graduate with professional skills in research, critical thinking, communication and decision-making, alongside knowledge of design strategy, leadership, sustainability, digital transformation and human-centred design.
The course can prepare you for careers in design management and other roles that combine creative thinking with strategic leadership in a dynamic global environment.
Southampton is also ranked 12th for Art & Design graduate prospects in the UK (Complete University Guide Graduate Prospects Ranking 2027).
If you want to take your thinking further, the MA can also prepare you for further academic study, including a PhD.
Wherever your next step takes you, you’ll leave Southampton better equipped to connect design with business priorities and help shape decisions that create meaningful and responsible value.
Further information
This is a full-time master’s degree based at Winchester School of Art.
Compulsory modules include Design Management Principles and Practices, Strategic Design Management and Leadership and Ethics.
Your studies culminate in the Design Management Final Project: Critical Paper. This independent research project explores how your work advances professional principles in the field.
The course welcomes applicants with a 2:2 degree in a range of relevant subjects, including architecture, business, graphic design, marketing and sociology.
How can design shape better business decisions? And what happens when creative thinking becomes part of strategy, leadership and long-term value?
If you want to bridge the gap between design and business, MA Design Management is for you.
At Winchester School of Art, you’ll explore how design principles can inform strategic decisions and help organisations respond to complex industry and societal challenges. You’ll combine creative thinking with management theory, developing the critical analysis and decision-making skills needed to work across both worlds.
Your learning will focus on the issues reshaping design and business today. Explore strategic planning, sustainable practice and ethics, digital transformation, Generative AI, User Experience (UX) design and inclusive, human-centred approaches.
You’ll also examine what responsible design looks like in practice. Through academic research and theoretical frameworks, you’ll question how design decisions affect people, organisations and society, and consider how creative approaches can support business value and competitive advantage.
Industry speakers and museum study trips will bring additional perspectives into your learning, helping you connect design theory with wider professional and cultural contexts.
Art & Design at Southampton is ranked 8th in the UK for research quality (Complete University Guide 2027), giving you the opportunity to develop your thinking in a research-led creative environment.
Find your place at Winchester School of Art and build the confidence to bring design into the conversations where strategy, leadership and change take shape.
Key features of this course
**Connect design with business strategy.** Explore how creative thinking and design principles can support strategic planning, decision-making and value creation within organisations.
**Question what responsible design means.** Investigate sustainability, ethics and inclusive human-centred design, developing a stronger understanding of the responsibilities behind professional design decisions.
**Explore the technologies changing the field.** Examine digital transformation, Generative AI and User Experience Design, considering how emerging tools and approaches are influencing organisations and design practice.
**Develop your strategic leadership skills.** Through modules including Strategic Design Management and Leadership and Ethics, explore how design managers can influence direction, guide teams and respond to complex challenges.
**Learn from professional perspectives.** Hear from specialist industry speakers and take part in museum study trips, broadening your understanding of how design operates across different contexts.
**Build a strong academic foundation.** Develop research, critical analysis and decision-making skills through modules including Design Management Principles and Practices, helping you evaluate ideas rather than simply apply them.
Your future career
Design management needs people who can move between creative ideas and strategic decisions, understand different stakeholders and recognise how design can support wider organisational goals.
You’ll graduate with professional skills in research, critical thinking, communication and decision-making, alongside knowledge of design strategy, leadership, sustainability, digital transformation and human-centred design.
The course can prepare you for careers in design management and other roles that combine creative thinking with strategic leadership in a dynamic global environment.
Southampton is also ranked 12th for Art & Design graduate prospects in the UK (Complete University Guide Graduate Prospects Ranking 2027).
If you want to take your thinking further, the MA can also prepare you for further academic study, including a PhD.
Wherever your next step takes you, you’ll leave Southampton better equipped to connect design with business priorities and help shape decisions that create meaningful and responsible value.
Further information
This is a full-time master’s degree based at Winchester School of Art.
Compulsory modules include Design Management Principles and Practices, Strategic Design Management and Leadership and Ethics.
Your studies culminate in the Design Management Final Project: Critical Paper. This independent research project explores how your work advances professional principles in the field.
The course welcomes applicants with a 2:2 degree in a range of relevant subjects, including architecture, business, graphic design, marketing and sociology.
Programme overview
Main Subject
Art and Design
Degree
MA
Study Level
Master's
Study Mode
On Campus
Course summary
How can design shape better business decisions? And what happens when creative thinking becomes part of strategy, leadership and long-term value?
If you want to bridge the gap between design and business, MA Design Management is for you.
At Winchester School of Art, you’ll explore how design principles can inform strategic decisions and help organisations respond to complex industry and societal challenges. You’ll combine creative thinking with management theory, developing the critical analysis and decision-making skills needed to work across both worlds.
Your learning will focus on the issues reshaping design and business today. Explore strategic planning, sustainable practice and ethics, digital transformation, Generative AI, User Experience (UX) design and inclusive, human-centred approaches.
You’ll also examine what responsible design looks like in practice. Through academic research and theoretical frameworks, you’ll question how design decisions affect people, organisations and society, and consider how creative approaches can support business value and competitive advantage.
Industry speakers and museum study trips will bring additional perspectives into your learning, helping you connect design theory with wider professional and cultural contexts.
Art & Design at Southampton is ranked 8th in the UK for research quality (Complete University Guide 2027), giving you the opportunity to develop your thinking in a research-led creative environment.
Find your place at Winchester School of Art and build the confidence to bring design into the conversations where strategy, leadership and change take shape.
Key features of this course
**Connect design with business strategy.** Explore how creative thinking and design principles can support strategic planning, decision-making and value creation within organisations.
**Question what responsible design means.** Investigate sustainability, ethics and inclusive human-centred design, developing a stronger understanding of the responsibilities behind professional design decisions.
**Explore the technologies changing the field.** Examine digital transformation, Generative AI and User Experience Design, considering how emerging tools and approaches are influencing organisations and design practice.
**Develop your strategic leadership skills.** Through modules including Strategic Design Management and Leadership and Ethics, explore how design managers can influence direction, guide teams and respond to complex challenges.
**Learn from professional perspectives.** Hear from specialist industry speakers and take part in museum study trips, broadening your understanding of how design operates across different contexts.
**Build a strong academic foundation.** Develop research, critical analysis and decision-making skills through modules including Design Management Principles and Practices, helping you evaluate ideas rather than simply apply them.
Your future career
Design management needs people who can move between creative ideas and strategic decisions, understand different stakeholders and recognise how design can support wider organisational goals.
You’ll graduate with professional skills in research, critical thinking, communication and decision-making, alongside knowledge of design strategy, leadership, sustainability, digital transformation and human-centred design.
The course can prepare you for careers in design management and other roles that combine creative thinking with strategic leadership in a dynamic global environment.
Southampton is also ranked 12th for Art & Design graduate prospects in the UK (Complete University Guide Graduate Prospects Ranking 2027).
If you want to take your thinking further, the MA can also prepare you for further academic study, including a PhD.
Wherever your next step takes you, you’ll leave Southampton better equipped to connect design with business priorities and help shape decisions that create meaningful and responsible value.
Further information
This is a full-time master’s degree based at Winchester School of Art.
Compulsory modules include Design Management Principles and Practices, Strategic Design Management and Leadership and Ethics.
Your studies culminate in the Design Management Final Project: Critical Paper. This independent research project explores how your work advances professional principles in the field.
The course welcomes applicants with a 2:2 degree in a range of relevant subjects, including architecture, business, graphic design, marketing and sociology.
How can design shape better business decisions? And what happens when creative thinking becomes part of strategy, leadership and long-term value?
If you want to bridge the gap between design and business, MA Design Management is for you.
At Winchester School of Art, you’ll explore how design principles can inform strategic decisions and help organisations respond to complex industry and societal challenges. You’ll combine creative thinking with management theory, developing the critical analysis and decision-making skills needed to work across both worlds.
Your learning will focus on the issues reshaping design and business today. Explore strategic planning, sustainable practice and ethics, digital transformation, Generative AI, User Experience (UX) design and inclusive, human-centred approaches.
You’ll also examine what responsible design looks like in practice. Through academic research and theoretical frameworks, you’ll question how design decisions affect people, organisations and society, and consider how creative approaches can support business value and competitive advantage.
Industry speakers and museum study trips will bring additional perspectives into your learning, helping you connect design theory with wider professional and cultural contexts.
Art & Design at Southampton is ranked 8th in the UK for research quality (Complete University Guide 2027), giving you the opportunity to develop your thinking in a research-led creative environment.
Find your place at Winchester School of Art and build the confidence to bring design into the conversations where strategy, leadership and change take shape.
Key features of this course
**Connect design with business strategy.** Explore how creative thinking and design principles can support strategic planning, decision-making and value creation within organisations.
**Question what responsible design means.** Investigate sustainability, ethics and inclusive human-centred design, developing a stronger understanding of the responsibilities behind professional design decisions.
**Explore the technologies changing the field.** Examine digital transformation, Generative AI and User Experience Design, considering how emerging tools and approaches are influencing organisations and design practice.
**Develop your strategic leadership skills.** Through modules including Strategic Design Management and Leadership and Ethics, explore how design managers can influence direction, guide teams and respond to complex challenges.
**Learn from professional perspectives.** Hear from specialist industry speakers and take part in museum study trips, broadening your understanding of how design operates across different contexts.
**Build a strong academic foundation.** Develop research, critical analysis and decision-making skills through modules including Design Management Principles and Practices, helping you evaluate ideas rather than simply apply them.
Your future career
Design management needs people who can move between creative ideas and strategic decisions, understand different stakeholders and recognise how design can support wider organisational goals.
You’ll graduate with professional skills in research, critical thinking, communication and decision-making, alongside knowledge of design strategy, leadership, sustainability, digital transformation and human-centred design.
The course can prepare you for careers in design management and other roles that combine creative thinking with strategic leadership in a dynamic global environment.
Southampton is also ranked 12th for Art & Design graduate prospects in the UK (Complete University Guide Graduate Prospects Ranking 2027).
If you want to take your thinking further, the MA can also prepare you for further academic study, including a PhD.
Wherever your next step takes you, you’ll leave Southampton better equipped to connect design with business priorities and help shape decisions that create meaningful and responsible value.
Further information
This is a full-time master’s degree based at Winchester School of Art.
Compulsory modules include Design Management Principles and Practices, Strategic Design Management and Leadership and Ethics.
Your studies culminate in the Design Management Final Project: Critical Paper. This independent research project explores how your work advances professional principles in the field.
The course welcomes applicants with a 2:2 degree in a range of relevant subjects, including architecture, business, graphic design, marketing and sociology.
Admission Requirements
92+
120+
6.5+
2.8+
67+
176+
You'll need a 2:2 degree in art, design, industrical design, architecture, humanities, management, markting, communication, performing arts, languages, politics, philosophy, psychology, sociology.
18 Aug 2027
1 Year
Sep
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