Total Credits
Core Credits
Major Electives
Core courses are mandatory for all M. Des. students irrespective of their choice of specialisation. A minimum of 26 credits must be earned from core courses.
Course Title: Introduction to Creative Design
The course intends to introduce design as a field of study, its philosophy, characteristics, relationship with art, craft architecture, engineering, etc. It also introduces historical evolution, current and future trends, broad domains, and various career paths. The course also provides hands-on exercises, with various tools, workshops, machines, and material.
Course Title: Elements and Principles of Design
This course introduces the elements of design and various principles governing them (applicable to both 2D and 3D products). The studio-based component of the course trains students in illustration techniques and tools used for conceptualization and communication using various media (including software). This course heavily borrows knowledge from art and craft.
Course Title: Creative Design - Morphology and Methods
The course elaborates on the morphology of creative design and various methods of divergence, transformation, and convergence. The first module introduces methodologies in design, design attributes, and core competency of a designer.
The second module elaborates on different methods of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. The last module of the course is the application of methods and methodologies in solving a design problem.
Course Title: Human Factors Engineering
This course aims at acquainting students with human factors involved in the process of designing. The course draws knowledge from Physiology, Psychology, Biomechanics, Anthropometry, Cognitive Science, etc. The course aims at acquainting students with human factors, its significance in the process of designing and how it could be applied to make the work safer, faster, easier and comfortable.
Course Title: Electronics and Software for Designers
This course introduces the fundamental understanding of electronics and software. Introduction to basic electronics, small group assignments on making simple electronic artefacts with Arduino/Raspberry kits and different kinds of sensors. Introduction to 2D and 3D software packages for graphic design, animation, and 3D modelling.
Course Title: Art and Craft Culture of India
India is very rich in its art & craft tradition. This core course intends to sensitize students towards the art & craft culture of Indian. It presents an introduction to various art and crafts related to Soft Materials (like textile, leather, paper and natural fibre), Hard Material (like wood, metal, and stone), and Fired Material (like ceramics, Earthenware, Stoneware, Terracotta, and Porcelain).
Course Title: Design Semantics and Communication Theory
This course introduces Semiotics and Semantics; Communication theories, Semantic perception and constructs in Design. Emotion as a semantic construct in Design, Affective components in computing, products, and visuals. Interactive experience and cognation, Flow and the semantics of experiential designs. Semantic analysis of design classics- case studies. Semantics models – Fuzzy based modelling. Semantic transfer in conceptualization and visualization. Indian aesthetics and semantics – cultural and ethnographical issues.
Course Title: Technical Writing and Creative Communication
This course intends at developing the technical writing and communication skills of students helping them to articulate their ideas and views in an effective way. It also consists of research paper writing, report writing, presentation skills (verbal and non-verbal), Design Communication etc.
Elective courses can be chosen by the students from the pool of offered specialisations depending on a student’s area of interest. A minimum of 20 credits must be earned from elective courses.
Course Title: Design Thinking
Designing for Simplicity in a Complex world – Social Innovations and the world around us, Learning to See – Empathy & Problem Finding, Understanding incremental innovation and radical innovation Design Thinking Process – History of DT to Adaptations of the model across companies Desirability – What Users Want and need – Understanding user behaviour (psychology), System Designs Feasibility – Exploring Technology and Human Centred Design in Services, Design for Social Impact.
Course Title: Principles of Form
The course is intended to develop an understanding of form and its manifestations. It is a studio-oriented course, where students are expected to execute a number of exercises related to fundamental laws of 2D and 3D form.
Course Title: Research Methods in Design
Science and scientific methods an introduction. Methods in Social Science research. Literature review. Problem formulation in Design, Research strategies in Design. Measurements, Validity, Reliability. Data collection, Quantitative versus qualitative data, instruments, sampling, and Experiment design. Hypothesis generation, Modelling. Pilot studies, Statistical analysis and data processing. Theory construction in Design research- Criteria, Approaches, and Methods. Practice-based research. Reporting, publishing and presentation.
Course Title: System Analysis and Information Design
Communication of information is crucial in knowledge sharing, decision making, in social concerns, and also in business development. It is a transdisciplinary course that synchronizes the fields of communication design with visual aesthetics, computer & social sciences, statistics and humanities to train the future Information Design professionals. The programme looks for students who are keen observers and have a brief understanding of communication design. They learn the tools of imaging technology and information processing.
