Design with Placement Master of Design - MDes

Design at Brunel is all about realising fantastic ideas in the real world. Our Design degree is focused on developing your commercial awareness, technical skills and ability to innovate, meaning you can develop physical and digital products that both look good and work well. The programme follows the same first three years as BSc Design, with an additional fourth year that raises the qualification to master's level.

There is a lot of project-based learning to test your skills and you’ll see the outcome of your design from concept to making the actual product. This means you’ll be able to build a great portfolio of your best-quality projects, academic and industry briefs, and case studies during your studies.

You’ll have workshop training and will use industry-standard equipment and software to develop quality hands-on skills to become a competent designer. You’ll have access to dedicated design studios, digital sketching, extensive prototyping workshops, and electronics and digital fabrication labs. The practical knowledge you gain is transferable to the industry and provides a head start for your future career as a designer and design thinker in the modern world.

Our design course can be studied 4 years full-time or 5 years full-time with placement, starting in September. The placement year helps you to prepare for the world of work and you’ll have a year’s worth of invaluable professional experience when you graduate. Our students have worked in both small innovation start-ups and multinational organisations such as Adidas, Chanel, Jaguar Land Rover, Philips, Disney and Lego.

Our students have the opportunity to study abroad. You could spend a term or a year in one of our partner universities via our exchange programme: Politecnico di Milano in Italy; Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands, San Francisco State University in USA and Institut Superieur de Design, ISD Bubika in France. New exchange opportunities are being developed with India, Canada and China.

Made in Brunel is a unique, student-led initiative that showcases our design talent at its finest. Each year our students run a series of industry and community events leading up to the Made in Brunel exhibition. This annual showcase is a highlight of the London design calendar and promotes the incredible work our students produce to the creative community, and is a great way for our students to network with design professionals and potential employers.

If you are interested in turning a product or technology idea into a business after you graduate, we are in partnership with the Central Research Laboratory (CRL), a design incubator for start-ups. You’ll have access to meeting rooms and work space as well as prototyping facilities. A team of in-house professionals will guide and support you at each stage and a number of our previous entrepreneurial students have successfully commercialised their products.

The MDes Design programme is fully accredited and recognised by the Institution of Engineering Designers (IED), the premier professional body representing engineering and product designers.