MA MA Service Design

All applications will be considered by the course team who will decide on your suitability to join the course. They will look at your qualifications and transcript (or projected results), your personal statement, portfolio, major project proposal, and any previous work experience.

Offers will be made based on the following selection criteria:

• You understand the field of service design, or similar areas such as experience design or innovation.
• You are open-minded and motivated to explore service design at a high level, and enthusiastic for the subject.
• You are willing to work across disciplines and professional boundaries, and in mixed teams, to explore the future of the subject.
• You are ready to study at postgraduate level and to engage critically with your work and the work and research of others.
• You demonstrate skills in one or more of the following areas: design (any design field), research (in particular user research or other research with people), project management, innovation, social entrepreneurship, or other relevant field.

There are numerous possibilities open to graduates from this course. You will find your new knowledge and skills useful for careers in industry, local authorities or non-profit organisations. Alternatively, you may decide to pursue an academic career.

MA Service Design alumni work as Service Designers, Design Researchers, Experience Designers, Design Strategists, User Centred Consultants, Participatory Designers, UX Designers, and Academics in private, public and third sectors. Students have also progressed to study at PhD level.

During the course, students have a number of opportunities to work directly with industry through live projects as well as particular engagement activities, such as acting as human centred design consultants for tech companies competing in the Ordnance Survey Geovation Challenge or organising events for the Service Design Fringe as part of the London Design Festival. As a result of these engagements, students will sometimes continue the activity in the form of consultancy or internships.UAL Jobs and Careers

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We are committed to ensuring that your skills are set within an ethical framework, and we have worked to embed UAL’s Principles for Climate, Racial and Social Justice Principles into the curriculum and in everything we do. 

As part of this initiative, we’ve shaped our courses around social and environmental sustainability principles that ensure learning outcomes reflect the urgent need to equip you with the understanding, skills, and values to foster a more sustainable planet.  Our aim is to change the way our students think, and to empower you to work towards a sustainable future. 

Autumn, Term 1

User-Centred Project (40 credits)
Ways of Working (20 credits)

Term one will give you a detailed knowledge of core theory and skills in service design, collaboration and team-work, research methods and design innovation. You will be engaged in live projects working in groups and with stakeholders. You will also reflect on your practice and engage with the ethics of your project. You will use the skills and knowledge obtained to articulate design ideas, observations and solutions creatively, as well as demonstrate rigour and critical evaluation in your work. This term has a user focus and projects are based in the present or in the near future.

Spring, Term 2

User-Centred Project (continued)
Design Futures (20 credits)
Collaborative Unit (20 credits)

Term two will give you a critical view of the role of the designer in society. In Collaborative Unit you will work on larger system-level projects in multidisciplinary teams, and you will be able to apply your design thinking strategically to add value in new and challenging contexts. In Design Futures you will explore experimental methodologies for addressing futures, using speculative design and research-through-design. This term has a systems focus and projects are situated in the future in terms of outcomes or impact.

Summer, Term 3

Design Futures (continued)
Proposal Development (20 credits)
Major Project (60 credits)

Term Three builds on the knowledge and skills you have acquired and you will be encouraged to explore and gain expertise in your own area of interest, and apply this to the creation of an original design research project. You will develop your major project proposal on the basis of extensive research, investigation and a firm methodological approach.

Autumn, Term 4

Major Project (continued)