Sustainable Design MA

Why choose this course?

The Sustainable Design MA welcomes those who want to direct their existing creative practice towards ambitious visions of a more sustainable, inclusive and equitable society. Our established, multi-disciplinary course will enable you to raise your sustainability literacy, and then design meaningful responses to the challenges of unsustainability that move you the most.

As a course, we ask – what's next? What's next for design thinking that addresses the climate emergency? What's next for design innovation that imagines more sustainable futures? What's next for design practice that questions what we design, how we design, and why we design? Our graduates challenge the design industry to redesign design. And each year we invite our new students to challenge us to rethink what we currently think.

We explore innovative, practical, provocative, speculative and radical ways to help realise sustainable visions through design. We think critically, holistically and sensitively about the diverse agendas that sustainability addresses, and the intersectional challenges it presents. We think through making, testing, questioning, and imagining. We contribute our global perspectives and diverse experiences to our collective thinking and understanding of sustainability. We are collaborative. We work with students on other courses within the Design School.

We are a cohort of graphic designers, product designers, service designers, furniture designers, textile designers, digital designers, experience designers, fashion designers, interior designers, architects, illustrators, filmmakers, strategists and more. We are unified by a commitment to designing sustainability itself.

We welcome full-time and part-time students.

See what we are up to on our Sustainable Design MA Instagram.

Mode Duration Attendance Start date
Full time 1 year 2 days a week September 2024
Full time 2 years including professional placement 2 days a week, plus placement year September 2024
Part time 2 years Contact the course leader for details September 2024


Stand-alone module: Design for Social Innovation.

Location Kingston School of Art, Knights Park

Reasons to choose Kingston

  • This course is open to designers from all backgrounds who want to go beyond the boundaries of their existing disciplines rather than simply refine their existing practice.
  • You will benefit from expert tutors, professional designers and specialist practitioners, alongside field trips, workshops and talks from a wide range of organisations that further sustainability.
  • This course is distinctive through its focus on multi-disciplinary, socially-led design for sustainable change.

The Art School Experience

As part of Kingston School of Art, students on this course benefit from joining a creative community where collaborative working and critical practice are encouraged.

Our workshops and studios are open to all disciplines, enabling students and staff to work together, share ideas and explore multi-disciplinary making.

Two students collaborate on a design project.

Student work

What you will study

The course offers diverse approaches to designing, including research techniques and ethics, user-centred and participatory methods, experimental making, prototyping and user-testing. You'll work in the studio and workshops on specific projects reflective of the modules comprising the course. Activities can include specialist lectures, workshop inductions, group and individual tutorials, seminars and symposiums.

You'll be expected to think critically about both sustainability and design practice, and to engage with related theoretical and contextual studies, through curated reading lists and lectures. You'll be encouraged to bring your personal interests and experiences to the project briefs – in order to explore aspects of sustainability that resonate with you, and to become a Citizen Designer.

You'll need to be self-directed, reflective and practical in your approach, with direction and purpose.

This course is part of the Design School's postgraduate programme. The structure, shared with students from other design courses, enables you to explore your individual specialist interests within an integrative learning environment that provides an understanding of the value and role of interdisciplinary methods and ways of working. The influences and impact of thinking from other related design subjects on your own specialist study is an important aspect of the identity and the community of interdisciplinary practice at masters level in the Design School.

Modules

Optional placement year

Stand-alone module: Design for Social Innovation

Core modules

Design for Social Innovation

30 credits

Design for social innovation is the emerging mode of design practice and theory in which design thinking is applied to social and societal challenges. This module focuses on the development of design-based research skills and capabilities useful for responding to real-world challenges or so-called 'wicked problems'. Emphasis is placed on problem-finding and problem-setting, rather than simply seeking solutions to problems as they are currently expressed.

Designing Research

30 credits

The aim of the module is to give you an understanding of the design research tools and methods that are available to you, to inform and support the development of your practical study, and to provide the basis of your further study on your course. Practical research methods are explored, with an emphasis on the development of creative and evidence-based approaches to experimentation, and critical reflection on practical design work.

Sustainable Design Principles, Perspectives and Practices

30 credits

This module explores key principles and perspectives that inform various practices of sustainability, sustainable development and sustainable design, in developed and developing global contexts. It examines the ways in which contemporary and emerging modes of design practice and theory relate to the sustainability agenda.

Creative Futures

30 credits

This module is based on the assumption that the best jobs/careers in the creative industries do not exist – they are invented from individual creative ambitions. The module explores how this can be approached in practical terms. The programme of study encourages you to develop a personal and critical approach to your future career, and how this can inform the development of your individual major project for the Major Project.

The Major Project

60 credits

The Major Project – the capstone project – consolidates the knowledge gained in earlier modules, and is informed by your prior learning within the Design School's postgraduate interdisciplinary framework and course-specific specialist study.

You will extend your work on the course thus far in the form of a practical design proposal, defining and developing a substantive solution to an individually defined design-related problem. In so doing, you will demonstrate advanced understanding and application of contemporary design practice as it can be brought to bear on a specific challenge of sustainability.

Many postgraduate courses at Kingston University allow students to do a 12-month work placement as part of their course. The responsibility for finding the work placement is with the student; we cannot guarantee the work placement, just the opportunity to undertake it. As the work placement is an assessed part of the course, it is covered by a student's Student Route visa.

Read about our student Katie Sharman's work placement on our blog: she completed a ten-month placement as the Communications and Sustainability Coordinator at Hackney Herbal, a community-focused social enterprise.

Find out more about the postgraduate work placement scheme.

Optional modules

Professional Placement

120 credits

The Professional Placement module is a core module for those students following a masters programme that incorporates professional placement learning, following completion of 120 credits. It provides you with the opportunity to apply your knowledge and skills to an appropriate working environment, and to develop and enhance key employability skills and subject-specific professional skills in your chosen subject. You may wish to use the placement experience as a platform for your subsequent major project module, and would be expected to use it to help inform your decisions about future careers.

Design for Social Innovation

Design for social innovation is an emerging mode of design practice gaining popularity and interest both within the design professions and more widely, for example in the public sector. Local authorities are increasingly looking to employ designers to redesign public services and to deliver their programmes more effectively.

There is therefore demand for training in design for social innovation. This is a distinguishing feature of the Sustainable Design MA, but there are designers and other practitioners who do not yet wish to embark on a full MA course. This module is for them.

The module will be based around a 'live' project brief and include sessions with leading practitioners in the field.

"This module will be useful to designers and those who come from the world of frontline social impact services, who want to learn more about innovation and design - and to gain practical experience with which to develop." Nat Hunter (Chief design officer, Design Council)

About the stand-alone module

This is currently a course-specific module within the Sustainable Design MA. It is also available as a credit-bearing, stand-alone module, whereby it can be taken without enrolling on the Sustainable Design MA (although the credits could be used subsequently for entry to the course). Students enrolled on the MA and stand-alone modules are part of the same module cohort, participate equally, and have the same module experience.

Sessions

Please note that this is an indicative list of sessions and is not intended as a definitive list.

  • The role for design in social innovation
  • Design process models (including the Double Diamond framework)
  • User-centred design research methods (such as personas, journey mapping, role playing, user diaries)
  • Designing your design brief
  • Physical prototyping of your concepts
  • Research ethics in social innovation
  • Design studio visit(s)

Dates

This is a 12-week module.

  • Ten full teaching days (10.30am–1pm, 2–4.30pm), one day per week (specific day to be confirmed)
  • One self-directed project day (Week Six, the University's Enrichment Activity Week)
  • Some teaching days include individual and group tutorials to support development of your work for submission for assessment. This means you will not attend for the whole day on those days.

Cost

The stand-alone module Design for Social Innovation is charged on a pro rata basis from the Home full-time MA fee (one sixth).

Apply or enquire

How to apply for the stand-alone module.

Please email Zoe Bather with any enquiries about this stand-alone module.

Please note

Optional modules only run if there is enough demand. If we have an insufficient number of students interested in an optional module, that module will not be offered for this course.

Students discuss their projects

Kingston University's Sustainable Design MA students share their final major projects at their graduate show, Future Proof, as part of London Design Festival. The show saw 15 students present their design proposals for a more sustainable, equitable and inclusive future.

Entry requirements

Typical offer

You'll normally need to have:

  • A 2:2 or above honours degree or equivalent in a related art, design or craft subject and/or appropriate professional experience.
  • Applicants with academic qualifications in other subjects, or relevant work experience, will be considered on an individual basis.
  • A portfolio of work reflecting your experience and skills working in 2D and 3D. Instructions on how to submit your portfolio will be sent once an application has been submitted.

Portfolio guidance

We would like to understand more about you and your practice, as well as your aptitude and motivations for studying on this course. We will be reviewing your portfolio with four key values in mind: questioning, curiosity, technical ability, and enthusiasm. Your portfolio should demonstrate these values through your strengths, abilities, and experiences. Please show how your ideas were developed through research, drawing, making, digital skills, experimentation, and development, leading to outcomes realised as final prototypes or visuals. Films or other media, including social media accounts if relevant, can be included as links in the portfolio. We are looking for your potential to succeed on the course and welcome applications from those with diverse experiences or educational backgrounds.

Your portfolio should include:

  • 3 to 5 projects demonstrating your research process, subject interests, and the development of your projects to realised outcomes.

Digital portfolio format requirements

  • A portfolio of 15 to 20 pages, landscape orientation and saved/uploaded as a print-based or interactive PDF file.
  • Include project titles and a brief description of each project explaining your intentions and your individual involvement if presenting a group project.
  • Moving image works should not exceed 5 minutes in total and should be uploaded to Vimeo or YouTube – please supply these links in your portfolio and make sure they are active and work on all platforms.
  • Ensure that images are of a high quality and at least 72 dpi.

Please provide a personal statement of up to 300 words explaining:

  • Your interest in design
  • Your interest in sustainability
  • Your interest in the course at Kingston
  • The wider social, cultural, and political interests in your work

International

All non-UK applicants must meet our English language requirement, which is Academic IELTS of 6.5 overall, with no element below 5.5. Make sure you read our full guidance about English language requirements, which includes details of other qualifications we consider.

Applicants who do not meet the English language requirements could be eligible to join our pre-sessional English language course.

Applicants from a recognised majority English speaking countries (MESCs) do not need to meet these requirements.

Country-specific information

You will find more information on country-specific entry requirements in the International section of our website.

Find your country:

Teaching and assessment

Assessment will be made at the completion of each module. Module marks are added to achieve a total final mark. Assessment will be made through practical design projects, presentations, and a final major project.

Guided independent study (self-managed time)

When not attending timetabled sessions, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. This typically involves reading and analysing articles, regulations, policy documents and key texts, documenting individual projects, preparing coursework assignments and completing your PEDRs, etc.

Your independent learning is supported by a range of excellent facilities including online resources, the library and CANVAS, the University's online virtual learning platform.

Support for postgraduate students

At Kingston University, we know that postgraduate students have particular needs and therefore we have a range of support available to help you during your time here.

Your workload

Year 1: 22% of your time is spent in timetabled learning and teaching activity.

Contact hours may vary depending on your modules.

Type of learning and teaching

Type of learning and teaching
  • Scheduled learning and teaching: 320 hours
  • Guided independent study (self-managed time): 1480 hours

Please note: the above breakdowns are a guide calculated on core modules only. Depending on optional modules chosen, this breakdown may change.

How you will be assessed

Assessment typically comprises exams, a practical project, visual summary, critical reflection and report.

The approximate percentage for how you will be assessed on this course is as follows, though depends to some extent on the optional modules you choose:

Type of assessment

Type of assessment
  • Coursework: 100%

Please note: the above breakdowns are a guide calculated on core modules only. Depending on optional modules chosen, this breakdown may change.

Feedback summary

We aim to provide feedback on assessments within 20 working days.

Class sizes

To give you an indication of class sizes, this course normally enrols 20 students. However this can vary by module and academic year.

Who teaches this course?

You will be taught by leading academics and practitioners in sustainable design, social design, social innovation, participatory design, strategic design, service design, design-led innovation, and related topics. Our excellent reputation means that industry leaders regularly visit our students shows, to see the best of the new talent.

This course is delivered by Kingston School of Art, which has its roots in the studio-based approach of Britain's art school system (the original School of Art was founded in the 1890s). Learning takes place in our specialist studios, each subject area having its own fully equipped studio, where you take part in classes, tutorials and critical reviews with fellow students. This strong studio culture also ensures regular interaction between students and tutors.

In addition to the studio-based aspects of the course, you will take part in field trips to exhibitions, museums, design studios, conferences, site visits and other professional environments. You will be encouraged to engage closely with the diverse businesses that make London one of the most important centers for the creative industries. Our industry connections mean we provide unique study opportunities, such as:

  • the chance to have your work seen by eminent members of your profession
  • 'live' projects, site visits and placements in prestigious companies or institutions
  • project work and workshops with visiting lecturers and industry specialists.

Postgraduate students may also contribute to the teaching of seminars under the supervision of the module leader.

Fees for this course

2024/25 fees for this course

Home 2024/25

  • MA full time £11,900
  • MA part time £6,545

International 2024/25

  • MA full time £20,900
  • MA part time £11,495

2023/24 fees for this course

Home 2023/24

  • MA full time £10,900
  • MA part time £5,995

International 2023/24

  • MA full time £18,700
  • MA part time £10,285

Tuition fee information for future course years

If you start your second year straight after Year 1, you will pay the same fee for both years.

If you take a break before starting your second year, or if you repeat modules from Year 1 in Year 2, the fee for your second year may increase.

Fees for the optional placement year

If you choose to take a placement as part of this course, you will be invoiced for the placement fee in Year 2. Find out more about the postgraduate work placement scheme and the costs for the placement year.

Postgraduate loans

If you are a UK student, resident in England and are aged under the age of 60, you will be able to apply for a loan to study for a postgraduate degree. For more information, read the postgraduate loan information on the government's website.

Scholarships and bursaries

Kingston University offers a range of postgraduate scholarships, including:

If you are an international student, find out more about scholarships and bursaries.

We also offer the following discounts for Kingston University alumni:

Chevening scholarships

Students on this course have gained Chevening scholarships to support their studies. These awards go to outstanding candidates who are pursuing postgraduate course subjects which their home country considers to be important to its future development.

Additional costs

Depending on the programme of study, there may be extra costs that are not covered by tuition fees which students will need to consider when planning their studies. Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessment and operating University facilities such as the library, access to shared IT equipment and other support services. Accommodation and living costs are not included in our fees. 

Where a course has additional expenses, we make every effort to highlight them. These may include optional field trips, materials (e.g. art, design, engineering), security checks such as DBS, uniforms, specialist clothing or professional memberships.

Textbooks

Our libraries are a valuable resource with an extensive collection of books and journals as well as first-class facilities and IT equipment. You may prefer to buy your own copy of key textbooks, this can cost between £50 and £250 per year.

Computer equipment

There are open-access networked computers available across the University, plus laptops available to loan. You may find it useful to have your own PC, laptop or tablet which you can use around campus and in halls of residences. Free WiFi is available on each of the campuses. You may wish to purchase your own computer, which can cost £100 to £3,000 depending on your course requirements.

Photocopying and printing

In the majority of cases written coursework can be submitted online. There may be instances when you will be required to submit work in a printed format. Printing, binding and photocopying costs are not included in your tuition fees, this may cost up to £100 per year.

Travel

Travel costs are not included in your tuition fees but we do have a free intersite bus service which links the campuses, Surbiton train station, Kingston upon Thames train station, Norbiton train station and halls of residence.

Facilities

Knights Park facilities

There is a wide range of facilities at our Knights Park campus, where this course is based. Kingston School of Art has recently completed an ambitious programme of investment, making significant improvements to our workshops and other resources, to ensure that students are exposed to as many creative pathways as possible.  

The workshops and studios at Knights Park are open for creative exploration and allow opportunities for students and staff to collaborate on projects and share ideas, whether they are studying or researching. There are many adaptable studio and workshop spaces, active breakout spaces and stronger vertical and horizontal connections. 

Our ground-breaking facilities include:

  • 3D workshop, with ceramics, concrete, resin-casting, plastics, metalwork, woodwork and a bronze-casting foundry, as well as a Big Build space for Architecture, set design and large-scale model making
  • Animation and post-production studios
  • Digital Media workshop
  • Fashion (knitting and sewing workshops), with digital and analogue facilities, plus a working dress archive which includes pieces from 1750 to the present day
  • HackSpace (for collaborative, creative, solutions-focussed projects)
  • Letterpress and printmaking workshop, with digital and analogue facilities, to experiment creatively
  • Moving Image workshop, with studios, editing suite, and industry-standard equipment
  • Photography workshop, including studios, colour, and black and white darkrooms, processing facilities
  • All our facilities are open access, meaning you can use them whenever you want, and irrespective of what degree you're studying.

The University also has its own on-site galleries, including:

  • Dorich House - the former studio home of the sculptor Dora Gordine and her husband the Hon. Richard Hare, a scholar of Russian art and literature. Now Grade II listed, the building was completed in 1936, to Gordine's design, and is an exceptional example of a modern studio house created by and for a female artist.
  • Stanley Picker Gallery - one of the leading examples of a university gallery in the UK. Its public activities are dedicated to the research, commissioning and presentation of innovative new practice across the fields of art, design and architecture for general, academic and specialist audiences.
  • project spaces at Knights Park campus, which you can book for the exhibition of large-scale work.

Resources in London

Kingston is just a 30-minute train journey from central London, where you can access world-famous museums and galleries. 

New Stories showcase

Images from the MA Sustainable Design New Stories showcase held at The Rose Theatre Kingston (photos by Monika Jastrzebska). Work presented included projects on perishable jewellery, urban desire lines, the real value of our public spaces, activating the core economy through co-produced services, and establishing a fibreshed for London.

What our students and graduates say

MA Sustainable Design is ideal for showing how designers need to adapt and respond better to current challenges we face locally and globally. The lectures were exceptional, with a breadth of industry experience led by one of the best course leaders a university could have. We benefited from being taught every pillar of sustainability, and being able to dive deeper into how it all joins up and relates to us personally.

After the course we had an impulse to be part of the change we want to see in the world, applying practical design methods to address the various strands of sustainability, so we set up Climate Labs.

The experience on the course was way over my expectations - meeting like-minded people from such diverse backgrounds was a real eye opener. Being able to collaborate with talented designers from various disciplines helped produce some amazing projects.

As governments, private sector and civil society are now being asked to deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the relevance of this course couldn't be greater - inspiring future generations to design better services, products and experiences for the prosperity of people and the planet.

Ahsan Khan - Climate Labs

I can honestly say the Design for Social Innovation stand-alone module was one of the most interesting, sufficiently challenging and thoughtfully delivered courses I've completed, and I've done a fair few.

I wanted to say thank you for sharing your knowledge and providing the opportunity, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'm finding the tools extremely useful day to day, working with live 'wicked problems.

I'm gaining deeper insight, being disciplined enough to do sufficient iteration and co-designing products to prototype and develop better outcomes.

Carmel Ring (stand-alone module student)

The course was more than I expected – a professional and personal growth.

It was an intense year. I had the chance to deconstruct the concept I had of sustainability and social innovation, and then rebuild and re-frame it with a new postmodern perspective.

The course made me skilled with different social design and social research methodologies, ethnographic methods, service design tools, human-centred and participatory design approaches, as well as developing sustainability literacy. It really helped me understand my role as a designer, and what I can offer.

Nowadays I am working as a Social and Service Designer for SocialFare, the Centre of Social Innovation based in Torino, Italy.

During the course, my classmates and I often discussed the right name for our future job position. We identified ‘social and local designer'. The Sustainable Design MA showed me the right path to follow in order to bear that title.

Giuliana Gheza, Social and Service Designer for SocialFare

For me, the course was an ideal combination of practical research methods and theory, of innovation and design, all with a continuous focus on sustainability.

Being on the course broadened my horizons and gave me the confidence and a setting from which to explore topics I wouldn't have otherwise considered.

For my masters major project, I investigated streets as public spaces in a suburban setting (specifically, Surbiton), and how participatory design could contribute to the creation of such places.

Ultimately, the course led me to my current role, which I wouldn't have considered, or have had the right skillset for, before doing the course.

Saskia Baard, Innovation Unit

The Sustainable Design course at Kingston changed the way I design for good.

The way sustainability is addressed in this course is holistic and goes far beyond the lecture slides and usual green clichés. Students reflect on different ways in which they can contribute to tackling the biggest problem of our time – enhancing the well-being of people whilst protecting the environment, in a positive and thoughtful way.

The course leader took the class on a journey of deep reflection and learning, prompting passionate debates, for which we needed to read, research a lot and, of course, design. My fellow students were also professionals with thriving creative careers, which contributed to a very fruitful environment for collaboration.

I now work in social housing within a major housing association, contributing to the creation of safe and sustainable communities.

Maria Fernandez, Optivo Housing, Research & Innovation team

Something else that I highly valued, was the presence of the 'stand-alone-module-students'. They brought in a completely new perspective as they were working in the professional field. I was not familiar with this context, and would therefore not have been able to see things from this angle without them. I hope the insight this gave me allows me to see things from this angle in the future too.

Cindy van Rees (MA student)

Prior to the course, I felt like I was not qualified to solve social challenges or had the skills to do so. However, the fact that all the peers are from different backgrounds in terms of culture and industry it made the learning richer. This resulted in developing my inner confidence, where I felt I could use my skills to help drive social change after studying this course. The course format complements the way I learn, particularly with the peer-learning and tutor facilitating with workshops, and getting you to think of topics in different angles.

Rachel Liu (stand-alone module student)

A big thank you for delivering such an interesting and thought-provoking module. I am keen to study this area further in some way and so will be investigating various routes. It was also such a pleasure to be among such a diverse cohort and I really look forward to seeing the other MA students' presentations later in the year.

Madeleine Rogers (stand-alone module student)

The double diamond process for design has not only thrown out a service which could be developed into a sustainable social franchise, but has taught me an awful lot about how to solve 'wicked' social problems and how to innovate within a structure.

I have no formal design experience and, in the beginning, had no context in which to sit this process on. It has felt like a steep learning curve, but one which cannot be undone. When talking to clients (schools), I now visualise the process and the stakeholder journey – ensuring the person really is at the heart of solving the problem, rather than just throwing out another idea because we 'think' it is right and it might stick.

 

Anna Bateman (stand-alone module student)

Links with business and industry

The course incorporates collaboration with diverse partners, for example the Design Council, Futerra, Makerversity, Active Minds, Kingston Hive. These partnerships vary from year to year.

Lectures introduce students to a wide range of contemporary design practitioners and create opportunities for building contracts within the industry.

You'll also benefit from:

  • live projects with external organisations
  • the option to undertake a major collaborative project with an external partner or your own employer.
  • Many members of staff are professional designers, which keeps your learning cutting-edge and enables you to benefit from their many years of experience.

Many graduates of the course go on to work in social innovation, strategy, sustainability consultancy, service design, communication design, circular design, biophilic design, policy design and design management; at design agencies, start-ups, social enterprises, charities, government organisations, as well as launching their own companies.

Graduate career paths include Futerra, Climate Labs, Design Council, RSA, Arc Americas, Connected Places Catapult, Innovation Unit, EY Seren, Engine UK, Nexer Digital, Transform, Sustrans, Simply Sustainable, Fuse London, Plant Designs, Surrey County Council.

The Design Research Centre

The Design Research Centre provides a creative environment for researchers engaging with the cultural, environmental and presentational contexts of design practice in its widest sense. Research in this diverse area is developed through five interrelated areas:

  • Curating the contemporary - focusing on new initiatives and perspectives on curating, including the interface between design, craft and fine art.
  • Design innovation - focusing on the presentational contexts of contemporary design practice.
  • Design for environments - including design for wellbeing, health and micro-environments, as well as spatial, aesthetic and critical enquiries into building typologies and cultural analysis of urban and leisure environments.
  • Design for screen - focusing on interdisciplinary and practice-based enquiries into screen-based media.
  • Sustainability - multidisciplinary design research into issues of environmental protection and social justice.

Course changes and regulations

The information on this page reflects the currently intended course structure and module details. To improve your student experience and the quality of your degree, we may review and change the material information of this course. Course changes explained.

Programme Specifications for the course are published ahead of each academic year.

Regulations governing this course can be found on our website.