The first degree-bearing program of its kind, MICA’s MA in Social Design is an intensive, practice-based graduate program that prepares creative changemakers with the tools and methods to advance equity and social justice and become pioneers and leaders in the practice.

Throughout the 1-year program, students will:

• Increase Social Literacy—Develop a deeper understanding of the issues of equity, power, race and privilege that exist at the heart of the social problems we aim to address.
• Deepen Design Literacy—Establish an ethical framework to guide personal practice and learn human-centered design methods to build empathy with and engage people in making and doing.
• Create Professional Pathways—MA in Social Design alumni are pioneering and innovative leaders in the public, private, non-profit, entrepreneurial and academic sectors. Click here for a snapshot of what our alumni are doing.

Program Overview

MICA’s M.A. in Social Design is a 1-year, interdisciplinary graduate program that explores the designer’s role and responsibility in society. The 30-credit program is comprised of seminar, studio, and elective courses as well as a variety of other immersive and practice-based experiences that take students outside of the institution to learn. Examples include:

• Visiting Faculty—In addition to core faculty and staff, MA in Social Design students learn from visiting faculty across a variety of disciplines and backgrounds.
• Practice-based Studio—MA in Social Design students are eligible to enroll in semester-long courses that bring students from a variety of disciplines together with outside partners from government, nonprofit and business sectors to learn and apply the human-centered design process.
• Human-centered Design Intensive—MA in Social Design students learn and experience the human-centered design process in a multi-day, immersive project with a local partner facilitated by a leading practitioner in the field.
• Capstone—MA in Social Design students undertake an immersive, design-driven project that focuses on a specific social problem and applies the methods, tools, and frameworks learned in the curriculum.

Who Should Apply

An ideal candidate for the M.A. in Social Design would be a professional, practitioner, or recent graduate who:

• believes design and the design process can, and should, play a role in advancing equity and social justice;
• can offer a unique perspective to the program;
• is prepared for a collaborative, immersive, hands-on graduate experience;
• is excited about and able to work collaboratively with different disciplines, knowledge bases, and points of view;
• is interested in developing and cultivating a personal point of view and approach to social design;
• has worked or studied in a relevant field including (but not limited to), design, architecture, business, writing, anthropology, sociology, public health, fine arts, engineering, environmental studies, non-profit, and more.

Laptop Requirement

Students in MICA's M.A. in Social Design are required to provide a laptop for their studies. Due to the extensive community engagement and project/field work outside the institution, the mobility of a laptop will be essential to the program and experience.