
Master of Design
Design that moves the world forward.
A studio-based graduate program where research, making and systems thinking meet.

Fall 2027 cohort · key dates
Application Opens
Mid Sept 2026
Priority Deadline
Early Dec 2026
Final Deadline
Early Jan 2026
Decisions
Mid Feb 2026
Admit Response
April 15, 2026
A master’s degree built for complexity.
Design has always been how people make the world better. Today, the problems worth solving — in healthcare, climate, public life, technology — don’t fit inside a single discipline or a single screen. They require designers who can think at the level of systems, lead across functions, and bring ethical clarity to decisions that affect millions of people.
This is a one-of-a-kind master’s degree — a truly cross-disciplinary degree that trains you to be a leader in the field. It combines the research depth of a world class public university with the studio culture of serious design education, and the opportunity of one of the most collaborative campuses in the world. Graduate ready for leadership roles in a diverse set of workplaces and organizations — startups, companies, governments, nonprofits — working on the hardest problems of our time.
The MDes at UC San Diego prepares students for designing in the 21st century.

Why UC San Diego

A ten-year head start.
Over a decade of design excellence. This The Design Lab at UC San Diego was founded in 2014 by Don Norman, together with co-founders Jim Hollan and Scott Klemmer. Over the past decade, it has grown into a globally recognized center for interdisciplinary design research spanning healthcare, urban development, the future of work, AI and automation, climate adaptation, and civic systems.

Design as a common language,
At the Design Lab, design thinking, methods, and research is what brings cognitive scientists, engineers, physicians, economists, and urban planners to the same table. The MDes teaches students to work the same way: using design as a method for making sense of complex systems and the people inside them, and for turning that understanding into action.

The university behind the program.
With faculty from arts and humanities, engineering, social sciences, management, public health, and medicine all contributing to this program, students will have access to the full intellectual breadth of UC San Diego, one of the top public research universities in the world.

The market is ready.
Graduate into a field that needs exactly these skills. Demand for designers who can lead at the level of systems, not just screens, continues to climb: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects faster-than-average growth for design roles, with roughly 14,500 openings nationwide each year through 2034. The MDes will prepare students for their rewarding career in design.
Boundary Spanning Faculty
The MDes is an interdisciplinary program. That means its faculty aren’t from one department — they’re from across the university. The researchers who teach in this program work on automation and AI, public health and mental health, housing and urban equity, creative tools, ubiquitous computing, labor economics, civic design, and more.
Their work is not background to the curriculum. It is the curriculum.

Steven P. Dow
Program Co-Director Cognitive Science
Research: human-computer interaction, social computing, creativity support, and civic design.

Michael W. Meyer
Program Co-Director Design Lab & Rady School
Research: design-driven organizational transformation and design pedagogy.

Mai T. Nguyen
Director, UC San Diego Design Lab Urban Studies & Planning
Social and spatial equity, housing policy and planning, community and economic development, climate adaptation.

Jim Hollan
Cognitive Science & Computer Science and Engineering
Cognitive design, distributed cognition, HCI, multiscale information visualization, cognitive ethnography.

Lilly Irani
Communication
Cultural politics of high-tech work; how actors produce “innovation” cultures.

Scott Klemmer
Cognitive Science & Computer Science and Engineering
HCI and design; example and data-driven design tools; ingredients of creative excellence; social learning.
Everything needed to apply — in one place.
Fall 2027 cohort admissions timeline.
|
➔ Degree
|
Master of Design (MDes) |
|---|---|
|
➔ Program Start
|
September, 2026 |
|
➔ Application Opens
|
Mid September, 2026 |
|
➔ Priority Deadline
|
Early December, 2026 |
|
➔ Final Deadline
|
Early January, 2026 |
|
➔ Interview Window
|
February |
|
➔ Decision Notification
|
Mid February, 2027 |
|
➔ Admit Response Deadline
|
April 15, 2027 |
|
➔ Rolling Admissions?
|
No. All complete applications are reviewed after the final deadline. |
|
➔ Application Fee
|
Comparable programs range $50 – $135 |
FAQ – About the Program
Ready to take the next step?
Applications for the Fall 2027 cohort open
In the meantime, join our interest list for updates, event invitations, and application guidance.







