DesignLab + Master of Design


Master of Design

Design education, powered by an entire research university.

The UC San Diego Master of Design is a two-year graduate program for designers ready to move from making things to shaping systems, and from contributing to leading.

decorative

Fall 2027 cohort · key dates

Application Opens

Mid-September 2026

Priority Deadline

December 1, 2026

Final Deadline

January 6, 2027

Offers Sent

March 1, 2027

Decision Day

April 15, 2027

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.

decorative

Why UC San Diego

decorative





Over a decade of design excellence.

The Design Lab at UC San Diego was founded in 2014 by Don Norman, along with co-founders Jim Hollan and Scott Klemmer. Over the past decade, it’s grown into a globally recognized center for interdisciplinary design research spanning healthcare, urban development, the future of work, AI, and climate adaptation. The MDes builds directly on that foundation.

decorative





Design as a common language.

At the Design Lab, design thinking, methods, and research bring 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 shared method for making sense of complex systems and turning understanding into action.

decorative





The university behind the program.

UC San Diego is one of the top public research universities in the world, with leading programs in engineering, medicine, and the sciences. MDes students draw on that full breadth: faculty and coursework from arts and humanities, engineering, management, public health, and medicine, plus proximity to San Diego’s biotech and tech corridor.

decorative





The market is ready for you.

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.

Faculty Highlights

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.

Michael W. Meyer

MDes Program Director, Associate Professor of Design and Rady School of Management

Design-driven organizational transformation and design pedagogy.

Dow Steven Headshot

Steven P. Dow

MDes Associate Program Director,
Professor, Department of Cognitive Science

Human-computer interaction, social computing, creativity support, and civic design.

Mai T. Nguyen

Director, Design Lab,
Professor of Urban Studies & Planning

Social and spatial equity, housing policy and planning, community and economic development, climate adaptation.

Jim Hollan

Distinguished Professor, Cognitive Science & Computer Science and Engineering

Cognitive design, distributed cognition, HCI, multiscale information visualization, cognitive ethnography.

Lilly Irani

Associate Professor, Communication

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

Scott Klemmer

Professor, Cognitive Science & Computer Science
and Engineering

HCI and design; example and data-driven design tools; ingredients of creative excellence; social learning.

Everything you need to apply

Fall 2027 cohort admissions timeline.

➔ Degree

Master of Design (MDes)

➔ Program Start

September, 2027

➔ Application Opens

Mid-September 2026

➔ Priority Deadline

December 1, 2026

➔ Final Deadline

January 6, 2027

➔ Decision Notification

March 1, 2027

➔ Admit Response Deadline

April 15, 2027

➔ Application Fee

$155 – $185

FAQ – About the Program

The MDes is a two-year, full-time, on-campus professional master’s degree in design, housed in the UC San Diego Design Lab. It prepares early- and mid-career professionals to lead design teams and projects, work within complex socio-technical systems, and create products, services, and policies that improve people’s lives.

The first MDes cohort will begin in Fall 2027.

Cohorts are anticipated to be between 45–50 students per year due to the studio-based nature of the program and space in the Design and Innovation Building. At full enrollment, the program will have roughly 90–100 students across both years.

No. The MDes welcomes applicants from engineering, social science, public health, architecture, urban planning, arts and humanities, information science, and other adjacent fields. Strong candidates have an undergraduate degree in any discipline, some demonstrated interest or aptitude in design or creative problem-solving, and a readiness to engage with design as a rigorous, evidence-based practice.

No. GRE scores are recommended but not required. Applicants will not be penalized for not submitting them.

Yes, if you’re a U.S. citizen, Permanent Resident, or undocumented student who can show financial need, military service, or participation in an eligible graduate prep program (international applicants aren’t eligible). Request a waiver in the application’s “Fee Waiver Request” section at least one week before the deadline (UCSD limits one waiver per applicant).

No. The MDes is a fall-entry program only.

No. All complete applications received by the final deadline will receive priority consideration. Applications received after the deadline may be considered.

No. All students are admitted to the capstone track by default. Students who discover an interest in the research thesis pathway may petition to pursue it, typically after taking an introductory academic design research course in Year 1.

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.

decorative
Logo symbol no borders