Avans University of Applied Sciences
Master of Arts in Situated Design
's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
MA
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
TUITION FEES
EUR 9,680 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* EEA applicants | 01/05/2025 non-EEA applicants
** non-EEA nationality | EEA or Dutch nationality: EUR 2,530
Key Summary
About: Situated Design is a graduation track of the Master of Arts in Fine Art and Design at Avans in Breda and Den Bosch in the Brainport region. You’ll join a diverse master’s community, collaborate across pathways, and use dedicated studios and workshops (print, wood, ceramics, metal), plus immersive and interactive media facilities. The programme emphasizes situated knowledge, practice-led research, interdisciplinary learning, and critical reflection supported by professors from centre Caradt.
Career Outcomes: Situated Design prepares you to work on complex research-based projects, present cohesive bodies of work, and develop sustainable studio practices. Graduates pursue creative roles including Designer, Artist, Illustrator.
Situated Design is a graduation track of the Master of Arts in Fine Art & Design at Avans. The programme recognizes you as a distinct presence in the world. You immerse in modern discourses and focus on prevailing conditions, situated knowledge and design practices.
Your studies will take place within a diverse community of master's students from different backgrounds. You frequently collaborate with each other, across pathways and outside of the campus. This way you gain experience in a wide range of practices and establish a valuable network. Situated Design maintains strong connections with designers, publishers and institutions in the Netherlands and abroad.
During your study, you can use our dedicated master studio spaces in which we focus on improving your ability to engage with emerging technologies with critical reflection and mindfulness. Our outstanding workshop and technical facilities provide courses ranging from print, wood ceramics and metal, to immersive and iterative storytelling and interactive media.
The graduation track Situated Design is distinguished by the quality of its teaching, research and practice. Our motivated team, strengthened by professors of expertise centre Caradt, is committed to supporting ambitious and diverse creative research practices and approaches.
Programme Features
- Critical mindset
- Interdisciplinary learning
- New perspectives
- Practice-led research
The graduation track Situated Design offers you a unique interdisciplinary programme of art and design activities. Fostering key areas of research and scholarship, while building a bridge with science and technology. The graduation track is delivered across 24 months, comprised of 4 semesters and 6 units of study. Each unit ends with an assessment.
Year 1
In the first year, you focus on training new skills, and methods of research and setting up your research practice for your artistic practice. Situated Design offers you modules, courses and tutorials to explore how to contextualize, expand and integrate your work in the right professional work field. At the end of each semester, there is a summative assessment of your individual Studio Practice. All education takes place at the Avans location.
The Semesters
- Context & Skills Learning
- Co-research and External Enquiry in the Field
Year 2
In the second year, you focus more on writing your thesis and materializing the outcomes of your research. You present your final research at the Graduation Research HUB and you get the opportunity to exhibit your work at the graduation ceremony. At the end of each semester, there is a summative assessment of your individual Studio Practice. Education takes place in a hybrid programme. It's possible to study remotely or to combine it with residencies or research activities abroad.
The Semesters
- Semester 3 Consolidation of Practice-led Research
- Semester 4 Graduation Phase
Situated Design prepares you for a future in a dynamic profession that demands strong reflexive and adaptive abilities. In a critical and supportive environment, you will learn how to operate independently and as part of a team on complex, research-based projects. Graduates leave the institute with a cohesive body of work. And, more importantly, working methods upon which to build a sustainable, lifelong career in the field of design.
You will be equipped to establish your own future-proof design practices.
In the realm of Situated Design, you will find:
- An embodied design practice that enables you to navigate the world as an integral part of it
- A design ethos that encourages you to be unabashedly authentic in expressing your perspectives, emotions and connections with others and the world
At Situated Design, we are committed to helping you become:
- A consummate professional designer who excels in presenting your work, and engaging with peers in the industry. And connecting with a broader cross-section of society
- A designer who uncovers and embraces your true passion. Embarking on a lifelong pursuit and developing your ways of perceiving, sensing, and collaborating with the world
Potential Careers After the Programme
- Designer
- Artist
- Illustrator
Chat with current Students
This graduation track is right for you if you are a graphic designer, illustrator, urbanist, electronics or software engineer, filmmaker, visual storyteller, artist or data scientist. With an interest in communication and digital cultures.