Creative Arts Facilities at Lancaster University
As a student within LICA, you will have access to a range of state-of-the-art facilities and equipment to catalyse your studies.
Overview
Why Lancaster?
- Use this Master's course as a springboard into a rewarding career - our graduates are the next generation of design leaders
- Learn from world-renowned figures in design, be among the first to hear about their latest research and the innovative way we take design in new directions
- Explore complex design challenges in our cutting-edge Imagination Lab - an intensive, project-based design studio
- Be part of our vibrant, international community – we benefit from being joined by students and staff from around the world
What role does good and bad design play in society? What challenges do design managers face in the real world? You’ll explore questions such as these while examining how design shapes our interactions with people, products and places.
Design for life
Design management is all about how we organise and deploy design solutions to solve problems and add value for users, organisations and society.
Our Master's programme helps you assess the far-reaching impact of strategically deploying design methods to address key issues today and for the future. You’ll focus on much more than just design but on aspects such as delivery to market, the supply chain and sustainability.
You might consider some big issues. How design can be used to help a city reach net zero. Or how to apply data privacy rules when working with the Internet of Things. Or how to give people better access to health services.
Our students and staff join us from diverse disciplinary backgrounds as well as from businesses in various sectors. This creates an inspiring and creative environment that is rich in innovation.
Sparking the imagination
Experience the excitement of creating a prototype in our project-based module – the Imagination Lab. We’ll bring in charities or businesses to set the brief, so you get the sense of working with a client in real life. You may be looking at the steps needed to improve transport around the region or how to tackle social inequalities in a particular town.
In addition, your major research project is a chance to experiment with new design methods and focus on a real research question; for example, using speculative design to consider topics such as artificial intelligence, distributed production and digital space.
Why Should I Study Design at Lancaster?
Lancaster’s distinctive approach to design reflects a department that is at the cutting-edge of the field. Taught by global design experts, our courses move beyond the scope of traditional disciplines such as graphic or product design, to place design in a central role in shaping the world around us.
Design at Lancaster actively responds to rapid changes in technology, complex societal challenges and the pressing need for new ways of thinking about the world. We foreground the designer’s ability to engage with the most difficult of problems, bringing individual and collective creativity together to propose and test new ways forward.
Student profiles
Our students tell us about their experiences of studying at Lancaster including, why they chose their courses, tips and advice for someone starting the course.
Student Profiles
Careers
During this postgraduate degree, you’ll discover how design can be applied in a broad range of ways in the real world. This gives you many different career options by the time you finish your studies. Plus, you’ll have developed valuable transferable skills by learning to approach any situation with an inquiring mind.
You may decide you want to go into industry in either the public or private sector and be a design-led change-maker envisioning and realising products, services, systems, and policies. You may want to work as a consultant or design manager for a large corporation or charity. Or perhaps you’ll decide to take your research further and go on to do a PhD on emerging topics and issues.
Some of our graduates decide to pursue a traditional route into service design or user experience, while others have gone on to become business design consultants, futures consultants and senior product designers.
Entry Requirements
Academic Requirements
2:1 Hons degree (UK or equivalent) in design or a related discipline.
We may also consider non-standard applicants, please contact us for information.
If you have studied outside of the UK, we would advise you to check our list of international qualifications before submitting your application.
English Language Requirements
We may ask you to provide a recognised English language qualification, dependent upon your nationality and where you have studied previously.
We normally require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 6.5, and a minimum of 6.0 in each element of the test. We also consider other English language qualifications.
If your score is below our requirements, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes.
Contact: Admissions Team +44 (0) 1524 592032 or email pgadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk
Course Structure
You will study a range of modules as part of your course, some examples of which are listed below.
Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, but changes may be necessary, for example as a result of student feedback, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes, and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.
Core
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Contemporary Issues in Design
This module explores key dimensions of contemporary issues in design, which each year will emphasise a specific theme. Through important emergent topics within these themes the module explores the meanings of modern design and its potential role in addressing critical contemporary issues and challenges. The module introduces you to different ways of thinking about the 'outcomes' of design, which may be concepts, material artefacts, services, plans, schemes, participatory methods, etc. In the module we address the changing role of design and the designer, and the evolving relationships between design, society, and contemporary issues.
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Design and Business
This module considers the complex relationship between design and business and explores this relationship in historical and contemporary contexts. In this module we consider the manner in which design can contribute to sustainable and commercially viable propositions and the resultant relationship to organisational agendas. The role of design in business is moving towards more strategic positions increasingly working on complex systems and intangible objects. This module introduces you to design as a key area of intervention in business and aims to develop creative professionals able to navigate complex issues, envision possible futures, mediate between creative, commercial and triple bottom line imperatives, and connect organisations to stakeholders groups. Ultimately this module aims to develop an understanding of the scope, nature and role of design in business and the mechanisms by which it is employed.
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Design Directions
This module explores future directions of design and allows you to develop your awareness of the complex interrelationships between design and others specialism's. In the module, we utilise design as the driver for such discourse but engage with many perspectives beyond those familiar to designers. The module engages with debates that are not bounded by traditional disciplinary concerns and seeks to develop an advanced level of critical and creative engagement with complex societal challenges. The curriculum supports applied and theoretical research into people, products, places and their interactions. This module provides you with the opportunity to develop an understanding of the scope, nature and role of design in business and the mechanisms by which it is employed.
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Design Management
This module aims to familiarise you with the origins of design management, its past, present and emerging forms; its functions and purposes; and its relationships with policymaking. It provides the historical and practical context for design management in general and the role of the design manager in particular. We explore the meaning of designing versus managing and the many ways design managers can contribute to organisations. You have the opportunity to develop specific skills in managing projects, developing design strategies as well as an awareness of branding, marketing, innovation, strategic design-skills necessary to be an effective design manager.
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Design Research Methods
This module develops an understanding of a range of design research methods and their application within real world contexts. We aim to develop analytical and creative design thinking through theoretical investigation and practical activity. The module introduces and develops research approaches, methodologies and tools used to inform design research, as well as ideas about how and when to deploy these research tools appropriately. It supports the application of these practical and conceptual tools in a range of research methods appropriate to design.
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Imagination Lab
This module is project-based and offers learning in project management and practice. Projects will vary from year to year but will centre on contemporary issues in design, including emerging research directions and issues related to design and business. Projects may be based on academically significant topics, thereby enabling you to become exposed to areas of contemporary design research. Alternatively, they may be linked to 'real world' issues and external clients, thereby developing your abilities in professional practice. Typically project activities in this module directly relate to, and integrate with academic studies in other modules and will provide an important opportunity for project-based creative activities and synthesis.
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Major Research Project
This module enables you to undertake an in depth and comprehensive research project into an area of personal interest and provides a project of significant size and depth in order to synthesise the skills and knowledge acquired in the programme. This module will allow you to engage in research design and implementation in a subsequent research project. It provides you with an opportunity to co-ordinate and manage your own learning experience and formulate this within a coherent research project. Where appropriate, you will be encouraged to engage with other units across the university in an interdisciplinary manner. Typically, teaching and learning strategies for this module are based around lectures, seminars and personal tutorials. During the project, you will verbally report your work at specific points and will also have support from a supervisor.
Fees and Funding
| Location | Full Time (per year) | Part Time (per year) |
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| Home | £11,500 | n/a |
| International | £23,875 | n/a |
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Additional costs
There may be extra costs related to your course for items such as books, stationery, printing, photocopying, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits. Following graduation, you may need to pay a subscription to a professional body for some chosen careers.
Specific additional costs for studying at Lancaster are listed below.
College fees
Lancaster is proud to be one of only a handful of UK universities to have a collegiate system. Every student belongs to a college, and all students pay a small College Membership Fee which supports the running of college events and activities. Students on some distance-learning courses are not liable to pay a college fee.
For students starting in 2023 and 2024, the fee is £40 for undergraduates and research students and £15 for students on one-year courses. Fees for students starting in 2025 have not yet been set.
Computer equipment and internet access
To support your studies, you will also require access to a computer, along with reliable internet access. You will be able to access a range of software and services from a Windows, Mac, Chromebook or Linux device. For certain degree programmes, you may need a specific device, or we may provide you with a laptop and appropriate software - details of which will be available on relevant programme pages. A dedicated IT support helpdesk is available in the event of any problems.
The University provides limited financial support to assist students who do not have the required IT equipment or broadband support in place.
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Application fees and tuition fee deposits
For most taught postgraduate applications there is a non-refundable application fee of £40. We cannot consider applications until this fee has been paid, as advised on our online secure payment system. There is no application fee for postgraduate research applications.
For some of our courses you will need to pay a deposit to accept your offer and secure your place. We will let you know in your offer letter if a deposit is required and you will be given a deadline date when this is due to be paid.
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What is my fee status?
The fee that you pay will depend on whether you are considered to be a home or international student. Read more about how we assign your fee status.
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Fees in subsequent years
If you are studying on a programme of more than one year’s duration, the tuition fees for subsequent years of your programme are likely to increase each year. Read more about fees in subsequent years.
Scholarships and Bursaries
You may be eligible for the following funding opportunities, depending on your fee status and course. You will be automatically considered for our main scholarships and bursaries when you apply, so there's nothing extra that you need to do.
Unfortunately no scholarships and bursaries match your selection, but there are more listed on scholarships and bursaries page.
If you're considering postgraduate research you should look at our funded PhD opportunities.
| Scheme | Based on | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Based on {{item.eligibility_basis}} | Amount {{item.amount}} |
We also have other, more specialised scholarships and bursaries - such as those for students from specific countries.
Browse Lancaster University's scholarships and bursaries.
Imagination Lancaster
Closely linked to ImaginationLancaster, an exploratory design-led research centre at Lancaster University, our team enables people and organisations to engage with academia in dynamic and creative ways, giving time and space to imagine and explore possible futures.
ImaginationLancasterPostgraduate open day: Saturday 10 February 2024
Join our on-campus open day this February to talk to students and lecturers and find out how and when to apply.
Book my place
Important Information
The information on this site relates primarily to 2024/2025 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.
The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.
More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.
Our Students’ Charter
We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.
Why Lancaster?
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League tables and reputation
A highly-ranked university with a global reputation.
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Colleges and community
Your college will be your home away from home.
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Careers and employability
Career support for our students through university and beyond.
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Student life
Lancaster has so much to offer. On our campus, in our city and in our community, you’ll find your place – whoever you are.
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Where is Lancaster?
Lancaster is easy to get to and surrounded by natural beauty.
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The campus and the city
Our campus and the surrounding area is a great place to call home.
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Your global experience
Build your global community on campus and around the world.
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Wellbeing and support
Services to help you fulfil your potential at Lancaster.
