Monash University Handbook 2011 Postgraduate - Course

The Master of Design is an 87.5 per cent research degree. Candidates develop a studio research proposal that results in a body of design works with accompanying written and visual documentation. The documentation is a commentary that outlines the development of the project and its conclusion, and provides a critical context within which the work may be viewed and assessed.

The design works are new works that demonstrate a conclusion to the research at the masters level. Works completed for other purposes, or before the candidacy, are not permitted for inclusion in the exhibition. Unless site-specific, the faculty requires masters examination exhibitions to be conducted on-campus at either the Caulfield or Gippsland campuses.

Disciplines offered include:

• design
• graphic design/visual communication
• industrial design
• interior architecture
• multimedia/multimedia design.

Assessment

Examination normally occurs through an exhibition of design work and the supporting documentation. The documentation is not examined separately, but is considered together with the work and unites theory with practice.

This course comprises a research proposal, creative or visual works and documentation, and completion of two units.

Candidates submit a written commentary between 10,000 and 20,000 words with a photographic record of the design work being bound into the document. They are also required to successfully complete a sequence of two units which guide them through the methodological and documentary dimensions of their project:

• MDS5022 Design theory workshop
• MDS5031 Research methods in design

Master of Design (Research)