Design is a constantly evolving discipline that actively responds to a rapidly changing world. With a focus on people-centred futures, and embracing a creative problem-solving mindset, it is a profession with a vital role to play in the twenty-first century. It is an interdisciplinary practice concerned with improving human experiences; adding cultural value; contributing to the world's economy; and, providing intelligent solutions to emerging local and global challenges. Through diverse, thoughtful, innovative and sustainable design processes, designers create spatial experiences, objects and systems, and communication solutions, that influence behavior, activate interaction and respond to both personal and public needs.
The Bachelor of Design will enable you to build a high level of design expertise in one of the following specialist areas of study:
- Collaborative design;
- Communication design;
- Industrial design;
- Spatial design
Collaborative design will prepare you for employment in a range of interdisciplinary design careers such as mediated experiences and spatial design practices; products and packaging; and the increasing confluence of real and virtual service interactions. The specialist area of study brings together design thinking, methods and experiences from across the design discipline specialist areas of study. It responds to the emerging need for designers with interdisciplinary skill sets that can apply design processes that engage spatial, communication, experiential and object-based solutions.
Communication design will prepare you for employment as a designer in the areas of graphic design, visual communication and digital media. It will equip graduates with the ability to work collaboratively with teams: marketers, service providers, clients and other designers; and apply effective visual processes across a range of communication challenges. These include such areas as corporate identity, interactive environments, interaction designs, information designs, analogue and digital publishing, advertising, promotion, packaging, illustration, typography, way-finding systems, animation, and motion design.
Industrial design will prepare you for employment in the fields of industrial and product design and other related areas of industry and commerce. Industrial design is concerned with the research and development of design in consumer and industrial products used by people. These range from industrial equipment to motor vehicles and from medical equipment to domestic appliances. The industrial designer works as a part of a team involving engineering, production and marketing.
Spatial design will prepare you for employment in the fields of interior and spatial design. Spatial designers collaborate with developers, builders, architects and other designers, working on a wide range of projects that may include commercial, cultural, institutional, hospitality and domestic spaces. They create the spaces, lighting, objects and experiences that encourage people to engage and interact. They apply their design skills and knowledge to commercial and domestic interiors, entertainment venues, festivals, exhibitions or theatre sets.
Double degrees
Specialist areas of study within the Bachelor of Design can be taken as double degrees as follows:
- Bachelor of Design / Bachelor of Media Communication
- Bachelor of Design / Bachelor of Business
- Bachelor of Design / Bachelor of Information Technology
- Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (with the Industrial design specialist area of study and the mechanical engineering specialist area of study only)
This will lead to the award of two degrees; the design specialist area of study degree and the degree offered by the partner course. The requirements for the award of each of the specialist degrees will be fulfilled in part by cross crediting of units required in the separate courses. Course maps for the double degrees can be found at: www.monash.edu.au/pubs/2019handbooks/maps
You should refer to the course entry requirements for the partner course.
Specialisations
Collaborative design
Collaborative designers are skilled across a diverse range of design expertise. This specialist area of study will unite methods and processes from across design disciplines and activate hybrid competencies. As a collaborative designer you will integrate multi-disciplinary skills to resolve challenges. You will engage with the full breadth of design tools and outcomes including image, language, product, narratives, systems, services, public and private space, experience, materiality and virtuality.
On completion of this specialist area of study you will possess independent conceptual and practical design skills, but with an enhanced ability to engage in team-based agile, collaborative design processes. You will complete the specialist area of study with a bespoke but industry-relevant qualification that addresses the increasing demand for multi-disciplinary design practitioners.
Communication design
Communication designers help people connect and make sense of the world through images, sound, motion, language, and temporal forms of engagement across a broad range of communication media. These include, but are not limited to, digital and analogue publications, identity design, interactive information design, way-finding systems, web sites, posters, data visualization, apps, motion design and animation.
This specialist area of study will provide you with what it takes to become an independent, enquiring and socially responsible communication designer, able to work across a multitude of production platforms. It lays the foundation for a career in graphic design, visual communication and digital media.
With the Bachelor of Communication Design you will acquire an industry-relevant qualification and a body of work that demonstrates your creative thinking skills; your conceptual maturity; your problem solving ability; and your dexterity with contemporary visual communication media.
Industrial design
Industrial designers embrace art and technology to develop products, systems, services and experiences. When designing, they create physical form in response to function and explore methods of manufacturing by sketching, researching, testing out, and making. By applying their understanding of materials, manufacturing and how people use products, industrial designers combine technical innovation with aesthetics to create beautiful, functional products. Through this specialist area of study you will gain the knowledge and skills to develop an effective, attractive and marketable product, from initial concept to production.
Industrial designers work in teams of other designers, alongside other disciplines such as engineering, production, marketing and research and development. They are responsible for the creation of things which do not yet exist, and as such have a creative capacity for new ideas, and a practical capacity to help bring these ideas into being. Industrial designers often work in design consultancies, for large companies who have their own in-house design team, or for themselves in smaller design studios or designer-maker settings.
Spatial design
Spatial design professionals use creative design and construction technology to solve interior spatial challenges. They understand how people engage with the world, and how structures, spaces and environments can offer outstanding experiences. They design commercial and domestic interiors, entertainment venues, festivals, exhibitions, and theatre sets. They design the spaces, lighting and furniture to create environments that encourage people to interact.
Spatial designers possess a unique balance of strengths, combining creative design with building technology knowledge. They explore the creative use of space, structure and experience to develop conceptual agendas that are provocative and innovative, and material solutions that address contemporary conditions.
The degree will prepare you to work as a spatial, experience or interior designer. As such, you will find yourself working alongside developers, builders and architects on a wide range of projects that may include commercial, cultural, institutional, hospitality and domestic spaces.
The course develops through theme studies in history and theory, a drawing foundation, design studios specific to each of the specialist areas of study, and a range of self-selected elective units. These will come together in the form of a graduand exhibition developed during the final two studio units in the third year of the course.
Part A. History and theory studies
History and theory units will equip you with the skills necessary to research design issues that enable you to contextualise your own thinking and making in relation to the broader spectrum of global practices. These units will develop your ability to communicate ideas and strategies. Through the duel lens of historic and contemporary practice, you will begin to situate the place of design in society by referencing pivotal art, design and architecture movements. Later units address issues of culture, society and responsible design practices.
Part B. Drawing foundation
This will assist you to develop the practical and intellectual skills required by art, design and architecture students in the discipline of drawing.
Part C. Design studios
This is the component of the course through which you will develop key skills and concepts particular to your design discipline.
The collaborative design specialist area of study permits you to take studio units from the Communication, Industrial and Spatial design specialist areas of study within the first 2 years of the degree. You will complete the specialist area of study with two bespoke Collaborative design studio units in the final year of the degree. These units will bring together the unique insights you have gained from your previous interdisciplinary studio experiences. They will permit you to engage and intersect your collective skills to face design challenges that require the full breadth of design tools and experiences. You will develop independent conceptual and practical design skills alongside an ability to engage in collaborative design processes that build on your multidisciplinary design competencies.
In the communication design studio units you will undertake an exploration of traditional and emergent media and communication processes. You will learn to engage with and manipulate core design elements including typography, imagery, two and three-dimensional artifacts, interactivity, sound and motion, as key components to communication design solutions. Studio-based projects across both print and digital media platforms will develop skills in narrative story-telling, visible language, image construction and manipulation, interactive communication processes, production methods and technologies, and the planning and management of design outcomes.
In the industrial design studio units you will undertake a focused exploration of the range of issues, skills and techniques vital to the realisation of user-centred design. Through industrial design projects, you will learn about topics such as visualisation techniques, ergonomics, materials, production methods and technologies.
The spatial design studio units provide the opportunity to experiment with creative ideas while gaining an advanced understanding of the principles of spatial design. You will learn to translate your 2 dimensional concepts into 3 dimensional installations. Studio projects range from real client briefs involving cultural, commercial and community organisations to more speculative briefs that explore the opportunities and challenges of a continually transforming contemporary society. Through the sequence of studio units you will learn to create unique spaces and also how to adapt existing spaces to reflect your design ideas.
Part D. Occupational health and safety study
This will introduce you to occupational health, safety and environmental training particularly within the context of studying art, design and architecture.
Part E. Free elective study
Electives will enable you to further develop your knowledge of design, or to select units from across the faculty or the University (in which you are eligible to enrol).
The course comprises 144 points, of which 96 points are focused on the study of design and 48 points are free electives.
The course develops through theme studies in: A. History and theory studies (30 points), B. Drawing foundation (6 points), and C. Design studios (60 points) specific to each of the specialist areas of study, Part D. Occupational health and safety study (0 points), and Part E. Free elective study (48 points).
Elective units may be at any level, however, no more than 10 units (60 points) are to be completed at level 1 in the design course.
The course progression mapcourse progression map (http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/2019handbooks/maps/map-f2010.pdf) provides guidance on unit enrolment for each semester of study.
Units are 6 credit points unless otherwise stated.
Part A. History and theory studies (30 points)
You must complete:
- AHT1101 Introduction to visual culture in art, design and architecture
- TDN1002 Design and the avant-garde
- TDN2001 Sociologies of design
- TDN3001 Research for design
- TDN3002 Design strategy and professional practice or PPR3102 Professional practice for spatial design*
(*For Spatial design students only)
Part B. Drawing foundation (6 points)
You must complete:
Part C. Design studios (60 points)
You must complete:
- COL1001 Collaborative design studio 1 (12 points)
Communication design
You must complete:
- CDS1002 Communication design studio 2 (12 points)
- CDS2001 Communication design studio 3 (12 points)
- CDS3001 Communication design studio 4 (12 points)
- CDS3002 Communication design studio 5 (12 points)
The Communication design specialist area of study requires you to complete a minimum of 36 points from the communication design studio units. Communication design studios 4 and 5 must be completed for this specialist area of study. A total maximum of 24 points can be taken in units at level 1.
Industrial design
You must complete:
- IDN1002 Industrial design studio 2 (12 points)
- IDN2001 Industrial design studio 3 (12 points)
- IDN3001 Industrial design studio 4 (12 points)
- IDN3002 Industrial design studio 5 (12 points)
The Industrial design specialist area of study requires you to complete a minimum of 36 points from the industrial design studio units. Industrial design studios 4 and 5 must be completed for this specialist area of study.
A total maximum of 24 points can be taken in units at level 1.
Spatial design
You must complete:
- SDN1002 Spatial design studio 2 (12 points)
- SDN2001 Spatial design studio 3 (12 points)
- SDN3001Not offered in 2019 Spatial design studio 4 (12 points)
- SDN3002Not offered in 2019 Spatial design studio 5 (12 points)
The Spatial design specialist area of study requires you to complete a minimum of 36 points from the spatial design studio units. Spatial design studios 4 and 5 must be completed for this specialist area of study. A total maximum of 24 points can be taken in units at level 1.
Collaborative design
You must complete:
- Communication, or Industrial, or Spatial design studio (2 x 12 points)
- COL3001 Collaborative design studio 4 (12 points)
- COL3002 Collaborative design studio 5 (12 points)
In the Collaborative design specialist area of study, you will take some studio units from across Communication, Industrial and Spatial design. You will apply the range of combination of skills you have developed through collaborative design approaches to relevant projects. If you are undertaking this path you must complete Collaborative design studio 4 and 5.
Please note, some units may require unit coordinator approval, prerequisite or corequisite studies. A total maximum of 24 points can be taken in units at level 1.
Part D. Occupational health and safety study (0 points)
You must complete:
- OHS1000 Introduction to art and design health and safety
Part E. Free elective study (48 points)
Elective units may be chosen from units available in the Bachelor of Design course. Elective units may also be used to sample from across the faculty and University or to complete a major or minor(s) from another course as long as you have the prerequisites and there are no restrictions on enrolment in the units.
Free electives can be identified using the browse unitsbrowse units (http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/units/search) tool and indexes of unitsindexes of units (http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/units/) in the current edition of the Handbook. MajorsMajors (http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/aos/index-bydomain_type-major.html) and minorsminors (http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/aos/index-bydomain_type-minor.html) can also be identified using the Handbook indexes. The level of the unit is indicated by the first number in the unit code; undergraduate units are those that commence with the numbers 1-3. You may need permission from the owning faculty to enrol in some units taught by other faculties.
If you are in a double degree course, some units required for the other degree are credited as electives for the design degrees.
