Fashion Design (Womenswear) MA
1 Year Full-Time | September Start

You will learn concepts and principles of design thinking delivered in three knowledge portfolios; creative thinking, research principles and contemporary influences on design, these fields of knowledge are supported and informed by academic staff research specialisms.
Creative thinking methods will enable you to frame problems from multiple perspectives and synthesise new opportunities and possibilities from interrelated factors. You will develop a practical knowledge of advanced design research methods. Through contemporary influences you will learn to situate design in the contemporary world and identify the impact of external factors on your own design practice.
The underpinning knowledge and understanding will be applied in the context of a team project with industry or other collaborating organisation, which will help you learn effective ways of working in multi-cultural/multi-disciplinary teams. Recent industrial collaborations have included Procter and Gamble, The Centre for Process Innovation National Centre for Printable Electronics and the Academic Health Science Network.

Through this module you will learn about three fields of design knowledge described above, which you will interpret relative to your own practice and in line with your PDP. You will apply this knowledge in co-creative practice and will reflect on your experience to summarise the utility and limitations of methods employed.
You will appreciate the transferability of design thinking and will be able apply your knowledge in different contexts and domains.

You will learn concepts, methods and principles aligned with three knowledge portfolios: Action research and reflective practice, cross cultural collaboration, innovation and enterprise. Whilst grounded in a literature review these fields of knowledge are also supported and informed by academic staff research specialisms.

You will learn about action research methods and will build your own action research process models and recording templates that you will apply in practice to facilitate your development as a reflective practitioner. In parallel you will learn about theories of enterprise and innovation and will apply this knowledge in action by exploring business models and intellectual property. You will also learn about cross-cultural collaboration by applying relevant concepts from literature whilst working in multi-cultural teams.

The underpinning knowledge and understanding will be applied in the context of a collaborative project with industry or other organisation, which will help you learn effective ways of working in multi-cultural/multi-disciplinary teams. Recent industrial collaborations have included projects with Lakeland, Tucano, Kitchen Craft, Thermo Fisher and the Tuke Insitute.

Through this module you will learn about three fields of design knowledge described above, which you will interpret relative to your own practice and in line with your PDP. You will apply this knowledge in co-creative practice and will reflect on your experience to summarise the utility and limitations of methods employed.
You will appreciate the transferability of design thinking and will be able apply your knowledge in different contexts and domains.

In this module you will learn to advance your Research Through Design and take a directional approach to your personal design brief.
You will develop your reflective practice and reach insights and analytical conclusions in your chosen field of study as outlined in your Personal Development Plan (PDP).
You will synthesise the learning from semesters 1 and 2 to create a Major Design Project and Thesis. These will evidence an analysis of advanced academic research, debates, and exploratory practice in the production of theories that demonstrate real world discipline specific value within an industry context.
You will be expected to take an increasingly autonomous approach to your studies at this stage in developing, embedding and clarifying personally developed research themes theories and experiences that will be realised through either;
Option 1: a focussed major design project (Component A) and written report (Component B) that will embed reflection as part of the design process
or
Option 2: a design thesis detailing your engagement with your PDP and reflection on your learning.
Your thesis will evidence your advanced design practice and written communication of theories and concepts appropriate at Masters level and relevant to both your chosen pathway (as described below) and more specifically your PDP.

MA Design/ MA Fashion Design/ MA Fashion Design: Performancewear/Womenswear/Menswear will enable you to take control of your design direction and align your own passion and motivation with the value you create for business and society. You will learn to hone your capabilities, refine the focus of your design contribution and create your ideal future professional self.

MA Design Management will give you the knowledge and tools to orchestrate design thinking and process at a strategic level in organisations. You will build a meta view of transferable design knowledge that will enable you to recognise the value of design within organisations and to provide effective leadership and management of design roles. You will learn to navigate complexity, and develop your understanding of how to build and manage organisational growth through brand, new product and service opportunities and strategic innovation.

MA Sustainable and Ethical Fashion will give you the knowledge and tools to orchestrate design thinking and process at a strategic level in organisations. You will build a meta view of transferable design knowledge that will enable you to recognise the challenges of responsible practice within the fashion industry. You will learn to navigate complexity, and develop your understanding of how to build and manage organisational growth through brand, new product and service opportunities and strategic innovation.

On completion you will have the skills and abilities to make a positive impact in the design industry, and the knowledge and experience to be able to make purposeful contribution to the world.

Fashion Design Proposal gives you opportunity to explore an individually initiated project and to investigate creative and experimental approaches to a specific topic of enquiry. You will build your design project direction and philosophy upon the skills and knowledge gained in this module DE7008, the supporting Design Thinking Module DE7001 and also from your previous experience. You will analytically examine and discuss strategic and future focused trends that will better enable the production of a design proposition framework, upon which your design solutions will be constructed and evaluated. You will explore, use and evaluate traditional and new materials and processes relevant to your concept. Ultimately this will result in you defining a research question, developing a manifesto, constructing a brief, and in turn establishing parameters or agendas to work within for a Fashion Design Proposal.
You will learn from staff with rich research and commercial experience from the Fashion Design Industries, Design for Industry, Service Design, Design Management and Design Thinking. This multidisciplinary approach to teaching will help you to explore new ways of thinking and practices in design.

Fashion Design Experimentation DE7009 (Performancewear/Womenswear/Menswear) provides the platform from which you engage directly with your subject specialism framed in the Design Proposal module DE7008. It addresses the advancement of fashion concepts/artefacts through intense critical design practice that explores materials, technologies and processes. ?Through this studio and workshop experimentation you will gain an understanding of how to construct your product or provide proof of concept to enable you to advance your ideas for your Project/Thesis DE7003 in Semester 3. Your experiments and iterations to develop the product/garment are documented as drawings, photographs and other media as a portfolio of work that express the possible trajectory and development of the final product/garment. You will learn to present 2D and 3D design solutions to professional, highly creative standard pertinent to the research question. You will learn to clearly communicate and present concepts, ideas or conclusions to specialist and non-specialist audiences using appropriate media.
You will learn from staff with rich research and commercial experience from the Design Industries including Fashion, Design for Industry, Service Design, Design Management and Design Thinking. This multidisciplinary approach to teaching will help you to explore new ways of thinking and practices in design.

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Effective reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.
• Discussing ethical issues in research, and analysing results.
• Describing bias and limitations of research.