MCAD emphasizes an engaging process working with students from multiple professions. For this Master of Arts degree, you take courses in several different areas adding up to the 30 total credits required for graduation. Courses are completely online with no on-campus requirements. Courses are asynchronous, meaning you will not have set class times—you can choose works best for you to complete your work.
This program culminates in a student-driven thesis project. With the support and direction of a mentor and thesis committee, you will conduct independent research on a sustainability-focused project of your choice.
MCAD defines sustainable design as traditional design which incorporates an integrated systems-thinking perspective. This means:
Learning Outcomes
This foundational course introduces students to sustainability concepts related to business, community, communications, and innovation, as well as covering practical design-for-sustainability (D4S) concepts, strategies, tools and techniques. The universal design-for-sustainability approaches covered in the course are applicable for practicing designers of all disciplines, as well as innovators, marketers and entrepreneurs. Students learn and apply these concepts and strategies to self-directed design projects and exercises in addition to readings, research, lectures, and discussions.
Systems thinking is relational thinking, and in this course, students examine how systemic relations underpin efforts to cultivate a more sustainable world. Students analyze patterns of identity, creativity, and change, and nurture capacities for anticipating, coordinating, and contextualizing. Drawing from a wide range of source materials, numerous voices will inform the research. Course assignments include both mapping exercises, which investigate situational complexities through the use of models, frameworks, and matrices, and reflective practices that attend to experiences which manifest during these explorations.
In the first of this two-semester sequence, students conduct in-depth research and analysis to develop a sustainable design solution to a real-world problem that they will complete in Part 2. The first deliverable is a proposal that emphasizes defining the problem, determining who else is working on this issue, identifying the target audience that the eventual solution will serve, the stakeholders impacted by the eventual solution, and identifying a set of sustainability principles, strategies and tools to apply to help solve the problem defined. Students start the development of their project and have ideation completed by the end of the semester. The second deliverable is an ideation presentation that sets up the work to be further developed and finalized in the capstone studio course. Students engage in both independent work, work guided by the instructor, and collaborative feedback sessions with their chosen mentor to refine their concepts. Students also develop their web-based portfolio, a review of their work from their whole time in the program.
In this program capstone course, beginning where their Part 1 work left off, students finalize their sustainability-focused solutions and create the final presentation of their project. This phase will involve, where applicable, completing prototypes and/or models. All capstone projects have a written component documenting their Part 1 and Part 2 work leading to their solution. The final presentation and write-up demonstrate not only the outcomes of the project but also the thought processes behind decisions. Students address any unresolved challenges they couldn’t cover as part of the capstone process, and challenges they would want to attempt outside of the program (Next Steps).
How do market forces shape the way we live, work, and even play? Students in this course look at business through a designer’s eye to understand the interplay between producers and consumers, governments and people, stockholders and stakeholders, man and the environment, and how all of these factors interconnect and ultimately direct how our products, processes, and systems are created. Students gain an understanding of the implications of their decisions, how to identify risk areas, long-term thinking strategies, and best practices for sustainable business models through weekly exercises, special projects, and the creation of a business plan.
How do we actively design to create truly sustainable results? In this course students examine this question and apply leading-edge practice methods for innovative sustainable and regenerative design solutions. Recommended for novice and veteran designers and innovators alike, this course explores the theoretical frameworks, green standards, and practice techniques used by leading sustainable designers, thinkers, and architects. The design methods applied in this studio course fit any discipline at any scale, from the smallest object to the most complex system. Through studio projects and exercises, students learn to integrate the theory of sustainable design frameworks into their practices (i.e., systems thinking, life-cycle analysis, material health, green standards, eco-labels, supply chain topics, etc.).
How do we design real products for real companies, benefiting customers, the companies themselves, and the rest of the world? And how do we know they are better? This studio course provides tools for sustainable design innovation and metrics to measure success. Students use creative and analytical skills, generating new ideas and 3D CAD renderings and evaluating designs with screening-level life-cycle assessments and two eco-labeling systems (Cradle to Cradle and EPEAT). Green innovation tools taught include systems thinking, energy effectiveness, lightweighting, design for lifetime (repair, recycling, etc.), material choice, biomimicry, and persuasive design. Some assignments are individual and theoretical, but the bulk of the course is spent working in groups, using tools such as message boards and screen-sharing video chats.
This professional practicum provides an opportunity for students to gain practical experience in the evolving field of sustainable design and innovation. The practicum may be arranged by the director of career development, the sustainable design program office, or initiated by students, and all practicums must be preapproved by the sustainable design program office. For a practicum to be approved, a mentor relationship and learning experience must exist beyond a simple employment opportunity. Three-credit professional practicums require working 120 hours toward the practicum project (can be accomplished remotely) and keeping a journal or blog to document hours, activities, and learning process.
There is no climate justice without social justice. How can we use design thinking, community engagement, and storytelling to reimagine how our human systems work and create a sense of good health and wellness? Designing new innovative solutions that tackle local and global issues in a more equitable and just way requires a systems transformation which addresses the unequal burden on certain communities. In addition to solution-based projects and assignments, students will use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its indicators to examine issues of climate change and improvements in human conditions through a final environmental-justice-design project or campaign.
Economic, environmental, and ethical crises present leaders with new and complex challenges. Effective, resilient, and agile leaders employ a diversity of skills, experience, and resources to respond to humanity's greatest challenges with creative, innovative, and humane solutions. Students build their capacities to become creative leaders and to work constructively as part of dynamic and collaborative teams through the integration of an ecological perspective for their work, organizations, communities, and the planet.
In this course students learn how to abstract functional strategies from nature to apply to the process of innovative design. This project-oriented studio course covers core biological principles, astounds students with the wealth of design solutions available in nature, and provides numerous case studies of innovative designs inspired by natural models. Overall, this course provides powerful metaphors and methods for looking to nature as model, mentor, and measure in our designs.
We handle packages every day and they account for a third of our waste stream. Using the format of a product-repositioning study, students in this course examine the core ideas of consumer perception and market triggers, material selection, environmental impact, and long-term strategic thinking. By the end of this course, students are able to maximize a package's appeal while minimizing environmental impact.
In this course, students find opportunities for innovation that can have a real impact and influence within an organization or community. Students connect organizational priorities with sustainability and inclusivity goals to inspire the development of their innovation ideas through prototyping. Students then design an implementation tool or experience that encourages interest and support for the implementation of the innovation.