Masterstudio Industrial Design, Basel Academy of Art and Design

The goal of the programme is to develop an independent, research-oriented design practice that is oriented towards current social, economic, political and ecological issues. You will develop a socially relevant and research-based question, work on it individually or collectively through various practices of experimental design and create a public for your results with the help of publishing tactics.

Graduates are qualified to work as designers in cultural or business settings and assume responsible positions in full-service design agencies; they can set up their own business, either alone or in a team, or they can choose to pursue a career in teaching and research. Students with an MA degree command cross-disciplinary skills that qualify them for professional work as a designer in a design agency, for a career in teaching and research, for free-lance work, either alone or in a team, or to set up a business of their own.

The Masterstudio Industrial Design programme is positioned around three current research focal points: Digital Integration, Design Cultures, and Circular Design. Discourses on global crises such as climate change and social inequality provide the framework for concrete research questions and design solutions around sustainability and ecology, future-shaping and technology, interaction and materiality. We take a stand on this, define values and reposition design. Comprehensive, interdisciplinary modules from the three masterstudios complement and deepen the perspectives of design gained. The programme encourages students individually and with regard to their professional or research-oriented careers with ‘Advanced Design’. Advanced Design describes actions and attitudes. Which society in which environment needs which design solutions? We take on the position of “extrapreneurs”, who are looking for better, more sustainable design strategies or products. Instead of following the entrepreneurial dynamics of maximisation, we assume a collaborative, systemic, inclusive and sustainable economy.

The programme is intended for people who have earned a BA in industrial or product design, designers, and applicants from related or design-oriented programmes. 

With its studios and central Campus.Workshops, HGK offers ideal conditions for combining craft curiosity, the acquisition of technical skills, and the necessary digital know-how. In addition, all students have their own 24/7 workspace in one of the spacious studios. In addition, the programme Interior Design & Scenography features an analogue and a digital workshop. The facilities are open to students 365 days a year.

The Masterstudio Design builds on existing knowledge and previously acquired skills. Students actively engage with their own design approach in terms of methodology and content within a larger context. The three studios (Fashion Design, Industrial Design and Scenography) are designed to be permeable and cross-disciplinary in order to make full use of the potential of design as a practice that shapes living spaces and thus shapes the environment for the pressing issues of our time.

Masterstudio Zine is the online magazine of ICDP Masterstudio

Academical qualifications
Admission to the aptitude assessment normally requires one of the following qualifications:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Design or a related field of study.
• A similar, equivalent degree in Design (at BA level pursuant to the “Dublin Descriptors").

If an applicant shows promising design potential, lateral entry from a different discipline is possible; in this case, please contact the Head of the degree programme.

Language of tuition
International students are welcome to apply for the Master’s degree programme. The language of tuition is English (B2 level or equivalent).

To apply for a place at the HGK Basel, the required documents must be submitted by deadline 29.03.2026.

Please send the specific enquiries to email address.

Info aptitude assessment 2026

• 01.11.2025
  Publication of the detailed information on the aptitude assessment
• 29.03.2026
  Registration deadline and deadline for submitting the required documents for the aptitude assessment.
• 07.- 11.09.2026
  Introductory weeks at the HGK Basel (mandatory)
• 14.09.2026
  Fall Semester begin 2026/27