Transversal Design MA, Basel Academy of Art and Design

The MA Transversal Design trains students to build a design practice which works across disciplinary boundaries, questions hierarchies of meaning and drives transformation processes. Our students become leaders in navigating diverse settings, from design justice, critical media and norm-critical innovation to community building and co-creation. Thinking and acting transversally means taking a deep consideration into social, political, technological and ecological processes in their complex interdependencies – a skillset which is crucial in surviving the immense challenges of polycrisis that lie ahead. In your defence of an original thesis project which explores a transversal matter of concern, you will learn how to work individually and collectively on a piece of practice-based research which extends the possibilities of design into unexpected places.

In this programme, you will not be guided by predefined job profiles, but will learn to apply your ideas, methods and skills across a wide variety of contexts and areas of application. Our students work across many fields, organisations, communities, institutions and companies, and very often in collaboration. The MA Transversal Design is particularly suited to those who wish to enter fields which navigate uncertainty, change and transformation, exploring the possibilities of systems change, digital and/or green transitions. As a future agent of the emerging field of transversal design, you will be equipped with the skills to move across domains, generate innovative ideas, publish, convene, reflect and transform. Through the direct connection to the research activities of Critical Media Lab and other collaborators at IXDM, you will also have the chance to harness your MA to apply for PhDs.

Transversal Design combines transdisciplinary methods across practice and research to invite students to explore why, how, and for whom. You will work with core threads of transversal design – including publishing, documenting, rehearsing, hacking and processing – to expand your practice into experimental terrains. This encourages new ways of thinking about the role of design in society – by moving beyond objects, and into processes, modes of relating, questions of eco-social justice, technology, decoloniality, and the critical infrastructures on which we all depend.

In your first year, a programme of taught courses will combine personal reflection and group collaboration. These insights will inform you in building an original thesis project in your second year which explores key matters of transversal concern, supported by expert mentors from Critical Media Lab and HyperWerk Lab at Institute Experimental Design and Media Cultures IXDM of HGK Basel. Together, let's imagine transversal worlds otherwise.

Study with us if you are interested in expanding your creative practice beyond disciplines and into surprising new domains. The MA Transversal Design is built for those who are ready to rethink the processes, relationships, systems and infrastructures that surround us, and design regenerative futures which navigate between local and global systems.

Our students collaborate across disciplines, knowledges and cultures. Individuals with a bachelor's degree in design, art and/or architecture are invited to apply – as well as those coming from scientific and other fields who are interested in exploring the possibilities of transversal design approaches. 

With its diverse array of hands-on workshops, studios and labs across campus – from digital fabrication and bookbinding, to screen-printing and food cultures – the HGK Basel offers ideal conditions for combining the theoretical framings from your taught courses with the cultivation of DIY making, building and digital skills. In addition, you will be offered a shared workspace in our MA Studio which is available around the clock, along with ongoing invitations to join the community activities of Critical Media Lab and IXDM.

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.
• 14.09.2026
  Fall Semester begin 2026/27

Study Regulations, Transversal Design (MA) PDF