Transversal Design MA

Transversal Design is a research-oriented, transdisciplinary master’s programme which explores social, ecological, political, and creative processes in their complex interdependencies. On this programme students develop critical practices for worlds in transition – from alternative media, speculative models, and practices of care to tools for solidarity and radical proposals for innovation. Guided by an expert team and internationally recognized visiting lecturers and researchers, you will be invited to design, document, rehearse, publish, hack, play, build, research, organize, and write. You will learn why, how, and for whom in theory and practice, to co-organise the futures-we-need. This invites new ways of thinking about the role of design in society – by moving beyond objects, and into processes, modes of relating, questions of environmental-social justice, technology, decoloniality, and the critical infrastructures on which we collectively depend. Together, let’s design worlds otherwise.

You will work on self-led projects, mentored and supported in the Critical Media Lab and HyperWerk at the Institute Experimental Design and Media Cultures (IXDM) of the HGK Basel. You are interested in societal contexts of design which navigate between local and global communities. You are open to norm-critical experimentation, design justice, critical media, community-building and collective self-organization. Together, let’s design worlds otherwise.  

Study with us if you are interested in expanding your creative practice beyond disciplines and into experimental terrains which explore how to design regenerative futures. The MA Transversal Design is built for those who want to rethink the processes, relationships and infrastructures on which we collectively depend, and design future ways of living in partnership with translocal communities.  

Students of the MA Transversal Design collaborate in a rich community environment across disciplines, knowledges and cultures. Individuals with a bachelor's degree in design, art or architecture are invited to apply, as well as those who are interested in exploring design from other fields.

The master's programme Transversal Design aims at a design practice that works across disciplinary boundaries, questions hierarchies of meaning and drives transformation processes. Thinking and acting transversally means considering social, political, economic and ecological processes in their complex contexts, media, interactions and interdependencies. You will develop a socially relevant question, work on it individually and collectively through different practices of transversal design, and create a public sphere for your results.

You will not be guided by predefined job profiles, but will learn to apply your ideas, methods and skills in different contexts and areas of application. The master's programme in Transversal Design also qualifies you for future fields of work especially those that are dealing with the green and digital transition. As an agent of transversal practice you will have skills to move across domains, generate ideas, communicate, publish, reflect and transform. Through the direct connection to the research activities of IXDM, the Master's programme equally prepares you for a career in teaching and research.

With its studios, labs and central campus workshops, the HGK Basel offers ideal conditions for combining making, curiosity, sustainable practices and digital skills. In addition, all students have their own workspace available around the clock. You are in direct exchange with the students, teachers and researchers in the HyperWerk and Critical Media Lab.

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 15.03.2026.
Please send the specific enquiries to email address.

• 01.11.2025
  Publication of the detailed information on the aptitude assessment
• 15.03.2026
  Registration deadline and deadline for submitting the required documents for the aptitude assessment.
• 14.09.2026
  Fall Semester begin 2026/27

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