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. 

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.

Goals and benefits

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.

Career prospects

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 15.03.2025.
Please send the specific enquiries to email address.

Info aptitude assessment 2025

Dates aptitude assessment 2025

• 01.11.2024
  Publication of the detailed information on the aptitude assessment
  
• 15.03.2025
  Registration deadline and deadline for submitting the required documents for the aptitude assessment.
• 15.09.2025
  Fall Semester begin 2025/26

Study Regulations, Transversal Design (MA) PDF in EN

Here you will find answers to FAQs about preparing and registering for a Bachelor’s (BA) or a Master’s (MA) degree programme at the HGK Basel FHNW.

FAQ online registration

Here you will find answers to organizational, administrative and legal questions all about studying -->

International students can find further information on the website of the International Office of the HGK Basel.

Public transport
The campus is easy to reach by public transport. The stop Freilager on BLT line 11 is immediately in front of the Campus (from Bahnhof SBB in direction Aesch)

By car
Leave the motorway A2 at the junction Basel-St. Jakob and follow the sign Dreispitz. Approaching from Münchensteinerstrasse enter the Dreispitz complex through Gate 13 and park your car in one of the public car parks (Ruchfeld or Leimgrube). When setting your satnav, please note that the Freilager complex is part of the municipality of Münchenstein, Canton Basel-Landschaft.

Access by car for people with disabilities
Choose the access via Florenz-Strasse in the direction of the High-rise building (Building D). To lower the bollard at the gates of the campus please ring the bell. You will be connected to our reception in Building D.

Map as PDF

The buildings of the HGK Basel are accessible by wheelchair, stroller,  and for people with walking difficulties. The entrance to the highrise building (Building D) is at ground level, the studio building (Building A) can be reached via a ramp. There is at least one lift in both buildings.

Access by car for people with disabilities: See Gender-neutral toilets: See ‘Getting there‘.

Toilets for people with disabilities: 

Highrise building (Building D): Ground floor to 8th floor in the centre of the building
Studio building (Building A): Ground floor to 3rd floor, southern section of main corridor

Gender-neutral toilets: See ‘All Welcome WC’.

Parent-child-room: See 'Parent-child-room'.

Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW
Institute Experimental Design and Media Cultures (IXDM)
Transversal Design
Freilager-Platz 1
Postfach

CH-4002 Basel

Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW
Institute Experimental Design and Media Cultures (IXDM)
Transversal Design
Freilager-Platz 1, Hochhaus: D 4.05
4142 Münchenstein / Basel

T +41 61 228 40 66
F +41 61 467 48 85
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