Foreword

The Interdisciplinary Design Studies Master’s Program is the first and only state university in the Aegean Region and İzmir that offers a Master’s degree in the interdisciplinary field, training researchers/designers. By providing design-focused and comprehensive education, it addresses an important need in this context.

The most significant feature of the Interdisciplinary Design Studies Master’s Program (Full-Time) is its interdisciplinary nature and its foundation on diversity. In this program, design is examined across various socio-cultural contexts in its material, economic, technological, artistic, spatial, object-related, and environmental dimensions. Integration, collaboration, and cooperation are defined as guiding concepts to support both theoretical and practical works. It is believed that such an environment will provide a creative, liberating educational experience that allows for breaking paradigms and exploring new territories, whether for expert designers or researchers continuing with design studies. The program aims to improve, discuss, sustain, and add meaning and value to socio-cultural life through theoretical and practical design works.

The Interdisciplinary Design Studies Master’s Program accepts students from the faculties of design and fine arts, architecture, and engineering. Priority is given to candidates from fields such as Industrial Design, Architecture, and Interior Architecture. However, there are no restrictions on the undergraduate background of applicants. Therefore, the program focuses on the study topics related to design fields rather than the disciplines themselves. For undergraduate candidates, the program aims to create new perspectives centered around design through the chosen study topics.

Applicants to the Interdisciplinary Design Studies Master’s Program can focus on their areas of interest by selecting elective courses that are complementary to each other. The only mandatory course in the program is Research Methods. Although courses such as Design Project, Seminar, and Thesis are compulsory, their content is flexible and shaped according to the chosen study topics. A significant portion of the elective courses includes those in which design projects can be produced. The program is formulated through diversity, both in terms of design topics and the academic backgrounds of the candidates, balancing theory and practice. Many of the elective courses also include design practice. The aim is to provide students with an education where theory and practice are balanced. The primary topics of study in the program include design culture, design theories, design history, design thinking, social context, interaction design, experience design, inclusive design, collaborative design, service design, communication design, visual design, art and design, technology and design, craft and design, emotion and design, everyday life, consumption, production, domesticity, sustainability, innovation, creativity, and representation. All these topics are discussed and developed through the spatial, material, object, technological, aesthetic, and environmental dimensions of design.

The program emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of design through its name and scope and brings together candidates and faculty members from diverse specializations to support this quality. The profile of the ideal candidate for the Interdisciplinary Design Studies Master’s Program is one who embraces the idea of working across disciplines, desires to look at design from a broad perspective, and is willing to transform their existing background into a new form while providing insights through the socio-cultural context. Each candidate admitted to the program will specialize in a topic within the field of design culture and/or studies, based on the knowledge and experience they bring from their own field, and will contribute to enriching the field of design as a whole. The program aims to train researchers to international standards and provide researchers for interdisciplinary design projects in the design field.

Through the Interdisciplinary Design Studies Master’s Program, it is aimed to contribute to the design culture being built in Turkey. Today, building a design culture is only possible by addressing current topics such as sustainability, collaborative design, and inclusive design through broad perspectives and across disciplines.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nilüfer TALU
Head of Department