Master Digital Design - Desirable knowledge and skills

The Master's degree program in Digital Design is aimed at people who want to shape digital change. Knowledge of design and digital technologies as well as an affinity for design work in the context of digital change are therefore desirable for the study program.

Knowledge of design and digital technologies is required to study digital design. This knowledge may have been acquired in different study programs with different focuses:

• Previous knowledge with a focus on design work, for example through a Bachelor's degree in architecture or design (e.g. game design, industrial design, communication design, media design, object and spatial design or product design) or related fields. It is helpful if you have already come into contact with digital technologies.
• Previous experience with a focus on working with software and other digital technologies, for example through a Bachelor's degree in computer science (e.g. practical computer science, media informatics, human-machine interaction or business informatics), information technology or related fields. It is helpful if you have already come into contact with design tasks, for example in the areas of usability, user experience or process design.

Previous knowledge of design work with digital technologies is desirable for the Master Digital Design, but not necessary.

In addition, previous knowledge in the following areas is advantageous:

• Conception or in design (e.g. in the form of design sketches, construction plans or in the form of computer science models)
• Working with prototypes (e.g. paper prototypes or interactive prototypes for user interfaces, hardware prototypes or software prototypes)
• Procedure and process models for design work (e.g. double-diamond, design thinking) or software development (e.g. scrum, lean startup or V-model)
• Initial experience in the realization of digital solutions (e.g. development of simple software systems, apps or interactive websites).

Regardless of your personal background, you should have an affinity for design work with digital technologies. This affinity can be expressed in personal projects (for example, creative work in the field of visual design, design and realization of small apps or small games).

You should also see yourself as a creative personality in the broadest sense. A creative personality can express itself through a variety of characteristics, for example:

• You see yourself as artistic and creative.
• You constantly ask yourself why things are designed this way and not differently.
• You constantly discover opportunities for change in your environment.
• You think through different ways of solving a problem.
• You find open-ended problems more exciting than well-defined problems.