Whakahoahoa,
Change the world through design. Study in New Zealand’s leading and most comprehensive design programme.
Ora. Rachel Bolt, Visual Communication Design.
Moray agricultural hand tool. Nicole Austin, Industrial Design.
Prepare yourself for a creative future. Create solutions to real-life issues by studying design.
Experience learning through an integrated Pōwhiri framework, which incorporates Māori perspectives and guides you through four years of supportive learning.
Access the vast array of skills and knowledge of all our creative staff, and collaborate with students across design, fine arts, music, and media.
Be part of an immersive studio culture working with your colleagues across design, exposing you to a wide range of design thinking and making.
What can I study?
Concept
Bachelor of Design with Honours
Imagine new worlds and create compelling characters and environments.
Create concept design for entertainment and education within film, animation, television, gaming, and location-based experiences.
Use traditional art forms like drawing and sculpting 3D models, as well as making digital plans and renders.
Inspire others as you create the basis for further production and development, rather than finished products.
Be supported by experienced and award-winning staff like character storytelling specialist Tanya Marriott.
[The New Basin]. Daniel Voss.
Tahiwi Trenor Hunt and Rhys Humphries
Tahiwi—BDes (Hons)
Rhys—BDes
Graduated 2015
Tahiwi and Rhys collaborated to develop their final year project Wargoroth, a concept pitch book for an alternative reality for earth where mankind has been stripped of all progress and power, only to be out-evolved by a ruthless race of humanoid pigs.
The role reversal story was inspired by the low standards we hold for farmed animals and draws on existing social commentaries as George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
Tahiwi now works as a concept designer for Weta Workshop in Wellington. Rhys has worked as a storyboard artist for Mechanic Animation, Nyuk Nyuk studios, and is currently at Flying Bark Productions in Sydney.
[Hot Watercylinder Saurus]. Alice Moore.
[The Gut]. Tahiwi Trenor-Hunt and Rhys Humphries.
Fashion
Bachelor of Design with Honours
Shape the future of fashion.
Challenge social, political, and ethical agendas to create forward-thinking fashion.
Develop ideas, fashion communication methods, pattern-making and construction techniques to challenge the way fashion is designed, made and worn.
Work with clients and fashion-related industries, and devise your own fashion collections with support from staff like costume specialist Sue Prescott.
Take up internships or international exchanges through our well-connected industry and educational networks.
Watch the 2020 Exposure Graduate Fashion Show here
Jing Hé (International student from China).
iD International Emerging Designer Award Finalist 2021.
Jacob Coutie
BDes (Hons)
Fashion Design major
Graduated 2017
Jacob (Ngāti Raukawa, Tainui) discovered the influence of fashion on identity as a primary school student in Hamilton. Studying fashion design helped him develop critical thinking skills and build up his talents in garment construction.
“In terms of design it takes confidence to produce work that people may not agree with, but you flourish knowing that you’re doing what you enjoy,” he says.
Jacob won the 2017 Miromoda Emerging Designer award and Toa, his tikanga Māori-inspired menswear collection, was shown at New Zealand Fashion Week.
[Everywear]. Kyra Thomson.
Jacob Coutie's collection at Miromoda Emerging Designer Showcase, 2017.
Industrial
Bachelor of Design with Honours
Create products, objects or systems that improve our lives.
Industrial designers use human-centred design to solve problems, considering everything from environment, sustainability, culture and society.
Develop techniques for idea generation, learn about materials and processes, human experience, ergonomics, visual communication, modelling and production.
Get hands-on in our various workshops and digital fabrication facilities, including Australasia’s first Fab Lab.
Be supported by experienced and award-winning staff like object designer Yueyun Song and industrial designer Lyn Garrett.
Michaela Lawn, Les Meadows and Shubham Ghanatha. Psych: Adaptable Micro-Transport
Sian Hosking-Berge
BDes (Hons)
Industrial Design major
Graduated 2018
Sian's fourth-year project, a kitset bike for 2–5 year olds, came top in the international Red Dot Design Concept Best of the Best awards in 2019.
“The inspiration for my design came from my experience building in my Poppa’s workshop as a kid. I decided I wanted the outcome to be something the child could build with a parent or caregiver as a relationship building experience and then use and be proud of.”
The bike is designed to be received flat pack and constructed using basic tools. It transforms using the same pieces, so that the building experience extends past the initial construction. It can grow from a balance bike to trike and then scooter as the child grows.
“Through the BOU Bike, children can own their experience of making, creating a fun ride-on product relevant to them.”
[Pāto]. Rachael Hall. 2017 Best Awards Student Product Gold winner.
Hanna de Ridder. Mindful - a well-rounded, flat packable, multifunctional storage system for two people.
Photography
Bachelor of Design with Honours
Help people see the world in new ways through the power of photography.
Photography can shape our understanding of the world, intervene, help us form opinions, or express a view.
Use critical understanding and highly developed technical skills to create work that deals with ideas and issues.
Use professional cameras and capture systems in well-equipped studios with high quality digital print facilities, wet-based darkrooms and specialist labs.
Get support from lecturers like Anne Noble (ONZM), Caroline McQuarrie and David Cook.
[Opa - Gottmadingen]. Elena Burger-Guimaraes. Winner of a 2017 Documentary Family Award in the environmental portrait category.
Chevron Te Whetumatarau Hassett
BDes (Hons)
Photography major
Graduated 2016
Chevron (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Kahungunu) is a respected youth leader who found strength in bringing together his art and his whakapapa.
He's a multidisciplinary artist and writer, with an attention to upholding tikanga Māori, wairua, mātauranga Māori and kaupapa Māori within his practice and creative approach. His work addresses cultural and social identities, urbanisation, diaspora, migration, and whanaungatanga.
His emerging creative career has involved advertising, journalism, mural and documentary projects.
Chevron won the 2017 Ngā Manu Pīrere award for emerging Māori artists at Te Waka Toi Awards.
Mia Vinaccia - Queen
[Tekoteko]. Chevron Hassett.
Spatial
Bachelor of Design with Honours
Imagine and build engaging environments, creating new ways to inhabit and experience physical and virtual spaces.
Rethink spaces in ways that are innovative, speculative, and mindful of the wellbeing of people and the planet.
Bring together the disciplines of interior, architecture, landscape, urban, performance, exhibition and digital design to create exciting new experiences.
Work in studios, workshops and site-specific environments to develop solutions to issues that can be resolved through spatial design.
Be supported by experienced staff like digital interactive design researcher Stu Foster, performance designer Meg Rollandi or exhibit designer Sven Mehzoud.
Students projection project. Spatial design also explores temporary spaces, exhibitions , performances and digital spaces including online environments, virtual reality and mixed reality.
Libby White
BDes (Hons)
Spatial Design major
Graduated 2018
As a spatial designer, Libby (Manukorihi Hapū, Te Atiawa) was attracted to projects that contribute to environmental awareness, heritage site access and interpretation, urban renewal, and community-focused public art.
Her final year project Te Papakāinga o ngā Kuaka is a series of spatial interventions that tell stories about the Waitara area, in the form of a bird conservation area along the New Plymouth Coastal Walkway extension.
Her design challenges traditional walkway concepts and facilitates a habitat for both the kuaka (bar-tailed godwits) and humans to coexist.
Designed in partnership with her whānau, who are mana whenua, this project was an opportunity to engage with Waitara locals to discover their hometown narratives, and create an inclusive design.
[A Mourner's Tale]. Saphera Fitzsimons. 2017 Best Awards Student Spatial Silver winner.
![[Te Papakāinga o ngā Kuaka]. Libby White.](/media/2234/spatial-2018-l-white.jpg?width=920&v=1db039a2a0fff60 "Spatial—PARINIHINIHI KI PARITUTU, Libby White")
[Te Papakāinga o ngā Kuaka]. Libby White.
Textile
Bachelor of Design with Honours
Challenge traditional boundaries of textiles and create new surfaces that impact on social, environmental and cultural opportunities.
Create your own definition of textiles in a world that is surrounded by surfaces that engage our senses, solve problems and encourage interaction.
Create surface solutions using various mediums, established and emerging technologies, and processes including weave, knit, dye, embroidery and print.
Be challenged to use alternative materials, colour, drawing and pattern.
Be supported by practicing designers and researchers like Lisa Munnelly (performative drawing) and Dr Faith Kane (textiles).
[For the Life of Me]. Elise Brimer.
Brittany Rusbatch
BDes(Hons)
Textile Design major
Graduated 2018
Please Do Touch explores inclusive design for the visually impaired community.
In a society driven by visual stimuli, Brittany sought to challenge the ingrained hierarchy of sight by exploring alternative forms of information gathering for the visually impaired, through tactile sensory paths.
Encompassing Braille and tactility through the process of weave, screen print and digital embroidery, Brittany has created a series of wall hangings and coordinaates that promote the written language for the blind.
The compositions of the pieces take inspiration from patterns of vision loss and use a monochromatic colour palette, contrasting and concealing messages and textures that are revealed through touch.
[Scalpel, Please] hospital gown. Ayla (Wednesday) Corner.
[Please Do Touch]. Brittany Rusbatch.
Visual Communication
Bachelor of Design with Honours
Challenge how we experience the world through visual design.
Transform perceptions, express a point of view and embrace experimentation.
Discover an array of subject areas within visual communication design that you can delve deep into, including concept design, illustration, typography, interaction design, web and information design and branding.
Collaborate on projects with group members—pulling your different skills and thinking together with others, as well as working independently on your own.
Be supported by staff like Fay McAlpine (typography) and Tim Turnidge (creative coding).
[Carrie] reusable satchel. Hannah Jensen, Jodi Melody and Sam Ross. 2018 Best Awards Student Product Gold winner.
Phoebe Morris
BDes (Hons)
Visual Communication Design major
Graduated 2013
Phoebe is an illustrator with a diverse portfolio of work for apps, animation, books, interior design and websites for clients that include Kiwibank, TradeMe, Te Papa and Xero. Three of her recent book projects for Penguin New Zealand have received awards.
[Foreplay] app. Briar Evans.
Work for Kiwibank, 2013. Phoebe Morris.
Integrated
Bachelor of Design with Honours
Carve your own creative path.
Step outside the boundaries of traditional design subjects in a multi-disciplinary major.
Combine courses from across the Bachelor of Design with Honours for a focused programme that suits your interests.
Become a versatile design problem-solver with knowledge from across different areas of design.
[Sleight of Hand] interactive textiles, Sora Ichinose.
Photography installation, Hugh Chesterman.
What degree?
-
Create solutions to real-life design issues and emerge ready to make an impact with your ideas.
Ideal if
- You have a number of design interests and want to explore what fit is right for you or you have a singular design interest and want to develop your specialised skill.
- You are a school leaver or you’re starting a new career path.
- You want a full immersive experience in design.
Majors
- Concept Design
- Fashion Design
- Industrial Design
- Integrated Design
- Photography
- Spatial Design
- Textile Design
- Visual Communication Design
Key information
- Duration
- Four years full-time study.
- Entry
Selected entry—you'll need to show us a portfolio of your creative work, unless you have excellent secondary school results.
Find out more about entry- Location
- Wellington.
- Intakes
- February or July.
- Application
- Due 30 November (February start) or 28 June (July start). Late applications may be accepted.
-
Conduct purposeful advanced design research that connects with people well beyond the university.
Ideal if
- You already have an undergraduate degree and want to undertake an in-depth design research project.
- You want to grow your specialisation and need time to focus in a particular area.
- You want peer support, mentoring and collaboration in order to enhance your expertise.
Choose the MDes (120 points) if you already have an Honours degree, or choose the MDes (180 points) if you don't have an Honours degree.
Key information
- Duration
- 12 to 18 months full time, or part-time over a longer period.
- Entry
MDes 120—you'll need to submit a portfolio of your creative work, and a research proposal for your intended thesis project.
MDes 180—you'll need to submit a portfolio of your creative work, and attend an interview.
Find out more about entry to the MDes- Location
- Wellington.
- Intakes
- February or July.
- Application
- Apply by 30 November (February start) or 15 May (July start). Late applications may be accepted.
-
Conduct purposeful, advanced, transdisciplinary art or design research that connects with people well beyond the university.
Ideal if
- You already have an Honours degree and want to undertake an in-depth art or design research project.
- Or, you already have a Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Arts or Design.
- You want to grow your specialisation and need time to focus in a particular area.
- You want peer support, mentoring and collaboration in order to enhance your expertise from a cohort of students with a variety of backgrounds and transdisciplinary practices.
- You want your own dedicated studio space.
This programme includes four intensive one-week blocks per year.
Key information
- Duration
- Two years full-time study, or three to four years part time.
- Entry
Selected entry—you'll need to submit a portfolio of your creative work, and attend an interview.
- Location
- Wellington or by distance.
- Study options
When you complete your MFA, you can choose to have it awarded with or without designation: MFA (Fine Arts), or MFA (Design), or MFA.
- Intakes
- February.
- Application
- Due 30 November.
-
Become the absolute top in your field by pursuing rigorous research, and pushing and challenging current knowledge. Contribute significantly to the understanding of a field of interest.
Ideal if
- You want to produce a sustained piece of advanced research work in a creative arts discipline. This could be a written thesis, or one comprised of creative practice research and a written component.
- You have completed a postgraduate Bachelor (Honours) degree with first class or second class (division 1) honours, or a Master degree with first class or second class (division 1) honours in a relevant field. This qualification must also include a substantive (minimum 30 credits) research project, dissertation or thesis in which you have achieved a minimum grade of B+.
Key information
- Duration
- Three to four years full time, or six years part time.
- Location
- Auckland, Wellington, Manawatū, or by distance within New Zealand.
- Intakes
- February and July
- Application
- Apply anytime
-
Ideal if
- You want a taster of all of the design subjects available.
- You want to be introduced to the basics of art and design (creative thinking, visual communication, critical awareness).
- You want a flexible programme with lots of choice, that can lead into the Bachelor of Design (Hons) or Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons).
Key information
- Duration
- One year full time, or part-time over a longer period.
- Entry
Open entry—just apply online.
- Location
- Wellington.
- Intakes
- February.
- Application
- Due 13 January (February start).
-
Ideal if
- You already have a Bachelors degree in a non-design discipline, and you want to change direction.
Key information
- Duration
- One year full time, or part-time over a longer period.
- Entry
Selected entry—you'll need to submit a portfolio of your creative work. Find out more about entry.
- Location
- Wellington.
- Intakes
- February.
- Application
- Due 15 November (February start).
-
Ideal if
- You don't have an Honours degree and you need a qualification that can allow you to bridge the gap to higher postgraduate study.
Key information
- Duration
- One year full time, or part-time over a longer period.
- Entry
Selected entry—you'll need to submit a portfolio of your creative work. Find out more about entry.
- Location
- Wellington.
- Intakes
- February.
- Application
- Due 30 November .
Associate Professor Sven Mehzoud
Sven Mehzoud
Sven Mehzoud is a designer, academic, peer educator and creative leader, and Head of the School of Design, Ngā Pae Mahutonga.
He has directed design programmes at New Zealand and Australian universities for over 20 years and is originally from Switzerland where he practiced architecture. Sven’s creative practice encompasses exhibition design, scenography and interior architectural design, and currently focuses on narrative constructions in museums and exhibition design.
Turn your talents into a lifelong creative career.
Register your interest