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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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).
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.
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.
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
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.
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
This programme includes four intensive one-week blocks per year.
Selected entry—you'll need to submit a portfolio of your creative work, and attend an interview.
When you complete your MFA, you can choose to have it awarded with or without designation: MFA (Fine Arts), or MFA (Design), or MFA.
Open entry—just apply online.
Selected entry—you'll need to submit a portfolio of your creative work. Find out more about entry.
Selected entry—you'll need to submit a portfolio of your creative work. Find out more about entry.
Brian Lucid is a designer, academic, peer educator and creative entrepreneur.
He designs and consults for Fortune 500 companies, design agencies, cultural institutions, and emerging startups. Clients have included Adobe Systems, Proximity Lab, The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Altitude Inc., Road Scholar, Solidworks, The Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University, The Barbarian Group, The Education Development Center, and Trinity Communications.
Prior to joining Massey, Brian was Professor of Graphic Design at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, Massachusetts. He holds a BFA and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Turn your talents into a lifelong creative career.
Register your interest