Design Management

MA

  • Entry year 2025
  • Duration Full time 1 year
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Overview

Top reasons to study with us

  • World Top 50 Arts & Humanities THE World University Rankings 2024

  • Award-winning, purpose-built studios

  • World Top 100 Art & Design QS World University Subject Rankings 2024

Why Lancaster?

  • Use this Master's course as a springboard into a rewarding career - our graduates are the next generation of design leaders
  • Learn from world-renowned figures in design, be among the first to hear about their latest research and the innovative way we take design in new directions
  • Explore complex design challenges in our cutting-edge Imagination Lab - an intensive, project-based design studio
  • Be part of our vibrant, international community – we benefit from being joined by students and staff from around the world

What role does good and bad design play in society? What challenges do design managers face in the real world? You’ll explore questions such as these while examining how design shapes our interactions with people, products and places.

Design for life

Design management is all about how we organise and deploy design solutions to solve problems and add value for users, organisations and society.

Our Master's programme helps you assess the far-reaching impact of strategically deploying design methods to address key issues today and for the future. You’ll focus on much more than just design but on aspects such as delivery to market, the supply chain and sustainability.

You might consider some big issues. How design can be used to help a city reach net zero. Or how to apply data privacy rules when working with the Internet of Things. Or how to give people better access to health services.

Our students and staff join us from diverse disciplinary backgrounds as well as from businesses in various sectors. This creates an inspiring and creative environment that is rich in innovation.

Sparking the imagination

Experience the excitement of creating a prototype in our project-based module – the Imagination Lab. We’ll bring in charities or businesses to set the brief, so you get the sense of working with a client in real life. You may be looking at the steps needed to improve transport around the region or how to tackle social inequalities in a particular town.

In addition, your major research project is a chance to experiment with new design methods and focus on a real research question; for example, using speculative design to consider topics such as artificial intelligence, distributed production and digital space.

Master's in Design Management at Lancaster University

Discover the key features of studying a Master's in Design Management at Lancaster University. Hear from staff and students, and see the fantastic facilities and superb campus.

Why Should I Study Design at Lancaster?

Lancaster’s distinctive approach to design reflects a department that is at the cutting-edge of the field. Taught by global design experts, our courses move beyond the scope of traditional disciplines such as graphic or product design, to place design in a central role in shaping the world around us.

Design at Lancaster actively responds to rapid changes in technology, complex societal challenges and the pressing need for new ways of thinking about the world. We foreground the designer’s ability to engage with the most difficult of problems, bringing individual and collective creativity together to propose and test new ways forward.

design degree show 2018

Creative Arts Facilities at Lancaster University

As a student within LICA, you will have access to a range of state-of-the-art facilities and equipment to catalyse your studies.

Student profiles

Our students tell us about their experiences of studying at Lancaster including, why they chose their courses, tips and advice for someone starting the course.

Student Profiles
Bo Rui: MA Design Management

Careers

During this postgraduate degree, you’ll discover how design can be applied in a broad range of ways in the real world. This gives you many different career options by the time you finish your studies. Plus, you’ll have developed valuable transferable skills by learning to approach any situation with an inquiring mind.

You may decide you want to go into industry in either the public or private sector and be a design-led change-maker envisioning and realising products, services, systems, and policies. You may want to work as a consultant or design manager for a large corporation or charity. Or perhaps you’ll decide to take your research further and go on to do a PhD on emerging topics and issues.

Some of our graduates decide to pursue a traditional route into service design or user experience, while others have gone on to become business design consultants, futures consultants and senior product designers.

Advance your career with a Master's at Lancaster University - Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

Hear from alumni in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Lancaster University. What did they study and how did their course propel their career?

Entry requirements

Academic Requirements

2:1 Hons degree (UK or equivalent) in design or a related discipline.

We may also consider non-standard applicants, please contact us for information.

If you have studied outside of the UK, we would advise you to check our list of international qualifications before submitting your application.

English Language Requirements

We may ask you to provide a recognised English language qualification, dependent upon your nationality and where you have studied previously.

We normally require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 6.5, and a minimum of 6.0 in each element of the test. We also consider other English language qualifications.

If your score is below our requirements, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes.

Contact: Admissions Team +44 (0) 1524 592032 or email pgadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk

Pre-master’s programmes

Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored pre-master’s pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University master’s degrees. Visit the INTO Lancaster University website for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.

Course structure

Detailed module information for this postgraduate programme will follow shortly. However, if you have any questions please contact the department.

Fees and funding

Location Full Time (per year) Part Time (per year)
Home £11,960 n/a
International £24,830 n/a

General fees and funding information

Additional fees and funding information accordion

Scholarships and bursaries

You may be eligible for the following funding opportunities, depending on your fee status and course. You will be automatically considered for our main scholarships and bursaries when you apply, so there's nothing extra that you need to do.

Unfortunately no scholarships and bursaries match your selection, but there are more listed on scholarships and bursaries page.

If you're considering postgraduate research you should look at our funded PhD opportunities.

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We also have other, more specialised scholarships and bursaries - such as those for students from specific countries.

Browse Lancaster University's scholarships and bursaries.

Arial view of students working in groups

Imagination Lancaster

Closely linked to ImaginationLancaster, an exploratory design-led research centre at Lancaster University, our team enables people and organisations to engage with academia in dynamic and creative ways, giving time and space to imagine and explore possible futures.

ImaginationLancaster

Important Information

The information on this site relates primarily to 2025/2026 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.

The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.

More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.

Our Students’ Charter

We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.

Why Lancaster?