Experience Design (MFA)

"The broader one's understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have." — Steve Jobs

Experience design is a holistic and integrative approach to design that focuses on the quality of the human experience in concrete situations. It employs investigation, analysis, creativity and technology as tools to understand human goals, needs, and desires and to mediate the human experience. The Master of Fine Arts in Experience Design at Northeastern University embraces research-driven design thinking for entrepreneurship and innovation, focusing on important global challenges of today. For example, in the context of healthcare, an experience designer does not focus on the design of any one technology product, information system or physical space. Instead the designer is charged with understanding and improving the overall sequence of events and interactions that impact the patient before and during a hospital stay as well as through follow-up care.

Northeastern’s College of Arts, Media, and Design offers three experience design graduate program options to best suit the unique goals and aspirations of individual learners: the Master of Fine Arts in Experience Design (2 years, 60 credits), the Master of Science in Experience Design (1 year, 32 credits) and the Certificate in Experience Design (1 year, 16 credits). All three move beyond design thinking to produce outcomes that demonstrate the value of human-centered research and design methods. They draw on findings from a range of professional and scholarly disciplines (including business, psychology, human-computer interaction, engineering, and cybernetics) to understand and shape specific situations—that extend across many industries and aspects of life: healthcare, public service, travel, education, entertainment, shopping, dining, and the nature of work itself.

Through examining how people behave in a real context in relation to the constructed world and emerging technologies, CAMD’s graduate degrees in experience design allow working professionals or graduates from design and other disciplines (such as architecture, business, engineering, communications, computer science, healthcare, humanities, and the social sciences) to gain knowledge and experience in the design competencies needed to address societal challenges. To accomplish these goals, students will learn how to invoke cooperation, collaboration, and integration across disciplines and practices.

We prepare students to be vital contributors and leaders of professional experience design teams where technological innovation intersects with design. Graduates will be able to analyze how people undergo real-world situations, enabling them to enrich experience by orchestrating new design-driven relationships. They will be equipped with the skills to identify shortcomings as well as opportunities for improved engagement between artifacts and systems—virtual or physical—and the humans who encounter them.

The Master of Fine Arts in Experience Design offers a two-year graduate experience that combines theory and studio-based practice and results in a terminal degree. Students will engage in and complete this program with a studio-based experience design graduate thesis and a thesis exhibition. Graduates are prepared to continue onward to advanced academic or professional tracks as Experience Designers. They will be able to collaborate effectively in this dynamic and burgeoning field of research and practice, ready to succeed in design agencies, design-related and design-driven industries, research institutions, public institutions, PhD programs, and academic careers. The program intends to produce professionals skilled in design principles and practices needed to assume leadership roles in an evolving interdisciplinary field. Embedded in the CAMD graduate course offerings, MFA in Experience Design students will have their own studio space and are part of a lively cohort of graduate students in related fields who intersect around vibrant events, exhibitions, guest lectures, and workshops. Applicants are welcome with past experience in the design domain but also in related fields such as architecture, business, engineering, computer science, communications, and others.

More Details

The Master of Fine Arts in Experience Design embraces research-driven design thinking for entrepreneurship and innovation, preparing students to be vital contributors and leaders of professional experience design teams where technological innovation intersects with design.

• Program includes exhibitions, guest lectures, and workshops
• The MFA combines theory and studio-based practice and results in a terminal degree
• Curriculum designed to prepare students for leadership roles in this evolving field

Admissions Dates

Once your application is submitted, received, and processed, you will be able to access your Application Status Check. If you are required to provide further information regarding your proficiency in English, you will be able to complete the requirement in several ways, depending on your familiarity with English, and the frequency with which you use English each and every day:

• Non-native English-speaking applicants will be required to submit official and valid results from one of the following English Language Tests:
  • C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency (Cambridge English)
  • Duolingo English Test (DET)
  • IELTS Academic
  • PTE Academic
  • TOEFL Internt-based Test (CEEB Code: 3667) Northeastern will accept either the in-person version completed in a test center, or the TOEFL iBT Home Edition
• However, based on your academic environment and the primary instructional language in either your high school or university, you may be eligible for a waiver. All waivers must be submitted through your Application Status Check. For additional information and to determine whether or not you are eligible for a waiver, please read the section below on waiving the English proficiency requirement.

Please note: Northeastern’s Admissions Committee reserves the right to request proof of English language proficiency from any applicant, regardless of citizenship or first language, at any time during the evaluation process.

• 1.Create your application

  Submit your application through The Common Application or the Coalition Application (both are accepted). Once you have created your application, please select Northeastern University to directly submit your application to us. Application fee of $75 or need-based fee waiver* *Northeastern accepts need-based fee waivers from the Common Application, the Coalition Application, as well as organizations such as the College Board and ACT, or in a written request from a school official.

• 2.Submit all required materials

  Double check to make sure that you have submitted all required materials. Even if your application has been submitted, we cannot begin reviewing your file until all of your required materials have been received. For applicants applying for the 2022-2023 academic year, Northeastern University is test-optional and does not require standardized testing to complete an application for admission.

• 3.Check your application status

  Within seven days of applying, you should receive a confirmation email containing your Northeastern University ID number and instructions for setting up your Application Status Check account. To ensure all of the necessary documents have been submitted, and for updates or information about your application, visit your application status check.