Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Design (BDES)

Bachelor of Design - Interdisciplinary Design

As the discipline of design exerts a greater influence on our lives, designers find themselves working closely with other professionals in fields such as marketing, software development engineering, and education. NSCAD offers a unique approach to design education through its interdisciplinary program which equips students with the skills and knowledge to participate in all aspects of the practice of design—graphic, interactive, and product.

The design takes a distinctly collaborative, interdisciplinary, and process-oriented approach. This program covers a range of services and products that fuse human factors, technology, and aesthetics with a general emphasis on message presentation. You will gain a variety of skills including analytical and imaginative thinking, visualization techniques, drawing, typography, photography, and an understanding of production processes. By focusing on creative and conceptual skills you will learn to communicate and solve problems across a broad range of media and contexts. You will create logos, information graphics, wayfinding systems, visual identity systems, book design, magazines, websites, information systems, advertisements, tools, furniture, and solutions that don’t exist yet. Critical thinking and the expression of imagination are equally important.

Graduates of NSCAD’s Major in Interdisciplinary Design have successful careers in design firms and agencies. Many advances to become art/creative directors or establish their own design companies. In addition, design strategy is advantageous in fields such as marketing, public relations, the pure and applied sciences, health, and public policy.

Students at NSCAD University have been shaping art, design and craft in Canada since 1887. With an approach to education that includes the strategic integration of arts, culture and community engagement, students thrive in a learning and research environment that is committed to equity, diversity, inclusion and academic excellence.

Inspiring generations of makers for over a century, NSCAD University is one of Canada’s oldest independent cultural institutions. Today, it continues to be regarded as a principal centre for education and research in visual culture in North America.