MA Design (Fashion)
Full-time, Part-time
This course is subject to approval
Location • City Campus
Subject area • Art and design
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Find out about the Sheffield Institute of Arts (SIA) and view a 360 degree tour of the SIA gallery, where our students exhibit their work.
View a 360 degree tour of our print making studio.
View a 360 degree tour of our print making studio.
Read information to help you apply for this course and understand the selection process.
Our Digital Design Centre can print medium to large format high quality outputs on a range of different media. The laboratories have software supporting 2D and 3D engineering and creative design applications. Find out more.
One of the most valuable resources available for you to access is our highly experienced technical support team. Find out how they can help support your development.
Our Fashion Centre comprises two fully equipped workshops, a design studio and a fashion store. We have some of the most up-to-date equipment for producing garments and fabric based products. Find out more.
At a glance
Study fashion design at an advanced level and develop your talent for designing solutions that respond to the needs of our rapidly changing society. You will be challenged to think differently about design and creatively push the boundaries of your discipline whilst developing the skills needed to become an imaginative and versatile designer who can operate independently, or as a member of a design team. Your projects are supported by lecturers who are design specialists in areas as diverse as innovative pattern cutting, CAD and fashion technology, fashion marketing, fashion entrepreneurship, fashion craft and sustainability.
Key points
• Develop your skills and aspirations to undertake lead roles in the wide area of fashion design.
• Give your design understanding the edge by applying the findings of specialist research conducted by our staff.
• Work on live research and practice based projects that may be undertaken in conjunction with user communities, international and regional business.
• If available, take advantage of industrial sponsorship schemes.
Develop your existing knowledge and experience as a designer, exploiting our significant research expertise to enhance your own design and research skills to a new level. You study fashion design at one of the oldest established art and design institutions in the UK, renowned for producing internationally recognised research.
The course is project based. You use your creative, practical and theoretical skills to investigate and propose new solutions in response to problems such as economic and environmental issues. In this way, you learn to design in response to the needs of our rapidly changing society.
The department has professionally equipped design studios and fashion workshops that house digital garment manufacturing equipment, pattern-cutting software and flat-bed cutting equipment. You can also use the University’s wider creative facilities including professional photography studios, printing facilities, and laser cutting technology. Critical theory underpins studio-based projects throughout.
You also have access to our award-winning learning centre featuring a specialist art, design and media library and extensive online resources.
You can pursue a wide area of investigation when developing your designs. Your course tutors include fashion specialists who help you to identify and shape your future career direction.
Fashion design covers a wide and diverse field, so our aim is to help you to become a creative, imaginative and versatile designer who can operate independently or as a member of a design team.
You choose your own project content and this is supported by lectures and seminars dealing with professional practice issues and reviewing your progress. You also take part in regular group and individual tutorials.
Your project is the culmination of your research and studio-based design practice. It demonstrates that you can deal with difficult contemporary questions and take a leading role as a design professional.
You benefit from a strong relationship between the masters design programme and the University’s Art and Design Research Centre which has gained international recognition for its work in both practice-based and strategic research.
During the course you regularly take part in constructive critical debates about your own work and that of your peers. You need to communicate your research, ideas and designs in ways that are appropriate to professional leadership.
There are also residential study trips at home and abroad, complemented by visits to design conferences and debates.
Industrial sponsorship
Sometimes we are able to obtain sponsorship from an industrial company. Usually this is linked to a particular design problem that the company would like to investigate.
We are normally asked to shortlist applicants before recommending a small number to apply. If this happens, we consider your interview, portfolio of work, academic qualifications and learning aims. We aim to pick people whose abilities and aims are relevant for the company and who are most likely to be successful in a competitive interview.
This course benefits from internationally recognised research and practice by members of staff. For example, Professor Alison Gwilt is involved in leading research and design exploring sustainable solutions and strategies for fashion and textile design practice and Susan Dillon has published her work on fashion management.
Find out more about MA Design (Fashion)
Related courses
Full time – 12 months or 16 months including summer
Part-time – typically two to three years
Starts September
When studying part-time, you follow a similar study pattern to full-time. You share some teaching with full-time students, as well as attending evening seminars.
Complete the application form available at www.shu.ac.uk/study/form.
For information on applying, the interview process and your portfolio, open the application support media box.
2013/14 academic year
Typically £4,590 for the course
Part-time study should be calculated pro rata
The course fee may be subject to annual inflationary increase. For further information on fees and funding see www.shu.ac.uk/funding
2013/14 academic year
Typically £10,980 for the course
2014/15 academic year
Typically £11,250 for the course
The course fee may be subject to annual inflationary increase. For further information on fees, scholarships and bursaries see www.shu.ac.uk/international/fees
Assessment and feedback are vital parts of the learning process in creative disciplines. Most assessment is through individual project work which combines research and creative practice. Assessment calls for both excellent creative work and well-documented research.
Sheffield Institute of Arts
Sheffield Institute of Arts at Sheffield Hallam University is one of the oldest and most well-established centres of creative learning in Britain. Since 1843, we’ve built an excellent reputation and nurtured generations of students in a culture where anything is possible and with the resources to make it happen. To find out more about the Sheffield Institute of Art and its creative community visit the website.
Sheffield Institute of Arts gallery
The gallery offers and exciting programme of changing exhibitions of the best in art, design and creative practice. Located in the Cantor building, it hosts exhibitions throughout the year.
Print making studio
Our print making studio supports a wide range of print activities including etching, drypoint, cyanotype, lithography and screen printing.
Art and design print making studio 1
Our print making studio supports a wide range of print activities including etching, drypoint, cyanotype, lithography and screen printing.
Application support for design courses
We use your application to decide whether you are likely to succeed on the course. Before we offer you a place, we usually also interview you and view your portfolio of work. This is because the quality of your creative work, your communication skills and your understanding of design are very difficult to assess from qualifications and a short written statement.
Interviews are an important part of the application process and will normally be held in Sheffield, but if you are in another country you may be interviewed by a Sheffield Hallam University staff member if they are visiting your country or we may be able to interview you by telephone or e-mail.
The main things we want to find out from you application are
Design skills
In your portfolio, we expect to see a range of good design skills and presentation appropriate to your background. It is important that applicants have previous education or experience in the design discipline they wish to study on the MA and we will be looking for a professional standard of work.
Technical knowledge
We expect you to demonstrate a good knowledge of the technologies relevant to your design discipline.
Imagination and creativity
We want to see clear evidence that you can think in an imaginative way and develop appropriate, creative responses to the design problems and situations that you have been faced with.
Written communication
We wish to see evidence that you can present ideas and information clearly and intelligently in writing. It would be helpful if you could bring or make available to us one or two examples of written work, such as research reports, essays, dissertations or business reports.
Verbal communication
On the MA you need to present your ideas to tutors, students, professionals and business people as well as taking part in discussions and group work. We want to see that you can express yourself clearly and take an active part in discussion.
Professional practice experience
You have some professional experience in design or a related field, we want to know about that and find out what you have achieved and understood.
Contextual understanding
This is one of the most important issues. We want to find out how well you understand the context of your work. A designer must be able to develop a rich understanding of the circumstances surrounding their work and the factors which affect its success.
Appropriate expectations
We want to know what you expect to achieve on the course and make sure that you understand the challenges inherent in postgraduate study.
Critical position
We want to find out if you are a person who can take an intelligent, independent view of ideas, situations, objects and problems.
MA Project proposal
As part of the application process we require an MA Project proposal. We want to find out what kind of project work you wish to develop whilst on the MA Design programme, you should inform us about the ideas or problems that you would like to work on and the broad context that your projects will be located within. For example - are you interested in developing work carried out whilst on your undergraduate degree or within your professional practice? Are you looking to investigate materials or processes? Is there an important problem you would like to address or are you wanting to find new ways to collaborate with business or industry? These are just a few of the possible directions MA projects might take.
We don't expect you to have a highly developed project plan when you apply but it is essential that you are clear about what you would like to be working on in your research and design work. To this end write a short project proposal (approx 500 words + any relevant images, references etc) that outlines what you would like to investigate during your MA project. You should clearly state what has inspired your chosen topic.
If you are offered a place on the course, we expect you to fully develop this into an extensive MA project proposal during the first semester.
The MA is an opportunity to spend 3 semesters focused on an important personal goal, and we expect you to be clear with us, and with yourself, about what that goal is.
Your portfolio
All applicants are expected to show us a portfolio of creative work which helps us to assess their creative and visual thinking. You normally bring the portfolio to your interview. If you are applying from another country and unable to travel to interview in the UK send us a PDF version of your portfolio or a link to your online folio.
Your portfolio should contain examples of design work and any other creative work which may be relevant to your application. We will be looking for evidence of professional knowledge and skills, good written and visual communication and, especially, good creative thinking evident through examples showing your design process.
All work in the portfolio should have clear descriptive text saying what the images show, what was the project brief/context for the work and what were the main points you aimed to address in the work. You should also indicate when and in what circumstances the work was done for example BA, professional practice etc. Your portfolio may be reviewed in your absence so make sure your text and images tell us the project stories so we can clearly understand it.
We are interested to see examples of the development process that went into your work, as well as the final outcome, we will also be looking at the level of organisation and communication skill which went into preparation of the portfolio.
Project examples
Design in depth
Many students set out to explore a field of activity or knowledge to discover an opportunity for new designs, which have a significant effect on the people who use a product and the success of a company which produces it.
This goes well beyond the usual approach of working to a design brief by putting the designer in the driving seat of innovation. David Allan investigated sports science and the dangers of dehydration to discover and develop ideas which could make a big difference to the health and performance of athletes. Mark Fisher focussed his MA project on improving the lives of a asthma sufferers thorough improved inhaler design and medication delivery. He now works for the University’s User-centred Healthcare Design research centre.
Become an expert
By concentrating on a specific area of human activity or technology, a designer can greatly strengthen their chances of finding the job they want. Tim Fish used the MA to build on his knowledge of designing for outdoor pursuits. He went on to work for Berghaus, one of the top companies in this field and has since left there and established his own highly successful design consultancy.
Leadership
You may be an experienced designer who wants to make the jump into a more strategic leading role in your profession. Simon Cran gained the knowledge he needed to become a design manager in the multinational company Adtranz.
The Digital Design Centre
The Digital Design Centre comprises a suite of 6 IT laboratories (4 PC and 2 MAC) together with the Print Output room, an area for printing medium to large format high quality output on a range of different media. The laboratories have a wide range of software supporting 2D and 3D engineering and creative design applications.
The Digital Design Centre runs a high quality computer printing facility and has the ability to print sizes between A4 and A0 and wide format banners. A3, A2, A1, A0 and Banner photo quality printing is available on a range of papers, as well as AutoCAD type plans ( B & W ) on standard paper.
Technical support team
While you will find excellent facilities throughout, the most valuable resource you will have at your disposal is access to our extremely dedicated, highly experienced technical staff.
All the staff are there to support you during your time in the workshops. The technical team with its professionally qualified staff and practicing professionals, has a wealth of knowledge and expertise across all areas of our provision and comprises engineers, designers, silversmiths and jewellers, fine artists, media arts specialists and IT experts.
The team are committed to using their diverse range of skills and knowledge to support practical aspects of your
course work, whether solving a simple software problem, producing a complex engineering project or creating design work for an international exhibition. There are currently 50 technical staff directly supporting the Technical Resource Centres and the research institutes of the faculty.
The Fashion Centre
The Fashion Centre comprises two fully equipped workshops, a design studio and a fashion store. We have some of the most up-to-date equipment for producing garments and fabricbased products. There are a variety of industrial computerised sewing machines, a digital embroidery machine and an Assyst CAD plotter/ pattern cutter and grader.
Our workshop equipment includes
• computerised lockstitch machines
• computerised zigzag machine
• overlockers
• coverstitchers
• buttonholer
• heavy duty walking foot machine
• blind stitch hemmer
• twinstitch machine
• fusing press and industrial iron press with vacuum board
• computerised six thread embroidery machinery with wilcom software
• assyst computerised plotter, pattern cutter and grader
• zund digital cad/cam precision fabric cutter
