International modules

Become a better designer in Amsterdam!

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Study in Amsterdam

Communication and Multimedia Design (CMD) in Amsterdam offers you the chance to improve your skills as a designer, whilst enjoying one of the most vibrant cities in the world! Become a better designer by opting for one of our three international one-semester modules.

User Experience Design, Design Thinking and Doing and Makers Lab are three international modules we offer in our second (spring) semester. These programs are open to both CMD students, students from our international partners and so called ‘free movers’. The programs start in February and finish in July. You can find more information on these programs on this page. CMD is part of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. We also have more information (practical matters, tuition fees) on the general CMD university page. 

User Experience Design

The program User Experience Design aims to help you design web and mobile interfaces: interfaces that provide a good user experience and make a positive contribution to the user’s experience of the organization that provides their products / services through the interface.

Through the use of simulations and real-world assignments you will learn to research, understand and design solutions for complex user experience design problems at both a strategic level and at the level of the user interface. Students from our partner schools outside The Netherlands are also welcome to join this program as long as they can demonstrate that they have sufficient knowledge, skills and experience in design and design research. More information on the UxD module here. And also check out this poster.
Please send your cv, portfolio and letter of motivation before 1 October 2018 to Irene Kamp (coordinator).

Design Thinking and Doing

Design thinking and doing is an approach that involves using designers and/or designerly ways of thinking and doing to develop solutions that allow organizations to deal with an uncertain future in a sustainable way. Rather than just being used to design new products or ways of communicating with customers, organizations use designerly approaches to help them navigate through and succeed in a complex and rapidly changing world.

This program offers you the chance to develop yourself as a design thinker. You will learn to think about problems and implement effective and sustainable solutions to the problems faced by today’s organizations. We believe that the fundamental aim of design thinking is action to improve things for people. Our goal therefore is to ensure that you do not simply learn about design thinking, but actually experience doing it. More information on the Design Thinking & Doing module here. Find the ECTS breakdown here.
Please send your cv, portfolio (if you have one) and letter of motivation before 1 October 2018 to Charlie Mulholland (coordinator). 

Makers Lab

In the course Makers Lab: Designing Difference you will learn to research topics creatively, through making. By leveraging your curiosity, design sensitivity, hacker mentality and maker’s attitude you will explore new perspectives on various societal issues. Sound good? Read on!

The course is a combination of an intense training in digital fabrication (tools and techniques like laser cutting, 3D printing, electronics production), an introduction to practice-based creative inquiry (research through design), and an extended exercise in interdisciplinary collaboration. All the tools, techniques and methods offered throughout the course are developed to help you question why things are the way they are, and which values are at the core of design decisions. 
The first 10 weeks are dedicated to in-class exercises, discussions and (bi-)weekly assignments to cover a range of methods, core concepts, models of collaboration and design and digital fabrication tools such as 2D design for the laser cutter and plotter, design for 3D printing, molding & casting, and extensive work on electronics skills building. Students explore preferred styles of collaboration and identify their own learning objectives for the course. Week 11-20 are dedicated to team research projects in collaboration with researchers affiliated with the university’s research labs (eg. Fashion Technology Lab, Visual Methodologies Collective, Citizen Data Lab, Crossmedia, and more).
Students are graded on their progress in three learning objectives; Collaborative Learning, Design Research Skills and Maker Skills & Attitude, with a formative midterm assessment in week 10, and a summative final assessment in week 20. More information on this website. 
Please send your cv, portfolio and letter of motivation before 1 October 2018 to Shirley Niemans (coordinator).

Amsterdam!

CMD is part of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS). We are based in The Netherlands, in the city of Amsterdam. Amsterdam is a cosmopolitan city where 175 different nationalities live and work together and where the English language is largely spoken. The city is a hotbed of education and research in all conceivable areas: culture and society, trade, logistics, aviation, shipping, ICT, sport, healthcare, education and much more. And Amsterdam is a great place to live! Click the buttons and find out!
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