Educational objectives and professional fields

Educational objectives.

After graduating with a major from the Department of Design, you will have the necessary design tools to exploit the potential and meet the challenges of sustainability and innovation. You will speak the language of aesthetics like a native and be able to tailor it to your audience. Your main points of reference will be social relevance and potential economies. 

Qualified designers ... 

  • ... have a broad understanding of design with an eye to the future that takes criticism and reflection seriously.
  • … adopt an explorative, practical, speculative and critical-reflective approach to their work, which is often interdisciplinary in nature.
  • … cultivate the many different facets of design that develop as a result of the interplay between the issue, designer, format, technology, area of application and market. 
  • … deal with topics such as material futures, aesthetics, gender & identity, emerging technologies, sustainability, interaction, storytelling, design activism and health, and respond agilely to new developments.

Degree title:
Bachelor of Arts ZHdK in Design with a Major in Industrial Design

Potential areas of employment.

The degree programme at ZHdK prepares you to work in the field of Industrial Design in an employed or freelance capacity:

  • Industrial design
  • Product design

Committed graduates will discover hitherto unexploited yet even more urgent socially and ecologically-relevant tasks and use their knowledge and experience to find phenomenal solutions in the following environments:

  • In-house design in industry or research start-ups 
  • Design agencies
  • Their own design studio