Design (MA)

The one-year Master's programme focuses on a specialisation in the areas of communication, product or interface design. Learn more about the concept, design basics & theory of our design degree programmes.

The first semester of the Master's programme includes two design projects. The projects either focus on specialisation with regard to technological, methodological and social issues of design or on reflection as an analytical and critical examination of design-specific – technological, aesthetic, ecological, economic, social and ethical – issues. Both variants of the design project take up a current - often transdisciplinary - social problem and place design as a researching practice at the centre of design. In the process, the practical application of design can take the form of speculation, artistic practice or science-oriented problem solving. As a rule, the design project allows for a link to the individual questions of the Master's thesis and in this way enables a first iteration of design and reflection within the framework of the thesis. The connection with the respective Master's thesis is thus possible, but not a must. The design project can also be used to acquire deeper knowledge and practical experience in the design application of new technologies – e.g. in the context of mixed reality, AI, IoT – or to sharpen critical and analytical thinking skills in connection with the design documentation and staging of the research process.

The design project is flanked by a theory and methods seminar that focuses on the communication and discussion of relevant theoretical approaches, methods and procedures in the design process. The application to the student's own problem ensures the continuous development of the thesis and reflection on the scientific-methodological foundation of the work. The theory and methods seminar must be taken twice in total. The colloquium character of the thesis development courses ensures continuous supervision of the Master's thesis and supports the students in reflecting on their research practice and argumentation for specific design decisions in the circle of fellow students.

In parallel, didactic experience is to be gained in the module "Tutoring/Mentoring" in the form of an own condensed teaching offer. The offers can take place under the supervision of teachers in the form of workshops or block courses accompanying regular courses or within the framework of the project weeks at the beginning of each winter semester.

In addition to discussing current developments in design research, the second thesis development course offers the opportunity to train scientific writing and argumentation for the master's thesis. Typical exercise formats aim to jointly develop short scientific papers for submission to design conferences in the course.

In parallel, the focus in the 2nd semester is also on working on the Master's thesis. Six months are available for the research, design, documentation and staging process.

The public university presentation of the research results of the master's thesis and the defence in professional discourse form the conclusion of the master's programme.

"More than human-centered design" refers to an approach to design that goes beyond human-centered thinking, consideration, and inclusion. While human-centered design focuses primarily on meeting the needs of people, “more than human-centered design” considers the needs and experiences of non-human stakeholders, such as animals, ecosystems, and the environment. 

The idea behind “more than human-centered design” is that human beings are not isolated entities, but rather interconnected with the natural world and other living beings. By broadening the scope of design to include these non-human stakeholders, designers aim to create solutions that not only benefit humans but also promote ecological sustainability, environmental responsibility, and compassion towards other species. In this approach, designers recognize that human actions can have significant impacts on the environment and other creatures. 

Practicing more than human-centered design often involves integrating principles of sustainability, conservation, and ethics into the design process. It requires engaging with diverse perspectives, including those of ecologists, biologists, conservationists, and animal rights advocates, to ensure that the design outcomes are more inclusive and responsible.

We invite proposals addressing this broadening of the design perspective and overcoming the dominant anthropocentric view. The proposals can include formats of speculative design, design fiction, as well as practical solutions and interventions, e.g. in the urban, neighborhood area.

Further information and contact: Prof. Myriel Milicevic, Prof. Dr. Frank Heidmann

Our new "Social Robotics Lab" focuses on the technological, design, methodological, and ethical issues in developing AI-based robotic systems that collaborate with humans in everyday contexts and living environments. The robots (e.g., Navel, Furhat, Misty II) come with extensive SDKs (software development kits) that allow for flexible prototyping and testing of new application scenarios for social robots. With the advancement of artificial intelligence, more AI-enabled robots are being utilized in human-robot interactions to perform a variety of tasks. These developments are further enhanced by the rapid progress in sensor technology, including detailed speech, gesture, and emotion recognition, powerful 3D lidar sensors for high-resolution environmental perception, and miniaturized actuators for precise robotic movements. These innovations open up new application scenarios for social human-robot interactions in combination with conversational AI chatbots.

The challenge we face is that social interactions are complex processes involving numerous psychological, sociological, and other factors. With our interdisciplinary research profile at the intersection of social and educational sciences, interface and product design, and media and information sciences, we aim to contribute to understanding how interactions between humans and robots can be better designed in social situations. Furthermore, we seek to explore how robots can learn to cooperate with humans in socially and ethically appropriate, fair, and non-discriminatory ways in the future.

We invite proposals that explore the potentials and risks of social robots. We encourage close interdisciplinary cooperation with the social and educational sciences. Proposals may include speculative design, design fiction, as well as practical solutions and interventions, such as those for digital literacy, public institutions (e.g., libraries), elderly care, and more.

Further information and contact: Prof. Dr. Frank Heidmann

At the moment, I'm interested in generative AIs. This technology will not only change our profession as designers, but - as many experts predict - will turn the entire economy upside down.

I am currently researching the following topics: AI in the design process, AI as material for new customer experiences or services, AI-based business models, "design for debate" explorations in the context of AI, explainable AI.

In addition to these topics, I am also open to further topics in this field.

Contact: Prof. Reto Wettach

Platform businesses as e.g. YouTube, UBER or Airbnb turned out to be one of the strongest economic successes of the current digital transformation. How to design these platforms became a major research topic within the design community, and many methods have been developed to empower innovators to build successful, user-centric platforms. Within this research topic, we do not only want to explore the potential of platforms for various industries and areas of life, but also discuss and improve current approaches to the design of such platforms. One main focus lies on platforms, which rely on connected hardware. Furthermore, we – as an academic institution - would like to examine criticism of this business model and design its successor!

Contact: Prof. Reto Wettach

In public discussions, the secure and comprehensible processing of personal data with the help of digital tools is a particularly hotly debated topic. With the European Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO), a first step has been taken in the interest of the users of digital applications. However, the implementation of the regulations at the human-technology interface still holds a great deal of creative potential.
For example, new forms of interaction between humans and technology should be developed to ensure understanding and control over data use. Furthermore, the design of human-technology dialogues conducive to learning is necessary, which strengthens the competence of humans in the use of digital systems and media. The conception of data dashboards to control one's own data or the conception of visualisations and forms of interaction on DataDonationPlatforms to provide, pass on and donate data are approaches that should be examined more closely.

Against this background, a research project in the Interaction Design Lab of the Department of Design is investigating how concepts for forms of interaction and visualisations should be designed so that people can obtain or retain their digital sovereignty.

Several Master's theses are to accompany the research topic and deepen selected aspects in the respective Master's thesis. The integrated research will focus on the consistent involvement of users and the reflective and creative handling of ethical, legal and social implications.

Contact: Prof. Constanze Langer

The trend has been evident for some time in the studies of the various health insurance funds. Now it is officially confirmed by a government report with long-term observation: In Germany, more and more employees are absent due to mental illness. The resulting absenteeism is increasing drastically. Of the 668 million working days that employees were absent from work due to illness in 2018, 107 million were due to mental illnesses such as depression, burnout, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Against this backdrop, an interdisciplinary research project funded by the BMBF in the Interaction Design Lab of the design deprtament will investigate over the next three years how people with social anxiety disorders can be enabled to feel more social inclusion and participation. To this end, designers, psychologists and media scientists will work together with those affected in a makerspace to investigate how new technologies – including virtual reality, augmented reality, IoT/smart objects – can contribute to a better life with this disorder or to overcoming social anxiety. The project invites those affected to link digital media with physical space and its social contexts.

One or more Master's theses are to accompany the research project and to deepen selected aspects in the Master's thesis. On the one hand, this can be the focus on a specific technology and the prototyping and testing of artefacts in a participatory design process with those affected in the Makerspace. On the other hand, methodological questions can also be the focus of the Master's thesis, e.g. on the conception and physical design of a makerspace or on the further development of Design Thinking methods for a target group that needs a lot of confidence to engage in a cooperative design process due to their medical condition.

The Master students are expected to work closely with the interdisciplinary project team in the Interaction Design Lab. The call is open to designers with a product design/industrial design background as well as interaction/UX/service designers and related disciplines with an interest in the issue outlined above.

Information on the project

Contact: Prof. Dr. Frank Heidmann

Climate change is one of the great global challenges of the 21st century. If we do not curb greenhouse gas emissions and keep global warming well below two degrees celsius, the world will change permanently. We are already seeing global impacts such as shifting vegetation zones, rising sea levels and increasingly extreme weather periods.

An important aspect of combating climate change is education and information. It is necessary to show how the climate has already changed over the last 250 years - how the climate is likely to change as a result of our actions today.

The spectrum of possible design projects in the context of environmental data and climate change is very wide. From the visualisation of systems (global warming mechanism, CO₂ trading, ocean currents) to data sets (emissions, citizen science), many things are conceivable.

Information and data visualisation offer very promising approaches to vividly present and communicate these topics. The willingness to deal with complex scientific topics is necessary.

Contact: Prof. Boris Müller

The mobility industry is in the midst of a fundamental transformation process: comprehensive digitalisation is also taking hold of our traditional understanding of individual and urban mobility. How will we use autonomous vehicles and our new "free times"? How does an autonomous car interact and communicate with the outside world, for example with other road users? What new services can the autonomous car play in the digital lifestyle? How does a car receive its passenger? Will we own cars in the future, share them with each other or only drive them "on demand" - and what does this mean for the design of a car? Is the autonomous car a "new mobile personal living space and retreat" (Mercedes), a mobile "companion device" (BMW / Vision Next 100) or a self-learning, adaptive driving robot with "cognitive interaction" (IBM)?

Question:

Radical technological change always raises questions about trust in technology and its social acceptance. An essential factor for success on the road to the autonomous vehicle will therefore also be the intensive examination of interfaces, operating concepts and intermodal services. A series of design and explorative questions can be developed from this topic area. The focus of the considerations and approaches to solutions should not be primarily on technical questions, but on developing concrete, new and evolving forms of application and use of urban mobility under the aspect of UX designs for autonomous driving.

Globalisation and networking welcome – there are literally no limits to collaboration. Google Drive and Skype are useful and now commonplace. A veritable overabundance of project management tools, sharing platforms and messaging services obscures the lack of user-friendly, charming and aesthetic cues about social and structural artefacts that also make for good collaboration.

Research question:

This Master's thesis aims to investigate which factors influence creative processes in online collaboration and how, whether and how these are currently implemented and represented in technical systems, and how/if the visual representation of these increases the effectiveness of collaboration.

Contact: Prof. Constanze Langer

Data visualisation offers the possibility to present large amounts of data in a vivid way, to make patterns visible and interactive. Each data set presents designers with new conceptual and creative challenges. It must always be examined anew what the data is "about" and in which contexts it can be relevant for whom.

One aspect of data visualisation is often neglected – namely the question of the interface design of visualisations. Often the interface is developed separately from the visualisation and does not receive the same design attention as the visualisation itself. But if visualisations are actually to be used, the user interface and the visualisation must be related to each other. This is still a large field of research for interface design.

Contact: Prof. Boris Müller

Sensor technology has made great progress in recent years. Sensors that measure and record all kinds of values are not only found in smartphones, cars and medicine – they are penetrating all areas of our lives. This results in two opposing future scenarios: one in which sensors make our lives safer, more mobile, more sustainable - and one in which the state, the economy and all of us monitor each other.

Dealing with this sensor technology is not only a technical and political question – it is also a creative one. How can sensors be used sensibly – and how will our lives change if everything we do is recorded? Very different design strategies can be pursued here. From dystopian-narrative to constructive-optimistic interface designs.

Contact: Prof. Boris Müller

The last decades of human-computer interaction were very much characterised by technical developments. The central question was: What is technically possible? Moore's law of the regular doubling of storage capacities is still unbroken. But now that ubiquitous computerisation and digitalisation have taken hold of all areas of society, the next meaningful question comes into focus: What do we do with these technical possibilities? How can digital products and services be designed and used in such a way that a "good life" (ecologically sustainable, socially compatible, health-promoting, etc.) is possible in the long term, even in an accelerated, highly technological society? The title "Slow Technology" is used to summarise concepts and attitudes that do not consider technology development solely in terms of efficiency and performance aspects (cf. www. slow-media.net/manifest).

Research question:

This Master's thesis will examine how human-computer interfaces - as interactive products, applications or services - should be designed in the future to offer users the best possible support for their lifestyles, not in the sense of ever new features and apparent simplifications and increases in efficiency (Quantified Self), but much more as a reflection aid for meaningful interactions in private and professional contexts. The goal is to regain digital self-mastery as the ability to master digital technology instead of being mastered by it. A current example of Slow Technology approaches is the project "Digitaler Arbeitsschutz" (Digital Occupational Safety) by TÜV Rheinland and the Slow Media Institute, in which a procedure is being developed to protect against digital information overload in the workplace. The Master's thesis can, for example, work out the challenges for Slow Technology approaches in interface design as a theoretical thesis and develop a framework model for sustainable forms of interaction and services in the above sense. As empirical-experimental work, it can conceive slow technology exhibits and interventions, implement them as prototypes and evaluate them with potential users.

For several years, the interface design programme at University of Applied Sciences Potsdam has been researching how to design sustainable forms of interaction and digital services and how people can be encouraged to change their attitudes and behaviour towards a sustainable way of living and working through design artefacts. The research work is carried out in interdisciplinary teams with psychologists, sociologists, social workers and computer scientists.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Frank Heidmann

At the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam (FHP) we have a tradition of investigating taboos in UX/Interaction Design: Why don't we deal more roughly with our digital devices and, for example, hit them when they are annoying (Fabian Hemmert et al.: Slapping, project work at the FHP, 2007)? Why don't we identify ourselves by kissing security doors and the like (Miriam Roy: KISS, 2009)? Why does death hardly play a role in the context of digital technologies (Eva Burneleit: Master's thesis at the FHP, 2011 and Max von Elverfeld: Bachelor's thesis at the FHP, 2012)? Why are romantic feelings such as jealousy not seriously discussed when considering new tactile interfaces (Eva Lechner: 'Eifersuchtsarmband', project work at the FHP, 2010)? How do we as designers relate to the topic of 'censorship', for example in augmented realities (Nikita Jerschow: Real-Life Copyright Glasses, TEI-Student Design Competition, project work at the FHP, 2014)?

Such and similar questions that challenge the unspoken boundaries in today's use of digital technologies are welcome as objects of investigation in the context of Master's theses.

In the tradition of "Research through Design", this topic area is to be investigated within the framework of several Master's theses. Methodologically, the work will be based on the principles of co-creation (according to Liz Sanders). Hypotheses and design approaches will be conceived, evaluated and further developed by means of prototypes at different levels of elaboration.

Contact: Prof. Reto Wettach

The tactile abilities of humans are criminally neglected in the current interfaces between humans and computers. In research, on the other hand, there are already some interesting approaches that show that in many areas humans can act more successfully (and possibly even with more pleasure) with tactile interfaces - for example, in dealing with complex data sets (Yvonne Jansen et al.Evaluating the Efficiency of Physical Visualisations", 2013), in the context of navigation (Anita Meier: "You can't miss it - Orientation in public space with integration of digital technologies", Master's thesis at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, 2014) or in gaming (Patrick Oswald, et al.: "The Real Augmented Reality", TEI Best Teich Award, project work at the FH Potsdam, 2014). The basic considerations have been known for many years (Hiroshi Ishii et al.: "Tangible Bits: Towards Seamless Interfaces between People, Bits and Atoms", 1997 or Scott Klemmer et al.: "How Bodies Matter: Five Themes for Interaction Design", 2006) - and yet there is enough room for design exploration!

In the tradition of "Research through Design", this topic area is to be investigated within the framework of several Master's theses. Methodologically, the work will be based on the principles of co-creation (according to Liz Sanders). Hypotheses and design approaches will be conceived, evaluated and further developed by means of prototypes at different levels of elaboration.

Contact: Prof. Reto Wettach

In its early days, the internet was characterised by the ability to participate, to copy and to further develop: to this day, for example, "view source" is a central component of browsers - and thus enables the "hackability" of HTML code. The "Internet of Things", on the other hand, is characterised by a certain magic and - along with it – closedness. This Master's thesis will examine which tools are necessary to encourage participation in the Internet of Things as well. The University of Applied Sciences Potsdam (FHP) sees (academically trained) designers as responsible for providing tools for the increasingly active consumers/prosumers (Stefan Hermann: MidiBricks, Bachelor thesis at the FHP, 2012; André Knörig: "Design Tool Design", Master thesis at the FHP, 2008; Jonathan Cohen et. al: "Fritzing: a tool for advancing electronic prototyping for designers", research result FHP, 2009.).

In the tradition of "Research through Design", this topic area is to be investigated within the framework of several Master's theses. Methodologically, the work will be based on the principles of co-creation according to Liz Sanders. Hypotheses and design approaches will be conceived, evaluated and further developed by means of prototypes at different levels of elaboration.

Contact: Prof. Reto Wettach

The University of Applied Sciences Potsdam was one of the first universities to establish a degree programme in interface design. But since when can we speak of interface design (or interaction, UX or service design) as the interface between humans and computers? Who were the relevant personalities and what outstanding achievements shaped the further development of human-machine communication? How can different developments in interface design be brought into a context and thus evaluated in terms of design history?

The aim of the research focus is to collect a history of interface design and thus make it readable.

Contact: Prof. Dr. des. Marion Godau-Deekeling

Data visualization transforms datasets into visual and interactive representations. Across various fields, there is great hope in the power of visualization to turn complex data into clear and comprehensible forms. Effective data visualization relies on interface design that harnesses computational means and our perceptual system to help reveal otherwise invisible patterns and gain new insights.

Research question: Exploration and narration constitute the quintessential purposes of data visualization, yet, they are often considered as opposites. Exploration refers to the interactive, non-linear, and dive-in experience, while narration is a rather passive, linear, and lean-back encounter with data. Exploration requires considerable effort and expertise to analyze data according to one’s interests; in contrast, narration requires mainly time and attention to be consumed and follows largely predetermined paths through observations and explanations. These two modes seem to be mutually exclusive, but are they really? In the field of data journalism, narrative and explorative forms of data representation are already being integrated in innovative ways. How could we make data both explorable and tellable? What would a meaningful integration of exploration and storytelling look like? How can the crafts of authoring stories and building interfaces be mutually supportive?

The virtual extension of the visual reality that surrounds us has begun and will spread in the coming years through the use of increasingly inconspicuous and intuitive tools such as AR glasses.
We are interested in projects that address the role of graphic design at this intersection of real space and the virtual interface. Proposed projects can be application-oriented and realistic, but also artistic and speculative. However, the focus of all projects should be on changing visuality and graphic design. What will our world look like in the future? How will we remember our daily visual experiences in the near future, and will we still be able to distinguish which of them were real and which were not?

Contact person: Sven Völker, Professor for Visual Experiment and Strategy

We are looking for projects at the intersection of art and design. Our focus is on the graphic designer as author and visual storyteller, as well as on the exploration of new graphic techniques and the invention and discovery of new images and undiscovered visual worlds.
We do not distinguish between art and design and are interested in projects that would benefit from this position and furthermore support our mission to bring both disciplines back closer together. This aspect is also gaining momentum in the increasingly socially critical roles and functions of design and the designer.

Contact person: Sven Völker, Professor for Visual Experiment and Strategy

Typographic decisions can structure texts, make links visible or create reading entrances. Through this interweaving of discursive and graphic aspects, typography opens up perspectives for the accessible representation of multi-layered structures. We are interested in master's topics that explore the potential of type as a graphic means of representing complex structures. What can typography do for us in our increasingly complex world?

Contact: Christina Poth, Professor of Typography

Whether traffic signs, shop fronts, signposts or advertising messages - the written language plays upon and structures public space. We are interested in master's topics that explore the narrative, identity-creating or regulating potential of written signs in an urban context. What do writing and word choice tell us about a place, its inhabitants, its history? How does the presence of these contents control the perception and use of a public space?

Contact: Christina Poth, Professor of Typography

Designed media create realities and bear witness to our culture. The communicative effectiveness of these artefacts is subject to both cultural conventions and their media characteristics - and conversely also influences them. We are interested in Master's topics that deal critically with this topic in the broadest sense: Can visual patterns be identified in relation to certain media genres, industries or contents? What exactly "works" communicatively in designed media? What role does "visuality" play in communicative impact between decoration and attraction?

Contact: Matthias Beyrow, Professor of Identity and Signs

In the Picture Book Lab at the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences students develop books for children and adults. The focus is on the artistic "making" of picture books, which involves a close connection between text and image and includes other dimensions such as material, format, dramaturgy, interaction and abstraction. Students work on their books holistically from the first simple idea to a complex medium. We see ourselves as storytellers who work with words and images in equal measure. We are interested in your project proposal for a fiction or a non-fiction picture book.

Contact person: Sven Völker, Professor for Experiment and Strategy

Today’s reading habits have changed. We navigate between text fragments, augmented bits and pieces and editable layers. New forms of reading have made their appearance. Reading content is available at any time and place through several channels and on multiple devices. We are interested in master topics, that question these transformations and the meaning for us designers? How does this fit with traditional ways of designing text? What can we learn from our reading habits nowadays and what impact does this have on the future of libraries? What are tomorrow’s challenges and perspectives on designing texts for reading?

This research topic is discussed annually in the symposium "Further Reading" (Verlinkung mit Website) organized by the Department of Design at University of Applied Sciences Potsdam and is closely linked to it.

Ansprechpartnerinnen: Christina Poth, Professorin für »Typografie« und Susanne Stahl, Professorin für "Redaktionelle Gestaltung"

Digitale Medien revolutionieren das Publizieren und führen zur Entstehung hybrider Formate, die die Grenzen zwischen traditionellen Printmedien und digitalen Plattformen verwischen. Diese neuen Formen integrieren Vorteile aus beiden Welten, indem sie die taktile Qualität und Beständigkeit gedruckter Medien mit der Flexibilität und Interaktivität digitaler Technologien kombinieren. So entstehen innovative Möglichkeiten, Inhalte zu gestalten, zu verbreiten und zu erleben. Wir interessieren uns für Masterthemen, die untersuchen, wie moderne Technologien das Leseerlebnis verändern und wie traditionelle Medien, insbesondere das Buch, weiterhin eine bedeutende Rolle spielen können. Im Fokus steht die Frage, wie Print und digitale Formate zukünftig zusammenwirken und welche neuen Perspektiven sich für die Gestaltung und Partizipation ergeben.

Ansprechpartnerin: Susanne Stahl, Professorin für "Redaktionelle Gestaltung"

Conception and design of system, services and system components for an intermodal, climate-neutral in operation, resource-efficient logistics system for conurbations.

Studies and pilot projects on last mile logistics suggest that the combination of bicycle logistics, micro depots, micro hubs, novel container systems, new forms of parcel delivery, bundling of transports, novel vehicles and the shift of transports to rail vehicles can reduce the negative impacts of inner-city traffic to a very large extent.

The ICL project will develop a system design study for an effective, environmentally friendly logistics system for the regions of Berlin and Potsdam. This will make the potentials of digitalisation, automation, cycle logistics, electric drive and rail transport combined tangible.

Background

In addition to private cars, logistics and parcel delivery contribute significantly to pollutants, noise emissions and land consumption and accidents in urban transport.

To meet the urgently needed 1.5 degree climate target agreed in Paris, all German transport must become climate neutral within 10 - 15 years. According to the Federal Environment Agency, however, greenhouse gas emissions from transport increased by 0.7 per cent from 2018 to 1019.

According to a study by the research institute International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), air pollution from traffic is responsible for around 13,000 premature deaths annually in Germany.

Today's rapidly growing city logistics require a considerable amount of space, and parking, loading and unloading in particular significantly impede the expansion and use of bicycle infrastructure and contribute to accidents and traffic disruptions.

Germany is just beginning to selectively switch commercial transport to small, light, emission-free vehicles such as cargo bicycles and light electric vehicles. The WIV-RAD study published by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs (BMVI) puts the shift potential from commercial transport to cargo bikes (reduction of journeys by car, van, lorry) at 22.6 %.

Currently, the inner-city transport of goods by rail vehicles, which use the infrastructure available for passenger transport, is still almost insignificant. However, earlier studies by the FHP have shown that existing inner-city rail systems can be a very good basis for low-emission, space-saving and efficient supply and disposal in urban areas. This finding is supported by various studies.

Today, supply and disposal in conurbations is done almost exclusively by diesel-powered vans and lorries. These are usually dimensioned in such a way that they can accommodate the maximum amount of goods to be transported on one trip, usually on one working day. As a result, a small package weighing a few hundred grams is driven to the recipient's front door in a large 3.5 tonne transporter. To a large extent, transport vehicles are basically used as rolling warehouses, which are completely oversized for point-to-point delivery.

Mobility Design Lab

Intermodal City Logistics (ICL) is a project of the Mobility Design Lab (MDL) that focuses on the conception and design of new systems and vehicles that are suitable for providing impulses for the short-term changeover to low-emission and climate-neutral mobility. For research, testing and prototyping, the MDL has the latest 3D technology at its disposal, such as a BigRep large-format 3D printer and an Artec Leo hand-held scanner.

Contact: Prof. Holger Jahn, Professor of Mobility and Design

The focus of the training for the Master's programme in product design lies in the interdisciplinary orientation of the programme and the work on projects from the very beginning. New fields of activity, as well as fundamentally new impulses for questions of product design, arise in particular from the link to materials research, materials technology and various production technologies. The occupational profile to which the training relates is currently undergoing change. This development is taken into account in the new focal points of the subject as it is pursued at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. In addition to the classic design of manufactured goods, product designers are increasingly expected to provide conceptual services that take into account and critically depict the diverse conditions of our industrial culture. One focus of the polycentric education is on researching materials and process technologies. The aim is to create an awareness among students of the importance of the interplay between material selection, engineering performance and design, in order to be able to synergistically combine the existing competences of designers, material manufacturers, developers, engineers and producers later on. The focus here is on the interaction of materials and process engineering through multidisciplinary cooperation with material research institutes and production companies. Starting with the study of new materials, the student acts as a "networker" who learns to design production scenarios at the material/production interface, taking into account technical, social and economic aspects, and to participate in the development of new materials and their application in close cooperation with industry and research. As a mediator of a permanent exchange process between material research and product design, the increasing integration and dissemination of new production scenarios and advanced material technologies, but also the observation of changing patterns of action and socio-cultural changes, result in constantly new opportunities for product designers to design and intervene in existing structures. The students should be given the opportunity to make their own reflections on the application of new processes or alternative material transfers by being introduced to traditional production processes and the processing of materials. The transfer and processing of new materials to already existing manufacturing techniques open up to the student a still-to-be-developed field of connection possibilities from which innovative design can result. The designer thus becomes the initiator of a reactivation of lost and relearnable solid production practices as well as a researcher and material inventor. In this sense, the designer sees him/herself as a project coordinator of a sustainable social process design in which processes and materials are strategically interlinked. The idea of "think global, but act local" can also be realised through the global networking of process technologies, research facilities and materials. The de-localised and networked conception and production of goods is part of a utopia designed and implemented by designers.

Contact: Prof. Hermann Weizenegger

1. »I want!« - Need horizon / need situation and experience of reality (of the situation of things)

The basic hypothesis: All needs have an object reference. Culture in this context means the translation (projection), representation and organisation of (differentiated) needs into (binding) formal codes. (Whereby parts of these "forms" are not exclusively of an objective nature, but of a subjective nature, e.g. social / cf. Gestalt theory / Gestalt psychology).

The subject of the Master's thesis is the question of ...

1. the general needs of the individual in our society, the differences and the commonalities. How are these needs individually and socially reflected, formulated (constructed) and communicated?
2. the cultural (formal) correspondences. How are these presented, according to importance, bindingness? Are there typifications, cross-milieu or general obligations (standards related to a generally binding measure of minimum equipment, for example)?
3. the relationship between need (set) on the one hand and correspondence (supply) on the other. What is the correlation between desire and reality?
4. For example, against the background of the new media and their general dissemination, are there significant changes in the assessment (appreciation) of objective need equivalents versus virtual ones? What is the focus of attention? Is there a change with regard to the hierarchy of needs (cf. Maslow's pyramid of needs)?
5. Do object and object scenarios function in a contemporary (appropriate) way? Do e.g. the need for (further) movement correlate with the individual or generally available (locomotion) media provided for this purpose, is e.g. the so-called individual transport still so successful only due to a lack of alternatives? In principle, the relationship between need and satisfaction should be examined and presented in relation to the cultural situation.

Different goals can be pursued with the research work:

• theoretical basic work of a phenomenology of the need culture of our society with regard to the development of time-appropriate strategies of product development
• Theoretical, practical basic work: a selection of given (traditional) need satisfaction scenarios is contrasted with concrete alternatives (strategic/design) (cf. "elsewhere").

2. »Thing & You« – Living with things

Subject/object relationship / a psychology of the thing relationship (set and setting / object world / interactions / mechanisms of action in relation to design practice)

Hypothesis: Every object presupposes a gesture of use appropriate to it. Every culture can be defined by its typical "choreography of life". An object-centred view of things excludes living with things. It is in the nature of product development to focus only on the product to be developed. In (private) everyday life as well as in working life, on the other hand, things are organised in a canon of use and are more or less based on use scenarios/processes that are meaningfully connected in sequence. Promises of use increasingly imply a high advantage of use through differentiation of functions (here, among other things, the relationship of competence in use shifts in favour of the optional - automated/discrete - range of functions inherent in things), the more functions on offer tends to mean a higher expenditure of time in dealing with the object - even if simple handling is suggested. In doing so, it collides with all the other things vying for the same attention.

Subject of the Master's thesis

1. It is to be examined to what extent immediacy and mediation are perceived in the reception/perception of the material environment, i.e. whether they are seen as "natural" or problematic.
2. The extent to which the needs associated with the use of an object, on the one hand, and the linking of action sequences, on the other hand, correlate will be examined in terms of various contemporary needs scenarios.

3. »Living in a box« – Object culture and behavioural conditioning (Skinner)

"Set up" - via the conventions of life / the institution / boundaries, play spaces and openings.
Hypothesis: The furnishings reflect the individual's location in society and the world. In this respect, furnishing represents a reconciliation between individual paradigms of needs and tastes and social norms - furnishing is always based on conventions.

Subject of the Master's thesis

Functioning, control circuits and conditions of the phenomenon of living. How open/closed are the systems of private living environments? To what extent do social changes present themselves in the private environment (can they be communicated about - conditioning/counter-conditioning)? What options for action and "room for manoeuvre" arise for designers and what social standards are in keeping with the times?

Contact: Prof. Jörg Hundertpfund

1. "Dream Body« – the Beautiful in Postmodernity

It is no coincidence that the focus of the Master's topic is on the stylistic aspect of cultural change. Firstly, it is striking that the majority of things in general typological and functional terms are relatively "stable" in the face of change in stylistic manifestations. In other words, we are confronted with a development that does not so much question the scenarios/conventions of social life as formally reinterpret them. In this process, the individual has the role of equipping himself with the worlds/objects of identification that suit him in a world of offers of the Multible Joyce.

This is increasingly a challenge (identity/acceleration crisis). On the other hand, the fundamental criticism of product design and design education is that it still focuses almost exclusively on functional, conceptual issues and that formal aspects play little or no role. Significant in this respect is a global stylistic "reflex", a "discrete" formal dictum of product design in the sense of a lack of critical reflection, which, with few exceptions, is more or less immune to the stylistic, but also content-related signs of the times.

The subject of the master's thesis ...

is the question of aesthetic leitmotifs in design (in design education) - what is considered "contemporary"? How do the different object aspects relate to the specific formal expression in each case? Can trends be anticipated and instrumentalised on the basis of methods? An inventory and description of aesthetic aspects in design and a didactically, methodically oriented basic development with regard to a stylistic instrument for design education and design practice.

2. »Brave New World - Perspective on Design« – Design as the Language of Utopia

The basic hypothesis: Every development requires a development horizon. This horizon can develop from individual, different or a bundle of motives. Motives can be caused by: a utopia, a lack, a dysbalance, an emergency situation. The development horizon is very narrowly defined in the context of product development (problem-centredness). As a rule, it is about questions that revolve directly around the development problem and in this sense are predominantly of an economic and technical nature. Not least because of dramatic ecological developments, it is evident that a product culture has hardly any chance of survival without reference to a broader context, such as the consideration of sustainability in globalised economic and ecological development scenarios. The aspect of taking into account a context that does not directly concern product development has, in addition to an economic and ecological dimension, also a social (political) and thus generally cultural one. The question of the social consequences of (product) development has not been of concern so far, although an obvious connection can hardly be overlooked. In particular, the technical developments of the last twenty years have brought about a hitherto unprecedented change in our communication behaviour, with consequences that can hardly be foreseen today.

Subject of the Master's thesis

1. Can consequences of developments be anticipated (to what extent / cf. scenarios and measures in the context of pandemic epidemics)?
2. Are anticipatory comprehensive (holistic) development scenarios, such as those produced by modernity (cf. constructivism / futurism / Bauhaus), still conceivable or conceivable again today in postmodernity? (In this context, the question of the success of historical future scenarios arises).
3. Can design, understood as an intracultural instance (in the sense of an interdisciplinary catalyst) and as a modern linguistic medium of differentiation and the creation of meaning (cf. Marshall Mc Luhan: "Printing tended to change language from a means of perception to a portable commodity. Printing is not only a technology but itself a natural occurrence or raw material like cotton or wood or radio; and like any raw material, it shapes not only personal relations of sense but also patterns of communal interaction." The Gutenberg Galaxy, 1962), with the description and mediation of controlling roles (perspective design / cf. In the Designer Park - Life in Artificial Worlds)?
4. Development and presentation of corresponding design-based scenarios.

3. »The thing without a model« The (pre-/post-) modern age and the revolutionary object

The development of the world of things proceeded in an evolutionary manner until (at the beginning of the modern era/proto-modernity) around the 1600 century (Renaissance), things came into being and changed to an almost imperceptible degree. With the beginning of the modern era and the enormous growth, especially in technical knowledge and the accompanying development of markets, this changed fundamentally. In addition to a creeping differentiation of use and development - until then, competence in use and development had been in one hand - things increasingly emerged without a (direct) model, i.e. the thing no longer transformed itself in relation to itself, no longer developed in relation to a traditional referential model.

Hermeneutically, things were previously consistent in a generally binding sense (knew by every child). In fact, it may be assumed that also due to the limited repertoire of things, the child already knew and was able to designate all artefacts of culture at about the completion of the preoperational stage of development (J. Piaget). (In this context, it would be interesting to know whether the knowledge of the object was also linked to action competence and knowledge of the assignment to certain groups of persons or statuses. Moreover, the situation of a closed, persisting pool of objects that was regarded as unchanging represents an extraordinary difference to the present situation of the "flow of things").

Still in the age of mechanisation, a "natural" resource of (Gestalt) development formed the physical-technical conditions, such as the functional adaptation/application of the laws of leverage. A readability/interpretability was given insofar as an analogy was possible through the forms, shape and movement processes that were to be presupposed as (generally) known. The development of electronics and the successive replacement of mechanical functions by electronic ones or the miniaturisation (micro-/nanomechanics) and integration of mechanical components as well as the accompanying (partial) automation of production and everyday life finally led to the loss of the concrete (reference and experience) object. In this context, the question of the human-object interface is of particular importance, as it is accompanied by a shift from action/use competence (human) to functional competence (machine).

The subject of the master's thesis ...

is the question of the special development conditions of "objects without a model" on the one hand, and their reception/integration into the world of work and everyday life on the other.

In addition to formal-aesthetic questions, the focus is on the quality of the interface. The search is on for adequate methods of design mediation/development.

4. »The Good Form« – Design and Quality

Hypothesis: The "good form" of the future is characterised solely by the fact that it is still differentiated to the extent that it is still recognisable as a form at all.

The question of the quality of an object today is essentially decided by whether it is of meaningful significance (has a meaningful perspective).

Loss of substance, loss of form and the reduction of experiential potential through interaction with the object due to highly integrated product concepts without a model as well as exponential variant formation lead to the crisis of reception/perception ("You have to hurry up if you still want to see something. Everything disappears." Paul Cézanne). The consequences are essentially the loss of the object as a medium of social communication (representation/distinction), but also as a medium of direct experience of the world. If an object cannot (any longer) be "read", i.e. understood, if it has no binding connotations, i.e. fails as a binding communicator in the context of the reality of life, it functions merely as a mirror of self-reflection in a hyper-individualistic autistic world.(... man a narcissistic monad, enclosed in his bubble, incapable of community. Sloterdijk)

The situation: the distinctive quality of an object remains increasingly trapped in self-reflection (I and the object), insofar as the milieus lose the quality/task as a (more or less) unambiguous reference equivalent/reagent. The role of the object in intersubjective communication decreases and in contrast that in intrasubjective increases (rocker clubs versus netcommunity/product examples MP3 player/smartphone in this sense as hermaphrodite product: monadic withdrawal and proclamation).

The substitution of concrete use, which is characterised by physically differentiated manipulation/interaction with the object, by shifting (partially) automated/integrated functional processes, the consequence of which is a universal and reduced gesture of operation (rudimentary gesture), furthermore prevent an essential appropriation of the world by means of the object.
The physical world can be experienced through objects. The informal world no longer needs objects or separates object and concept - the object survives as an image object whose physical model/representation appears obsolete or at least questionable. What remains is the insecure subject of an in-between world, which cynically also disappears due to the development of communication media when it is only medially (i.e. also mediated, not concrete and immediate) represented, real, for society (the counterpart).(oversext and underfuckt)

There is good and bad design. Good or bad, however, cannot be referred to a binding standard and are only a partial aspect of an object that consistently eludes binding qualification insofar as it is always subject to different contexts of perception or evaluation in reception/perception.

"Good form" - from the idea of a universal, generally binding quality standard to the idea of the special, situational object-related concept of quality or an expanded contextual concept of quality that takes into account the relevant describable references and conditions.

The subject of the Master's thesis ...

is the investigation of an object-related concept of quality (probably an extended context-based approach is useful with regard to e.g. social/ecological criteria - cf. Lucius Burckhardt "Design is invisible") - and the central question of the necessity of binding criteria in design on the one hand (development/distribution) and cultural mediation on the other.

Contact: Prof. Jörg Hundertpfund

Questions in design usually refer to the framework conditions or the narrower context of concrete product development. In contrast, the Master's focus on design research asks about the more general conditions of product design. In addition to basic research interest, which aims to develop a time-appropriate, well-founded education, it is essentially about an understanding of the possible effects of specific actions, taking into account causal conditions, and thus about a (new) understanding of responsible action, i.e. about the question of the relationship between design and ethics.

Roughly 2 (thematic/contextual) fields can be derived:

1. Design and aesthetics

Design is language and design changes language. Design is time-based - consequently there is no binding formal code. It is about an understanding of the dynamics, the conditions of syntactic, semantic development and the critical reflection of formal criteria or formal quality in relation to/dependence on contemporary questions and conceptions. In addition, the focus "Design and Aesthetics" attempts to occupy a thematic field that has generally not played a role in design education to date.

2. Design and Society / Participation / Reception

Product culture changes society. The interest of product development is directed at the market and stops with the product as a commodity. Society is presented in a truncated way as a target group phenomenon. In contrast, the effects of product development need to be examined. The topic is the product in the context of use. It is about everyday culture (culture of use) and a differentiated view of society, the socio-cultural framework that the product experiences in everyday use and plays a decisive role in shaping.

Contact: Prof. Jörg Hundertpfund

Material is an important forward-looking impulse generator for design innovations. If you develop your own material as a designer, you have a great potential of possibilities at your disposal. Material can open the door to new topics and be the basis for long-term product developments for potential manufacturers, especially for young designers. In the field of "Material & Production", designers are increasingly in demand as practice-oriented researchers and designers. Designers have the appropriate methods to develop complex material developments and to design applied products from them.

Research question

The Master's thesis is about the interaction of material and process engineering that can arise through multidisciplinary cooperation with institutes of material research and production companies. The focus is on experimentation and the analysis of production processes, i.e.: How do you develop your own material? How can material be parasitically produced in existing productions?

The focus of the training for the Master's programme in Product Design lies in the interdisciplinary orientation of the programme and the work on projects from the very beginning. In particular, new fields of activity as well as fundamentally new impulses for questions of product design arise from the link to materials research, materials engineering and various production technologies.
The job profile to which the training relates is currently undergoing change. This development is taken into account in the new focal points of the subject as it is pursued at the FH Potsdam. In addition to the classic design of manufactured goods, product designers are increasingly expected to provide conceptual services that take into account and critically depict the diverse conditions of our industrial culture.
One focus of the polycentric education is on researching materials and process technologies. The aim is to create an awareness among students of the importance of the interplay between material selection, engineering performance and design, in order to be able to synergistically combine the existing competences of designers, material manufacturers, developers, engineers and producers later on. The focus here is on the interaction of materials and process engineering through multidisciplinary cooperation with both material research institutes and production companies. Starting from the study of new materials, students act as "networkers" who learn to design production scenarios at the material/production interface, taking into account technical, social and economic aspects, and to participate in the development of new materials and their application in close cooperation with industry and research. As mediators of a permanent exchange process between material research and product design, the increasing integration and dissemination of new production scenarios and advanced material technologies, but also the observation of changing patterns of action and socio-cultural changes, result in constantly new opportunities for product designers to design and intervene in existing structures.
Students should be given the opportunity to make their own reflections on the application of new processes or alternative material transfers by being introduced to traditional production processes and the processing of materials. The processing and the transfer of new materials to already existing manufacturing techniques open up a field of linking possibilities for the student that is yet to be developed and from which innovative design can result. The designer reactivates lost production practices and becomes a researcher and material inventor. In this sense, the designer sees him/herself as a project coordinator of a sustainable social process design in which processes and materials are strategically interconnected. The idea of "think global, but act local" can also be realised through the global networking of process technologies, research facilities and materials. The de-localised and networked conception and production of goods is part of a utopia designed and implemented by the designer.

Contact: Prof. Hermann Weizenegger

University of Applied Sciences Potsdam was one of the first universities to establish a degree programme in interface design. But since when can we speak of interface design (or interaction design, UX design or service design) as the interface between humans and computers? Who were the relevant personalities and what outstanding achievements shaped the further development of human-machine communication? How can different developments in interface design be brought into a context and thus evaluated in terms of design history?

The aim of the research focus is to collect a history of interface design and thus make it readable.

Contact: Prof. Dr. des. Marion Godau-Deekeling

The founding of the Bauhaus and the professional association Bund der Deutschen Gebrauchsgraphiker (from 1968: Bund Deutscher Grafik-Designer, since 2009: Berufsverband der Deutschen Kommunikationsdesigner) in 1919 marked an institutional turning point in the development of design in Germany. Together with the Deutscher Werkbund, which had already been founded in 1907, important forces for the modernisation of design had been formed, which have had a decisive influence on its development up to the present day.

Objective

In this Master's thesis, selected developmental strands in the fields of communication design, product design or interface design will be used to examine historical contexts in relation to current developmental perspectives of design. In particular, the diverse links between design development and technological, scientific, ideological, cultural and political developments are to be worked out in their multiple mutual interdependencies. The often encountered historical teleology, in which selected phenomena of the present are declared to be goals in history, which have been achieved by the course of history in a pseudo-natural way, is to be avoided.

The results of the Master's thesis are to be incorporated into the preparation of a comprehensive exhibition "100 Years of German Design" to be held in Berlin in 2019.

The topic of the Master's thesis is to be narrowed down/precised in consultation with Prof. Godau and Prof. Dr. Funke.

Prerequisite

Bachelor's degree in design or in humanities or cultural studies.

Contact persons: Prof. Dr. des. Marion Godau-Deekeling

Whether perestroika, digitalisation or dolly the sheep – today's rapid changes in our world took off after 1989, and many political, social and technological courses were set in the 1990s. Nevertheless, there is currently little literature that describes and evaluates the design of the period from 1989 onwards in terms of design history.

Master's theses in this field deal with the social changes and their effects on product, communication or interface design and thus contribute to closing the gaps in design history from the 1990s onwards.

Contact: Prof. Dr. des. Marion Godau-Deekeling

They are neglected in the annals of design history: women like Melitta Bentz, Lotte Reininger or Eileen Gray. There are quite a few female designers who have exerted a strong influence on communication, interface and product design in the course of design history and/or have helped shape today's design. Master's theses in this regard could conduct biographical research, deal with the topic discourse-analytically or examine a historical period.

The aim is to use the results to build up an archive in order to present and honour outstanding female designers and their work.

Contact: Prof. Dr. des. Marion Godau-Deekeling

The aptitude tests for the Master's degree programme in Design take place twice a year. You can apply for participation online in the registration portal for the aptitude test.

• For the next summer semester, registration for the aptitude test is possible from 01 November to 15 December.
• For the next winter semester, registration for the qualifying examination is possible from 01 May to 15 June.

Documents to be submitted

When registering, the following documents must be submitted by the deadline in the registration portal:

• Letter of motivation (1.5 to 2 pages)
• Curriculum vitae in table form
• University degree certificate(s) or current transcript of records with the ECTS credit points earned to date and the grade earned to date, if the degree has not yet been completed
• Abstract of the proposal, 1 DIN A4 page with the following information: 1. title, 2. brief description, 3. central question, 4. design project
• Proposed topic for the Master's project (proposal), with detailed presentation
• Portfolio with your previous work
• If applicable, references/contracts on internships and/or professional activities
• If applicable, list of awards and prizes, projects and publications as well as further education and training relevant to art and design.
• If applicable, application for compensation for disadvantages in the aptitude test.

The documents can be submitted in German or English.

The aptitude test usually takes place at the university's facilities. It can be conducted in a university-public event as an individual examination of approx. 20 minutes in length or as a group examination with an appropriately adapted total duration.

Procedure

• Digital presentation of the proposal for the Master's project combined with an interview before the responsible committee,
• Digital presentation of a portfolio and, if applicable, submission of recent work samples and/or projects and publications at the request of the commission.

For preparation, please note the information on the evaluation criteria and notes on the proposal.

After the aptitude test

As a rule, the determination of artistic suitability for the degree programme applies to the enrolment period for the winter or summer semester immediately following the determination procedure, which must be stated in the application for the aptitude test. The Master's commission decides in individual cases.

For detailed information on the determination of artistic aptitude for the Master's degree programme in design, please refer to the statutes for the determination of artistic aptitude, which can be found on the page of the Module Handbooks and Study and Examination Regulations of the design department.

Application

Have you successfully passed the aptitude test? Then you have the opportunity to submit your application from 15 June to 15 August for the winter semester or from 15 January to 15 February for the summer semester in the MyCampus university portal of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.

Enrolment

Have you accepted the offer of admission and received your letter of admission? Then you have the opportunity to submit an enrolment application for the upcoming winter semester in the MyCampus university portal of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.

Once you have submitted your online application for enrolment, please submit the printed and signed application together with all required documents in paper form by the deadline. The day of the enrolment deadline is decisive for the submission of the documents, whereby the date of receipt by post at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam is decisive.

Documents to be submitted

• officially certified copy of the university entrance qualification or the university degree certificate
• Proof of health insurance from the statutory health insurance for students or proof of exemption from the statutory insurance obligation via the electronic student registration procedure
• Payment slip/confirmation of payment of the semester fee and, if applicable, other fees
• If applicable, certificate of exmatriculation from the last university attended
• If applicable, further documents according to the enrolment application or enrolment notice
• Photo for issuing the Campus Card

Do you have questions about the enrolment process at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam? We have compiled frequently asked questions and answers regarding enrolment and admission.

You have accepted the offer of admission and received your letter of admission? Then you have the opportunity to submit an enrolment application for the upcoming winter semester in the MyCampus university portal of the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences.

Once you have submitted your online application for enrolment, please submit the printed and signed application together with all required documents in paper form by the deadline. The day of the enrolment deadline is decisive for the submission of the documents, whereby the date of receipt by post at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam is decisive.

Documents to be submitted

• Officially certified copy of the university entrance qualification or the university degree certificate
• Proof of health insurance from the statutory health insurance for students or proof of exemption from the statutory insurance obligation via the electronic student registration procedure
• Payment slip/confirmation of payment of the semester fee and, if applicable, other fees 
• If applicable, certificate of exmatriculation from the last university attended
• If applicable, further documents according to the enrolment application or enrolment notice
• Photo for issuing the Campus.Card
• Do you have questions about the enrolment process at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam? We have compiled frequently asked questions and answers regarding enrolment and admission.

Start your studies

After successfully completing the application process, we recommend that you take a look at the study start page of the design department. There you will find important information and dates regarding the start of your studies at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.