Design Department

Design Department

Design is one of the disciplines that organizes our environment and gives form to reality Design is thus in constant conversation with our needs, desires and expectations It serves us so that through design we can constantly adapt to changing environments and focuses We wear designed garments, use designed objects to facilitate work, dwell on, move, travel, communicate, etc. Design has a great impact on how we plan and live our daily lives and connect with ourselves, our neighbor and the environment.   

The Design Department of the Iceland Academy of the Arts offers BA-level courses in fashion design, graphic design and product design and international studies at MA level in design, in a learning environment that is both inspiring and creative. The goal of the design department is to educate students on the professional basis of the subjects with critical creative thinking and artistic skills as a guide. Excellent domestic and foreign designers and academics are involved in teaching, as well as the department is a participant in international cooperation networks of design universities.   

Emphasis is placed on the independence of students, but no less on cooperation within the school and with companies and institutions in society. The working environment and possibilities for design-educated individuals are in great development, and learning and work in the field of design can be seen as a particularly exciting option for those who want to participate in shaping the daily life and environment of the present and the future.  

Objectives of the design department   

• offering ambitious learning and teaching that encourages critical creative thinking.  
• developing a learning community of teachers and students.   
• developing interdisciplinary collaboration in design.  
• working towards sustainability.  
• to strengthen a research culture that supports joint knowledge creation.   
• addressing contemporary challenges in society through design methodology.  
• to promote the culture of design as a driving force in society.   
• to promote constructive changes in society.  
• to explore and work with new technologies and promote material culture in the program.   
• to connect with society through cooperation with associations and institutions.