Service Design MA

The Service Design MA at the RCA prepares you to navigate complex social, organisational and environmental challenges through a transdisciplinary, practice-based approach. You develop human insight, systems thinking and collaborative methods to imagine and prototype new futures that create positive change. Through live, team-based projects with commercial, public sector and social organisations, you move through deep research, issue reframing, concept generation, prototyping and user testing. The programme encourages critical and reflective practice, helping you develop the confidence to contribute to the evolution of service design as both a practice and discipline. Through a studio-based learning environment supported by lectures, seminars, workshops, fieldwork and tutorials, you build the skills, mindset and capabilities to lead innovation across business, government, social organisations and other sectors. Programme structure: Term 1 In Term 1, you take Service Design Foundation, introducing the theories and concepts underpinning service and service design practice through a small-scale, analytically focused team project. You also take Service Design Practice, applying service design tools and methods to a live project in dialogue with industry partners, addressing challenges such as health, sustainability, business innovation or social inclusion. Term 2 In Term 2, you take Service Design in Context, examining the relationship between practice and context and the impact of service design on economic, technological, social, cultural and environmental systems. You develop a proposal for your Independent Research Project while considering how these contexts shape the implementation of service ideas. Also in Term 2, a choice of elective units allows you to shape your own learning journey and work alongside students from other programmes. You explore interdisciplinary approaches, collaborate on complex design challenges and bring diverse perspectives into your practice. Term 3 In Term 3, you take the Independent Research Project, which is self-directed and focused on establishing you as a professional service designer within your chosen area of expertise. You develop strategic visions alongside practical design interventions for new services and systems, culminating in a public output that contributes to wider discussion about the value and suitability of the services and interactions we experience.Referring to the website: Please refer to the programme webpage for the most accurate and up-to-date information about the programme, its structure, modules and any updates or changes. About RCA: The Royal College of Art is the world’s leading postgraduate art and design university, providing students with unrivalled opportunities to develop their practice, build their networks, enhance their career and to deliver art and design projects that transform the world. For 12 consecutive years, the RCA has been ranked as the world’s number 1 art & design university in the QS World University subject rankings (2015-2026) - attracting artists, designers and communicators from across the globe.

We invite candidates from around the world who have a passion for design as a transformational tool and wish to take that to a Masters level. Our selection process looks for a desire to take on challenging issues, to be curious in uncovering reality and bring creativity to finding and delivering new solutions.The Service Design MA programme takes students with and without a design background who show the right qualities and the intellectual ability and desire for creative innovation as demonstrated through your portfolio. You should have a BA, BSc or similar or minimum of five years professional experienceStudents may come from product, communication, digital and user experience design who wish to expand to their capabilities, be recent high performing graduates from other design disciplines as well as from computing and other technical disciplines, be budding entrepreneurs interested in launching new service-led business ventures and mid and senior professionals from industry and the public sector, with evidence of their creative talents as demonstrated by leadership of innovative projects.Portfolio requirementsPlease submit a selected portfolio of work (no more than 5 examples) which clearly establishes and evidences your abilities in articulating research questions, methods, and approaches. This PDF portfolio may relate directly to your proposed research project, and/or be drawn from recent professional work (in which case, there should be an articulation of skills and an understanding of research processes).Personal statementPlease provide a 300-word written personal statement that addresses the following points:Introduce yourself, your interests and your motivations for applying to the Royal College of Art, and to this programme in particular.Briefly summarise any educational background and professional experience to date that will support your application.Tell us what you want to do in the future.Video requirements