The aim of the bachelor’s program in the Design department is to convey the transformative potential of design practices and to support students in their personal search for forms of design that have a meaningful impact on society. At the center are the students’ artistic-research questions, which develop into individual or collective projects. Within their self-directed course of study, students are supervised by instructors from different classes.

In the process, students develop diverse positions and ways of working—from experimental and public formats to material-based investigations and long-term regenerative design approaches. Project work within the respective classes sometimes takes place in real political contexts and engages in a partisan manner with social actors. In other cases, it positions itself within ecological transformation processes and explores sustainable design practices. Alternatively, it incorporates non-human actors and queer perspectives in order to rethink design from a decentered point of view. The Design department advocates an artistic practice of shaping environments that situates itself within the dense and contested realities of our world.

Each class within the Design department approaches design from a different perspective. They engage with different environments, tools, and practices. All classes maintain a hands-on yet critically reflective relationship to real contexts outside the university—often in cooperation with actors or institutions oriented toward the common good.

Extensive workshops at HFBK are available for the realization of artistic projects—for example in the areas of wood, ceramics, plastics, print, metal, digital technologies, sustainability, photography, media technology, and electronics. The accompanying offerings in the Department Theory and History deepen the artistic and design-related questions and experiences, providing historical and theoretical knowledge as well as methodological tools for the development of a critical self-understanding. The presentation, mediation, and discussion of design approaches are an important part of the program. Through annual exhibitions, excursions, external workshops, and exhibitions, new forms of presenting and receiving design are explored.

The master’s program provides students with a framework to deepen their artistic and design-oriented positions and to further develop them both independently and collaboratively. At its core is the engagement with socially effective practices that understand the shaping of our environment as a responsible and critical activity within ecological, material, social, and political contexts.

Design is understood here as an artistic research process in which, alongside technical skills developed through practical work, the capacity for critical reflection is also cultivated. Theoretical offerings convey historical and contemporary perspectives on art and design, enabling students to contextualize their own approaches to practice. In this way, students strengthen their individual artistic and design positions through the interplay of practical and conceptual work and through discourse with fellow students and instructors.

The well-equipped workshops at HFBK provide the necessary infrastructure for experimental design. In addition, the university’s numerous collaborations with organizations oriented toward the common good and with public institutions make it possible to realize and test artistic projects in real-world contexts. International study stays are also encouraged during the master’s program. Guest lectures, workshops, and excursions offer further opportunities for deepening one’s studies. The public presentation and discussion within the university of each student’s research and design project at the end of a semester—alongside the annual exhibitions—provides an opportunity to reflect on questions of project mediation and reception.