Service Design students will have an eclectic mix of design disciplines, experience and expertise from the worlds of business, technology and creative industries. The linking factor is intellectual curiosity, personal drive and a capacity to work as a creative team, while inspiring rather than diminishing each individual’s own creativity. We are seeking individuals who can not only envision new types of service experience but are sufficiently grounded and practical enough to turn them into realities.

The Service Design MA is designed for students with the following backgrounds:

• Experienced designers, especially communications and product designers seeking to significantly expand their capabilities with services and service systems design and engage higher up the value chain in terms of strategic design and delivery. This may include the coordination and leadership of a project involving several other design disciplines.
• Recent high-performing graduates from design disciplines as well as from computing and other technical disciplines, seeking to develop their design capabilities and create higher value added services for their clients. It is also designed for budding designer entrepreneurs interested in launching new service led business ventures through the multiple award winning RCA business incubator.
• Mid and senior professionals from industry and the public sector, with evidence of their creative talents as demonstrated by leadership of innovative projects, who are seeking to enhance their capabilities and apply a design led approach to the transformation of consumer, business to business, and public sector services e.g. health service or home office professionals, service designers from telecommunications and hospitality sector.

Candidates for all MA courses are assessed on their existing qualities as demonstrated in their work and in their interview, as well as on their potential to benefit from the programme and to achieve MA standards overall. The assessment will consider: creativity, imagination and innovation evident in the work; ability to articulate the intentions of the work; intellectual engagement in relevant areas; appropriate technical skills; overall interview performance, including oral use of English.

Portfolio: Entrance Examination Part 1

• All candidates are required to submit an online portfolio of work to be assessed by the programme’s senior staff team and student representatives.
• Candidates should construct an online portfolio that reflects their abilities, experience and interests.
• Candidates are selected on the basis of a body of work that demonstrates an advanced understanding of the subject and sufficient technical skill to realise intentions, evidence of commitment to the subject, intellectual curiosity, open-mindedness, the ability to collaborate, to engage in debate and respond to criticism, and the ability to engage in sustained and consistent study.
• Please download the Service Design Online Portfolio Application Guidelines (PDF).

• You should bring with you a portfolio containing a selection of your online submission in its finished physical form, as well as your most recent work or work in progress, together with supporting research material. The entrance exam comprises of an interview (15 minutes in duration) and a creative exercise (1 hour).

All work must be taken away after the interview.