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Experience Design, MFA

Experience Design is a holistic and integrative approach to design that focuses on the quality of the human experience in concrete situations. It employs investigation, analysis, creativity and technology as tools to understand human goals, needs, and desires and to mediate the human experience. The Experience Design program at Northeastern University embraces research-driven design thinking for entrepreneurship and innovation, focusing on important global challenges of today.

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The Master of Fine Arts in Experience Design is a STEM-designated program that teaches students how to become vital contributors and leaders of professional experience design teams where technological innovation intersects with design. Successful graduates will be able to analyze how people undergo real-world situations, enabling them to enrich experiences by orchestrating new design-driven relationships. 

Through combining theory with studio-based practice, the curriculum features core courses in Research Methods, Design Systems, Notational Systems, Prototyping, and Experience Design Studios, complemented with specialized electives. Students have access to dedicated studio space within a vibrant graduate community, developing skills to collaborate across disciplines while addressing complex societal challenges. Graduates excel in design agencies, research institutions, and academic careers. This degree requires 60 credit hours over two academic years. Students complete 10 required courses and 4 electives.

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Application Deadlines + Requirements

Scholarships + Assistantships

Learning Outcomes

  1. Apply iterative design processes to create, revise, evaluate, and develop effective prototypes and innovative solutions.
  2. Engage human-centered design research methods and systems thinking to identify and understand values, goals, motivations of intended audiences as a mode of inquiry, question framing and guide to action.
  3. Develop a high level of craft and technical skills in a relevant range of media and tools and effectively weigh applicability for intended audiences and outcomes.
  4. Develop and realize intent, concept and content with awareness of context and consequence.
  5. Implement visual patterns incorporating text, image, diagram including temporal and spatial representations to recognize, categorize, and articulate significant form and meaning
  6. Employ and embody ethical practices, team and cross-disciplinary collaboration, and effective communication and presentation skills.
  7. Apply relevant communication theories and principles and appreciate the pervasive and long-term impact of design decisions on people and societies.

Degree

Master of Fine Arts

Credits

60

Duration

2 Years

Location

Boston

Format

In-person

Type

STEM-designated

 

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Design Solutions for Global Human Challenges

Students develop the ability to realize design intent with full awareness of context and consequence, applying relevant communication theories and principles throughout their work. The program prepares graduates to appreciate how design decisions create lasting impacts on people and societies, ensuring they approach experience design with both technical competence and social responsibility.

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Course Catalog

Sample Plan of Study

Human-Centered Research + Systems Thinking

Students engage design research methods and systems thinking to identify and understand audience values, goals, and motivations that guide effective design solutions.

Iterative Prototyping + Technical Mastery

The program teaches iterative design processes for creating and evaluating prototypes while developing high-level craft and technical skills across relevant media and tools.

Visual Communication + Pattern Design

Students learn to implement visual patterns incorporating text, image, and diagrams including temporal and spatial representations to articulate significant form and meaning.

Ethical Practice + Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration

The curriculum emphasizes ethical design practices, effective team collaboration, and strong communication skills essential for working across diverse disciplines.

Career Opportunities

Graduates of the Experience Design Master of Fine Arts program are shaping how people interact with technology and design in meaningful ways. Our graduates bring deep research skills, systems thinking, and human centered design expertise that make them highly valuable in creating experiences that leave a lasting impression on users. Whether it be designing digital interfaces for major tech companies, developing immersive experiences for brands, or leading research initiatives to inform design and product strategy, they are at the forefront of experience innovation.  

Our program prepares students for careers such as:

  • Experience designer
  • UX designer
  • Service designer
  • Design researcher
  • Design strategist
  • Design manager
  • Product manager

Industries where our students work as designers include:

  • Technology companies
  • Healthcare organizations
  • Finance companies
  • Educational organizations
  • Public service
  • Creative industries
  • Design agencies and consulting
  • Exhibition and museum design
  • Startups
  • Research institutes

Students

Our students include designers, researchers, and creative professionals who want to lead innovation in user centered design and experience. Whether you come from a background in graphic design, psychology, technology, or another related field, this program helps students create meaningful interactions between users and systems.  

After graduation, our alumni have gone on to roles including:

  • Amazon (UX Designer) 
  • American Express (Product Designer)
  • CVS Health (UX Researcher) 
  • edX (Product Manager) 
  • Ellena C. (Marketing and Business Development Lead) 
  • Google (Product Designer/User Experience Designer)
  • JP Morgan Chase & Co. (UX Research Lead)
  • Literally Helping Startups (Lead UX/UI Designer) 
  • Mad*pow (Creative Director) 
  • Network Science Institute (Program Manager) 
  • Pinterest (Product Designer and Researcher) 
  • Travelers (Experience Design Lead) 
  • Tufts University (Design Strategist) 
  • University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (Experience Designer) 
  • Valour (Service Designer) 
  • Visa (Data Visualization Designer) 
  • Vorn (Vice President, Client Experience and Strategy) 

 

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Resources + Community

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Admissions Contact

Program Coordinator

Faculty

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Miso Kim

Director of CAMD Masters Programs, Associate Professor

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Featured Work

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Design Futures: Work, Play and XR

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Design Futures: Work, Play and XR taught by Professor Bolor Amgalan

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Facilitating Collaboration and Trust in Multicultural Teams

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This project seeks to create new strategies for productive co-working in cross-cultural teams. The purpose of this thesis is to expose and develop an understanding of the challenges faced on multicultural teams.

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Enriching Gifts

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The purpose of the Enriching Gifts project is to analyze gift culture and understand its pluralistic individual values and symbolic social meanings.

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Group and Interpersonal

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This course is grounded in rhetoric and offers students an opportunity to learn a human-centered design perspective in the complex context of interpersonal and group interactions.

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Smooth Commuting: XD Students Win Mad*Pow Health Challenge

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The project Smooth Commuting develops a plan to redesign the Boston commuter rail system in order to mitigate some of these negative effects.

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