The ANU School of Art has announced the commencement of a new design degree to launch in 2017.

ANU Design will deliver programs at undergraduate and postgraduate levels including the Bachelor of Design, Masters of Design, and research degrees at Masters and PhD levels. Located within the ANU School of Art, the program provides access to the school’s exceptional facilities and world renowned teaching staff in digital design, craft and visual art.

ANU Design is unique in the Australian tertiary sector and equips graduates with the diversity and depth of expertise necessary to flourish in the contemporary design industry. It combines leading-edge digital practice, hands-on making, and the latest design methods and interdisciplinary opportunities. The program’s highly flexible structure allows students to tailor studies to their interests and ambitions; each can bring the digital and material together in exciting new ways, and extend their expertise through a massive pool of subjects from across the entire ANU.

Head of ANU School of Art Denise Ferris describes the degree as a sliding scale: “We’re creating a degree that can map across a very diverse cohort. On one end of the scale you’ve got people who work entirely at the screen and that’s what they’re very good at. In the middle of the scale you’ve got the hybrid - who want hands on practice but also skills like understanding data, coding and branding, and design thinking. And on the other end of the scale are students who are craftsmen, and want to be perfect at their craft or design discipline.”

“It’s a reinvention of this school, but it’s a reinvention that sticks to the intrinsic core of what this school is”, she says. “What we’ve now got is pathways – more pathways than we’ve ever had before, and those pathways are real.”

Driving the new design program are Dr Geoff Hinchcliffe and Associate Professor Mitchell Whitelaw. Hinchcliffe is a graduate of the ANU School of Art. His professional career spans print, TV, web and interactive media, while his research focuses on new practices in digital design and on innovative web-based forms. Hinchcliffe says about the new degree: “This is genuinely my passion so that’s what I hope to bring to the course. This is not a static idea, it’s about what is happening in design right now and we’re going to create a course that reflects that really exciting and tumultuous area.”

Whitelaw is author of “Metacreation” (MIT Press). His research and practice concern new media art and culture, especially generative systems, data-aesthetics, and digital cultural collections. In the context of what students will learn through the Design degree, Whitelaw says: “Being a successful contemporary designer is partly about the soft skills of research, conceptualisation, communication, and the ability to learn what you need when you need to.”

More than just a new award, ANU Design heralds a new chapter for the internationally renowned ANU School of Art. It represents a significant new focus on design and the vital role it plays in shaping our fast-moving world: it’s about applied creativity, engagement and collaboration, as well as the art and craft of making.

Find out more about ANU Design on 27 August 2016 at the ANU Open Day. The Design team will be on hand all day to answer enquiries and host a number of interactive workshops.