{"id":5236,"date":"2024-07-26T12:28:24","date_gmt":"2024-07-26T12:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/?page_id=5236"},"modified":"2024-08-19T17:31:33","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T17:31:33","slug":"the-new-bdes-design-qualification","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/studying-design-at-the-ou\/our-qualifications\/the-new-bdes-design-qualification\/","title":{"rendered":"A new BDes design qualification (R63)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Overview<\/h4>\n

The Open University has now launched a new and exciting degree, with its own design designation: <\/span>Bachelor of Design (Hons) – also, known as the <\/span>\u2018BDes\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>This exciting new qualification is available to students from October 2024 (Click here<\/a> for details about registration).\u00a0<\/span>The BDes draws on the OU\u2019s world-renowned experience in distance design education and is set against the target of nurturing a new generation of design professionals who can build on their unique lived experiences and skills to create their own design identity.\u00a0 Students will develop a comprehensive set of design competencies and focus on building their own practices in developing impactful innovations with social and ecological value.<\/span><\/p>\n

The BDes emphasises professional design expertise and the focus on design learning and practice. Similarly, to a BEng award, this is a named designation which signifies specialist understanding and aptitude. The BDes award is growing in popularity in the UK and is recognised globally.\u00a0<\/span>The programme explores a diversity of creative thinking and practice used in design, cultivating professional design competencies while nurturing your unique design identity. It portrays design as a catalyst for change, showcasing its potential to tackle societal issues across various domains.<\/span><\/p>\n

Current global challenges require us to transform our human – ecological – technological – cultural relationships. If you are concerned about the challenges we face as a society and want to find innovative ways in which you can respond, then the Bachelor of Design might interest you. We address these challenges and develop your capabilities to analyse and interpret situations, think creatively, communicate effectively, develop personal agency and leadership, and evolve design skills and practice. We approach design as the power to discover, devise and develop opportunities and draw on a broad curriculum to achieve this, from design histories, design processes and practice to different technologies and social and ecological theories.<\/p>\n

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Why BDes at the Open University?<\/span><\/h4>\n

The Bachelor of Design (BDes) will offer you opportunities to develop in four key areas:\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    Design leadership<\/strong><\/span>: develop your own identity and field of design expertise to contribute or lead transformations within or across sectors and industries of your interest\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    Design scholarship<\/strong><\/span>: develop your scholarship on design history, theory and practice and how design can be used to overcome, alleviate and enhance our capabilities to live sustainably.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    Meta-disciplinary design<\/strong><\/span>: create design work across diverse cultures and disciplines to connect or integrate knowledge in design practices.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n

  4. \n

    Design community<\/strong><\/span>: develop your social and professional network to enable you to address real-world challenges and opportunities.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    BDes (R63) Modules<\/h4>\n

    The\u00a0BDes includes six design modules in total, two 60 credit modules at each stage of study:<\/p>\n

    Stage 1: 1.Design Thinking (code U101) and 2. Design Practices (code T190)<\/p>\n

    Stage 2: 1. Design Essentials (code T217)* and 2. Design Agency? (code T290)<\/p>\n

    Stage 3: 1.Innovation: Designing for Change (code T317)** and 2. Major Design Project (code T390)<\/p>\n

    *\/** New modules will replace these in 2026 and 2028 respectively<\/p>\n

    Three of these modules are completely new design modules focused on project-based work. The first of which is T190 at stage 1: Design Practices, available from October 2024 \u2013 find out more here<\/a>. <\/span>The video below also gives you an idea of what the module is all about:<\/span><\/p>\n