Master of Design: Dubai Institute of Design

Transdisciplinary Master of Design

Lead the Why.^(TM)
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The Master of Design in Creative Leadership program is designed to continue DIDI's mission to raise the level of innovation in the region. Delivered at DIDI's campus within Dubai Design District (d3), the project-based program provides real-world, hands-on experiences for non-designers and designers to become the leaders of the future. Surrounded by leading design studios, global brands, and cultural institutions, you gain direct exposure to the creative industries while developing advanced skills in managing teams and projects, starting with empathy.
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Life skills like creativity, complex problem solving, and critical thinking are catalysts towards humanizing a world increasingly driven by machine and artificial intelligence.

The transdisciplinary holistic approach and program structure transcends professional Know-How and prepares you to lead the future by applying the Know-Why.

Program Study Plan Program Learning Outcomes

Year of Transformation.
Learn to Lead.

The curriculum is carefully designed to transform practical professionals and graduates into responsible leaders of the future. In the Fall, you will develop scenarios of complex problems. The studio-based program is enriched with two other courses and an elective focused on deepening conceptual skills, including applying the latest in leadership ethics and artificial intelligence. In the Spring, you will actuate ideas into tangible and measurable results, with a focus on inclusive leadership and reflection. In the Summer, you will integrate the learnings into a capstone project representing your new journey ahead as a responsible impactful leader.

Open to All.
Designed for Impact.

Graduates of the Master of Design in Creative Leadership — whether non-designers or designers — develop advanced transdisciplinary design expertise to address complex socio-economic, cultural, technological, and business challenges. Through research-driven methodologies, you learn to generate innovative, insight-driven solutions while applying critical thinking and foresight to design future scenarios and anticipate societal impact. The program equips you to lead organizations using strategic and systems thinking within complex innovation ecosystems, while embedding ethical responsibility, sustainability, and planet-centric design principles. Key skills include AI integration, creative leadership, design research, strategic thinking, critical thinking, balanced human-centered and AI-driven design and inclusive impact-driven design.