The Academic Master is an experiential journey to research and analysis of the features of the Italian Design. An intensive programme which combines theory, knowledge and method, workshops and meetings with the main players in this field to explore the most advanced edges of the Italian approach to projects. The course trains professionals able to pick up on and lead trends at an international level, contributing to both innovation in industrial production, and development of new aesthetic visions and cultural values.
Over the Master, students will have the opportunity to:
To acquire the know-how of Italian Design through the study of functional and expressive features behind that, to develop a personal expressive and professional language
To develop the ability to combine project decisions in a wider vision of management and enterprise processes
To activate a dynamic inclination to the connection “problem setting/problem solving”, developing an independent method of critical and operative analysis
During the Master, students will examine in depth the continuous adaptation of design thinking to current phenomena. Italian Design is a school of thought capable of cultivating original professional activities and an independent intellectual discipline that is to be understood as a complex activity that guides the shape and purpose of industrial production and helps create varied visions of aesthetics and society.
The educational path comprises a series of research and project experiences, which not only provide students with the tools to know "how to do it", but helps each student to personally identify the reasons "why to do it". In this context, students will acquire the know-how and a design methodology implementing a poetics by understanding how to interpret and craft the meanings of forms, symbols and visuals of products, developing a personal expressive language. Further insight is gained through design research workshops that enable students to become directly acquainted with professionals and organisations engaged in the development of design culture.
The central area of study is Design: the programme focuses on producing innovation applying technologies and new materials, alongside efficient management and creative and design entrepreneurship. The Master is enriched with courses in project culture, design methodology, design system, design history and contemporary art history. Upon completing the educational path, students will have the opportunity to apply the skills learned in the field during an internship period.
At the end of the course, students will be required to submit a Final Project summarising innovation in products with particular attention to their formal and aesthetic characteristics that make them "design objects".
Department: Design and Applied Arts
Area: Design
Title Awarded: First Level Academic Master Degree
Credits: 60 CFA
Starting: October 2025
Duration: 1 year
Languages: English
Campus: Milan
Our Faculty
Luca Poncellini is an architect and a designer with a PhD in the History of Architecture and City Planning. As a partner in the architecture office Cliostraat until 2009, he has curated projects and has lectured in Italy and in several countries throughout the world. His works have been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, at the Van Alen Institute in New York, at ETH in Zürich, at MAGA in Gallarate and at Triennale Milano. In 2008 he co-curated the retrospective exhibition Laszlo Hudec, in collaboration with the Hungarian Consulate in Shanghai. Since 2013 he has been the Course Leader of the MA in Interior Design. Between 2015 and 2019 directed the research lab and the project C-Park. Since 2019 he has been Design and Applied Arts Department Head.
Born in Milan, he graduated in Architecture at Politecnico di Milano. After a research period in Spain, in Madrid and Barcelona, in 2002 he founded his own studio, Modoloco Design Workshop, a space for experimentation and research, where diverse cultures and experiences are implemented as architectural and design forms. He has taught at the Faculty of Design and Arts of the Free University of Bozen, at Politecnico di Milano, and lectured in Italian and international institutions. He curated and participated in several exhibitions in Italy, Japan, Spain, France, United Kingdom, Sweden. Ambassador of Italian Design for Switzerland, Albany and Uruguay in 2017, 2018, 2019, he is the author of the books Globetrotting designers (Compositori), Design, scuola e solidarietà (Fausto Lupetti), Design from the Alps (Scheidegger Und Spiess), and Disegnare un cucchiaio per cambiare la città (Quodlibet).
Architect and designer, after the Master in Design at Domus Academy, Donegani collaborated with Marco Zanuso and Andrea Branzi, and with Olivetti Corporate Identity. In 1993 he opened his studio D&L with Giovanni Lauda working in several design areas. He has designed home and office products for Isuzu, Memphis, Stildomus, Luceplan, Edra, Kelebek, Rotaliana, Radice, Viceversa. Among his most celebrated projects: Lisca (Rotaliana, IF Product Design award 2005); Multipot (Rotaliana, mention at the XXI Compasso d’Oro 2008); the chaise longue Passepartout (Edra), in the permanent collections of San Francisco MoMA and Triennale Milano; Agronica, designed with Andrea Branzi, in the collection of Centre Pompidou in Paris. His work appeared at Barcelona Biennale, Centre Pompidou, Triennale Milano, Venice Biennale. He directed the Master in Design at Domus Academy and he is part of NABA Faculty since 2013.
NABA’s Career Services & Industry Relations Office can provide you with support and guidance during your transition from the academy to the professional world. Our staff can help you develop self-promotion tools and assist you during your first steps into the world of work.
The Office develops relationships with companies in order to set up internship agreements, employment opportunities, and interactive projects between students and businesses.
NABA has developed strong relationships with leading companies which provide internships for NABA students. Among them are: Armani Hotel, Giulio Iacchetti, Studio Bestenheider, Vittorio Martini 1866, Giochi Preziosi, Intégral Ruedi Baur et Associés, The Swatch Group, Giorgio Armani, Pininfarina Extra, Tagua, Azimut-Benetti, Bonetto Design International, Alta Design & Engineering, AAAHHHAAA, Forchets, Studio di architettura Amedeo Guidobono Cavalchini, Aldo Cibic – Cibicworkshop, Progetto CMR Engineering, Integrated Services S.r.l., Abad Architetti S.r.l., Festina Italia, Zanotta, Luxottica, Studio Italo Rota & Partners, Giugiaro Architettura, Rintala Eggertsson Architects, Luceplan, Ikea Italia Retail, 3M ITALIA, Yellow Office, Studio Lissoni Associati, Studio Barreca & Lavarra, Uragano Studio, Veneta Cucine, Dado Arredamenti.
Kick-off your career. Among the career opportunities: