QS World University Rankings® by Subject Art & Design: NABA is the Best Italian Academy of Fine Arts, in the Top 100 worldwide

Become a Professional in the World of Design

Applications are now open for the 2025/26 Academic Year

NABA, the largest academy in Italy for art and design education, offers a comprehensive study programme in Communication and Graphic Design, providing students with both theoretical and practical skills to think in a multidisciplinary manner about complex concepts, adapt to changes, and envision future scenarios.

Campuses: Milan and Rome
Course Start Date: October 2025, with qualifications recognised by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) and internationally.

Enrol in February without losing the Academic Year 2024/25

 

Missed the October enrolment? No problem! At NABA, we believe there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to education. That’s why we offer a flexible February start, allowing you to dive into your studies without losing the academic year. You’ll experience the same innovative curriculum, expert faculty, and creative opportunities—just on a timeline that works for you. Whether you’re finalizing plans or seeking a fresh beginning, February is the perfect moment to join our vibrant community and stay on track for your degree.

Design Area: NABA's Academic Offer

Design

Alternating theoretical studies with practical workshops, the Design course cultivates students' sensitivity and passion for the world of objects, teaching them to observe the multiple forms of contemporary life and to recognize the opportunities these present for design.

BACHELOR OF ARTS IN
Design
<p>Inspired by the philosophy of "learning by doing," the Bachelor's program integrates theoretical studies with practical workshops. After exploring basic concepts and techniques, you will learn to observe the multiple forms of contemporary life and capture their potential for your projects. You will cultivate sensitivity and passion for the world of objects, understood as cultural artifacts that reflect and shape human life.</p> <p>During the Bachelor's program, you will have the opportunity to:</p> <ul> <li>Acquire cultural, scientific, and technical design skills to develop "problem setting" and "problem solving" approaches</li> <li>Develop the ability to read the specificities of usage contexts and translate them into solutions and related phases of communication and distribution</li> <li>Acquire the ability to employ tools and techniques for the representation of spaces and products.</li> </ul>
Interior Design

The Master's program delves deeply into the themes and methodologies related to interior design, which is increasingly important in contemporary times for activating public and private spaces, allowing students to design how we will live, work, and interact in a global context.

MASTER OF ARTS IN
Interior Design
<p>Interior design plays an increasingly important role in optimizing public and private spaces, becoming part of a complex physical and narrative system. The Master's program in Interior Design (Second-Level Academic Diploma in Design) explores the themes and methodological processes related to the design of internal spaces, allowing you to tackle various design experiences with an innovative and interdisciplinary approach under the guidance of international instructors.</p> <p>The Specialist Master's programs in Interior Design, Product and Service Design, and Social Design correspond to the ministerial designation of &ldquo;Second-Level Academic Diploma in Design.&rdquo;</p> <p>During the Master's program, you will have the opportunity to:</p> <ul> <li>Explore the limits and constraints of the interior design world, developing an original and experimental vision</li> <li>Develop a solid design and professional profile</li> <li>Design how we will live, work, and communicate through internal spaces.</li> </ul>
Product and Service Design

The Master's program provides the tools to manage all phases of product development, from ideation to production, through design and prototyping strategies, while deepening the exploration of a sustainable relationship with the environment in the contemporary "society of services."

MASTER OF ARTS IN
Product and Service Design
<p>The transition of the modern world from a "society of goods" to a "society of services" and the search for a sustainable relationship with the environment offer the opportunity to explore the ethics of design more deeply. In the Master's program in Product and Service Design (Second-Level Academic Diploma in Design), through continuous interaction with instructors and professionals, you will acquire the skills to manage all phases of product development, from ideation to production, by defining design and prototyping strategies.</p> <p>The Specialist Master's programs in Interior Design, Product and Service Design, and Social Design correspond to the ministerial designation of &ldquo;Second-Level Academic Diploma in Design.&rdquo;</p> <p>During the Master's program, you will have the opportunity to:</p> <ul> <li>Acquire an integrated approach to design, focused on current values and needs of humanity and its sustainable relationship with the environment</li> <li>Envision the evolution of the role of objects as physical terminals of relational and virtual interaction systems</li> <li>Develop projects through an experiential and physical relationship with the object, experimenting with rapid prototyping systems and digital fabrication.</li> </ul>
Social Design

The Master's program allows you to understand the new needs of contemporary society, exploring the most innovative social development strategies to enhance human and natural resources and promote sustainable evolution dynamics.

MASTER OF ARTS IN
Social Design
<p>When oriented towards defining social development strategies, design can enhance human and natural resources, produce sustainable innovation, and promote dynamics of social and economic evolution on both small and large scales: social design is increasingly gaining importance in projects by companies and public administrations. The Master's program in Social Design (Second-Level Academic Diploma in Design) will enable you to access the profession of global designer in today's and tomorrow's world.</p> <p>The Specialist Master's programs in Interior Design, Product and Service Design, and Social Design correspond to the ministerial designation of &ldquo;Second-Level Academic Diploma in Design.&rdquo;</p> <p>During the Master's program, you will have the opportunity to:</p> <ul> <li>Combine design skills with the ability to operate effectively in social, cultural, and political initiatives</li> <li>Develop projects aimed at activating social communities and redeveloping environmental, urban, or natural contexts through real case studies</li> <li>Interpret social and cultural dynamics, foresee possible future developments, for the sustainable development of society as a whole.</li> </ul>
New Urban Design

The Master's program offers a new perspective on the role of the urban designer for interpreting and designing the city in response to the new complexity of urban reality, integrating it with practical actions and generating relationships with local and international partners.

ACADEMIC MASTER IN
New Urban Design
<p>The Academic Master's program offers a new perspective on the role of the urban designer, allowing you to deepen your experience in reading, interpreting, and designing the city in response to the new complexity of urban reality, integrating it with practical actions and generating relationships with local and international partners. Through the search for a new form of knowledge about the city, the course develops the skills necessary for creating new urban design projects, with particular attention to service design.</p> <p>During the Master's program, you will have the opportunity to:</p> <ul> <li>Read the city in its various scales and dimensions (physical city, social city, political city) in order to develop Urban Design projects, with a particular focus on redesigning services (physical, social, political)</li> <li>Learn to design and plan the revitalization of neighborhoods or entire metropolitan areas, temporary activities and events for the community, interconnections between buildings, transportation systems, social networks, the natural environment, and the care of local communities</li> <li>Engage with key stakeholders in the sector: institutions, associations, businesses, architecture firms, sociologists, anthropologists, and citizens.</li> </ul>
Italian Design

Integrating theory, workshops, and meetings with industry professionals, the Master's program is structured as an intensive itinerary of research and design focused on the peculiarities of Italian Design and aims to provide students with professional skills to propose innovations and new visions at an international level.

ACADEMIC MASTER IN
Italian Design
<p>The Academic Master's program offers research and design experiences focused on the peculiarities of Italian Design: through an intensive program that integrates advanced theory, workshops designed to explore the Italian approach to design, and meetings with key industry figures, it trains professionals in a field that leads international trends, contributing both to innovation processes in industrial production and to the development of new insights, aesthetic visions, and cultural values.</p> <p>During the Master's program, you will have the opportunity to:</p> <ul> <li>Acquire the know-how of Italian Design through the study of form, icons, and the imagery of products, developing your own expressive language</li> <li>Develop the ability to integrate design choices into a broader vision of management and business processes</li> <li>Foster a predisposition for &ldquo;problem setting&rdquo; as well as &ldquo;problem solving,&rdquo; ensuring advanced critical processing skills.</li> </ul>

What NABA'S Fashion Design Alumni Say

DESIGNER
SARA RICCIARDI
Design

"NABA is a place where I could do things, make mistakes, try again and again and experiment. This open-mindedness and dynamism and the plurality of people I met in the different fields of design have shaped the designer I am today."

Undergraduate Design
SARA RICCIARDI
<p>"NABA is a place where I could do things, make mistakes, try again and again and experiment. This open-mindedness and dynamism and the plurality of people I met in the different fields of design have shaped the designer I am today."</p>
DESIGNER
Content Creator - Etro
FABRIZIO COSTANZO
Design

«One of the most important things I have learned at NABA is teamwork, which is one of the most useful skills you can have today: the capacity to work together with people. NABA was an experience aimed at creating connections and trying to learn from each other as much as possible».

Undergraduate Design
FABRIZIO COSTANZO
<p>&laquo;One of the most important things I have learned at NABA is teamwork, which is one of the most useful skills you can have today: the capacity to work together with people. NABA was an experience aimed at creating connections and trying to learn from each other as much as possible&raquo;.</p>
Content Creator - Etro
Industrial Designer - Whirpool
CEM YILMAZ
Design

NABA is the place that made me a better designer and a better creative person thanks to all the professors, industry collaborations, workshops and the fantastic times that I 've spent there. For me NABA is the place that I confirmed my passions into the one place.

Master of Arts Design
CEM YILMAZ
<p>NABA is the place that made me a better designer and a better creative person thanks to all the professors, industry collaborations, workshops and the fantastic times that I 've spent there. For me NABA is the place that I confirmed my passions into the one place.</p>
Industrial Designer - Whirpool
Develop Your Talent in Design
  • INTERDISCIPLINARY EDUCATIONAL PATH

You will engage in individual and group work, lectures and tutoring, as well as experiments and workshops.

  • COLLABORATIONS WITH LEADING COMPANIES

Among the companies the NABA Design Area collaborates with or has collaborated with are: Abitare, ENI, The Swatch Group, Giorgio Armani, Pininfarina Extra, and Giochi Preziosi.

  • OPPORTUNITÀ PROFESSIONALI

By choosing a course from NABA’s Design Area, you can start building your career in the world of design! The professional opportunities available include: Designer, Product Designer, Interior Designer, Furniture Designer, Retail Designer, Exhibition Designer, Service Designer, 3D Modelling Specialist, Stylist, Interior Decorator, Lighting Designer, UX/UI Designer, Environmental Designer, and Community Designer.