The Master of Design / Master of Business Administration

"Design and design thinking have become essential for any consumer-oriented business, whether a start-up or an established player. Innovation used to be driven almost entirely by technology; now competitive companies are realizing that creating the right strategy and designing a phenomenal user experience are equally important. The time is ripe for professional program that combines the best business- and design-based approaches to innovation." - Kevin Fong, Managing Director, Mayfield Fund

"Business has heard that it has to change the shape of its competitivness to be successful. We've learned that the world has flattened and gotten smaller. And likely the problems are larger. For me, the Institute of Design is the perfect blend of learning about how to deal with complexity and the nature of competition. Add an MBA to this and you get even more power." - James Hackett, President and CEO, Steelcase Inc.

"Pursuing a dual-degree has given me the perspective, methods, vocabulary, and credentials to work at the intersection of design and business. The dual degree opened doors that would otherwise be closed to me, and it has put my career on a purposeful and fulfilling trajectory. Finding and communicating the value of design to business is a rare and respected talent." - Brandon Schauer, Design Strategist, Adaptive Path; MDes/MBA 2005

"Being able to apply what I learned from one degree program to my work in the other gave me many opportunities to put learning into practice. For example, when I learned about options pricing in my MBA finance class, I applied that concept to an ID design planning project. I was able to argue effectively that a company should consider not just the immediate cash value of an innovation, but also the value of future innovation options that it would make available." - Yi Leng Lee, Project Consultant, Doblin; MDes/MBA 2005

"After ten years in marketing and product management, an MBA was the obvious, well-known choice. But, since companies are only as strong as their offerings, I knew I needed robust design management capabilities to complete the picture. The MDes/MBA at IIT was the ideal solution, as it offered the theoretical and practical depth necessary not only to identify promising opportunities in the market, but to realize, test and refine them, and profitably manage game-changing businesses." - Brad Nemer, Senior Business Planner, Motorola; MDes/MBA 2005