Student work

Like experienced designers, our students strengthen and expand their learning via real-world project work. Design projects are complex and we manage this through a project spaces model that breaks design work in different areas. The focus during our CMD bachelor is on the ‘concept space’ and the ‘design and build space’.

For example, students in our degree programme have converted a thick paper-based guide for international students in the Netherlands into a practical, much more manageable digital version, while others redesigned an existing online shop to improve the customer experience and boost sales.

CMD students have also developed an app for musicians that enables them to directly record their inspiration for new tracks. And they also designed a digital app for the Psychiatry department at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam. Through these kinds of initiatives, we hope we can make the digital world around us – and the world at large – a little bit better and more beautiful.

T-shaped designers

In addition to the shared core curriculum, CMD students can take electives during the degree programme in order to specialise in fields of individual interest. In this way, CMD students are educated to be T-shaped designers.

In the field of CMD, work is often done in multidisciplinary teams comprised of several specialists. CMD graduates thrive in this setting, as they have developed wide background knowledge that enables them to have a good understanding of the other team members’ perspectives. This means that, on the one hand, CMD students are proficient in the design process and, on the other, are familiar with a wide range of factors that can impact upon their work. The combination of skillsets and knowledge is different for every student, depending on their abilities, interests and ambitions.

Our core curriculum covers the design process as a whole, interaction design, visual design and front-end development. Students’ individual choices produce roughly four different types of designer: all-round craftsmen, specialists, digital master and in some cases design researchers.

All-round craftsmen

Most of our students develop their breadth in the course of the degree programme, with a small amount of specialisation. After graduation, they go on to work for full-service design agencies such as Info.nl or Fabrique, but also for companies that develop their digital products in-house, such as Booking.com, ING and Coolblue.

Specialists

Some CMD students find their one great passion during their degree programme, and go on to excel in this specific area. After their degree programme, they may go on to work as a Usability Expert for Amsterdam-based design specialists Valsplat, or as a Developer for The Hague-based software developer Q42. Others know all about one specific domain – for example, CMD graduates have gone on to work for online-education company Squla on ‘fun online learning’ for children.

Digital masters

A small number of our graduates are good at all components. These students often go on to work for small design agencies, where you have to be proficient in all the specialisms, or small companies where they are the resident digital whizz. And then there are the true rock stars who excel at everything and can truly work anywhere – our unicorns.

Design researchers

Some graduates are active in the preliminary phase that precedes the design process. For example, the STBY consultancy does research into people’s ‘digital wishes’, which design agencies will then go on to take to the next level. And one graduate of the CMD programme is a Product Manager for Dutch online marketplace Marktplaats, managing the used-car section of their website.