International CMD minors

Improve your design skills at CMD.

International Office
Study in Amsterdam

Communication and Multimedia Design (CMD) in Amsterdam offers you the chance to improve your skills as a designer, whilst enjoying one of the most vibrant cities in the world! Become a better designer by opting for one of our six international one-semester minors.

Immersive Environments, User Experience Design and Makerslab are the international minors of our CMD Bachelor program. These minors are open to both CMD students, students from our international partners and so called ‘free movers’. You can find more information on these minors on this page. CMD is part of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. We also have more information (practical matters, tuition fees) on the general CMD university page.

Immersive Environmentsoffered in semester 1 of 2024/25.

In a world where technology is changing at a fast pace, designers need to keep up with the times. The physical world offers opportunities to create new immersive experiences, past the borders of interactive mobile or desktop interaction. In creating smart physical spaces, we can tell stories encompassing all senses using all kinds of technologies. These could be interactive spaces in musea, shops, festivals, events, trade shows, conferences or outdoor locations.

In this international Minor, you learn how to create an interactive multimodal experience for a physical space. “Storytelling through all senses” is a key subject. In a discovery period you will experiment with different technologies like sensors, light, interaction, video projection, movement and sound. During this period you will get workshops and inputs from experts. After the discovery period students do a deep dive into a specific self determined skill, and will work together with other students on client-based projects to create physical experiences. More information in this brochure.
Application deadline: 15 April and 15 October. Please contact our International Office for more information: international-cmd@hva.nl.

 

User Experience Designoffered in semester 1 and 2 of 2024/25.

The program User Experience Design aims to help you design web and mobile interfaces: interfaces that provide a good user experience and make a positive contribution to the user’s experience of the organization that provides their products / services through the interface.

Through the use of simulations and real-world assignments you will learn to research, understand and design solutions for complex user experience design problems at both a strategic level and at the level of the user interface. Students from our partner schools outside The Netherlands are also welcome to join this program as long as they can demonstrate that they have sufficient knowledge, skills and experience in design and design research. More information on the UxD module here.
Application deadline: 15 April and 15 October. Please contact our International Office for more information: international-cmd@hva.nl.

Makers Lab: Making as Researchoffered in semester 2 of 2024/25.

Exploring Sustainable High and Low-Tech Materials through Critical Crafts. In this program we go back to the fundamentals of materials and how things are made. We rethink the wealth of traditional material knowledge and craftsmanship in order to meet the demands of the 21st century. We re-envision them in the context of contemporary high-tech crafts and sustainable digital fabrication to rediscover the potential of local materials and traditions. With this minor we aim to redefine the position of the maker and her role in relation to the commons (the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of society), by taking a DIY and open-source approach to materials that are largely compostable, locally sourced, documented with cultural/historical awareness, and accessible for anyone to use and build upon.

The first ten weeks you will dive into digital craftsmanship, material research and storytelling. You will learn about eco-compatible materials in a hands-on way: by cooking, curing, growing, modifying and connecting materials like bioplastics, natural pigments, fibres, living organisms, and on some occasions: “programmable” or responsive materials. We will work also work with a range of digital crafts and techniques, in order to allow you to fully and independently engage with the high tech equipment, like 3D printers and laser cutters. By experimenting and researching independently and collaboratively, you are challenged to discover techniques and combinations and make meaningful contributions to a shared material archive.
From week 11-20 you choose an area of interest and develop a design proposal to submit tot the Biodesign Challenge. This can take the form of exploring and expanding (the creative applications of) existing techniques or materials, or developing a tool or machine to support such making processes. These outcomes are all shown at the class expo and documented under a creative commons licence in the material archive. This is an interdisciplinary program with participants from very different fields, where students can expect a lot of freedom to follow their own interests and be creative. Tutors, researchers, and designers and makers from the professional field will support you in critically reflecting on your experiments, contextualizing your creative practice and understand where and why your work could be or become relevant. More information about the minor  here, more about the Biodesign Challenge here. 
Application deadline: 15 October. Please contact our International Office for more information: international-cmd@hva.nl.

 

Amsterdam!

CMD is part of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS). We are based in The Netherlands, in the city of Amsterdam. Amsterdam is a cosmopolitan city where 175 different nationalities live and work together and where the English language is largely spoken. The city is a hotbed of education and research in all conceivable areas: culture and society, trade, logistics, aviation, shipping, ICT, sport, healthcare, education and much more. And Amsterdam is a great place to live!

 
Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
Faculty of Digital Media and Creative Industries