AI Design

Step into the Next Era of Design
AI-Design is a hands-on semester built for forward-thinking creators ready to treat artificial intelligence as a primary creative medium. You will learn to co-create alongside AI while designing intelligent experiences, apps, and services enriched by advanced AI technologies.  
Through continuous prototyping and critical making, you will develop both technical mastery and a distinct design philosophy. You’ll tackle the big questions: How do we design responsibly, ethically, and inclusively? What role will you play in an AI-driven society? 

Key Focus Areas: 

•  Human-AI Co-Creation & Smart Experiences: Designing dynamic interactions, apps, and services where AI technologies natively enrich the user journey.
• Generative AI & Vibe Coding: Experimenting with cutting-edge tools to prototype rapidly and bring complex ideas to life without traditional coding barriers.
• Speculative Design & Future Scenarios: Prototyping utopian, dystopian, and provocative futures to explore what role you will play in an AI-driven society.
• Ethics, Inclusivity, & Societal Impact: Critically assessing the responsibility, fairness, and broader impact of AI on people and culture. 

Are you ready to experiment, innovate, and lead? Join a community of makers shaping tomorrow’s design landscape. 

The programme takes place during one semester and contains the following courses:

Please note that the program reflects a (logical) bundle of subjects and should be followed as such. It is not possible to combine (two or more) programs in one single period.

The course is structured around hands-on, project-based learning that transitions from individual experimentation to practical, client-facing execution:

• Project Frankenstein (1 Week, Individual): AI makes everything fast, what will you bring to life? Starting with a story or a scene, you add your own unique twist across media of your choice. Using generative AI, you will explore the limits of human-machine co-creation to discover what truly works (and what doesn't) in AI collaboration.

• Project Rise of the Vending Machine (3 Weeks, Group): What happens when a vending machine gains autonomy through AI, listening, learning, seeing, thinking, and acting on its own? You will design an autonomous machine (utopian, dystopian, provocative, or humorous) that chooses what the user gets. Through interaction design and fast-paced vibe coding, you will prototype advanced AI behavior in just a few hours and examine the ethical boundaries of human-machine relationships.

• Project Inception (4 Weeks, Individual): What is your dream as a designer? In this project, you have the freedom to work on your own project. As long as it is AI-driven. You can choose from these three themes:
  • Commercial: Developing market-oriented ideas, identifying societal opportunities, and aiming for public impact.
  • Social: Leveraging AI solutions to solve pressing real-world societal challenges.
  •  Artistic: Pushing boundaries to challenge perspectives, exploring the line between creative vision and AI hallucinations (inspired by artists such as Julia Janssen and showcases like Ars Electronica).

• Multidisciplinary Hackathon (1 Week, group): Collaborate in a multidisciplinary team alongside Immersive and Brand Design students to blend techniques, theory, and unique perspectives under real-world pressure. You'll discover how your individual expertise gains true value when connected with other disciplines, working together to deliver a single, cohesive experience for an industry client.
• Client Project (8 Weeks, group): Put your knowledge into action. In the final phase, you will synthesize and apply everything you have learned to solve a complex design challenge for a real-world client.

English CEFR level B2.

Please note: You may be asked to take a language assessment test before the start of the programme. If your English language skills are below the required level, you may not be able to enter the course, as you need to be able to actively participate in (parts of) the programme. In all cases, the programme manager makes the final decision.