Education Committee
Mr Zareh Sarabian (Directeur)
Mrs Kareen Andraos
Mr Pierre Khoury
Mrs Doreen Toutikian
Master's Student Delegates
Mission Statement
Alba has been the first school in the Middle East, to approach design as a discipline in itself. The department was founded in 2012.
The specialization started in 1999, as furniture design to evolve into what is now a Design Department, offering a Bachelor in Product Design, in tune with the evolution of the market.
Our goal is to give young designers a know-how of classical manufacturing methods, both industrial or handmade, as well as the newest production techniques. The spirit of synthesis that we inculcate in our students, will allow them to cross these two complementary techniques, with transversal learning from sociology to ergonomics, via marketing or technology. Product design is distinguished by the need to provide reproducible and sustainable solutions to needs related to a group of identified individuals.
This major is built around 3 intrinsically linked learning axes of teaching the proper methodology to create concepts, teaching technology as an active part in the creation process, and using culture as an inescapable reference and source for the development of projects.
Faculty members are professionals in this field, with their own career paths and experiences. Moreover, local and international professionals are invited to lead workshops. Students are thus compelled to develop a flexibility that will allow them to fit into diverse sectors dealing with the creation and production of objects.
Learning Objectives
1. Develop students’ technical knowledge and an open-mindedness that will impel them to always be on the lookout for new ideas and watch technologies with an ongoing curiosity.
2. Have them organize their acadamic life in a responsible and mature way, and make an ethical commitment to a design, which is socially and ecologically sustainable.
3. Explain the challenges brought on by a project and how to define the scope of their intervention and to be able to create a global experience around a product, a service, or a space.
4. Determine the specific means and methods of design to implement the required project.
5. Be able not only to solve, through design, technical and social challenges, but also put into perspective the requirements for learning and teaching.
6. Be able to complete higher studies – at Alba or abroad – or go straight into professional life by starting an independent career or by joining an enterprise.
Learning Outcomes
The student will be able to :
1. Make oral presentations, expressing the concepts clearly, with explanatory sketches and models.
2. Handle concepts and master formal dimensions of objects and spaces.
3. Know how to gather relevant information.
4. Clearly express the chosen objectives for a project.
5. Be knowledgeable in computer-aided design and rendering in 2D as well as 3D.
6. Know the human anatomy and ergonomics.
7. Having defined the needs and aspirations of the users, know how to establish the set of specifications.
8. Analyze the objects to determine their mechanics and functioning modes.
9. Apply the acquired technical knowledge to turn concepts into a functional product.
10. Develop concepts and specifications that enhance functions and perceived values in the common interest of the user and the manufacturer.
11. Address a need with a reproductible product using suitable technological solutions (mass production).
12. Be environmentally aware, knowing “what to create and how” in order to preserve the environment without increasing social injustice.
13. Understand the societal, environmental and commercial issues essential for innovation.
14. Be able to identify new usages and practices.
15. Know how to test and assess one’s projects through drawings, models and prototypes.
16. Understand local and regional markets, the technical know-how of small and medium-sized enterprises as well as their structure/fabric/networks.
Design Projects Modalities
Assessments will take place in the studio according to a pre-established schedule.
Students must be present for the whole duration of the sittings.
Attendance will be taken twice: once in the morning session and again in the afternoon.
Every student will keep a log of the sessions. It will be the road map to the project.
The design instructors form the jury to whom the students present their projects. Other members are welcome.
Admission Criteria
The Master in Global Design is a cross-disciplinary program. Candidates come from different areas of expertise therefore enhancing multidisciplinarity and transmission of knowledge.
Admission Requirements
Candidates must:
- Hold the Lebanese Baccalaureate or its equivalent
- A Bachelor Degree in humanities, engineering, fine arts and applied arts, among others.
- Submit a portfolio
- Undergo an interview with the Admission Committee of the department
Modalities for the Masters' Final Project
The three phases are as follows:
- Research and dissertation
- Preliminary project
- Final project
The Master Thesis
On the first week of the second year (date to be given to the students at the end of the previous year), the students will submit three research themes to the jury.
Each theme must include:
- A title
- 10 keywords that identify the subject
- A 500-word explanatory text: choice of the theme, its importance, and its potential. This text must show the student’s ability to express himself on this topic
- A digital presentation (minimum 5 slides)
The final decision belongs to the student who will formalize his/her choice in a letter to the Director of the Department, one week after the discussion with the jury.
Choosing a Supervisor
The student will select in order of preference 3 names out of the list of monitors proposed by the section. One of them will be assigned to supervise the project.
The student will also nominate, as second monitor, a professional whose career is relevant to the chosen subject.
This choice must be approved by the director of the section, then by the Dean.
The Dissertation
The dissertation, at the end of the studies, is parallel to the development of the final project, the written reflection that accompanies its onset.
This document will show the research made and its analysis, the student’s reflection as a designer and his mode of creation as well.
During the first semester of the second year, the student will work on his dissertation, guided once a week by his tutor.
Halfway through, by the eighth week of the semester, a first assessment is made. The student must submit a prototype of the dossier with a detailed plan, the sketch of the graphical model and extensive research.
The dissertation should be handed in by the end of the first semester. It will be submitted to a committee a week before the assessment of the preliminary design.
The jury can allow a two-week time extension to complete any insufficient work.
When the dissertation is refused, the student will have to start again with a new theme and a new research.
In such a case, or if the student has not met the schedule, the presentation is postponed until the next session.
The rules and regulations, the schedule of all works and the deadlines are given to the students at the beginning of the semester: the diploma sessions and dissertation renderings (end of every semester) as well as the planning of projects.
When the preliminary design is accepted, a copy of the dissertation should be sent to the diploma jury. Its members will thus get acquainted with the subjects.
Preliminary Design
The preliminary design is developed during the first semester of the second year.
The student studies in depth the thematic approved by the jury, with a semi-weekly supervision of his monitors.
A committee will determine the progression of the work on several pre-established deadlines.
Second week of the semester:
The student must defend his choice, the methodology chosen and clearly state the problem at hand.
This evaluation decides the fate of the theme chosen: it is either accepted and the student is allowed to proceed; or rejected and the student has to change the subject and submit to a new evaluation 2 weeks after that.
Students are only allowed a single change of subject. In case of a second failure, he will have to postpone his candidacy to the following session.
The preliminary design should be handed in at the end of the first semester, one week after handing in the dissertation.
The student will prepare, for the defense of his project, a digital presentation that will:
- Explain the reasoning that led to his choices, based on his dissertation
- Explain the methodology chosen
- Show a sufficient and consistent progress of the work, and some practical leads to be developed
- Present the schedule for the completion of the project
The student either passes or is given a two-week extension to complete his work or see his design refused.
In this last case, a new project should be studied, with a different theme and research.
If the preliminary design is refused, or has not met the set schedule, the presentation is postponed until the next session.
The rules and regulations, the schedule of all works and the deadlines are given to the students at the beginning of the semester: the diploma sessions and dissertation renderings (end of every semester) as well as the planning of projects.
Assessment of the Dissertation and of the Preliminary Project
Halfway through the second year, an assessment of crucial importance is made. A jury will evaluate a fully developed research and application.
The student must present the dissertation and its application with a portfolio, extensively showing the elements that helped elaborate and construct the project: research elements, sketches, preliminary models, visual mapping….
Having explained his/her project, the student will answer the questions of the jury.
Based on this presentation, this jury will decide whether the student is able to finalize the project within the time allowed.
They will accept, refuse or give a two-week extension to complete the work requested.
The Diploma Project (duration: 15 weeks)
During this period, a weekly correction should be held with either one of the monitors, a coordination meeting with both of them taking place once a month.
Elements to Hand In
There is no pre-established list of the elements to give in for a Master in Global Design.
At this stage, the students must show that they know how to manage a project and that they master the tools to implement a work methodology. But most of all, they must demonstrate that they have undeniable communication skills, intrinsically linked to render the elements selected.
Final Rendering and Presentation
Pre-judgment
A pre-judgment will be held before the final rendering of the project.
The criteria taken into consideration are the overall presentation and the content and quality of the presented elements. Submittal to the jury may not be allowed if these elements do not meet the minimum required level.
The project will then have to be completed within the given time, taking into account the remarks of the jury.
Following this presentation, and after the jury’s due deliberation, the student may be allowed to submit his project or not.
When allowed to submit the project to the diploma jury, the student must register with the secretariat of the department a week before the judgment.
If the project is rejected, it will be definitively abandoned by the candidate unless otherwise prescribed by the academic committee.
The student will have to choose a new project and start again the whole diploma cycle.
Assessment
The diploma jury, headed by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education representative, meets according to the schedule set by the Académie. It is composed of instructors and professionals.
To validate the credits assigned to the project, an average grade of 12/20 is required.
Honors are granted by the jury.