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Apply by 23 Jun 2025 to start 7 Jul 2025
If you love good design—whether it be of objects, computer graphics, systems, or experiences—and want to learn from a leading-edge university, then this is the right degree for you.
Design your career
The Bachelor of Design Innovation (BDI) is a three-year undergraduate degree designed to prepare you for a career in one of the many expanding design-related industries.
At Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, Design is about innovation. While developing the skills and knowledge that industry currently demands, you'll also be pushing the limits and forging the future of design practice. During studio classes and seminars, your teachers will show you how to take an experimental approach to design that encourages creative and thoughtful design solutions.
You'll major in one of eight areas—Animation and Visual Effects, Communication Design, Design for Social Innovation, Fashion Design Technology, Game Design, Industrial Design, Interaction Design, or Media Design. A feature of this degree is that it's cross-disciplinary, meaning you'll be encouraged to study and work in subject areas outside Design. This will make sure you gain a thorough grounding in design and its connections with the real world.
Download our handbook
Fill in a form to download our qualification handbook and find out more about your study options in Design Innovation.
First year
In your first year you'll investigate a broad range of essential design ideas, principles, histories, theories, and practices, so you're able to challenge traditional ideas about design. Study eight courses made up of a combination of core Design courses, a writing course if needed, and electives.
The first year covers all eight of the subject areas, giving you a solid foundation in design and confidence in the direction you'll have chosen to go in for your second year.
Second year
This is the year you'll begin to focus on your chosen major.
Animation and Visual Effects
Students learn to blend creativity with emerging technologies, enabling them to bring stories to life in exciting, contemporary ways. They will acquire skills in 3D and 2D animation, storytelling, and visual effects, as well as virtual-reality and augmented-reality design, game design, and other screen-based disciplines.Communication Design
Communication Design students focus on the effective use of words, images, visual media, and graphic design to communicate with impact. They will learn industry-standard techniques towards conveying expressive, inspiring, and informative designs.Design for Social Innovation
Students will gain a deeper and more critical understanding of design research, thinking, and practice. They will learn to push beyond existing design thinking and practice and explore how social design can support healthy, positive, and just futures.Fashion Design Technology
Students will respond to the needs and possibilities of the twenty-first century through innovation across an extended fashion landscape. They will learn about the product-service system through:- circular design
- critical thinking and creative problem-solving
- design communication and design construction
- pattern making and speculative design
- user testing.
Game Design
If you are majoring in Game Design, you will learn to design video games with a multidisciplinary approach and gain knowledge in:- gaming fundamentals
- art and animation
- coding, interaction design, new technologies, and software
- game history
- storytelling.
Industrial Design
Industrial Design students will learn the core skills and knowledge needed to work in product design and manufacturing. Using new emerging technologies and digital manufacture with a sustainable focus will prepare students for a design field that is changing fast and requires a creative mindset and experimentation to imagine the future.Interaction Design
Students will learn about this human-centred discipline that delves into a range of physical and digital systems and interfaces, all aimed at enhancing various aspects of human life. This includes everything from tangible consumer products to digital interactions such as apps, games, and websites.Media Design
Media Design students will focus on the near-future possibilities of computation and digital media. Students will explore the capabilities of our increasingly digital lifestyles and how they are impacted by automation, data collection, programming languages and, increasingly now, artificial intelligence techniques.In your second year you're likely to take six courses made up of core Design courses from your major and complementary electives from other disciplines. If you're a Design for Social Innovation student, you'll need to take a minor subject—a secondary area of study you choose to focus on.
Third year
By this stage you'll have developed a good understanding of your major and will be confident in your design skills. You're likely to take seven courses—four or five in your major and two or three electives.
In third year, BDI students will learn to be agile, resourceful, and inventive in solving complex design problems. Pathways to postgraduate study will be introduced for those wishing to complete a Master’s degree.
During your final trimester of study, you’ll work on a 30-point “capstone” project. This project gives you a chance to bring together everything you’ve learned in your chosen field and create a showcase piece for your portfolio.
Get a Master’s degree
A Master’s degree can make all the difference in achieving entry into a professional career in design. The BDI leads into five postgraduate programmes, each taking 12 months to complete:
Flexibility in your degree
Take advantage of the flexibility offered by Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. Depending on your degree, you may be able to do a:
- Double major—specialise in two subjects in your degree.
- Second major from another degree—study a wider range of subjects without doing another degree.
- Minor—specialise in a subject without doing as many courses as for a major.
- Conjoint degree—this intense programme lets you complete two degrees more quickly, in a minimum of four years.
Scholarships
Scholarships are awarded to hundreds of first-year students each year. They help with living costs and accommodation costs at the University's halls of residence.
Our Tangiwai, Totoweka, and Kahotea scholarships are available to school leavers, and there are several other first-year scholarships on offer in our scholarships database.
You can also apply for a TeachNZ Scholarship. These scholarships are awarded based on specific areas where teachers are needed.
We strongly recommend applying for our scholarships, as they often don’t receive enough applications.
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