Design Management

Managing a project from the definition of the design problem to the final presentation in front of a client, organizing your work and your team efficiently.

Students will have the opportunity to hone their skills through inspiring design projects. The goal is to prepare adaptable and well-rounded design professionals who can address a wide range of design projects in a fast-changing world.

An opportunity to update your skills

Part of the curriculum is composed of elective courses and projects that will enable students to customize courses to their needs. A variety of software courses, technical courses, soft skills development courses as well a design projects in different areas of design (care design, city design, digital design, food design, media design) are offered.

The first step towards your professional life

With several projects carried out every year in close collaboration with companies or institutions as well as a 4- to 6-month internship during the second year, international design strategy program is aimed at building up experience of real work situations in the design field. A one-year long end of study project and thesis will also allow students to better define their identity and values as designers.

These programs, established over two years, are organized in four semesters validated by 30 ECTS each. Consult the course description

Semester 7

Students who are joining L’École de design Nantes Atlantique at postgraduate level benefit from an integration semester. The goal of this semester for students is to highlight and expand professional knowledge in the context of another culture.

Courses:

• Skills development courses:anthropology, technical skills, transcultural english, methodologies skills
• Economics: marketing
• Project related-courses: creativity, methodology, storytelling, conceptual project, personal project, design competition preparation, professionalization
• Optional courses: French as a foreign language (FLE)

Students who completed their undergraduate studies at L’École de design Nantes Atlantique spend this semester abroad, either in academic exchange or internship as a junior designer (13 weeks minimum).

Semester 8

During this semester, students learn how to manage complex design projects, deepen their knowledge of the economic, social and cultural aspects of the field covered in their program, build and apply a methodology and support their end-of-term project. studies, the subject of which they themselves define.

Teaching are delivered in the form of projects in partnership with industry, workshops, lectures, conferences and professional meetings:

• Intellectual property
• TOEIC preparation (according to profile)
• Methodology
• Innovation
• Dissertation
• Research-seminar
• End-of-study project preparation
• Support to end-of-study project
• Specialized seminar
• Long project design and complexity
• Conceptual project
• Design competition preparation
• Professionalization / Lab
• Optional courses: French as a foreign language (FLE), double degree MAE

Semester 9

Continuation and finalization of the end-of-studies project summarizing all the professional skills acquired. It can be conducted in collaboration with a company and / or research laboratory of a partner university. This personal end-of-studies project must be related to the program in which students are enrolled.

Supervision is ensured in the form of workshops under the direction of a referent designer, to which punctual speakers are associated. Writing a thesis in the theme of the project.

• Accounting
• Law
• End-of-study project follow-up
• Dissertation follow-up
• Professionalization
• Design competition preparation
• Optional courses: Double degree MAE

Semester 10

The study program ends with a minimum of sixteen weeks (and a maximum of six months) internship within a company, in France or abroad.

Trainees work as junior designers and support all or part of a project.

The student must demonstrate his ability to integrate into a team, manage a project and develop all the sequences of the project for its smooth running. It allows the student to articulate all of his studies with what will be his first professional experience.

Depending on the professional project of the student, this internship can also take place within a company that the student will create, or even within a research laboratory.

Program taught in English

Le Diplôme de design Bac +5 is awarded by the final jury to students who have obtained:

1. a minimum score of 800 points at the TOEIC test;
2. a score greater than or equal to 10/20, which breaks down as follows:

• For 40%, mark attributed to continuous monitoring,
• For 60%, mark obtained at the final defense in September relating to the student's path (end-of-study project, internship and any other element chosen by the student).

This course must be completed in its entirety to obtain certification and cannot be broken down into blocks. The course is taken as a whole and not in modules. Please contact us for information on bridges and equivalences.

This Master's level degree program RNCP level 7 - RNCP36106 (published on 07-01-2022) is approved by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, which confers the grade of Master.

This program is open to all applicants who either:


• Hold a Bachelor’s Degree in design,
• Have completed three years of undergraduate studies in design, equating to at least 180 ECTS credits

You may apply before actually receiving the degree or having completed your undergraduate studies.
However, admission will only take effect once the degree is obtained or the undergraduate credits have been validated.


Applicants whose level we assess to be insufficient may be recommended to follow a semester or a full year in our 3rd Year of DN MADE / International Class before entering the master’s level degree program.

Final admission will only take effect when the necessary visa is obtained, if applicable.




English

If you are not a native English speaker, we ask that you provide proof of your English proficiency (minimum level of 700 points at the TOEIC test or equivalent).

The Master’s level degree program being subject to the validation of 800 points in the TOEIC, you will be required to take the TOEIC exam during the course.

French

While not mandatory for the programs taught in English, a certain command of French language is recommended for daily life in France and integration purposes.

Programme subject to availability of places

Applications are open from November to June 2025 for the academic year 2025-2026

Applications are organised into 9 admission sessions:



• November session: registrations until November 29, 2024
• December session: registrations until December 20, 2024
• January session: registrations from January 1 to January 31, 2025
• February session: registrations from February 1 to 28, 2025
• March session: registrations from March 1 to March 31, 2025
• April session: registrations from April 1 to 30, 2025
• May session: registrations from May 1 to 31, 2025
• June session: registrations from June 1 to 30, 2025
• July session: registrations from July 1 to 25, 2025

Apply

Selection process

1. Online application and payment of the application fees (€50);
2. Upload all the required documents for application;
3. Application review and online interview if your application file is accepted;

4. Publication of the admissions results at the end of each admission session: Admissions results are sent by email.

 Admission results within 15 days.

• French students and European Union students: €8,900 per year
• 
Non-European Union students: €9,900 per year

+ CVEC (Student and campus life contribution): contribution set at just under €103
CVEC website

Academic calendar

The academic year runs from the beginning of September to the beginning of July for all our programs.

Academic Calendar 2025/2026 will start on:

• 1st year / semester 1: September 2025
• 1st year / semester 2: February 2026

• 2nd year: September 2025

This dates are provided for information purposes only and are subject to change.

For more information to help you to prepare your arrival & life in Nantes Studying in Nantes

Final admission will only take effect when the necessary visa is obtained, if applicable. For more information about the visa  to help you to prepare for your arrival in Nantes, consult the item Procedures for international students on the page Studying in Nantes

This program trains students to become global players who can converse fluently in English and possibly even local, French language, understanding the context of another country, and most of all, steep themselves in the ability to design for clients and employers from other cultures. It is a living experience that will change its participants, often opening up unexpected, exciting international career opportunities.

As all our postgraduate studies, this program leads to the Master’s level degree in design, certified by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research and registered in the Registre National des Certifications Professionnelles (the French directory for vocational qualifications or RNCP) as a Level 7 Master’s level degree.


This program must be completed in its entirety to obtain certification and cannot be broken down into blocks. The course is taken as a whole and not in modules. Please contact us for information on equivalences.

The Master’s level degree confers the "Grade de master", and you can pursue your education at a PhD level.