Tama Art University

Three Policies
Department of Integrated Design

Purposes and Educational Goals (Diploma Policy)

The Department of Integrated Design is a new venue for design education that removes the divisions of the past, such as those between graphic, product, and interface design, and enables students to study design in a broad interdisciplinary manner. Through this program, we aim to cultivate human resources who build a harmonious society based on the aesthetics of design.

Integrated design seamlessly incorporates things and spaces as an extension of the body, environments in the aggregate, systems and communications as intermediaries between them, and interactions between images and bodies.

To develop artists who can achieve the educational and research goals of the Faculty of Art and Design, the Department of Integrated Design aims to cultivate the "ability to identify and consider the essence of issues" comprising the social and industrial activities of everyday life, the "ability to identify the whole and think about various possible solutions" to each individual issue, and the “knowledge and skills to put ideas into practice in the most appropriate way, and the ability to execute them.” Students who have achieved this goal receive bachelor’s (BFA) degrees.


Curriculum Policy

The Department of Integrated Design systematically organizes and implements a curriculum based on the following policies so that students can achieve the goals indicated in the Diploma Policy.

In introductory classes, students learn the fundamental essentials, such as the meaning and purpose of design, through lecture-based specialized subjects offered by the department.

In introductory first- and second-year courses, to gain knowledge and skills in the design field required to execute ideas, students gain a command of information concepts, typography, diagrams, photography, modeling techniques, web design, interaction and so forth through hands-on modeling exercises in areas such as rendering, color, form, material, and composition. In the specialized courses in the third and fourth years, students engage in “projects” dealing with integrated design of relationships among things, people, the environment and society, and the instructor in charge conducts classes in a seminar format. Students determine their own assignments related to the socially relevant themes presented by each teacher, and while producing their works, cultivate the ability to build solutions and harmony in areas of focus drawn from social issues and everyday life. In the second half of the fourth year, they complete a graduation project as a culmination of four years of study.

Courses are arranged systematically, enabling students to learn the processes of integrated design through theoretical lectures and practical skills education, self-establishment of assignments and realization of ideas.

To evaluate the results of study, rigorous grading is carried out based on criteria specified in advance. Also, “cross-reviews” are conducted, making use of the expertise of each faculty member and improving the accuracy of evaluations from various angles.


Admissions Policy

Based on the academic contents of the Diploma Policy and Curriculum Policy, the Department of Integrated Design seeks students with basic artistic abilities to observe and render subjects in depth and produce ideas based on assigned themes, and also those with a positive, proactive stance toward self-motivated thought.

It is important to train consistently in preparation for exams, but it is important for each individual not merely to develop superficial skills, rather to be aware of underlying issues in everyday life and to have the power to explore the unknown through independent thinking.

After enrolling in the program, students are evaluated on how they make use of what they have learned in class, arrive at realizations, deepen their thinking, broaden their ideas, think about possibilities for solving various problems, and put these ideas into practice.

For this reason there is an emphasis not only on rendering and compositional ability but also on practical knowledge and logical thinking necessary to understand society and communicate with people, evaluated and scored from multiple perspectives through dialogues, essays, from departmental exams.

Today, society and industry are undergoing drastic change. There are a wide range of issues facing Japan and the world. We have high expectations for students who prepare to live in the new society of the future by firmly acquiring the ability to notice, think and create for themselves in situations where conventional methods are ineffective.