Politecnico di Milano

Politecnico di Milano connects scientific and technical disciplines with creative design education. Within its structured Design System—comprising the School of Design, the Department of Design, and the POLI.design consortium—the university links academic degree courses, practical research laboratories, and direct industry collaboration.

Degree Pathways and Specializations

Undergraduate and graduate programs focus on interaction, user experience, and media production across digital and physical contexts:

• Interaction Design (BSc): Hosted at the Lecco campus, this undergraduate program introduces students to programming, electronics, front-end development, data analysis, user testing, and physical prototyping.
• Digital and Interaction Design (MSc): Based at the Milano Bovisa Durando campus, this master's degree concentrates on connected devices, responsive environments, tangible interfaces, and interactive installations.
• Communication Design (BSc & MSc): Covers motion design, audiovisual production, typography, information visualization, and digital content distribution across multi-platform media.
• Video Identity and Dynamic Communication Systems for the Entertainment Industry: Offered as a postgraduate Specializing Master through POLI.design in partnership with Mediaset, training visual designers in motion graphics, video editing, sound design, visual effects compositing, and generative artificial intelligence workflows developed in professional studio environments.

Teaching Methodology and Facilities

Education across the creative curricula follows a learning-through-making model. Theoretical lectures are paired with iterative studio work and industry-partnered workshops, where students progress from core design concepts to functional digital and hardware prototypes. Coursework frequently incorporates usability testing, social impact evaluation, and professional internships within digital production studios and agencies.

The Bovisa Durando Campus serves as the primary hub for design studies, occupying a redeveloped industrial site in northern Milan. Specialized resources include Polifactory, a 300-square-meter makerspace and Fab Lab configured for analog and digital fabrication, open hardware experimentation, and physical interactive prototyping. The Department of Design also operates the Imagis Lab, an applied research space dedicated to animation, visual effects, virtual and augmented reality, and metaverse environments.