The Master of Design Class of 2012 is a diverse group. Students have come to the program with backgrounds in Communication Design, Interaction Design, Landscape Architecture, Fine Art, Product Design, Sociology, Environmental and Interior Design and English Literature. Of the 13 students in this year's class, 8 are Canadians, one is from Korea, and 4 are from China. The median age of the group is 32 years, and their combined weight (as of May, 2011) is 874 kilograms!

Carley is a prairie girl, raised in Saskatoon and Edmonton, with a love of big skies and icy cold winters. But truly her heart remains in Vancouver. Before moving out east, Carley taught at Emily Carr University and continues to run a small one-woman design studio. She enjoys being a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

Originally from South Korea, Hana has studied and worked in Hawaii, New York, Connecticut (US), Chennai (India), and Seoul (South Korea) as a freelance designer and design school assistant. She is extending her knowledge and experience in graphic design by exploring organizational design on the MDes program. Hana will continue to work with NGOs and educational institutions/organizations to collaboratively ‘change the world.’ She has Bachelor of English Literature from South Korea (2002), studied Visual Communications in Kona, Hawaii (2005) and obtained a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Design from NSCAD University (2011).

Over the last 15 years, Kevin has acquired extensive international experience as both graphic designer and art director, getting exposed to diverse cultures and faced unique challenges, which have expanded his knowledge, strategic thinking and problem-solving skills, while creating innovative and sustainable design solutions.

LeeAndra obtained a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from Mount Allison University in 2010. She continued her studies in design at NSCAD University and started the MDes program in 2011. LeeAndra will be exploring the theories of critical design and slow design in relationship to the importance of eating meals together and the dynamic of the kitchen table in her thesis research.

Michael is a design professional and teacher with multidisciplinary experience in the development of international museum exhibit design projects, graphic identity, communications and wayfinding programs for a range of cultural, corporate and governmental groups, and organizations. At NSCAD University he is focusing on social creativity and museums.

Yanyan is from Beijing, China and since 2001 received her post-secondary education in Canada. She gained a BA (Honors) in Sociology at University of New Brunswick and in 2011 she obtained her Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Design from NSCAD University. Yanyan is current an MDes student in NSCAD and is interested in interdisciplinary and critical design, she believes that design is a social product and design thinking must be logical, reasonable, poetic, and dialectic. She develops her own design voice by applying philosophical sociological principles into design practices. Yanyan believes in the human world as a historical space at a specific historical time and design functions as a mirror (heterotopia) to reflect the value, human nature, ideology, and politics of the world. She considers herself as the first Situationist in Halifax who is trying to dig “treasure” from the ordinary boredom of life. Her dream career is to be a design politician who can help designers to speak with their own voices and reduce the gap between the emotional designers and the modern “fast” rational economic system.

Joseph comes to Halifax from Ontario (originating in Alberta). He is a recent graduate of a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture Honours degree program. His interests lie primarily at the intersection of design and the built environment.

Stuart is a Toronto based product designer who is interested in sustainable development. He is attending the MDes program at NSCAD University to research and design sustainable systems of production for Canada’s furniture industry.

Yin studied interior design and obtained a bachelor’s degree from Shandong University in China. She came to Canada in 2010 to attended NSCAD University and study design. She achieved a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Design in Design from NSCAD in 2011. Yin is now studying on the MDes program at NSCAD and her research is on Chinese culture and interior design.

Ian continues to explore the nature of art and design through his practice that began at the University of Alberta (BFA) and continued with Grant MacEwan (dipVCD) and NSCAD University (MDes). Ian has been designing for online experiences as well as making illustrations and book designs; he is also intrigued by the creative sparks that come from interdisciplinary explorations. For the past ten years he has been working in the domain of teaching and learning, designing distance education course materials for Athabasca University. Ian is currently researching the qualitative value found in expanding poetic spaces through visual design as a storytelling medium.

Linghan is from China and graduated from Raffles Design Institute in 2009 with an undergraduate degree in Multimedia Design. She came to Halifax in September 2010 to NSCAD University and the MDes program. She hopes that her studies and research project will broaden her horizons and help her become an important designer.

Shu (Grace) studied landscape architecture in China and also has a bachelor degree in English literature. She is fanatical about culture and history, and her dream is to live in Beijing while practicing creative design. Her brain is always in an imaginable universe and is always excited by design. She believes that the experience for learning graphic design at NSCAD University on the MDes program brings her to another higher level. She enjoys discovering what can better improve people’s living environment and social situation. She loves a peaceful world.

Martyn Anstice has over 20 years of advertising and design experience, working for many well-know agencies such as Cossette, DDB Canada and Anderson DDB. He has worked as an Art Director and Type Director in Canada and the UK. He is the principal of Fielding Typography Design, a design consultancy with a typographic focus. Martyn also has many years teaching experience at Toronto area art colleges most recently at OCAD University. His MDes thesis is on the future of the news industry.