Master of Professional Studies in Retail Design
Advance your career with CCAD’s master’s in Retail Design
Retail is changing. Get ready to move into the future and define your path with Columbus College of Art & Design’s Master of Professional Studies in Retail Design. With CCAD's MPS program, you’ll experience a cutting-edge approach to learning with a rich mix of theory and practice in a curriculum developed and taught by retail experts. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of how customers engage with brands and make purchase decisions—from e-commerce to brick and mortar, and everything in between.
What I've learned in CCAD’s MPS program has directly impacted new projects, allowing me to challenge myself and my team to think differently."
Harley Ward
Creative Director, AT&T (MPS in Retail Design, 2024)
Meet our program chair
Dr Tamara Peyton
Dr. Tamara Peyton is the chair of CCAD's Master of Professional Studies graduate programs in User Experience (UX) Design and Retail Design. As a qualitative UX researcher, design thinker and ideation expert, Dr. Peyton is invested in understanding how everyday people interact with each other in their favorite physical and digital environments, and through their favorite brands and technologies. Before switching careers to design education, Dr. Peyton had a decade-long career in the young UX and dot-com industry in Canada, working as a business systems analyst, UX designer, and intranet services manager for a handful of major national and international corporations.
A master's degree that fits your goals
Retail design is relevant in not just the clothing industry, but in nearly every industry. Our channel-agnostic approach to retail is one that only an art and design school can offer and helps to balance business acumen with innovation, inclusivity, and creativity to meet the challenges of tomorrow. Plus, you’ll build your professional network and make meaningful mentorship connections in this growing field. Students graduating from our program will be poised to take on roles such as:
- Environmental designer
- Interface designer
- Product designer
- Product manager
- Digital marketer
- Project manager
- Service manager
Headquartered in Columbus, like many of the world’s biggest retail brands, Bath & Body Works has hired a number of talented, skilled CCAD students and alumni over the years—creative thinkers who have found professional success and fulfillment in their work.
Each year, CCAD recognizes some of our outstanding alumni with our Alumni Awards. And this year, we were aided in that process by our inaugural 12-member CCAD Alumni Advisory Board, who aided in selecting the winners from the pool of nominees submitted by our community members.
The Columbus Arts Festival is back in 2023. This year’s festival, presented by the American Electric Power Foundation and produced by the Greater Columbus Arts Council, is Friday, June 9–Sunday, June 11, on Columbus’ downtown riverfront.
Columbus College of Art & Design alum Robert Coles (Retail Advertising, 1995) has established the Coles Diversity Impact Scholarship Fund to strengthen access and opportunities for incoming students at CCAD.
Shorts (Industrial Design, 2006) is the founder/creator-in-chief of Columbus creative agency Artfluential; in addition, he founded the Maroon Arts Group (a collective promoting Black culture and art); has a newsletter, Shut Up and Create; and, with fellow alum—and CCAD Trustee Corey Favor (Illustration, 2003)—is co-founder of artist conference Creative Control Fest.
