D-Crit Summer Intensive

“The Summer Intensive was a wonderful experience, a whirlwind in the best possible way. It afforded participants the time to think about and practice the craft of writing, explore new forms of written and spoken narrative, and debate how design writing can contribute to today’s larger conversations. Learning from established professionals and talented classmates provided a tremendous opportunity to produce new work.” — Elizabeth Donoff, 2025 Summer Intensive participant

Does your brain need a jump-start? Does your practice need new forms of feedback? Join us in Manhattan for our renowned two-week Summer Intensive residency—an immersive program for anyone who wants to strengthen their skills as a researcher, reporter, critic, and storyteller.

For practicing designers, the Intensive is a chance to examine the profession—and its consequences—through publishing. For non-designers, it offers methods for writing compellingly about images, objects, people, and spaces.

Across seven workshops, participants work individually and in small groups to test multiple genres and approaches—interviewing, pitching, close observation, archival research, criticism, and audio storytelling—while building repeatable methods for generating and revising ideas.

By the end of the program, participants leave with multiple drafts (and the feedback to revise them), story ideas ready to pitch, and a toolkit for writing about design with rigor and imagination.

Faculty-led workshops include: The Art of the Profile (Adam Harrison Levy), The Critical Essay (Anne Elizabeth Moore), Engineered Nature (Karrie Jacobs), Writing for the Ear (Leital Molad), Narrative Strategies for Objects (Rob Walker), Speaking of the Streets (Craig Taylor), and Pitching and Publishing (Molly Heintz, Eric Schwartau, and editors from New York Review of Architecture).

Past studio visits and speakers span independent studios, institutions, and writers/critics, including Partner & Partners, PIN–UP Magazine, Isometric Studio, Poster House, CW&T, Dan Formosa, New Affiliates, A83, Jeremy O. Harris, Gabriel Fontana, FOR-SCALE, Pentagram, John Wilson, Julio Torres, Porto Rocha, CFGNY, Adam Rigg, Kiosk, Mike Eckhaus, Sarah Zapata, Ti Chang, Craig L. Wilkins, Local Projects, Kate Noll, Jon Key, Kayfa Ta, Jiminez Lai, Rockwell Group, Kouros Maghsoudi, Lucille Tenazas, Sam Stubblefield, Polymorf, Mimi Zeiger, and Prem Krishnamurthy.

Interested in continuing beyond the Intensive? In addition to our Summer Intensive and full-time, nine-month MA, we also offer a part-time, two-year track aimed at prospective students seeking an alternative to full-time graduate study. Significant scholarship funding is available for both full-time and part-time students.

Priority application deadline: April 1, 2026 / Program dates: June 1–12, 2026 / Tuition: 1950 USD. Apply here.