It is intended that professionals coming from the Design course are able to design systems and fashion products, accessories and clothing; visual information systems, objects and their systems of use through an interdisciplinary approach being considered the users and their socio-economic-cultural contexts, as well as the potentialities and limitations of the productive units in question.

The Design Department of the Federal University of Pernambuco was created in 1997. The UFPE design area, however, was instituted since 1972, with the creation of the Industrial Design course and its qualifications in visual programming and product design. Today dDesign offers a full degree in Design; the Academic Masters in Design; and lato sensu courses in Ergonomics, Information Design and Fashion Design.