Interaction Design
First Semester Year 1
COURSE NUMBER | COURSE TITLE | CREDITS |
---|---|---|
IXD 601 | IxD Studio I: Interactive Product Prototyping | 3 |
IXD 605 | User Interface Design | 3 |
IXD 611 | Coding for Designers | 3 |
IXD610 | Frameworks for Interaction & Conversation | 3 |
DGR613 | Seminar | 3 |
TOTAL CREDITS | 15 |
Second Semester Year 1
COURSE NUMBER | COURSE TITLE | CREDITS |
---|---|---|
IXD602 | IxD Studio II: Smart Services | 3 |
IXD 612 | User Experience Design | 3 |
DGR620 | Graduate Research Methods | 3 |
DGR721 | Professional Practice I | 3 |
Studio Elective/ Program Specific Course | 3 | |
TOTAL CREDITS | 15 |
First Semester Year 2
COURSE NUMBER | COURSE TITLE | CREDITS |
---|---|---|
DGR711 | Graduate Thesis 1 | 6 |
IXD701 | IxD Studio III: Future Cities | 3 |
IXD606 | Advanced User Interface Design | 3 |
DGR631 | Written Thesis | 3 |
TOTAL CREDITS | 15 |
Second Semester Year 2
COURSE NUMBER | COURSE TITLE | CREDITS |
---|---|---|
DGR712 | Graduate Thesis II | 6 |
IXD--- | Innovation & Digital Entrepreneurship | 3 |
DGR772 | Professional Practice II | 3 |
Studio Elective/Program Specific Course | 3 | |
TOTAL CREDITS | 15 |
First Year
Fall
IxD Studio I: Interactive Product Prototyping I
Studio courses are designed to expose students to a wide range of real life design problems with industry and community partners. These courses challenge students to apply creative thinking skills in developing design outcomes and interventions for objects and experiences and apply technological competencies.
This course focuses on skills in physical modeling, introducing students to the coding of interactions for hardware and objects using Arduino prototyping and raspberry pi. Students will learn to improvise and prototype with a range of making methods, including the use of traditional hand guided tools and CNC fabrication processes.
User Interface Design
This course will introduce the fundamental concepts, methods, and practices of UI (user interface) design. It will familiarize its students with the processes of interface development, the role of design leadership in that process, and the technical aspects of creating an effective interaction experience. Students will work both individually and in teams to explore the user interface development process and communicate their ideas in and through narrative media.
User centered research methods are embedded into the course. Students will participate in focused exercises that will orient them to the process and the resources they will need to further pursue UI design.
Coding for Designers
This is an introductory course for designers and artists with no prior experience of coding and programming.
Led by play, students will generate ideas and advance interaction concepts that are brought to life with code. Students will learn to use code as a creative medium and as a means to activate interactions between humans, objects, spaces, and interfaces.
Frameworks for Interaction & Conversation
Frameworks can help designers see, interpret, and design interactions. This course covers the history, psychology, and theory and practice of interaction design. Students will employ approaches from cybernetics, social practice theory, and actor-network theory to explore interactive systems of their own choosing. As a result, students will be equipped to make design decisions, informed by research, about the varied ways to leverage frameworks to evaluate and generate interactive systems as they move through their education and practice as designers.
Graduate Seminar 1
Graduate Seminar aims to enable students to undertake rich and robust creative exploration that is informed by contextual and critical inquiry. Graduate Seminar serves to advance both the critical inquiry and critical writing skills of students, and enable the cross-referencing of theory to practice. Social, political, economic and environmental themes will be used to inform weekly classes.
Winter
Interaction Design Studio II: Smart Services
Studio courses are designed to expose students to a wide range of real life design problems with industry and community partners. These courses challenge students to apply creative thinking skills in developing design outcomes and interventions for objects and experiences and apply technological competencies.
This course focuses on services and experiences mediated through smart technology and digital systems. Students will research and visually map technologically mediated experiences for smart services and service design.
User Experience Design
Students will learn about the principles of UX (user experience) design. Students will learn how to map user journeys and prototype meaningful scenarios informed by research and iterative modeling and testing. Students will, at times, utilize and apply user-centered research and co-design methods.
Graduate Research Methods
The Graduate Research Methods course equips students with the knowledge and skills required to undertake a range of advanced research methodologies appropriate to contemporary creative practice and critical inquiry in art and design, from ethnography and interviews to phenomenology and critical performance. Using a wide range of primary and secondary sources students will learn to critically explore and evaluate art and design research practices.
Professional Practice I
Part A provides a cross-disciplinary overview of the arts and creative industries and their importance to GDP and the economy overall, i.e. the creative economy. Students will strengthen their understanding of the broader business of creativity and arena of culture in which they will operate professionally.
Part B allows students to make a plan to address gaps in their resume, prepare their portfolios, and refine their oral presentation.
Studio Elective/ Program Specific Course
Students will choose an elective course.
Second Year
Fall
Graduate Thesis I
Thesis I is part one of a self-directed major project that will be the culmination of the graduate study experience. Students will critically situate the project in a specific context and it will be informed by robust research methodologies. Students will develop a body of well-documented research and development work, that will underpin thematically relevant creative outcomes in part two, evidencing practical impact and/or a critical provocation.
Interaction Design Studio III : Future Cities
Studio courses are designed to expose students to a wide range of real life design problems with industry and community partners. These courses challenge students to apply creative thinking skills in developing design outcomes and interventions for objects and experiences and apply technological competencies. In this third studio course, students will explore technologically mediated interactions between humans and services loctated in public spaces. The course advances the notion of smart cities, with projects that cover public service themes, including advice and advocacy, mobility, wayfinding, health, waste, and digital citizenship.
Advanced User Interface Design
In this course students will learn advanced user experience design for technologically enabled businesses and enterprises. Students will learn to identify entrepreneurial opportunities using the application of new and emerging technologies, and utilize smart service systems with business-led and/or entrepreneurial systems thinking.
Written Thesis
The Written Thesis is a self-directed, academically rigorous and fully referenced 8000-10,000words document providing a critical appraisal of primary and secondary research sources, and theoretical discussion and debate on the over-arching context of the Graduate Thesis.
Winter
Graduate Thesis II
Thesis II is part two of a self-directed major project, a body of work that is the culmination of the graduate study experience. Following on from part one, students will resolve, realize and present thematically relevant creative outcomes, evidencing practical impact evidencing practical impact and/or a critical provocation.
Innovation & Digital Entrepreneurship
In this course students will learn advanced user experience design for technologically enabled businesses and enterprises. Students will learn to identify entrepreneurial opportunities using the application of new and emerging technologies, and utilize smart service systems with business-led and/or entrepreneurial systems thinking.
Professional Practice II
Professional Practice II builds on Professional Practice I, and runs in two concurrent modules, A and B. Part A is an in-depth exploration of the economic and socio-cultural value of the student’s own creative discipline. It examines the business practices of their professional discipline and how these operate alongside that of others. Part B allows students to further assess their own role and economic potential in the business of creativity, and advance their “hard” and “soft” skills.
Studio Elective / Program Specific Course
Students will choose an elective or program specific course.
MFA Interaction Design Program Student Learning Outcomes (PLO)
The learning outcomes underlying the MFA in Interaction Design curriculum are:
1. Interaction Design Principles and Theory: Utilize advanced design and technology skills and knowledge to resolve interaction design challenges.
2. Research Methods: Critically engage with design research methods and analysis in informing practical and/or critical interaction design outcomes.
3. Independent Practice: Independently initiate imaginative and innovative interaction design outcomes and hypotheses that critically challenge established practices.
4. Technological Mediation: Utilize advanced research and idea generation to generate contextually rich technologically mediated interactions.
5. Leadership: Utilize professional intellect and communication skills in proposing and implementing advanced ideas and thinking for creative leadership in interaction design.
6. Critical Thinking: Develop in-depth critical and contextual understanding of interrelated interaction design factors informing innovation and evidencing original thought and creativity in the generation of ideas.