Your Curriculum & Faculty

With the prevalence of the computer in contemporary culture, Interaction Design has emerged as a practice that determines how people engage with technology. This course examines the specific field of Interaction Design; its history, human-centered design principles, and screen- based interaction patterns. Students learn how to design the behavior of interactive digital interfaces and gain an understanding of how design decisions impact a user’s experience and the overall success of a product. Students analyze historical examples, contemporary user interfaces, and their own designs. Students also learn how to design, justify, and articulate using human-centered design principles and screen-based interaction patterns.

What was it like?

The group projects during the first semester really help prepare you for what the real world is like. As crazy as the project was, it did teach me to work really fast.

Memorable project?

I learned about how to narrow down ideas, and focus on what a user finds to be important in a given scenario. Our user research really helped guide us. Initially we had a completely different idea of where we were going...but in the end we designed a wearable that keeps your child in reach in busy places!

Advice for future students?

Definitely document everything. And do a lot of primary research. Talk to people, they're your best resource for design. I find that what I assume is going to happen, pretty much 90% of the time isn't what happens. Ask a lot of questions. Be an observant person in your world. Cataloging that kind of stuff and thinking that way will help you once you get into the program.

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From 1st year cohort member

This design course focuses on the storytelling component of interaction design with a special focus on prototyping and motion graphics. Exploring different types of prototyping, from paper prototypes to digital, screen-based prototypes (e.g, web-based tools, video prototypes), students use storytelling to describe experiences in interaction design. Students use a hands-on approach to design a better experience for end users by sketching, storytelling, experimenting, making and testing. Students create prototypes at different levels of fidelity using appropriate tools and technologies.

What was it like?

We learned to discuss our ideas as people first, and then as designers. We would use words, visuals, and sketches to place our concepts into setting that brought them to life. Doing this highlighted things you initially didn't think about.

Memorable project?

My favorite project was our final. We sorted everyone's interests into categories, and we picked a category to explore. We ended up with the environment and water and designed a hypothetical project called GOTA. We created a story about how this device we designed would communicated to users that their water was polluted. It was quite a complex issue, but I think refining and condensing it into a story helped us...get a better sense of all the various components. Putting it into a story of a single use-case helped us focus our ideas.

Advice for future students?

Don't be fooled by the title of the class. If you can be open to learning how to tell a good story, it will make you a better designer.

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From Stephanie Hawken

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This hands-on course introduces students to Web development using the newest features in client-side markup languages to create modern dayvisual front-ends. Following responsive Web design practices, students will learn how to make front-ends dynamically react to the user by using features such as floating windows, animations, carousels and sliders, nifty widgets,drop down menus, parallax scroll effects, single page applications and simple games. Students will also learn various client-side techniques for working with data, form data validation, and data collection using Web services, XML, and AJAX to process user input such as product orders. Technologies included in instruction are the current versions of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, JQuery, XML, jSON, and AJAX.

What was it like?

I had written HTML and CSS before this class, but not much Javascript. It was great to have an opportunity to really push my JS skills and also learn how to use existing libraries to speed up the work. While I’m no Javascript expert, I now feel confident enough to write or adapt code I find online to put together prototypes.

Memorable project?

I loved the final project where we got to use all of our skills we’d learned so far. I made a website that took your information, validated all the fields in a form, and pulled a random picture from the Flickr API to generate a fake secret agent card. I even figured out the code to save them as jpegs that you could download!

Advice for future students?

Learning to code is like learning another language. If you find yourself struggling, don’t beat yourself up. It’s a hard topic and even harder because it’s taught online. Ask for help! Look to your peers in the cohort for support. Look beyond the lessons. There are incredible (and free!) resources out there like codeacademy, treehouse, udemy, and udacity for learning the material. Consider getting familiar with the basics (using those resources) before starting the class.

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Evan Leo - IxD Senior

This introductory course examines the medium of video games. The course studies how video games have developed historically, culturally, and technically. Issues of narrative, design, interactivity, and spatiality, which inform both the medium as a whole and individual games in particular, are examined. The function of video games as media texts within popular culture is also assessed.

What was it like?

I grew up playing video games in the arcades, before there were even console games. My interest in interaction design probably stems from playing video games when I was growing up. The class helped me more deeply understand why games are more than just pixels moving around on a screen. They’re thought out, there is narrative, there are concepts behind the actual gameplay. The designers themselves... built on the experiences and knowledge of other game developers and you can see the progression. I'd love to work at a game development company someday.

Memorable project?

There was some game-analysis we did, where you teach a game to a friend or family member. It's almost like user testing. I tried teaching my girlfriend how to play Civilization 5...creating warriors and sending them out to attack and defend. Because it was turn based and not very fast-paced she said, "When does this get fun?"As someone who prefers more casual games like Angry Birds, she thought Civ5 was too complicated and tedious. It’s clear that each game genre has its strengths and weaknesses and its own audience.

Advice for others?

It's not an easy-A class. You have to pay attention because there's a lot that goes into making a game: sound effects, building a narrative, creating tasks that are both challenging and fun, and way more.

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From Doug Dean

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CSU General Education or IGETC requirement (as needed).

Microinteractions, found in every user interface, are designed moments (e.g. log in, copy and paste, on or off) that are an integral part of every interface. This course reveals these seemingly invisible interactive controls, providing an overview of specific platforms, paradigms, and affordances. The studio prepares students to create task oriented end-to-end user experiences and interaction flows. Students learn how to design at the micro scale, exploring appropriate forms, states, feedback, and loops based on different contexts and user goals. Through iterative methodologies, students learn to refine the details of a specific feature interaction. Collaborating directly with users and fellow classmates, students prototype, critique, and test existing interaction examples and their own micro- interaction designs. Students develop a critical understanding of how interactive forms communicate and influence a user’s behavior.

What was it like?

This course was really interesting because it forced us to take a look at products for better. We were to design something that would help people and generally we were challenged to look at something personal to us. Working with [the faculty], My intention was to design products that My mom had a heart attack, how could we avoid that? We can't, but I can design something for something. The way she process was pretty great. It's more structured, the week to week progression linear.

Memorable project?

Alleye, is a conceptual wearable that I came up with. It is a wearable EAG based on my research, actual technology, and medical adhesives. It notices if something unusual is happening with your heart and alerts you and your family on a mobile device. This is very personal to me as my mom had a heart attack and waited to get help. She had chest pain, and she tried to work through it. If you're wearing something like this, it connects straight to your loved ones in case there’s an emergency.

Advice for future students?

Make sure you have time to do the work. If you can.

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Maile Malin

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This course provides a hands-on introductory experience to the history, contemporary methodologies, and emerging practices of Product Design. This studio teaches students to think through “making” and includes in-class workshops on 3D modeling and rapid-prototyping. Students cross design disciplines and toolsets, using 3D forms to solve problems, act out new capabilities, and connect to other devices, objects, and people. The projects in this course are fast-paced, collaborative, and experimental.

What was it like?

We thought about how materials interact with each other and got hands-on exploring materials in ways that I would have never done myself. I really enjoyed figuring out different affordances of materials, like foam. I had to come up with 100 verbs for foam! You can squeeze it and form it in your hands and do all sorts of really interesting things with it that I’d never considered before.

Memorable project?

We got to build a cardboard chair. I started with a small prototype — three versions of what I wanted to do. I used a simple form made from rolled vertical cardboard. I had to consider its affordances in the process, but cardboard is actually pretty strong. Some people were very hands on with power equipment and created complex shapes/pieces. Other peoples were simpler but very creative. It was cool to see everyone’s projects and to follow through with an idea. I felt like I was doing work, being challenged, following through and getting things done. It was a good lesson for the real world.

Advice for future students?

I’d really recommend students to always be sketching. Documentation is really important so you should keep a journal or sketchbook for only this class. This class took a lot more time out of my week than others so you have to makes sure to organize your schedule and always jot down items to work on bit by bit throughout the week. It's not one of those classes you want to start working on two days prior to the deadline.

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From Chioma Ojini

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In this course students discuss and apply organizational communication theories with an emphasis on small group dynamics, particularly in diverse workplace environments. Students will investigate numerous theories about organizational communication and case studies to explore the experiences of diverse groups in different workplace environments in history and in contemporary society. Students will identify the problems that diverse groups may face in organizational settings and design programmatic solutions to such problems. The readings and course materials will be used to enhance students’ intercultural awareness and understanding of organizational communication theory in practice.

What was it like?

This class taught me the importance of human relations, improved my communication skills, and broadened my understanding of how communication works in different environments. I learned pros and cons of different management styles and the importance of things like groupthink and inclusivity. The professor (Luis Andrade) is knowledgeable, passionate, fair, always available and goes the extra mile to help you.

Memorable project?

For one of the projects, we were told to find an organization that has an internal problem that challenges their overall company goal. We worked with the YMCA to discover and improve communication issues they had around providing enough resources to their front door staff. We communicated with YMCA personnel and members and paired UX methodologies we've been learning in other classes with communication skills form this class to pick apart the organization piece by piece, discover pain points, ideate and create concepts that might help their organization.

Advice for future students?

Be open minded and expect to have solid and constructive discussions/debates and to learn how to delegate work/tasks. You will have a better understanding of how to deal with conflict and how good communication can lead to failure or success. You’ll learn a lot about your cohort, their strengths and weaknesses and how to work with them.

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From Manuel Hernandez

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CSU General Education or IGETC requirement (as needed).

This course contextualizes project management for interaction designers. Project Management for Design provides a comprehensive overview of current design development processes and tools used to successfully deliver a high- quality project on time. Students will learn to clearly communicate with clients and manage the design process while integrating design objectives into the overall development timeline. Students will develop leadership skills, learn to plan, organize, motivate, and control resources based on project goals.

What was it like?

I learned how to use a gantt chart software to manage projects. I learned to identify all members involved, their roles, and potential salaries. This class taught me how to set up a project, calculate cost and to always leave a margin for error to avoid underestimating projects. 

Memorable project?

My favorite part of this class was when I had to build a creative brief and a timeline for an app that I had designed in another class. I had come up with an idea for a possible startup and this class taught me to identify the different players that would be involved in the eventual development of the idea, time and cost. This was very valuable. 

Advice for future students?

Don't underestimate your projects. The cost might feel too high but it's that for a reason. Don't be afraid of the software this class has to offer. Just dive in and learn something new.

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From Tarelle Butts

In this course, students work with a variety of organizations addressing a community need to design and develop a project with social impact. Students apply a variety of user experience and interaction design skill sets to work collaboratively with community stakeholders in identifying and helping to solve a need. Through this experience, students recognize and demonstrate many interaction design practices related to research, analysis, concept, design and prototyping to work on a project designed to serve a community need.

What was it like?

In Community Change I learned Design thinking. How to rely on that as a process. Just the concept of community change is cool. Designing for social change is always really meaningful. Taking away the process: Design thinking.

Memorable project?

Having two projects back to back...was cool. To me that was really helpful. The outcome doesn't have to be perfect, going through that process multiple times, that's what I really enjoyed.

Advice for future students?

Trust the process. Drop the ego. Get familiar with the concept of Design Thinking. Try to actually do some research on your own about where this might be used in the world...a lot of times it’s helpful to see: This is what they do in industry, and that's why this is important. Because otherwise you think what they teach you is some crazy idea coming from a teacher - it's just something we do in school. But when you look into actual industry projects you realize they're using the same methods and tools to get there...that's when I felt like committing to it.

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From Amanda Sanchez

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This course provides the interaction design student the opportunity to develop work under the supervision of the instructor on a one-to-one basis and to develop the skill to talk about their body of work in a professional setting. Emphasis is placed on developing a portfolio that displays a comprehensive understanding of industry expectations for a UX/interaction designer.

What was it like?

Previous portfolio classes were focused on how you presented your projects and the Senior Portfolio class focused on helping you create a strong and consistent identity. Selwa won't give you a formula you have to fit into but will give you the guidance to follow your own path while still being professional and following industry standards. Having my portfolio was an afterthought to me but having this class and all of its milestones has pushed me—it's the "kick in the pants" I needed. I learned to how to understand who I am, communicate who I am, and find a place for myself in the real world as who I am. You want your identity to be as authentic as possible so that you're attracting people who want that. 

Memorable project?

The cool thing about Selwa (the professor) is that she has really challenged us to have group discussions, pair up with others to try things out. She does it in such a way that I'm not reluctant to my involvement and every time I come out of it I'm so happy I did that because I end up having a lot more clarity. I really like how she brings the entire class together through discussion. She has a great way of presenting the information and letting you take that in however way. 

Advice for future students?

At first I was like 'why are we doing this the last semester?' But the timing of this class has been perfect because if I'd done this a year ago, I didn't know myself as well as I do now, my projects weren't at the quality that they are in now, so, it would have been premature. My advice would be to understand the value of the timing of this class and how it lines up with graduation. It gets you in the mindset of going from school to industry by keeping you productive and teaching you how to communicate yourself.Make sure you keep a process of everything you do from the very beginning of your IxD career. Make sure you have a file organization per project and within that you have your documentation, research, and media. If you don't do this from day one, it's really hard to redo all of this at the very end. Attempting to redo it is very tedious and usually you can't capture it in the same way.

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From D. Laughton

Students explore the design of user interfaces that blend digital and physical interactions. Working with creative technologies such as microcontrollers, sensors, and actuators, students create functional prototypes that explore new interaction techniques, principles, and strategies. This course immerses students into prototyping through hands-on class workshops and research into contemporary examples such as the Internet of Things, Smart Objects, and Voice User Interface (VUI). Students explore the expressive capabilities of technology through user observations, affordances, and converting physical action into digital information.

What was it like?

I learned so much about hardware and code. I applied my design process to that, and was able to build something tangible to prototype ideas and experienced. It was great to be exposed to this whole world and to have our professor Maxim there to answer my questions.

Memorable project?

My most memorable class project was building an automated cat feeder. I liked that because I got to build something for my cat and I got to use a lot of new hardware. It was an advanced learning experience. There's so much more potential with all of this stuff, that's what I realized.

Advice for future students?

Don't be discouraged or overwhelmed. Just ask questions, the teachers are there to help. The help is there if you ask.

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From Michael Coty

This  upper–division  Cognitive  Psychology  course  addresses  how humans learn to process information in their environ-ment as well as how they decide how and when to act on their  environment.  This  course  includes  a  survey  of  cogni-tive  psychology,  specifically,  the  science  and  study  of  how  people  acquire,  represent,  transform  and  use  verbal  and  nonverbal  information.  In  this  context  we  will  explore  sensation  and  perception  of  objects,  surfaces,  space,  and  motion. Additionally, key cognitive functions are explored including imagery, memory, representations of knowledge, language, decision making, thinking and reasoning, atten-tion  and  vigilance.  Finally,  we  will  review  developmental  considerations  in  cognitive  psychology  from  early  infant  cognition to maturation and cognition as we age.

Principles of Marketing

This course introduces modern business marketing concepts and strategies and familiarizes the student with standards, procedures, and techniques used in marketing. Topics include marketing research; consumer behavior; target marketing; green marketing; and product, pricing, promotion, and distribution strategies.

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Principles of Entrepreneurship

This course covers the fundamentals of how to organize, finance, and operate a small business. Topics to be covered include business plan development, financing, legal and ethical issues, marketing, entrepreneurial team development, and business models.

This course focuses on an industry-sponsored project in which students use their integrated skills to create a forward-looking design in response to a real-world brief provided by the industry partner in collaboration with the faculty. This is a capstone course where students work in small teams and build on the knowledge and skills they acquired in earlier course work. The course is organized around a project that requires student teams to explore various design concepts and alternatives as well as explore recent practices, tools, and systems that may be related to the project. Students will design and produce a prototype as part of a team. Considering the pace of the development of the project, this requires students to engage in a considerable amount of independent as well as team- based learning.

What was it like?

I enjoyed Senior Studio because we got to work with a real client. This is our last semester and most of us going into the workforce so I think this is good preparation. We are learning how to apply everything we've learned up until this point to real world projects. For example, we've been creating prototypes, working in teams, iterating on your ideas, not being married to our ideas and learning to pivot at any point.

Memorable project?

A favorite moment of mine was our presentation of our solution to visitors from industry. The presentations are sort of a breath of fresh air because you pause to receive valuable feedback from industry which helps stabilize the group's ideas/concepts.

Advice for future students?

Don't develop senioritis. Hone in on your skills and brush up on your presentation skills. Be sure you're comfortable with presenting to people outside of the class/school environment. Be prepared to receive fresh, valuable and real-world feedback from people outside your class.

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From Sasha Bassoiuk

Students design for the complexities of large scale systems, services, and digital networks. The course provides a survey of current system design, information architecture, and topics in interaction design such as The Internet of Things. Working in teams modeled after professional studios, students conduct exploratory ethnographic research to form novel strategies, concepts, maps, user narratives, and models for our increasingly complex world of networked objects, spaces, and people. This course encourages students to leverage team brainstorms and critiques in order to develop consistency through an entire ecosystem.

What was it like?

This studio class was interesting because  we were given the freedom to find a problem we were interested in and find a solution to that problem. 

Memorable project?

We decided to go with financial technology. There were a bunch of issues with that space and we all related to those problems so we thought that would be the right link-up. We also had to tie it to emerging technology...so we explored AR (augmented reality). That was pretty fun...and because it was exploratory there weren’t too many guidelines to follow. Everyone was messing around, everyone was having fun - so anything was right.

Advice for future students?

This third studio course one is completely different from the first two. It wasn't specifically about specific users. It was about how services work and how to design them. Keep that in mind as you go into it.

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From Edwin Rodriguez

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This course introduces the students to a set of emerging technologies, new interfaces and developing mediums which will shape the design landscape 5 to 10 years from now - focusing on machine learning, computer-mediated realities and immersive environments. The goal of the course is to help the students prepare for the jobs that might not even exist yet and to equip them with the tools and methodologies that will help them to quickly learn and adapt to the rapidly changing nature of digital design.

Written  and  oral  communications  vary  greatly  between  disciplines and fields. Building on the critical thinking and writing skills  developed  at  the  lower-division  level,  this  course further prepares students in the application of logi-cal reasoning, analysis, and strategies of argumentation in both  written  and  oral  communication  of  content  specific  information.  Students  examine  scholarly  and  professional  readings and apply theoretical perspectives in a variety of modalities (genres and media) in a way that is targeted to specific  audiences.  Through  critical  analysis  and  review  of  appropriate  literature,  as  well  as  complex  writing  assign-ments,  students  develop  writing  as  a  core  aspect  of  aca-demic and professional practice.

What was it like?

Something I really enjoyed was the focus on speculation. It actually shaped the work I do now and the way I think. Being able to take a step back...and see things in a new light to influence my work. I really liked being exposed to all the literature. I now look at projects and question why we are creating technology, as opposed to just putting technology out in the world and seeing what sticks.

Memorable project?

Writing my own speculative fiction was memorable...it was really different. I got to use technological artifacts to communicate a story. Not having to actually think about the logistics of a technology was freeing. I didn't have to think about rules. I could just play. That's important to me.

Advice for future students?

Read everything. If you are curious about something: ask. Talk about things with your cohort. Have conversations with your professors. Find out more. Don't keep things to yourself!

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From Heidi Gaudet, Class of 2018

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