User Experience & Interaction Design Major

What makes an interface seem intuitive and easy to use? How do graphics and their presentation facilitate desired interactions? In this course we’ll examine the ways in which interfaces help or hinder an audience’s ability to move through information or experience a story along multiple paths. Using industry standard software tools for the creation of interactive media, we’ll explore interactivity from simple buttons to hyper-media. Along the way we’ll identify the core principles of interactivity at work in creative expressions as diverse as: web-design, games, hyper-text novels, non-linear animation and film, and installation art.

A rewarding practice in any visual art discipline begins with language of vision. In this course you will explore the dynamics of two-dimensional form, beginning with basic compositional study using only black and white forms, and then more complex projects incorporating principles of tonality and color theory. You will also be developing your skills in physical artwork, essential to later course work. Basic art supplies are required; a packet is available in the College Bookstore, or contact the instructor or department prior to the semester for the list.

Students will explore various aspects of basic web page organization, design, and construction. The web page will be considered as a visual challenge – exploiting a relatively restrictive format to maximize visual impact and effective communication, and organizing the content into an easily navigable hierarchy. Basic HTML authoring and digital kinetics will be introduced, and visual principles and digital artwork skills from earlier coursework will be reinforced through introductory web page projects.

This course explores the nature of human cognitive processing by examining cognition (perception, learning, memory) and metacognition (knowledge thinking, problem solving). A combination of current research in the area, classic demonstrations, and related materials will be used to promote self-awareness of students as thinkers and learners.

Interactive media technologies have become more and more central to our daily lives. What should we know to create the next generation of content, services and technologies? This course dives into the historical and cultural context of interactive tools and environments. Students work to develop frameworks for understanding how social, political and economic forces shape the development and reception of interactive media technologies. Specific topics vary by term.

Are you interested in making the next big thing in interactivity? How do you assemble and work in a team to design, research, test, develop and market digital experiences? Whether you’re creating a game, website, mobile application, virtual space, or augmented reality experience, there are design, research and development methodologies to help shape the process of realizing these products. Over the course of the semester we will take such a product from conceptual development through to launch.

Students in the CCM Division who enroll in this course earn 3 academic credits for successfully completing 175-214 hours of an internship position at a designated pre-approved internship site. Students will apply skills and aptitudes developed in the classroom and engage in hands-on work in professional settings alongside and under the direction of a worksite supervisor. The student’s internship performance is assessed by the site supervisor and a CCM designated internship coordinator.

The college capstone is an opportunity for students to pursue a self-directed experience in their professional program that intentionally integrates their liberal learning in the Core curriculum with their program learning. In addition to the substantive professional-based hands-on project in this class, the capstone will include a professional ethics component and a self-evaluation/self-reflection component.