Interactive Digital Design (IDD)

This course will give students a foundation in the three core disciplines of interactive design: quality design skills, software competency and programming knowledge. Additionally, proper research and presentation practices will be reinforced to provide students with a structured methodology vital to their program and career success. The outcome is a well-produced and portfolio quality website with supporting documentation that demonstrates comprehension of industry-standard knowledge.

This studio course focuses on exploring virtual reality including an understanding of virtual environments, how users interact within a virtual space, and how VR can be explored to create new & innovative user experiences. Two major components of the class are contemporary practical examples and tutorials with new and emerging technologies. Student projects will provide a space for a hands on learning experience. Graduate students are expected to research and conceptualize implementations of VR for future impact on digital media.

This course introduces students to core cognitive psychological concepts that drive strong interface design, and the subsequent user research practices that uncover the operation of these concepts. Students will analyze examples of designs (either in their portfolio or in the marketplace) to see these concepts at work, and present these examples each week in a casual setting. Students will also be exposed to different methods of inquiry and analysis, so that they understand how each method draws out explicit and implicit assumptions (i.e., the methodology).

Digital Experience Design develop the student?s ability to synthesize 2D, 3D and 4D conceptions of space with knowledge and skills of interactivity to create and produce the digital experience. This studio will solidify and expand the student?s vocabulary and ability to innovate within the digital context. Students will complete a project that explores spatial, emotional, informational and communicative issues. The project should reflect a high degree of conceptual, aesthetic and technical mastery for successful completion of this course.

Digital Innovation Design This second in a sequence of three studios focuses on the ability of individual designers to pursue innovation. This course is comprised of several projects which highlight the role that digital designers play in the multi-disciplinary attempt to bridge the gap between functionality and usability. Students will address current interface design issues through a series of screen-based projects, each ranging in complexity and theme, and placing particular emphasis on the visual and semantic aspects of design solutions. Students will be expected to seek new ways to navigate through 4D environments, challenging common interface paradigms. They are encouraged to build 4D spaces that are expressive, dynamic and experiential, while retaining their intuitive usefulness.

Database Management and Scripting Using PHP, students will learn fundamental server-side scripting concepts like creating arrays and functions, automating Unix commands, gathering and processing user input, and dynamically writing out HTML and JavaScript. Relational Database concepts are covered and students will learn to conceptually model data and to create, query, and manage their database using SQL. The course will culminate with the students, for their final project, creating a web application that ties HTML front-end to a MySQL database using PHP.

Since the beginning of time, storytelling has been used as a universal practice that has proven to be a powerful tool of communication for fostering understanding, social inquiry, and self-expression. Interactive narrative is an emerging interdisciplinary genre which uses interactivity, hypertext, video and film, sound, drama, videogames, literary fiction, multi-user spaces, interactive installations, live performance, and artificial intelligence to tell a story. This course will explore theoretical perspectives on both interactivity and narrative structure and provide an overview of the forms, strategies, and conventions of each while emphasizing approaches on how to integrate the two.

As a society, our ability to communicate from anywhere on the globe has become increasingly more important. Designers today are faced with new challenges, paradigms, and habits that have been adopted due to mobile communications. Designing strictly for the desktop only is a thing of the past. In this class, students will explore a strategic process of how to design for today's multiscreen environment with a focus on mobile platforms. We will be designing interactions that happen literally within the palm of our hands and crafting unique, cutting edge user experiences for users of mobile devices. Design and development will be taught as an overall curriculum. At the end of the course, students will have an understanding of how to plan, design, develop, and market potential mobile applications.

This course focused on a UX designer's role in system development, specifically information architecture (IA). Students will develop, document, and present user-centered IA recommendations to create more usable products & services.

Generic Special Topics Description - An upper-level course designed to take advantage of resident/adjunct/visiting faculty members' expertise or a special focus wanted by the School for one or two terms. These courses might provide an in-depth treatment of recent advances in subjects of current interest in a given field whose subject matter is not necessarily needed to be offered long term. A specific "topic" may be delivered a maximum of two term. Prerequisites: Announced prior to registration

Independent Study & Research This course will allow students to pursue individual areas of interest while working jointly with a faculty member. Enrollment is subject to the availability and approval of both the program director and faculty member. The student must have 18 or more graduate-level credits, and a prospectus of the proposed independent study must be approved at least one month prior to registration. See appropriate form online at registrar's webpage.