Curriculum

The Interaction Design Programme takes place over a calendar year and is divided across: Foundations, Investigations, Industry Projects and a Final Project.

These courses are complemented by a series OPEN Lectures in the theoretical and practical aspects of interaction design.

Students publish their work throughout the year and participate an end-of-year exhibition accompanying their examinations.

Foundations

Foundations teach students how to do things through a series of short, skills-based courses designed to provide students with the fundamentals they will need throughout the rest of their studies. These courses evolve based on student and faculty feedback so and there are variations in the curriculum each year. Previous courses have included:

Team Building
Theory of Interaction Design/Introduction to Interaction Design
Digital Fabrication
People Centred Research
Introduction to Programming
Computational Design
Video Prototyping
Physical Computing
Interactive Data Visualisation
Interactive Spaces
Performative Design/Wearable Computing

Investigations

The Investigations provide an opportunity for students to pursue more in-depth design projects related to particular human needs and contexts. Building on the Foundations, these classes encourage students to think about not just about what they are designing but who they are designing for, and why. Previous courses have included: Graphical User Interface, Tangible User Interface, Service Design and Enchanted Objects (The Internet of Things).

Final Project

The Final Project occupies students for the 8-weeks of the programme. This project is self-driven and focuses on a topic of the student’s choice – providing an opportunity to explore an area of interest and to combine design work with reflection and knowledge generation. Resident and visiting faculty act as advisors up until the exams.

Industry Projects

In these intense two-week innovation workshops, students work with industry partners on briefs of mutual interest. Taking place at two points in the curriculum, they provide grounding in a business context and provide companies with inspiration and new design concepts. Previously we have collaborated with Danish and international companies including DSB, Intel, Nokia, Lego, Orange, Novo Nordisk.