This course is an introduction to the design and development of interactive media, artifacts, products, and services. Interaction design dynamically combines a number of disciplines, including art, engineering, design, and social science in order to understand and create meaningful and engaging experiences for people. Topics include aesthetics, design ethics, user-experience and user interface design, sustainability, and human factors. Students will conduct research and work iteratively, utilizing sketching, prototyping, and fabrication as a means of refining their design and improving their craft as well as become familiar with industry-standard prototyping programs and applications through hands-on projects.

How do insights drive impact? This undergraduate course explores how design research supports the implementation of ideas within real-world systems such as organizations, communities, and services. Students learn human-centered research approaches including ethnographic research, co-design, and participatory design methods to understand peoples experiences and needs in context, and work collaboratively to translate insights into ideas that can be tested, adapted, and implemented in practice. Emphasis is placed on qualitative research, shared inquiry, and reflective practice, and on how systems, constraints, and coordination shape feasibility, ethics, and impact across education, healthcare, technology, policy, and community settings. Prerequisite: (UNAS1025 or ARTS1125 or ENGR1025) or ENGR1801 or HIST1627 or ENGR1026).