 Great interaction design creates the potential for compelling experiences. Interaction design shapes the experiences of people as they interact with products in order to achieve their goals and objectives. Interaction designers define product behavior, mediating relationships between people and people, people and products, people and environments, and people and services across a variety of contexts. Our model of designing for interaction involves multi-disciplinary teams engaged in the planning, conception, design, implementation, and support of products, services, and systems that meet human needs and desire. This human-centered model, with a concern for psychological, social, and cultural factors on the one hand, and technical and economic factors on the other, was pioneered at Carnegie Mellon and is now widely embraced as a design standard around the world. The skills of an interaction designer are varied; they range from user research to consensus building and from prototyping to balancing business requirements. Interaction designers come from diverse backgrounds.; however, what's common to their education at the School of Design is a human-centered design process, which focuses on answering real human needs in the context of everyday living. A decade and a half ago, when the School of Design offered a pioneering course in interface design, the work focused on screen interfaces for human-computer interaction. Since then, boundaries between hardware and software, device and person have blurred considerably and will only continue to blur and blend. Today, screen interfaces are a small part of the products we design that help people live, learn, work, and play. The Master of Design in Interaction Design is a two-year professional program, which trains students from diverse backgrounds to become practicing interaction designers. A combination of studio and seminar courses cover topics including: communication theory, user research and concept evaluation methods, advanced topics in interaction design, and client based concept development. The program of study culminates in both a written thesis and thesis project. The interaction design program builds on our traditional areas of strength including: efficient, effective, and desirable human-computer communication; visualization and navigation through information spaces; time-based information design; and collaborative design practice among various disciplines and across distances. Situated in the midst of a renowned research university, students take classes across campus in areas such as computer science, business, psychology, and entertainment technology to enrich their design education. Recent graduates are shaping the future of interaction design around the world at companies large and small, such as Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo; Intel, Motorola, Nokia, Philips Electronics, and Samsung; Meta Design, Method, and Smart Design; the Mayo Clinic; and at Universities around the world. For more information, please download the PDF below. |  |
