Interaction design is a rapidly changing discipline, and we maintain the relevance of our education by working with real-world design cases and outside clients that include local industry partners, as well as cultural and civic organisations. Navigating a shifting design landscape also requires the critical mindset of a scholar, and we foster reflective design by teaching research skills and involving students in active research projects.
We educate designers who can articulate and develop cutting-edge practices in key areas of interaction design: tangible and sensor-based interaction, wearable and embodied interaction, game design, participatory design practices, critical design, social innovation and collaborative media development. Students approach these genres within a broad context that considers the social, political and ethical consequences of their designs. Our education is studio-based, bringing students into close contact with our design professors.
This is a one-year programme, which is also offered as the first year of a two-year programme providing a more well-rounded combination of design practice and academic research.
Interaction Design: one-year programme
Interaction Design: two-year programme
The education is provided by the Faculty of Culture and Society at the department School of Arts and Communication.
Our programme was founded in 1998, making it one of the more established programmes of its kind. We focus on areas where our design and research excellence is internationally recognised: tangible and sensor-based interaction, wearable and embodied interaction, game design, participatory design practices, critical design, social innovation and collaborative media development.
Interaction design requires the fusion of multiple skill sets. We recruit students with different backgrounds – design, media, engineering, the arts, and social sciences – and focus our teaching on creating disciplinary synergy in the concrete design work.
The programme comprises full-time study for one academic year, divided into four courses starting with a studio-based introduction to multidisciplinary collaboration and mainstream interaction design. The next two courses address embodied interaction and collaborative media, two of our signature topics. The final course is a Master’s level graduation project.
Upon graduation, you are eligible for the second year of the two-year Master’s programme to learn more about interaction design research and theory. Read more about the two-year Master’s programme
The programme is based on a learning-by-doing pedagogy. This means that we encourage an iterative practice of experimentation and reflection. As teachers, we view ourselves as coaches guiding you in this process.
The programme is studio-based. You will also have access to computer labs, a materials workshop and a prototyping lab for electronics, sensor and microprocessor programming.
The primary method of learning is through group work in multidisciplinary teams with classmates and other stakeholders. Abilities to work in teams and with others – including user communities – are important parts of our curriculum, and several projects are organised to practice doing this.
With our humanistic approach, you will be practicing qualitative research approaches to support your design of tangible artefacts as well as digital and interactive services, systems and artefacts. We emphasize an understanding of people in their use situations.
Prototyping in the studio and real-world contexts is an integral part of becoming an interaction designer.
To practice reflective and experimental design activity, projects and courses integrate seminars and hands-on workshops introducing students to, among other things, ethnographic fieldwork, visualisation, low- and high-fidelity prototyping, microprocessor programming and video sketching, as well as evaluation of use qualities. All these practices are backed up by literature references and examples.
Your thesis project will be a combination of a design project and reflective writing that will involve communicating and discussing your design work. This is one result of a student's work in Thesis Project I.
Students have access to studio space, and we encourage a healthy studio culture. This is where we conduct group-work, seminars, workshops, presentations and discussions. Close by there is a well-equipped materials workshop and a physical prototyping lab for electronics and sensor work. Additionally, we often use the facilities at the MEDEA research centre for final presentations, exhibitions, seminars and programme-meetings.
Students enter the programme with different kinds of expertise, from art and design to engineering and social sciences. Upon graduation, you will have built a strong understanding of how your particular skills play a role in interaction design and how they combine with other specialities of fellow designers.
Most alumni move on to positions as interaction designers, user experience specialists or usability architects in the ICT, telecom and media industries. For some, this involves fine-tuning the interfaces and interactions of current products to users' needs; other interaction designers work on concept development for future products and services. Yet other alumni find their calling in strategic positions where the role of interaction design is considered in relation to market and business development.
Some interaction designers are also found in the role of change agents in public organisations and NGOs.
Master's Degree (60 credits).
Degree of Master of Science (60 Credits) with a Major in Interaction Design.
Master's Degree (120 credits).
Degree of Master of Science (120 Credits) with a Major in Interaction Design.
Digital Learning Games (DLG) is a 2 years international master’s curriculum in the Tallinn University School of Digital Technologies. The main objective is to bring together people with different background, form heterogeneous teams, learn from experts and from each other, and make games.
Since most of the games are created in cooperation, all people with different backgrounds can find a role in the game design and development team. Everybody who is interested in making games and learning game design is welcome to join. It is easier to find a role in the game design team if you have the following background:
This curriculum is unique because of its interdisciplinary nature. It integrates wisdom from the following domains:
In order to cover a wide range of game design aspects this curriculum is provided in cooperation with 4 different TLU institutes:
Most of the learning activities are organized as teamwork. Students form smaller groups, take different roles and design game aspects and games from ideas to working prototypes.
The full-residency, two-year, 60-credit MFA in Design and Technology (MFA DT) curriculum is studio based, but critical thinking and study of the design process are central to the program. Areas of practice include interaction design, physical computing, game design, new media art, digital fabrication, data visualization, and critical design. Candidates build ideas through prototyping, synthesizing research and practice.
In Collaboration Studio courses, students work on real-world projects with industry firms and nonprofits. Past partners include Red Bull, Intel, Apple, Eyebeam, gameLab, Human Rights Watch, Mozilla, NASA, the Red Cross, Samsung, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Students collaborate with peers from the other schools and colleges of The New School, a progressive urban university emphasizing civic engagement. Students supplement core courses with electives offered throughout Parsons and other schools and colleges of The New School. They can study at Parsons Paris for a semester or year, broadening their perspective on digital culture and expanding their professional networks.
Designers today face two fundamental challenges: the expanding influence of design within society and the increasing role of technology within design. The Master of Fine Arts in Design and Technology program provides a dynamic, challenging, and idea-driven environment in which to address these challenges. Students can work with peers in related programs including Communication Design, Photography, Fine Arts, and Illustration.
This program is part of Parsons' School of Art, Media, and Technology (AMT). Learn about the AMT community and explore our blog to see what students, faculty, and alumni are doing in NYC and around the world.
You can request more information directly here: http://www.newschool.edu/m/parsons-grad?utm_source=find_a_masters&utm_medium=hyperlink_listing&utm_campaign=pm_parsons_grad
Graduates embark on careers in creative, academic, commercial, and educational fields that engage with the growing influence of technology. Potential career fields include mobile and application design, Web, UI and UX design, interaction design, new media art, game design, motion graphics, 2D and 3D animation, and digital filmmaking.
You can request more information about all future opportunities here: http://www.newschool.edu/m/parsons-grad?utm_source=find_a_masters&utm_medium=hyperlink_listing&utm_campaign=pm_parsons_grad
Develop the skills and strong relationships with leaders in the UK digital games industry that will help you pursue a successful career in games.
As part of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training Intelligent Games and Game Intelligence (IGGI) – a collaboration between Goldsmiths, the University of York, and the University of Essex – we are training the next generation of researchers, designers, developers and entrepreneurs in digital games.
It's a unique opportunity for you to undertake PhD research in collaboration with our 60 industrial games partners and world-leading academics.
The doctoral programme combines practical skills training with advanced teaching in cutting-edge research topics and the chance to contribute original research to a growing academic area.
There are 12 weeks of taught modules in the first year, covering:
You'll also undertake two industrial placements during the programme. This will give you first-hand industrial experience that will influence your research projects.
You could decide to carry out leading-edge research in emerging areas that could include:
Visist the IGGI website for more information about these broad research areas.
Develop the skills and strong relationships with leaders in the UK digital games industry that will help you pursue a successful career in games.
Once you've completed your PhD, you'll have developed highly employable skills.
You'll be able to lead and define the state of the art in gaming, and will have the skills needed to shape the industry into one that is both technologically advanced and research aware.
You'll also benefit from the relationships you developed with the UK digital games industry, which could form the basis of a network of professional contacts that is likely to be very useful in the future.
This MA responds to the pressing need for a high quality postgraduate degree serving the computer games and entertainment industries. The emphasis is on games design, art and animation, and will also develop the fundamentals of computer programming, entrepreneurship/business, and your own practice. You'll also be able to work with industry partners.
The computer games and interactive entertainment business is a fast-growing multi-billion dollar worldwide business, with games platforms from handhelds and mobiles including iPhones, iPads and Android phones, through consoles such as the Playstation 4, Xbox One and Nintento Wii U, to PCs and massively-multiplayer online games involving tens of thousands of people.
This MA will produce graduates who are well-positioned to have a career in this exciting worldwide industry, meeting the strong demand for graduate computer games designers and artists in the UK and abroad. The programme is delivered by a mix of professionals from the games and effects industries and from the research world.
Potential employers include EA, Ubisoft, Sony SCEE, Creative Assembly, Microsoft, Cinesite, Framestore, and many others.
The influence of computer games is spreading to other digital industries, with gamification and games-based learning, social machines and interactive visualisation of scientific and financial data all exploiting techniques from computer games, and all fields where graduates from this MA could make their mark.
We work closely with industry leaders to shape the course content and to offer industry placements at studios including:
The skills you will learn throughout the programme will have a focus on games design, art and animation, in addition to gaining the fundamentals of computer programming, entrepreneurship/business and practice.
You will study the following modules:
You will also study:
Industry Seminars Series (shared with the MSc in Computer Games and Entertainment course)
We expect that you will leave this programme with strong creative skills, production experience and management capability, giving you the potential for senior roles in the computer games and entertainment industries.
This MA builds on the success of the MSc in Computer Games and Entertainment, and will develop your skills in game design, art and animation. You'll have the opportunity to work with students from this industry-recognised programme on placements and final projects. Through these creative collaborations with artists, games designers and developers we hope that many exciting and innovative projects will emerge. This mix of students also replicates the typical mix of workers in games development and special effects studios.
It's likely that this will encourage exciting and innovative projects to emerge, through creative collaborations
You'll be well equipped to pursue a career in the computer games industry, covering mainstream computer games for mobile, PC, tablet and console platforms, through to gamification and 'serious games'.
Or you could choose to work in the broader entertainment industries – including advertising, special effects, television and web/design studios.
Graduate employment destinations of our computing programmes include:
Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths.
Serious games and virtual reality represent a large, and actively growing, industry – the application of modern games technology in a wide range of areas around medicine, training, education, security and beyond. While educational games already represent a multi-billion dollar global industry, the recent growth in virtual reality has seen predictions that this market will grow to $150 billion dollars by 2020 (Techcrunch, April 6, 2015).
The MSc provides students with the skills to become a key part of this explosive growth, and potential to become key innovators in this exciting and rapidly developing area. The MSc offers students with prior programming/scripting experience the transferable skills to design, develop and analyse games and simulations for a range of application areas and to conduct interdisciplinary research in the serious applications of games technology, particularly in healthcare, education and training.
As Virtual Reality and interaction technologies approach mainstream adoption, new opportunities for the application of immersive games technologies in engineering, medicine and in the home are putting games at the forefront of innovation worldwide.
At the School of Simulation and Visualisation we already have years of experience working on a wide range of serious games based projects for industrial, medical, heritage and education clients, building on our research and our expertise in 3D modeling and animation, motion capture technology and software development. We are pleased to be able to share our experience and expertise with this MSc.
Programme Structure:
Stage 1
Core Research Skills for Postgraduates
Games Programming
Serious Game Design and Research
School of Simulation and Visualisation Elective: Choose one from
Interactive Heritage Visualisation
Applications in Medical Visualisation
Stage 2
Motion Capture & Interaction
Audio for games & interactive applications
Serious Games Development
GSA Elective
Stage 3
MSc Research Project
Entry Qualifications:
You should have a Honours degree or equivalent professional practice in any of the following disciplines:
Computer science, computer graphics, computer programming, software development, mathematics, or physics
Computer games programming, game development, game design, game art, 3D modeling and animation, interactive systems
High calibre graduates from other disciplines may be considered if they are able to demonstrate an interest and ability in the field of serious games development.
IELTS 6.0 for overseas applicants for whom English is not their first language.
Scholarships and Funded Places:
Information on career development loans and financial support can be found in the fees and funding pages.
This postgraduate Games Design course has been developed to provide part-time students the opportunity, support and guidance to fully explore the study of games design. The course is completely distance learning and there is no requirement for on-campus attendance.
The course team offers a rich mix of staff with current industry experience as well as practiced academic staff with significant experience in postgraduate delivery and academic research. The course seeks to encourage the inquiry into generally accepted ‘game design practice’ and strive to push the boundaries of what is achievable in this young discipline. It seeks to challenge all aspects of game development and through informed research synthesise new responses to practice and research.
On this course our students will be engaged through a wide ranging programme of stimulating lectures and tutorials to develop their knowledge and skills in games design research. Weekly lessons are delivered electronically and the contents are discussed during video-based tutorials. Set exercises test the students understanding of each topic before moving on to the next.
The MA Games Design has been specifically designed to accommodate the needs of part-time provision via distance learning. Students tend to be adults in employment who want to take the course on a part-time basis to fit around their other working commitments.
We accommodate such needs by offering a clear structure of progression, balanced by flexible personal tutorials: for which students can expect to have weekly one-to-one contact with academic staff via web based visual conferencing. It is this bespoke interaction with academic staff that our students tell us they find both supportive and inspirational.
The MA will help further career opportunities within games design research. Graduates will improve their chance of employment in games design research with their demonstrated enhanced specialism and understanding developed on the course. They will also find themselves strongly placed to develop their own practices and consultancies or further themselves with the developing field of games design academia.
Masters programmes in Education and TESOL – Scholarships available for outstanding candidates
