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Interaction and Experience Design
MSc/MA Master Programme at University of Limerick
Discover MSc/MA in Interaction and Experience Design
MSc/MA in Interaction and Experience Design
The Master in Interaction and Experience Design (formerly known as Interactive Media) is a 12-months intensive course designed specifically for graduates who are interested in combining technological competence with design/artistic endeavour. The convergence of computer, networks, and media technologies offer students with different backgrounds (from any design discipline to art, from new media to computer science, and more) opportunities to exploit their potential in new emerging domains (experience, interaction and participatory design, ubiquitous computing and multimodal interaction, social media and virtual/augmented reality, mobile, wearable, and physical computing, tangible user interfaces, etc), across a wide range of activities that are relevant for the ICT and digital media industry: multimedia authoring, software/hardware development, games, social media, interactive installations and visualisation, human-centred design research, education, and so on. This multidisciplinary course uniquely offer students an in-depth and hands-on exploration of the technological avenues available today, and backs this up with a strong commitment to human-centered and collaborative design methods, techniques, and tools. Students have individual workstations in a dedicated lab with high-spec computers with a wide range of media authoring software from Adobe, Apple, and a range of Open Source tools. Students on this course also have access to a dedicated design studio, a prototyping workshop (equipped with 3D printing and laser cutting facilities), recording studios, as well as a pool of high-quality professional video cameras and a range of electronic equipment, sensors and actuators.
The Technical side and the design side
One of the major stumbling blocks for creative people wishing to engage in high-level interaction and experience design is the hurdle of computer programming. As this is a conversion course organised within the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, students are not expected to have prior knowledge of programming and will receive excellent tuition in the fundamentals of programming. More specialised modules dealing both with hardware and software are also offered. Students are also taught to develop design thinking and are supported to engage in a human-centered approach to the design of interactive systems that draws on interaction, participatory, and experience design methods. These are taught by members of the Interaction Design Centre .
Depending on the students’ final dissertation project, the course award either a Master of Science or a Master of Arts. The offered curriculum is highly flexible as it offers a wide range of different elective modules allowing students to personalise their learning experience to suit their skills and wishes (please visit course outline).
End of the year - DAWN Exhibition
Students from previous years have become for example interaction designers, usability experts, teachers or remained artists but with a digital edge to their work. There is currently a substantial shortfall of graduates in the area of interaction design, user experience design and interactive media. Companies that have recruited our graduates throughtout the years includes: Accenture, Apple, Amazon, Burberry, Facebook, Disney Multimedia, Google, Logitech, IBM, Front-end, Microsoft SAP, Science Gallery Dublin, just to mention few.
See our students projects