Master of ScienceHuman-Centered Interaction Design

This course will introduce the student to the design perspectives encountered most often in human-centered interaction design. Design perspectives are attitudes towards how to do design which reflect their political, social, and technological beliefs about design practice. Through readings and case studies, the student explores a variety of perspectives in the domain of digital interactive design. The student delves into the foundations of design practice through different standpoints, histories, frames of reference and interpretations of different views of the ‘best’ way to design.

This course will introduce the student to the package of study design and research methods employed within human-centered interaction design. In this process-driven course, the lessons will be structured around design research methodology, execution, and reporting. The course will take place as a series of situation studios, in which the student engages their evolving design eye and research skills to research the people, processes, contexts, and temporalities of digital interaction opportunities. Through readings, discussions, and the exploration of examples, guidelines, and heuristics, the course engages the student in the ethical and entrepreneurial aspects of design research within design practice.

Design solutions often require us to confront fundamental ethical issues. Ethical design involves considering the values of all involved parties, such as designers, corporate employers, intended users, and unintended users. Ethical design involves applying values, derived from theory, in every stage of the design process.

In this course, the student will examine a range of ethical theories, from the classical Western canon to feminist and Confucian theories, in order to analyze designs in fields from mobile apps to architecture, from military technologies to financial products, and will examine in depth the ethical challenges of AI. The student will perform in-depth ethical analyses, applying theories of their choice to better understand design decisions in their fields of interest, and will participate actively in weekly discussions, applying ethical theory to existing and future design solutions.

This course will introduce the student to the theories and perspectives of human social behavior that are employed most often in HCID. Drawing on canonical and new sociotechnical science literature, the course will present the student with overviews of theories of information, action, sociality, conflict, and interaction within traditional and digital environments. Through readings and examples, the course includes attention to sociotechnical theories around communities of practice, online communities, social media, and enterprise knowledge management. This seminar course offers the student a better understanding of the contexts and perspectives within which people interact with others, around and through offline, online, and hybrid environments.

This applied overview course focuses on designing and integrating smart technologies into private and public spaces through a human-centered lens. The student will learn about opportunities and challenges with the integration of smart technologies and ambient environments into human life. The student will consider the social impacts and ethical considerations and trade offs when designing intelligent, multisensory human-technology interactions.

Businesses maintain a competitive edge by offering a combination of products and services. How well interactions with a product go for users can determine the success or failure of the product. This course will discuss creating successful product service systems (PSS), and how to create desired outcomes for customers that are also valuable to the business. Service designers are at the forefront of carrying out research to answer these questions. In this course, the student will learn service design frameworks and research methodologies that tackle these service design prompts and usability issues. Class sessions will consist of lectures, discussions, sketching, design thinking exercises, presentations, and critiques. Work will be done individually in the first two assignments and in teams for the final assignment.

This course will focus on the identification, critique, and implementation of common deceptive or dark patterns designers employ that prey on people’s innate cognitive biases to manipulate them to perform actions. In this class, the student will learn about the different cognitive biases and logical fallacies, their use in deceptive design patterns, and if there is a way to use this knowledge for user betterment through ethical persuasive design. By examining existing practices with a psychological perspective and critically comparing established techniques, the student can identify elements of deceptive design in contemporary solutions and how to employ that knowledge with beneficence in their work.

Becoming an ethical designer starts with recognizing unethical and manipulative techniques. With this knowledge, designers can choose not to use these patterns and can work to create more user-centric and ethical designs.

This course will introduce the student to the design-based theories and contexts of users and populations, as found in human-centered interaction design. The course will be structured around three design contexts: cohorts; environments; and capabilities. The course will take place as a series of case-based seminars. Through readings, discussions, and the exploration of examples and heuristics, the course draws the student’s attention to the need to develop their design eye for contextual integration of user and population theory within design practice.

This course offers the student the opportunity to work with a variety of tools and processes that support design practice. The course exposes the student to traditional and digital tools, templates, and techniques for design. Using an example project supplied by the professor, the course is run as a series of studios. After using tools and processes in each stage of the design process, the student reflects on the suitability and use case for each tool and reflect of their evolving sense of self as a designer. The course covers the tools, processes, and techniques necessary to professionalize the student’s design practice.

This course introduces the student to the contextual design of patterned interfaces in human-centered interaction design. The course is structured as a series of seminars around four design area: contexts; visuals; patterns; and actions. Taking the approach of goal-driven design, the student will engage in reading, discussing, experimenting, and presenting design rationales for design choices around traditional and new digital interfaces. The course builds on what the student learned in the other courses and intensifies the student’s development of their design eye for contextually sensitive interaction design. The student will be challenged to consider areas of conflict and divergence within design thinking. While employing their own evolving capacity for design, the student will learn to manage conflicts between goal orientations, contextual needs, and environmental challenges.

The in-program elective choices may vary each year, depending on needs and abilities of students, faculty, and external clients. Some co-teaching across the university’s technology programs is expected to occur.

This course is a one-on-one student-focused research preparation studio. This course requires the student to conduct original research and document a design space within the domain of human-centered interaction design. The course is the first of two experiential learning classes for the completion of the HCID. The course will prepare the student for the GRAD699 portion of the degree, within which the student ideates, produce, and test a conceptual prototype that addresses the design problem identified through the research and analysis done in this studio course.

In consultation with the academic and/or industry advisor, the student will execute on the findings and recommendations derived in HCID 695, towards a proof-of-concept of their work.