The major in interaction design and art (IxDA) prepares students for careers in the field of interaction design or as fine artists who use interactive media to create unique expressive experiences and objects. Interactive media integrates art, technology, and design into a creative practice with cultural immediacy and relevance in a global environment. Interaction designers create opportunities, situations, and contexts that allow us to communicate better and live our lives meaningfully in a world of man-made artifacts. We engage in mobile computing and social networking daily. We use the products of interaction design for communication, travel, and entertainment. We encounter human/computer interactions at the bank, in the kitchen, and in the car. Interaction design facilitates human experience to reveal our best qualities and enrich our lives. MICA's Interaction Design and Art Department fosters skill sets essential for the practice of interaction design: the ability to listen empathically, and the mastery of and responsiveness to new technologies.
MICA's interaction design and art students are prepared to become productive, engaged artist/ designers in the interaction design field. Students learn to design interactions between people and websites, electronics, objects, and systems. The curriculum gives specific attention to interface design, user experience design, interactive exhibit design, and physical computing, implementing professional methodologies. All processes and technologies are applicable to those who choose to pursue one of the many career paths in this field and to those who choose a career as an exhibiting fine artist following in the footsteps of professional artists whose interactive works are expressed in such areas as installation, telematic art, performance, responsive objects, and alternative reality games (ARGs). At MICA, IxDA students work in the company of other like-minded students, studying with a diverse faculty committed to supporting you through advising and mentoring to help you achieve your goals.
In the sophomore year, students are introduced to a broad array of tools, concepts, ideas, and technologies that form the fundamentals of interaction design, applicable to both artist and designer. IxDA majors explore their interests through avenues for creative expression including: web design, two-dimensional screen-based design, mobile technologies, social networking, and physical computing-working with microcontrollers and sensors your work can be integrated with an installation or embedded in a three dimensional form. The sophomore year offers the opportunity to follow your curiosity and create compelling work with these technologies and spaces, learning the basic principles and design methodologies of interaction design.
In the junior year, students begin to shape a career path, utilizing many electives to augment the core curriculum. They learn advanced concepts about interaction design; interface design and user experience design; begin to explore the relationship between cultures, ethnography, and psychology to design research; and learn the importance of understanding audience, information architecture, and content management. The junior year is a time to refine vision, goals, and career objectives. Department faculty work closely with students in the department and facilitate collaborations with students at other schools. Internships are encouraged, to explore career interests in a real-world setting.
The department provides a range of opportunities to build professional experiences. An exciting professional initiative, Interactive Exhibit Design, partners students with staff of the Maryland Science Center to design interactive exhibits. Students participate in research and ideation, develop prototypes, engage in usability studies, and implement their concepts. Working with the Port Discovery Children's Museum, students build web-based projects mentored by industry professionals-gaining valuable professional skills in team work, marketing, and the client/developer experience. Students interested in exhibiting their work in galleries or festivals have recently exhibited in numerous high-profile galleries: Baltimore's Contemporary Museum; SSamzi Art Museum in Seoul, South Korea; Conflux Festival, NYC, in New York; and the Enzimi Festival in Rome, Italy.
The senior year culminates in an expressive, intellectually rigorous thesis project which is the transition to professional life as an interaction designer or artist. After graduation our students have attained jobs in companies such as Weber Shandwick, National Museum of History, Conde Nast Publications, Apple, and NetlogicDc among others, in jobs such as user interface designer, web designer, director of technology, and web producer. Software and programming change as the industry evolves. At this time, MICA interaction design and art students are using applications such as Dreamweaver, Flash, Max/MSP and Jitter; languages such as Actionscript, Javascript, XHTML, XML, CSS, PHP, AJAX, Processing, as well as emerging technologies and software.
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