Interaction Design, Master's Programme (Two-Year)
Summary
Interaction design concerns the design of digital artifacts and digitally mediated communication, with a focus on use experience.Interaction design is a rapidly changing discipline, and we maintain the relevance of our education by working with real-world design cases and external clients including local industry partners and cultural and civic organizations. Navigating a shifting design landscape also requires the critical mind-set of a scholar, and we foster reflective design by teaching research skills and involving students in active research projects.
The two-year master's programme aims to produce 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.
We have offered master's degrees in interaction design since 1998, with graduates moving on to positions as designers and strategists in ICT and media industries around the world, as well as to entrepreneurial endeavours.
Admission requirements
Bachelor's degree or equivalent in subjects relevant for interaction design. Examples of relevant subjects include, but are not limited to: computer science, informatics, information systems, human-computer interaction, new media arts, fine arts, design (industrial, product, graphic, interaction), communication studies, media studies and cognitive science.
Approval of the following submitted material: two work samples of previous, relevant work and an individual response to the application assignment. Please see the 'Selection' tab on this page for further information.
General eligibility + the equivalent of Swedish higher secondary school English course B.
Selection:
Applicants are selected in order according to precedence from work samples, design assignment and a letter of motivation in combination with interview if needed.
Note
There are specific instructions regarding eligibility or selection on the next tab on this page, called Selection. Please, make sure that you read the instructions thoroughly!
About
Interaction design at Malmö University
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.
Who are you?
Interaction design requires the fusion of multiple skill sets. We recruit students with different backgrounds, from design, media, engineering, the arts, and social sciences. Our teaching focuses on creating disciplinary synergy in concrete design work.
Practical design skills and academic research
Interaction design is a rapidly changing discipline, and we maintain the relevance of our education by working with real life design cases and external 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.
Collaboration with the "real world"
Design is a collaborative process, where users and other stakeholders contribute their expertise and values in the joint task of shaping future products, services, media and spaces.
Internationally recognised
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.
Content
The programme comprises full-time study for two academic years. Click on the Syllabus tab for more information on courses.
Teaching methods
The programme is based on 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.
Studio-based
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.
Group work in multidisciplinary teams
The primary method of learning is through group work in multidisciplinary teams with classmates and stakeholders. The ability to work in teams and with others — including user communities — is an important part of our curriculum, and several projects are organised in order to practice these skills.
Humanistic approach
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 emphasise an understanding of people in their use situations.
Reflective and experimental design thinking and practical doing
Prototyping in the studio and in real world contexts is an integral part of becoming an interaction designer.
To practice reflective and experimental design activity, our 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.
The thesis project
Your thesis project will be a combination of a design project and reflective writing that will involve communicating and discussing your own design work.
Here is an example of a student's thesis project.
Working environments
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.
Career opportunities
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. 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 can also be found in change agent roles in public organisations and NGOs.
Connections to world-class research
Finally, thanks to the close connections to world-class research, the programme prepares its graduates to enter academic research institutes. A fair number of alumni have moved on to PhD studies and positions as university teachers and researchers, in Sweden as well as abroad.
Interviews
Designing to enrich and improve lives
For Kevin Ong, studying interaction design has allowed him to engage with marginalised communities and reflect on what it means to design inclusively.
Breaking away from the desk in Texas
Before starting the master’s programme, Kevin was working at a design agency in Texas.
“I worked in industry for a year after my bachelor’s degree, but so much of my time was spent at a desk in front of a computer screen and I missed working with my hands. I wanted to break out and learn more about the field, which this programme has definitely given me the opportunity to do.”
Kevin has dual citizenship between America and Sweden, so Malmö was a natural choice.
“My mother came to Sweden as a refugee following the Vietnam war, so I have a lot of family in Malmö and knew the city pretty well,” he says.
Design is not an island
One of the main things that appealed to Kevin about the course was the diversity of the classroom.
“The fact that our professional and geographical backgrounds are so different means you learn not only from the programme, but from what each individual has to offer.
“Team work is also really important, and we are continuously reminded that design is not an island. Interaction design is not just about the way we interact with digital media but about the way we interact with others and bring people together in this new age,” says Kevin.
One of his own projects — creating a light installation in a socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhood of Malmö — reflects this sentiment.
“The idea behind the installation was to create a network where people in the community could share their skills. By meeting and getting to know each other, the hope was to close the generational and cultural gap in the neighbourhood.”
He also appreciates how broad the programme is in its scope and opportunities.
“For example, during our last project one person created a game, one worked with immigrants, another with machine learning, while I worked with food. I just love how interaction design can be augmented into all these different aspects of our lives with the goal of enriching and bettering it.”
In it to win it
Kevin was recently selected as one of nine finalists selected to compete at the Student Design Challenge, an international contest held in Lyon. His team impressed the judges with their take on designing for people with disabilities, and took first prize.
“I heard about the competition through one of my lecturers. I’ve never submitted anything to competition before so when I was chosen as a finalist, it was a pleasant surprise.
“The experience was exhausting but also incredibly rewarding. It was amazing to see brilliant minds come together, and know that there’s such a large community out there that are passionate about interaction design.”
Selection
Once you have completed your application with your academic credentials and English proficiency, you also need to submit work samples, a response to our design assignment and a letter of motivation.
The deadline for submitting supporting documents for applications for autumn semester 2019 is May 2 for students applying in the second (national) admission round.
Please note that we only accept submissions that use the document form below
To complete your application follow the steps below:
- create an account and apply to the programme via Universityadmissions.se.
- upload your documentation on Universityadmissions.se. You will need to show both a bachelor degree in a relevant field and English proficiency to be considered eligible for the programme. Applicants in their final year, who will receive their diploma before the programme starts, can also apply but must follow specific instructions.
- submit your letter of motivation (max 800 words) + two work samples (max 10 pages) + response to our design assignment (max 2-3 pages) online to University Admissions. You need to use the template document below and upload it as one pdf for it to be accepted.
- Fill out the form below with links to your work samples and response to the design assigment. Note: This is mandatory.
- when submitting your two work samples or portfolio pieces, make sure they show your craft, skills and your ability to execute a project. For each sample, we would like you to breifly explain why you chose it and what you think it says. If it is joint work, be sure to indicate your contributions clearly.
Download the document to fill out here
Save your documents as one pdf and upload it to your account on Universityadmission.se. See Universityadmission.se for more information.
Syllabus
Syllabus for students admitted autumn 2019
- Programme Code:
- TAIND revision 13
- Language:
- English
- Date of establishment:
- 10 December 2006
- Date of ratification:
- 02 December 2011
- Decision-making body:
- Faculty of Culture and Society
- Enforcement date:
- 03 September 2012
- Replaces Syllabus ratified:
- 02 December 2011
Entry requirements
Bachelor's degree or equivalent in subjects relevant for interaction design. Examples of relevant subjects include, but are not limited to: computer science, informatics, information systems, human-computer interaction, new media arts, fine arts, design (industrial, product, graphic, interaction), communication studies, media studies and cognitive science.
Approval of the following submitted material: two work samples of previous, relevant work and an individual response to the application assignment. Please see the 'Selection' tab on this page for further information.
General eligibility + the equivalent of Swedish higher secondary school English course B.
Organisation
The programme comprises full-time study for two academic years, divided into eight courses as follows:
Year one:
- Introduction to multidisciplinary interaction design (15 credits)
- Embodied interaction (15 credits)
- Collaborative media (15 credits)
- Graduation project (15 credits).
- Design and social innovation (15 credits)
- Play and ludic interaction (15 credits)
- Design-based research (15 credits)
- Thesis project two (15 credits).
With regards to design methodology, there is a progression from participatory approaches with heterogeneous groups in public settings to participatory approaches where the border between design and use is dissolved, and further to design practice as part of academic knowledge production.
Academic maturity is developed throughout the course, as students work towards an advanced independent project in the first year, and, in the second year, towards state-of-the-art approaches to practice-based research within interaction design.
Content
Courses
For programme with start Autumn 2019:Autumn 2019 - Semester 1
-
Introduction to multidisciplinary interaction design, 15 credits (KD640A) compulsory
Main field: Interaction Design -
Embodied interaction, 15 credits (KD641A) compulsory
Main field: Interaction Design
Spring 2020 - Semester 2
- Collaborative media, 15 credits (KD642A) compulsory
-
Interaction Design: Thesis Project I, 15 credits (KD643A) compulsory
Main field: Interaction Design
Autumn 2020 - Semester 3
-
Design and Social Innovation, 15 credits (KD644A) compulsory
Main field: Interaction Design -
Play and ludic interaction, 15 credits (KD645A) compulsory
Main field: Interaction Design
Spring 2021 - Semester 4
-
Design-based Research, 15 credits (KD646A) compulsory
Main field: Interaction Design -
Interaction Design: Thesis Project II, 15 credits (KD647A) compulsory
Main field: Interaction Design
Learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
In order to receive a master's degree in Interaction Design, the student shall demonstrate:
- a broad understanding of the field of interaction design: its transformative character, history and development;
- substantial knowledge of current research themes and different genres within interaction design, including a broad repertoire of design examples from these genres, and the situations and qualities of their usage;
- substantial, in-depth knowledge of the individual research area chosen for the second year thesis project;
- broad knowledge of the various materials used in interaction design, including their properties, limitations and possibilities;
- substantial knowledge of design methods, approaches and practices when designing for interactions, in individual, multidisciplinary and collaborative settings; and
- sound understanding of the relationship between details and overall strategies when designing (networks of) products, services, tools and/or events for experiences and interactions.
In order to receive a master's degree in Interaction Design, the student shall demonstrate:
- the ability to apply a design practice of learning-by-doing;
- the ability to contribute to multi-disciplinary interaction design work;
- the ability to engage with users and other stakeholders in iterative co-designing processes;
- the ability to formulate and re-frame fruitful design problems, challenges, openings and questions in complex design situations;
- the ability to reach beyond design assignments as originally stated and to explore a range of possibilities as a means to ground design decisions;
- the ability to select and use relevant methods, techniques, tools and approaches in design work, including a broad repertoire of techniques for representing interaction designs;
- the ability to evaluate and critique design concepts, prototypes and finished systems with regard to functional, spatial, aesthetic, sustainable and ethical aspects of quality, with a particular emphasis on methods and theories focusing on use situations;
- the ability to reflect upon the design process and its results, and to promote a conceptual development of the interaction design field by articulating knowledge contributions on a research level; and
- the ability to account for and discuss knowledge contributions developed through design work, including the arguments for these contributions, spatially, verbally and in writing, with various target groups.
In order to receive a master's degree in Interaction Design, the student shall demonstrate:
- the ability to exercise judgement accounting for relevant societal and ethical concerns within interaction design as an area of knowledge development;
- insight into the roles of interaction design in society, and the responsibility of interaction designer to develop meaningful technologies, services, tools and experiences from a humanistic standpoint; and
- the ability to reflect upon and learn from group work and individual design processes and practical experiences, in order to identify new knowledge needs, and thereby take responsibility for one's own continuous learning.
Degree
Master's Degree (120 credits).
Contact
The education is provided by the Faculty of Culture and Society at the department School of Arts and Communication.
Further information
Enquiries about the Interaction Design, Master’s programme should be directed to K3student@mau.se, including questions about work samples and design assignments related to admissions.
If you have other questions about admissions, requirements or documentation, please contact the Admissions Office at Malmö University, admissions@mau.se / +46 40 665 75 00.
If you need study or career guidance related to the programme, please contact Student and Career Advisor Viktoria Brännström (viktoria.brannstrom@mau.se).