In common with all courses at the University of the Arts London, this course is credit rated. The course is 3 years, levels 4-6. Each year requires you to achieve 120 credit points. To be awarded the BA (Hons) Interaction Design Arts qualification, you need to accumulate a total of 360 credits.

Year One

Units summary:

• Introduction to Interaction Design Arts (20 credits) - Through academic reflection, writing and practical workshops, this unit will equip you with essential skills that will give you the confidence to navigate through the course and College and to help you begin to develop a personal approach to your work.

• Exploration and Play (40 credits) - Focuses on learning and discovery through practical activities and projects. It introduces core design principles and explores play as a method of research, experimentation and design.

• Contextual and Theoretical Studies 1 (20 credits) - Through academic writing, lectures and seminars, this unit introduces you to histories, theories and debates in relation to information and interface design and visual and material culture.

• High Tech, Low Tech, No Tech (40 credits) - Introduces you to design through materials, prototypes and diegetics. This media-agnostic unit invites you to consider technologically and materially appropriate design solutions to studio projects.

Year Two

Units summary:

• Desire Lines and Affordance (40 credits) - This unit is intensive and designed to introduce you to subject specific processes and techniques involved in interaction and design. It deals with design in the lived environment; how people and users interact with the world around them and encourages you to reach beyond the studio for research and inspiration.
• Contextual and Theoretical Studies 2 (20 credits) - Through academic writing, lectures and seminars in this unit, you will have the opportunity to further contextualise various aspects of art and design theory in its broadest sense, by focusing on specific options.
• Professional Practices (20 credits) - This unit seeks to extend your knowledge of the creative, cultural and design industries, providing you with opportunities to work on live project as you continue to develop your design practice in mixed-discipline and collaborative teams.
• Expanded Cinema and Physical Computing (40 credits) - This unit is designed to further aid and develop the work and concepts introduced in the previous unit. The unit encourages you to experiment and push new media and technologies to their limits. The unit is also highly spatial and technical, looking at programming, sensors and computing in a real-world context.

Diploma in Professional Studies

The Diploma in Professional Studies is an optional placement year in industry between the second and third year of the course. It is a managed year of professional experience largely undertaken in the design profession in a variety of national and international locations. Successful candidates are selected on a competitive basis from academic performance and studentship, successful completion of the DPS bridging studies and by portfolio and proposal. Please view the Diploma in Professional Studies Programme Specification (PDF - 120KB) for more details.

Year Three

Units summary:

Route A:

• Major Studio Project (60 credits) - The Major Studio Project is undertaken by all third year students and generally consists of three individual briefs, which you chose. It is the culmination of the course and provides you with the opportunity to utilise all of your practical, critical and analytical skills in the realisation of projects related to the development of your individual portfolio.
• Minor Studio Project (20 credits) - The Minor Studio Project is self-initiated; emphasising research and the identification of appropriate intellectual and practical methodologies to support your outcomes.
• Contextual and Theoretical Studies 3 (40 credits) - This unit is the culmination of the Contextual and Theoretical Studies component of the course. It provides you with the opportunity to utilise all your knowledge and analytical skills related to visual theory, in the realisation of a self-determined extended piece of writing of 8,000-10,000 words.

or Route B:

• Major Studio Project (60 credits) - The Major Studio Project is undertaken by all third year students and generally consists of three individual briefs, which you chose. It is the culmination of the course and provides you with the opportunity to utilise all your practical, critical and analytical skills in the realisation of projects related to the development of your individual portfolio.
• Minor Studio Project (20 credits) x2 - The Minor Studio Project is self-initiated; emphasising research and the identification of appropriate intellectual and practical methodologies to support your outcomes. One Minor Studio Project is undertaken by all third year students. If you decide to do the Route B (CTS 3 unit of 5000 words instead of 10000), you will do two of these Minor Studio Projects.
• Contextual and Theoretical Studies 3 (20 credits) - This unit is the culmination of the Contextual and Theoretical Studies component of the course, and provides you with the opportunity to utilise all your knowledge and analytical skills related to visual theory in the realisation of a self-determined extended piece of writing of 4,000-5,000 words.

Learning and teaching methods

• Lectures/large group learning: the main areas of theory and its practical applications will be covered in a planned series of tutor-led sessions.
• Workshop & seminar learning: practical sessions that will enable the student to experiment with a skill or technique relevant to the area of study. Students will be able to share their understanding with others and obtain guidance from lecturers to identify solutions to practical or theoretical problems.
• Academic tutorials: individual assistance is provided by lecturers to assist students with difficulties in their understanding and practical application of theory and skills. This is important for clarifying the requirements for assessed work.
• Self directed learning: independent study undertaken by the student to research, write and prepare assignments and to extend their knowledge and understanding. This can be undertaken at home or using college facilities.
• Outside speakers and visits: these provide students with a perspective of contemporary issues and recent events.
• Assessed assignments: these assess the student’s attainment of the learning outcomes and develop the key skills that will form an important aspect of their learning. The completion of assignment briefs are therefore regarded as a method.

Assessment methods

• The portfolio of work: This contains creative design and associated developmental artefacts produced in the process of engaging with set design briefs. This will also include a research weblog and/or sketchbook documenting your iterative design and development process and any other specific elements required by the unit.
• Prepared writing: This includes academic writing i.e. thesis and dissertations, reports, critical and reflective writing any other specific forms required by the unit.
• Crits and presentations: Oral presentation and personal presentations of creative work are used in formative assessments on all studio units in the course to ensure you are confident about your work and get the benefit of seeing the work of your peers in a critical context.

Course structure

The information outlined is an indicative structure of the course. Whilst we will aim to deliver the course as described on this page, there may be situations where it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, for example, because of regulatory requirements or operational efficiencies, before or after enrolment. If this occurs, we will communicate all major changes to all applicants and students who have either applied or enrolled on the course.

Please note that due to staff research agreements or availability, not all of the optional modules listed may be available every year.

In addition, the provision of course options which depend upon the availability of specialist teaching, or on a placement at another institution, cannot be guaranteed. Please check this element of the course with the course team before making a decision to apply.

Webpage updates

We will update this webpage from time to time with new information as it becomes available. In the meantime, if you have any questions, use this register your interest form.