Interaction Design: Understanding Health and Well-Being

3 units

Through a blend of presentations from practitioners, classroom lectures, readings, discussions, and hands-on exercises, this course will engage principles and methods of interaction design within the context of health challenges. Broadly defined, interaction design is the practice of designing products, environments, systems, and services with a focus on behavior and user experience. We will take on an in-depth challenge in the area of health and well-being and work in cross-disciplinary design teams with an external partner organization. Students will gain experience in planning and executing a human-centered design process that features research, ideation, synthesis, concept development, prototypes, and a final presentation, which may include visual design, animation, and sound. Students will work in teams to develop several intermediate project deliverables, such as prototypes and sketches. No prior course work is necessary, although experience with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign is helpful.