Master in Interaction Design

THIS PROGRAM IS TAUGHT IN ENGLISH

The Master in Interaction Design aims to train professionals who aspire to be tomorrow’s digital leaders equipped with the collaborative, critical thinking and technical skills required to react, adapt and leverage the impacts of digital transformation and understand how the digital can be harnessed for strategic design.

The Master provides an environment of creativity, design and technological innovation by focusing on projects through a future lens. It provides students with the skillset and mindset to challenge the status quo and produce well-rounded designers who can work across disciplinary, cultural and geographical boundaries to design solutions addressing future individual, societal and business needs by nurturing curiosity, experimentation, technical skills and critical thinking, as well as empathic, collaborative skills.

Main objective of the course

• To acquire the necessary theoretical and technological knowledge for the digital labour market.
• To develop wide-ranging skills in the design, production and leadership of interactive projects.
• To learn from the major leading companies in the sector.
• To create a broad professional portfolio based on real briefs.
• To access the city’s business and cultural context.
• To master new digital fabrication tools and software.
• To promote efficient, multidisciplinary, collaborative, work.
• To improve communication skills for public presentations.
• To enhance student autonomy through self-assessment and learning by doing.
• To encourage creativity, experimentation and innovation.

Methodology

The Master is divided into 2 stages, each a module: the first is a cross-cutting stage in which students are taught core skills for disciplines that address future needs, followed by a second specialised stage in which students can further develop their skillsets in the discipline of their choice: Digital Management, Creative Coding, UX/UI Design or Digital Fabrication.

The first stage lays the groundwork for the concepts of interaction design by introducing the basics of the four different course specialisations.

This stage of the Master is structured around a repeated weekly schedule that follows the development phases of a digital service or product (think, design, code, make and inspire), thereby providing balanced training on the cornerstones of the world of creative digital companies.

The second stage of the Master enters into the specialisations and therefore follows a different structure. The students work together on projects on days of cross-cutting activities that are divided by specialities when tackling the content of their courses.

Aimed at

The leading companies in the sector and keen on entrepreneurship and innovation in one of the most promising markets.

The programme is aimed at all creators interested in designing interactive experiences, such as:

• Design and communication professionals with a passion for new technologies.
• Designers who want to learn how to program and programmers with UX/UI interests.
• Future entrepreneurs and producers from the digital sector.
• Makers, product designers and digital artists.
• Managers and creatives from the world of advertising and communication.

Professional Outcomes

Depending on the chosen specialisation, possible career positions on graduation include:

• Interface design and user experience positions (UX, UI) in design studios and digital content companies.
• Event producer and project leader in advertising agencies.
• Provider of facilities and interactive experiences for events and congresses.
• Maker sector professionals in fab labs and digital fabrication spaces.
• Creative in communication agencies specialising in technology and new media.

Coordinator

An area specialist coordinator is available for advice in each Master and is actively engaged in designing its curriculum and content in collaboration with IED Barcelona’s teaching department.The coordinator also helps to incorporate sector-specific teachers and is responsible for maintaining relationships with companies and institutions within the knowledge field of the course.

This Master has a pool of experts who designed the course and each is the project leader of one of the modules making up the proposed course. This pool includes:

Jordi Planas

The designer of interactive experiences combining technology and creativity, digital art and advertising. He is the founder of the interactive installation company Vimod Studio, which together with advertising agencies like Ogilvy or S, C, P, F… devises and produces technological events for brands such as Garmin, Zurich or Lenovo at the Mobile World Congress, among other events. A fan of experimental electronic music, maker culture, DIY and digital fabrication, he is a creative programmer for Arduino, Processing, C++, Internet of Things and robotics. He teaches classes and seminars in several educational programmes (Art School of the Tarragona Provincial Council, Higher Level Course in Games and Interactive Environments at IED). He holds a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona and a Master in Digital Art from Pompeu Fabra University.

Manuela Procopio

Manuela is an entrepreneur, trainer, mentor, lecturer and scrum master and helps people, companies and organisations to discover meaningful insights and design creative solutions for their challenges by using and applying trend research, service design and agile management. She is a co-founder of international collaborative initiatives such as _coworkshops (www.coworkshops.org) and We Push (www.wepush.co) and also managing director of the Management for Creative Industries School at IED (Istituto Europeo di Design) in Barcelona.

Esteve Maruri

Esteve has been self-taught since the age of 12, but with Computer Science at EPSS, Computer Science at EUPMT and MySQL, PHP, .NET and SCRUM certificates. He has worked with several companies as a programmer, analyst, data architect and CTO, among which include HCC, Near Technologies, Vueling, a partner at Rinho, Lavinia, PRIVALIA, Atrápalo and Budgetplaces. Currently, he is working as a technical director and project manager at Chiara Giacomini Brand Design (CGBD). He combines his work at CGBD with classes at IED and his duties as CTO at Days2Play, a company that sells video games.

Gui Seiz

Gui is creative director at Fab Lab Barcelona, the same post he held at Stink Studios and was head of design at Work Club. He is currently working on an urban growing platform that uses permaculture soil sensors to calibrate weather satellites and is also co-creating Making Sense, a citizen science project funded by the European Commission through Fab Lab Barcelona.

Duration and frequency

Duration: 6 months
Timetable: Monday to Friday from 6.30 p.m to 10.40 p.m.

*The educational planning for all IED Master courses is aligned with the criteria established by the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The IED Master program has adopted a credit structure that follows the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). The IED Master issues private degrees.