<p>I'm looking for schools with a strong graduate program focus in Interaction Design and/or Industrial Design. My specific interests are User Experience Engineering, User Interface Design, Human Factors and Ergonomics (my undergrad education is in engineering, with a special focus in human factors). </p>
<p>I really like Savannah College of Fine Arts' MFA Interaction Design program and also like the School of Visual Art's Interaction Design program as well.
Other universities (University of Indiana, University of Washington) offer promising programs as well. I just want to attend one that is affordable and offers a great value for the price.</p>
<p>Any recommendations (I'm looking for US schools only)?</p>
<p>ooowwww now I remember!!!
hey kid OP
you must must must chronicle what happened from then to now
which year you are in? how are classes. your folks?
have you taken any art classes?
how’s money?
are you going to kick out your governor?
do tell do tell everything!!</p>
<p>as usual, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.
but listen to good mamabear drae, yes?</p>
<p>Wow, I actually remember you guys from <em>almost</em> two years ago! Thanks a lot for the link, drae, I’m looking into it and it seems amazing!</p>
<p>@bears: I’m a junior in Industrial Engineering now. It’s actually gotten MUCH better since freshman year - I guess you sort of just get used to the rigor of college and since there’s so many concepts that build upon each other in these classes (especially the math classes and the math in engineering problems, once you “get” the math behind everything and how it works, there’s nothing stopping you from doing well).</p>
<p>I’ve taken 6 art classes in my school here (Sketching I/II, Relief Drawing I/II, Digital Photography, Computer Visual Arts, Digital Media and Visual Communication). It was extremely difficult to get into them - none of the deans want engineers in art classes taking up spots when it doesn’t count for anything, but I managed it anyway; for two of them, they didn’t let me in but I just kept going to class everyday anyway (just for giggles, even though I wasn’t enrolled in it) until the professor was so impressed with one of the websites I made (for my portfolio) that he caved and and opened up an extra seat just for me so that he could give me a grade and use my site as an example in the annual design showcase.</p>
<p>Money and folks are all good.
As for current courses, there’s this whole field within IE (called Human Factors & Ergonomics) which focuses on designing products, interactions and interfaces with the end-user’s goals in mind from an anthropometric and psychosocial perspective. I’m maxing out on all the electives I can take within this field and it’s really really interesting stuff - our projects involve redesigning “bad ergonomics/human factors designs” so that they function better and more efficiently.</p>
<p>So now, all my professors (both engineering & art profs) recommend that I go to grad school for Industrial Design or Interaction Design, because they see me fitting in very well there. And which is why I’m doing a lot of research into this. There’s TONS of programs out there, but I feel like jumping straight into the industry is simply better, faster and cheaper - the engineers in this industry that I’ve spoken to say that this is the best way to go and that you “learn on the job” much better in the real workforce than you do by shelling out tons of ca$h at a fancy school. So I’m heavily considering whether or not grad school in this field is worth it or not.</p>
<p>“but I just kept going to class everyday anyway (just for giggles, even though I wasn’t enrolled in it)”</p>
<p>remember us when you become next Steve you know-who?
I’d be like, grandma and social security I been chipping in won’t do anything to us then.</p>
<p>great, just great, it was your willpower that made it happen but also you are lucky to be in nice U that offer such things in the backyard.
I am still trying to figure out what exactly you are studying but this is recent MoMA show.
something like this? (page 1 is NYC subway metrocard machine, page 2 has cutesy robot)
If so, it is in hi hi demand. keep sketching and get your hand dirty, stay human and egonomicking.
[MoMA</a> | Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects](<a href=“Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects | MoMA”>Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects | MoMA)
for grad school, did I tell you about this? it’s fully funded if get in.
and coincidentally got same sort of cutesy cardboard robot vsual on it!!
[MIT</a> Media Lab](<a href=“http://www.media.mit.edu/]MIT”>http://www.media.mit.edu/)</p>
<p>why are you going on CC two in the morning? how’s your thanksgiving? did you help do dishes?</p>
<p>AxeBack
Thanks for the update. I am impressed with your determination and creativity! How very exciting…there are so many possibilities open to you right now.</p>
<p>It may very well be possible that you could get yourself a job in the right place and not need to go to grad school. Take a look at this company: [Innovation</a> Consulting | Design Innovation | Continuum](<a href=“Continuum”>http://continuuminnovation.com/)</p>
<p>Hah…Bears and I are cross posting…we can’t stay away. You are our dream kid!
Though to be fair we have to admit you are not a kid any more. Good work!</p>
<p>ah, I was wondering that, too.
we did crossed while I was editing!
and linked the same MIT program!!! we must have bored same dream kid, yes!
we shall split future stock option or patient earnings.
oh wait, he got perfectly fine parents that culturally he is expected to be responsible of.
so… split in four?</p>
<p>Oh man, those are some amazing resources. Thanks a lot, guys!</p>
<p>Interesting how a couple of them have a no-exception requirement that says: “Must have at least one-year experience in industry”. That’s fair I guess, seeing as how vastly different a master’s degree in the digital design industry is so different from all other generic graduate programs. Some things, especially things like art & aesthetics, people just need to DO IT to learn it. Years of schooling might give you a great foundation to build your skills off of, but really, jumping right into it and doing it is simply THE best way to learn something. </p>
<p>This is why I’m enjoying my engineering design classes a lot - tons of open-ended projects. I can’t believe how much freedom I have in my classes right now compared to three semesters ago. There’s no more formula-memorization, no more sitting bored and doodling in class while watching professors work out tedious theoretical derivations and no more ridiculous 10-page lab reports / computer code due every week. It’s just us APPLYING everything we’ve learned to real-world projects - I guess this is why it’s hard for freshmen in engineering to grasp the relevance of the things they’re learning; they don’t get to use it all until much later. This is also why people in classes like philiosophy/sociology enjoy those classes a lot (lots of room for freedom of expression), whereas that freedom in engineering comes at a much later stage with a MUCH stronger foundation which will help out immensely in the long run.</p>
<p>Also, looking at the student profiles on those schools you guys recommended, it does look like a lot of incoming applicants do indeed have 2-3 yrs of experience in industry. There’s no real hurry to jump straight into grad school. Plus, one of the profiles said that the guy got his ideas for his research projects based on the things he noticed were missing or “disconnected” in the real-world design industry (6 yrs experience).</p>
<p>@bears: YES, that metro card thing is exactly the kind of stuff that human factors engineers do. That does look very cool and swanky, by the way.</p>
<p>And that MIT Media Lab looks AMAZING. It’s like a dream program. Then again, it’s MIT, so I don’t wanna get my hopes up for nothing…
And don’t worry, haha! I won’t forget you guys. If I ever give a huge lecture sometime in the future and/or win an award (totally hypothetical, because the probability of either of those things happening is insanely low), I’ll thank “bears and dogs” and “drae27” at the end of my speech. A lot of people will be very confused and maybe even mistake me for an environmentalist (which I will not deny), but YOU guys will be there, smiling to yourselves, knowing exactly what’s going on. Yeah. Again, totally hypothetical.</p>
<p>come visit us, we can crash at drae’s mansion and you get to use metrocard machine!!
and let’s not forget other CCer moms, yes?
fammom (went your school some point) redbug (the science mom) from two years ago.
you say easy but you did grinds(passed all tough classes therefore you are) some didn’t survive I suppose?
if you are still at home, hug and thank your parents.</p>