Master in Interaction Design
Malmö University
Key Information
Campus location
Malmö, Sweden
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
1 - 2 year
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
SEK 260,000 / per year **
Application deadline
Request info *
Earliest start date
02 Sep 2024
* for international round| May 2, 2024 for national round
** for 1 year program / 510000 SEK for 2 years program
Introduction
Interaction design concerns the design of digital artifacts and digitally mediated communication, with a focus on user 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 mindset of a scholar, and we foster reflective design by teaching research skills and involving students in active research projects.
The Interaction Design master’s program at Malmö University was founded in 1998, making it one of the most established English-language design programs in the Nordic region. The program provides a learning experience that is grounded in Scandinavian design traditions while simultaneously embracing transformations within the vibrant, international, and interdisciplinary field of interaction design. Students who complete the degree will have a Master of Science in Interaction Design (two-year, 120 credits).
The two-year program trains students to respond to unprecedented societal needs and professional challenges, teaching the practical, theoretical, and critical skills necessary for designing relations between humans and technologies. With small classes of individuals from all over the world, students will become part of an interdisciplinary group exploring how interaction design methods and approaches can respond to the complex times in which we live.
The program starts with new students every autumn semester. Students enter the program with different kinds of expertise, from art and design to engineering and social sciences. Upon graduation, they will have built a strong understanding of how their particular skills can be applied to interaction design and how these merge with the specialties of their fellow designers. Students will be ideally situated to work in industry, the public sector, or as researchers.
What makes the program unique?
This master’s program emphasizes both studio-based design practices and theoretical engagement with the issues at the heart of design processes. Navigating a shifting design landscape requires agility in concept development and prototyping, as well as the critical mindset of a scholar. This is achieved by structuring the education around courses that require both collaborative group projects and individual writing. Each year ends with a self-directed thesis project, comprising both practical design work and a written thesis.
Course content includes participatory design and social innovation; tangible and sensor-based interactions; relational and embodied interactions; design-based research; and design theory. Students will work with real-world design cases and external stakeholders, including local industry partners and cultural and civic organizations. They will experiment with a range of design materials: from digital to analog, organic to inorganic, electronic to imaginary, and social to bodily.
Courses are taught by faculty members with active research and professional profiles. The real-world relevance of interaction design is not far removed from teaching, as students are frequently involved in ongoing research projects, many of which emphasize the social, political, and ethical consequences of design.
Why study at Malmö University?
If you are interested in how designed artifacts, systems, relations, and infrastructures can shape our world, and what we might do with them as designers and fellow human beings, bring your background in design, computer science, community development, arts, humanities, or social sciences to work with others to make the vision of fair, caring and sustainable futures a reality.
Graduates can choose to direct their careers within a range of industries, including the political sector, or transition to academic/professional research. This program is consistent with Malmö University’s vision of integrating academic learning with social change; creating powerful ties between teaching, research, and society at large. The program aims to provide the tools, techniques, and conceptual basis to enact change in the world, not just for the next few years, but for the next 50.
Admissions
Curriculum
The program comprises full-time study for one or two academic years, divided into four to eight courses, starting with a studio-based introduction to multidisciplinary collaboration and mainstream interaction design. 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. The final course is a Master’s level graduation project, both in year one and year two.
Teaching Methods
The program is based on a 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 through this process.
Studio-based
The program is studio-based. Students will also have access to computer labs, a materials workshop, and a prototyping lab for electronics, sensors, 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 organized to practice these skills.
Humanistic approach
With our humanistic approach, students will be practicing qualitative research approaches to support their design of tangible artifacts as well as digital and interactive services, systems, and artifacts. We emphasize an understanding of people in their use situations. Students will be taught to develop a critical perspective based on: the close reading of relevant academic texts; participation in seminars; and writing of academic-style research papers. Two thesis projects will challenge students to deepen their practice and thought processes.
Reflective and experimental design thinking and practical doing
Prototyping in the studio and 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, critical and performative methods, 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
Students’ thesis projects at the end of each year will be a combination of practical design processes leading to a prototype and a written document, plus the presentation and discussion of their design work in front of peers and an examiner.
Contents
Autumn 2024 - Semester 1
- Introduction to multidisciplinary interaction design (KD640A), 15 credits, compulsory
- Explorations in Design and Technology (KD651A), 15 credits, compulsory
Spring 2025 - Semester 2
- Interaction design: Embodied Interaction (KD641B), 15 credits, compulsory
- Interaction design: Master's (One-Year) Thesis (KD643B), 15 credits, compulsory
Autumn 2025 - Semester 3
- Interaction design: Design for eco-social futures (KD652A), 15 credits, compulsory
- Play and ludic interaction (KD645A), 15 credits, compulsory
Spring 2026 - Semester 4
- Design-based Research (KD646A), 15 credits, compulsory
- Interaction Design: Thesis Project II (KD647A), 15 credits, compulsory
Program Outcome
Topical outcomes are specified per course where the generic types of outcomes are mapped to interaction design as follows:
- Knowledge and understanding - Repertoire and theory (canonical designs, important design elements, and important theoretical concepts);
- Competence and skills — Skills and technique (including design approach);
- Judgement and approach - Reflection and criticism.
Knowledge and understanding
The student demonstrates:
- Knowledge and understanding within interaction design, including an overview as well as deep knowledge of parts of the field and insights into current research
- Advanced methodological knowledge in interaction design
Competence and skills
The student demonstrates:
- Ability to integrate knowledge and to analyze, assess, and manage complex phenomena, questions, and situations under conditions of limited information
- Ability to independently identify and formulate questions and to plan and adequately perform qualified assignments within given time limits
- Ability to clearly account for and discuss conclusions and the knowledge and arguments underpinning the conclusions in written and spoken dialogue with various groups
- Skills required to take part in research and development as well as in other advanced enterprises
Judgement and approach
The student demonstrates:
- Ability to perform judgments within interaction design considering relevant academic, societal, and ethical aspects
- Awareness of ethical aspects of research and development
- Insight into the possibilities and limitations of science, the role of science in society, and people’s responsibility for its use
- Ability to identify further knowledge needs and to assume responsibility for knowledge development
Career Opportunities
Graduates of this program have moved on to professional positions around the world in the design, media, and ICT industries, as well as in academic research and entrepreneurship.
Many alumni take up positions as interaction designers, user experience specialists, or usability specialists in the design, ICT, and media industries. For some, this involves critiquing or fine-tuning the interfaces and interactions of current products to users’ needs. For others, it comprises concept development for future products and services.
Some alumni choose strategic positions where the role of interaction design is considered about market, and business development, while others apply interaction design perspectives and methods to envision change or ‘future-making’ in politics, public organizations, the heritage sector, and NGOs.