Master in Interaction Design (1 year option)
Malmö, Sweden
Master degree
DURATION
1 year
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Jan 2027
TUITION FEES
SEK 195,000
STUDY FORMAT
* this is the deadline for national round. Non-EU/EEA students who require a residence permit should apply during international admissions round opening mid-October 2026.
Key Summary
About: The one-year Master of Science in Interaction Design (60 credits) at Malmö University combines Scandinavian design traditions with interdisciplinary practice. It teaches interaction design, user experience (UX), participatory design, prototyping and design-based research through studio work and a self-directed thesis. Cohorts tackle real-world projects with industry and civic partners, exploring tangible, sensor-based, embodied and relational interactions and ethical impacts.
Career Outcomes: Graduates enter design, media, ICT, research or entrepreneurship. You can work as an interaction designer, user experience or usability specialist, design researcher, strategist, UX researcher, or apply design methods in public policy, NGOs, cultural heritage and civic innovation.
Interaction design concerns the design of digital artefacts and digitally mediated communication, with a focus on user experience.
The Interaction Design master’s programme at Malmö University was founded in 1998, making it one of the most established English-language design programmes in the Nordic region. The programme 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 (one year, 60 credits).
This one-year interaction design programme 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 programme starts with new students every autumn semester. Students enter the programme 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 specialities of their fellow designers. Students will be ideally situated to work within industry, the public sector, or as researchers.
What makes the programme unique?
This master’s programme emphasises 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 organisations. They will experiment with a range of design materials: from digital to analogue, 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 emphasise 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 programme 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 programme 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.
The programme comprises full-time study for one academic year.
Teaching Methods
The programme 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 programme 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 organised to practice these skills.
Humanistic approach
With our humanistic approach, students will be practising qualitative research approaches to support their design of tangible artefacts as well as digital and interactive services, systems, and artefacts. We emphasise 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 2025 - Semester 1
- Introduction to multidisciplinary interaction design (KD640A), 15 credits
- Explorations in Design and Technology (KD651A), 15 credits
Spring 2026 - Semester 2
- Interaction design: Embodied Interaction (KD641B), 15 credits
- Interaction design: Master's (One-Year) Thesis (KD643B), 15 credits
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 analyse, 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.
Graduates of this programme have moved on to professional positions around the world in the design, media and ICT industries, as well as to 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 in relation to market and business development, while others apply interaction design perspectives and methods to envisioning change or ‘future-making’ in politics, public organisations, the heritage sector, and NGOs.