Interactive Design

Program Description

Turn your creativity into a tech-focused career as a digital designer. You’ll learn about design fundamentals, digital design tools and best practices when developing concepts into products that meet business needs or solve complex business problems.

You’ll enhance your skills in design thinking and push your creative boundaries while you learn to evaluate and create data-driven designs and apply workflow techniques to media projects and production pipelines. Working collaboratively with your peers to create project plans, you’ll develop effective problem-solving skills with an emphasis on human-centered design. To demonstrate your knowledge, you’ll create a portfolio of your work that will indicate applied design concepts that meet specific client requirements and can be presented to clients for critique.

In your second year, you will develop specialized skills by choosing one of three majors: Graphic Design, User Experience (UX), or Web Design and Development.

Graphic Design major:

In the Graphic Design major, you’ll deepen your content creation skills and expand into areas of print and graphic design. You’ll develop skills in design-thinking, graphic communications, typography, content hierarchies, colour theory and design theory. You’ll learn to enhance products and leverage these design principles to appeal to specific audiences. You’ll also learn to produce a packaging project for a specific user while gaining an understanding of the basic functions of a digital press and bindery equipment.

User Experience (UX) major:

In the UX major, you’ll add to your knowledge of software development and interactive design. You’ll develop tools and strategies that focus on the experience of the person interacting with your design. This includes creating prototype designs for usability testing that stem from user interviews, insights into opportunities and a research process. You’ll also develop plans for multiple outcomes and solutions that factor in business uncertainty. Your creations will be tested and prototyped to meet client requirements.

Web Design and Development major:

In the Web Design and Development major, you will learn to design and create web experiences that respond and interact with your user. You’ll focus on the front and back end of web development and explore human-centric interactions for the next generation of web content.

Program Overview

Turn your creativity into a tech-focused career as a digital designer. You’ll learn about design fundamentals, digital design tools and best practices when developing concepts into products that meet business needs or solve complex business problems.

You’ll enhance your skills in design thinking and push your creative boundaries while you learn to evaluate and create data-driven designs and apply workflow techniques to media projects and production pipelines. Working collaboratively with your peers to create project plans, you’ll develop effective problem-solving skills with an emphasis on human-centered design. To demonstrate your knowledge, you’ll create a portfolio of your work that will indicate applied design concepts that meet specific client requirements and can be presented to clients for critique.

In your second year, you will develop specialized skills by choosing one of three majors: Graphic Design, User Experience (UX), or Web Design and Development.

Graphic Design major:

In the Graphic Design major, you’ll deepen your content creation skills and expand into areas of print and graphic design. You’ll develop skills in design-thinking, graphic communications, typography, content hierarchies, colour theory and design theory. You’ll learn to enhance products and leverage these design principles to appeal to specific audiences. You’ll also learn to produce a packaging project for a specific user while gaining an understanding of the basic functions of a digital press and bindery equipment.

User Experience (UX) major:

In the UX major, you’ll add to your knowledge of software development and interactive design. You’ll develop tools and strategies that focus on the experience of the person interacting with your design. This includes creating prototype designs for usability testing that stem from user interviews, insights into opportunities and a research process. You’ll also develop plans for multiple outcomes and solutions that factor in business uncertainty. Your creations will be tested and prototyped to meet client requirements.

Web Design and Development major:

In the Web Design and Development major, you will learn to design and create web experiences that respond and interact with your user. You’ll focus on the front and back end of web development and explore human-centric interactions for the next generation of web content.

Progression

The progression requirement for students taking credit courses is a Term GPA and Total Institutional GPA of 2.0, with the exception of English Language Foundations and Academic Upgrading programs.

Admission Requirements

• At least 50% in Math 30-1 or at least 60% in Math 30-2, and, 
  
• At least 55% in English Language Arts 30-1 or at least 60% in English Language Arts 30-2
  

​All applicants must demonstrate English Language Proficiency prior to admission, including students educated in Canada.

Program Outline

Total Credits 60

Program Outcomes

All majors:

1. Contribute individual skills within a team environment to produce a collaborative project based on client requirements
2. Design and create integrated digital content to meet industry best practices
3. Demonstrate industry specific employability skills and work behaviorus to meet industry expectations
   
4. Create data driven, insight-based designs that are logical and defensible
5. Apply workflow techniques to media projects and production pipelines
6. Create a portfolio of work demonstrating applied design concepts that meet specific client requirements and can be presented to clients for critique
7. Demonstrate highly effective problem solving, collaborative planning, and human-centered design

Graphic Design major:

1. Produce a packaging project for a specific user
2. Demonstrate the basic functions of a digital press and bindery equipment
3. Apply design frameworks in the production process
4. Create graphic designs using a range of techniques

User Experience (UX) major):

1. Create prototype designs for usability testing 
2. Apply design systems, brand standards and accessibility to projects
3. Create UX/UI solutions using a variety of methodologies
4. Solve design problems through iteration and prototyping experiences

Web Design and Development major:

1. Develop data-driven design solutions to meet specific client requirements
2. Integrate technical frameworks in web development solutions
3. Apply web security best practices in design solutions
4. Create responsive web solutions and applications to be deployed across multiple types of devices and screen sizes