Start semester
70 502 Interaction Design 1: Tangible Interactions
Passed foundation level (BA-level) courses at AHO or equivalent, 180 ECTS.
Useful Skills
This course builds on some interaction prototyping skills, such as arduino, learnt in the undergraduate course at AHO. Knowledge of this and simple electronics will be very helpful, but is not a requirement.
Interaction Design 1 - extends the students skills in the world of interaction design, focusing on core skills and materials used in designing physical and digital interactions. The course embraces and explores the creative opportunities made possible by recent developments in physical computing, sensor technologies and mobile devices, to consider physical everyday objects (embedded with switches, sensors and microcontrollers) as augmented interfaces for controlling digital experiences.
This is a practice-led course, starting with a series of short workshops dealing with a range of physical interaction technologies and approaches that lead into larger projects. Students will have the opportunity to work with Arduino microcontrollers, smartphones, Processing code and a broad range of sensors for prototyping and design-testing. The practical aspects of the course will be complemented by a series of lectures/talks and workshops by a range of practitioners and specialists in the field.
KNOWLEDGE
Students will:
- Get an overview of research and projects within the field of physical computing and the history of tangible interactions.
- Get an overview of the approaches, issues and challenges faced by designers in the field.
- Gain an understanding of historical and current technologies and practical applications.
- Develop a critical framework and approach for the analysis and discussion of work in the field.
SKILLS
Students will:
- Extend their skills in electronics and Arduino. All students will be taught methods and tools to make working physical prototypes, and gain practical abilities with electronics.
- Explore and practice interaction design methodologies, embodied interaction, realtime interaction and social computing and iterations in a physical context.
- Design experiential interactive objects with a focus on engaging experiences for communication, education and play.
GENERAL COMPETENCE
Students will:
- Gain the ability to explore and understand connections between interaction design and the other design disciplines.
- Further develop the ability to continuously iterate and explore concepts in order to refine them.
- Further develop regular design attributes such as curiosity and experimental, inquisitive outlooks.
Core components of the course are exploration and developing experiential prototypes of concepts. These are developed during the course by number of smaller projects that culminate in a larger final project at the end of the semester. The majority of the work will be done as pairs (different pairs for each project) with some projects of individual work and others of larger groups. Projects typically have multiple presentations throughout in order to allow students to see and comment on each others work.
Typical weeks will have a presentation, possibly a lecture or workshop and then 1 or 2 opportunities for mentoring. Some projects may require a more intensive period with longer set hours during the week. This will be outlined at the beginning of the semester. The remaining time is able to be utilised as the student feels appropriate in order to develop the project, however it is encouraged that the majority of the time is spent working from the class studio in order to develop an inspiring and encouraging environment.
Shaping things - Bruce Sterling
Radical Technologies - Adam Greenfield
Where the action is - Paul Dourish
Making things talk - Tom Igoe
Digital by Design - Troika
| Mandatory coursework | Courseworks required | Presence required | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exercise | Required | Students need to present and submit all projects in order to be assessed for the course. Students will be informed at the completion of each project as to wether they have any out standing submissions. If students do not submit these deliverables for what ever reason ( medical absences etc) they can deliver later in the semester, but must deliver before the final project commences (unless they have obtained an extension from administration). If any students have difficulties or conflicts in working within their pair or group, they need to inform the course responsible and we can arrange a solution. |
| Form of assessment | Grouping | Grading scale | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project assignment | Group | Pass / fail | The final project will be graded pass/fail by an external assessor and this results in the grade for the course. |