User Experience and Interaction Design BS

Major: User Experience and Interaction Design
Degree Awarded: Bachelor of Science (BS)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 184.0
Co-op Options: Three Co-op (Five years)
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 11.0801
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 15-1250

About the Program

Technology and your future career prospects are evolving at lightning speeds. Where it was once as simple as pursuing “website design” or “programming,” today’s world offers—and demands—more. To truly succeed in tech, you need creativity, versatility, and an interdisciplinary skillset. You need to be able to see through the eyes of the user and understand projects from start to finish. You need to be a unicorn.

User Experience & Interaction Design (UXID) helps you get there.

By combining principles from a range of disciplines, UXID gives you the tools not only to understand technology but also the human principles underpinning it. You’ll get exposure to:

• User Experience Research (UXR) — Analyzing business goals, understanding user needs, and identifying competitors to uncover opportunities; synthesizing these insights to inform UX strategies and guide evidence-based design decisions
• User Experience Design (UX) — Researching and advocating the needs of people who will be using technologies, prototyping digital products, and working with agile methodologies
• User Interface Design (UI) — Using tools, like the Adobe Creative Suite, to create visual experiences for technology products
• Interaction Design (IxD) —The design of behaviors, animations, and sounds for digital products
• Full Stack Development — Programming the code (HTML/CSS, JavaScript, PHP/MySQL, etc.) that makes products work in a variety of media (websites, apps, augmented and virtual reality, Internet of Things, etc.)
• Information Architecture (IA) — Organizing and planning information systems for digital products
• Content Strategy — The planning, creation, delivery, and governance of content, including text and imagery
• Project Management — Managing work flows to keep teams on track

As a freshman, you learn the basics of User Experience Research, User Experience Design, user Interface Design and Interaction Design. In sophomore year, you learn the coding and development skills to bring those designs to life. The pre-junior, junior and senior studies are focused on electives and interdisciplinary teamwork. In our 5-year sequence you will also have the opportunity for 3 six-month full-time work experiences within a company through Drexel’s Cooperative Education program, and your capstone project will result in a full-scale, industry-level product launch. 

By the end of this program, you’ll have real-world experience, an enviable portfolio, and the highly adaptable skills to find your way in the uncertain, ever-evolving world of tech.

Additional Information

For more information about this program, please contact Troy Finamore twf23@drexel.edu.

Degree Requirements

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Co-op cycles may vary. Students are assigned a co-op cycle (fall/winter, spring/summer, summer-only) based on their co-op program (4-year, 5-year) and major.

COOP 101 registration is determined by the co-op cycle assigned and may be scheduled in a different term. Select students may be eligible to take COOP 001 in place of COOP 101.

Writing-Intensive Course Requirements

In order to graduate, all students must pass three writing-intensive courses after their freshman year. Two writing-intensive courses must be in a student's major. The third can be in any discipline. Students are advised to take one writing-intensive class each year, beginning with the sophomore year, and to avoid “clustering” these courses near the end of their matriculation. Transfer students need to meet with an academic advisor to review the number of writing-intensive courses required to graduate.

A "WI" next to a course in this catalog may indicate that this course can fulfill a writing-intensive requirement. For the most up-to-date list of writing-intensive courses being offered, students should check the Writing Intensive Course List at the University Writing Program. Students scheduling their courses can also conduct a search for courses with the attribute "WI" to bring up a list of all writing-intensive courses available that term.

Sample Plan of Study

NOTE: The four year option is not accepting applications; however, students can still choose to pursue the five year option.

5 year, 3 co-op

*

Co-op cycles may vary. Students are assigned a co-op cycle (fall/winter, spring/summer, summer-only) based on their co-op program (4-year, 5-year) and major. 

COOP 101 registration is determined by the co-op cycle assigned and may be scheduled in a different term. Select students may be eligible to take COOP 001 in place of COOP 101.

Co-op/Career Opportunities

Students who study User Experience and Interaction Design can move on to careers as web designers, graphic designers, digital media designers, user research and experience specialists, multimedia artists, interactive designers, web programmers, and web user interface designers.

Co-op Experiences

Some past co-op employers of User Experience and Interaction Design students include: 

• Academy of Natural Sciences
• Adobe
• Amazon
• COMCAST
• Craft
• CSL Behring
• EPAM
• Google
• Microsoft
• Neuroflow
• Night Kitchen Interactive
• Oracle
• Perpay
• Scoir
• SEPTA
• UNISYS
• Urban Outfitters
• Vanguard Group
• Wawa

Visit the Drexel Steinbright Career Development Center webpage for more detailed information on co-op and post-graduate opportunities.

Facilities

Digital Media department facilities include a motion capture and green screen studio, a screening room, DSLR digital still cameras, HD video cameras and lighting equipment, triple boot PowerMac stations (Mac / Windows / Unix) with dual monitors, wacom tablets, game consoles, mobile devices, and two undergraduate open labs with 24/7 access.

Additionally, the program houses the RePlay Lab in the URBN Center which is a collaborative effort between the Digital Media department and the Computer Science department (in the College of Computing & Informatics). At Drexel University, game development does not "live" in solely one department, and so mirrors the true nature of game development in commercial settings.

Program Level Outcomes

Interactive Digital Media Faculty