Classes

Graduate Classes Fall 2023

FOUNDATIONS

• • Pre-Thesis & Thesis
    This course is the capstone of the MS program in Integrated Design & Media. Each student, guided by their instructor, completes a major media-production project.

• • Media Law
    This advanced seminar explores in depth the theoretical and practical aspects of media-communications principles and regulations. Knowledge of media law is crucial for professionals. A full range of models will be explored, from Open Source public license to Digital Rights Management, as well as working definitions of Fair Use and the practical limits of sampling/mixing in different idioms and economic sectors.

• • Theories and Cultural Impact of Media & Technology
    In this course, students will examine and analyze the history and theoretical discourse of media and technology, while connecting these studies to contemporary trends and issues. Students will also explore the cultural impact of media and technology. Lectures, discussions, readings, research, and writing constitute the body of this course.

• • Ideation & Prototyping
    The creative process will be investigated in order to generate ideas for art, design, technology, and business endeavors. The course will show how ideation, design research & thinking, and prototyping can inspire, inform, and bring depth to what one ultimately creates. Students will expand their arsenal of design research skills, learn how to think critically about their audience, content, form, and processes, as well as, understand the importance of utilizing more than one research and design strategy.
  • Creative Coding
    This course is an introductory programming class, appropriate for students with no prior programming experience. Traditionally, introductory programming teaches algorithmic problem-solving, where a sequence of instructions describe the steps necessary to achieve a desired result. In this course, students are trained to go beyond this sequential thinking – to think concurrently and modularly.

ELECTIVES

3 credit , 14 week courses

•  Mobile Augmented Reality Studio
  This course examines the potential of mobile augmented reality [AR] and its future impact on society. Augmented reality technology is poised to revolutionize the way we understand the world by overlaying physical reality with real time, interactive digital content. AR will change our interaction with digital media by dissolving the user interface and turning it into a physical experience of sight and sound. This course will explore these emerging possibilities through hands on learning with the latest software and hardware. The class explores techniques and methodologies through guest lectures and regular studio practice to give students an overview of the possibilities and the current state of the art, and to prepare them for thesis work or subsequent course work. Students will gain a strong understanding of the AR industry’s past, present, and especially its future trends.
• Developing Assistive Technology
  This multidisciplinary course allows students from a variety of backgrounds to work together to learn about and develop assistive technology, as well as cultivate a better understanding of the people being served. Students will work in teams to identify clinical needs relevant to their chosen client and learn the process of developing an idea and following that through to the development of a prototype product.
  
• User Experience Design
  This is an introductory course on user experience design methodologies following a user-centered design process. The course is oriented toward practical methods for approaching a design problem holistically, beyond usability and usefulness. In this class, you will develop an appreciation for the notion of user experience including how to design for it and how to evaluate it. The course will focus on storytelling, sketching, and communication of design ideas within a design team and to potential users. 
  
• Virtual Production Development
  This class will discuss the key issues, challenges, and best practices in visual storytelling in Cinema and emerging media like real-time spatial computing. The class will teach how to architect and lead a virtual production by creating a dialogue between the Producer, Director, and Cinematographer in filmmaking with the Technical Producer and Director in creative technology. The class will cover an overview of all of the technical skills required to produce a remote virtual production through the lens of a project manager making administrative and creative decisions. The class culminates in a real-time 3D project exploring motion capture and virtual production that will create a narrative cinematic work with the class themes in mind.
• ARTIFICIAL LANDMARKS
  This studio will explore ways to create distinctions in physical and digital space which alter their nature or intended use through visualization techniques. By using artificial intelligence tools as the means to generate the landmark, the seminar will focus on additive, subtractive and distorted means for creation and representation. Over the semester, the class will develop an understanding of design techniques in the areas of visualization and design concepts through the use of observation, criticism and AI. Using contemporary and emerging AI toolsets for creating images and video, we will explore aesthetic dimensions while also being exposed to a variety of works and artist practices for creation and expression. This course emphasizes multi-disciplinary approaches to design and process — methods and outputs may range from purely digital solutions to interactive installations, speculative worlds, imagined landscapes, or new languages. At the end of the class, students will have a compendium of the class work and collectively generate a printed pamphlet capturing the process.
  
• AUGMENTED STORYTELLING
  Empowering students to become trailblazers in shaping the future of creative processes, Augmented Storytelling is a cutting-edge graduate course designed to super-charge existing creative workflows with the power of Generative AI and Virtual Production. As students bring their own story projects and unique creative processes, this pioneering journey takes them into the uncharted frontier of storytelling. They will delve into the latest AI-driven processes and virtual production techniques, exploring novel tools and methods that augment and enhance their creative endeavors. This immersive experience places students at the forefront of innovation, making a lasting impact on the evolving landscape of storytelling.
  
• BUILDING SCALABLE STORYWORLDS
  This class will investigate the various elements and approaches to storytelling and worldbuilding that have become commonplace in all media forms, from the emerging to the established, and we’ll integrate these learnings into an original project, publicly and iteratively. Collectively, students will launch a scalable storyworld through practical, action-oriented research based upon stories in the public domain.
  
• CAMERA AND CAPTURE
  This course provides an introduction to compositing video using traditional vfx and realtime pipelines with the Unreal Engine. Students will develop cinematics that composite video into 3D virtual worlds. Using matchmotion tracking students will integrate the camera movement of footage shot on greenscreen into CGI environments. Students will develop their concepts using previz and virtual production techniques.
  
• DESIGNING ECOLOGICAL INTERACTIONS IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS
  To design an ecosystem, we must first understand its complexities. This class is an exploration into network design through the lens of environmental ecology. Designers must understand how ecological systems function in order to efficiently design [with] them. Following long-term approaches that address ecosystem degradation and biodiversity, this class will focus on eco-evolutionary feedback from complex systems, and multi layered networks such as the ones formed by mycorrhizal fungi, plants, herbivore insects and their parasitoids, and fungivore collembolans, as a basis for design exploration. This class is both a seminar and production studio. Students will learn about species interactions, how they affect ecosystems and how they can be translated through design into network based projects.
  
• HUMAN-SPATIAL COMPUTING
  This course will teach how spatial computing facilitates relationships with people, places, and digital 3D objects and environments. An inclusive future for Spatial Computing depends on our willingness to engage with the impact of these technologies on the human brain, global culture, and our bodies. Students will engage with hands-on learning with augmented reality and virtual reality concerning ethics/privacy, storytelling, policy/regulation, the body, the mind, universal design, and other topics. We will critically analyze existing systems within Human Spatial Computing and create concepts using Speculative design theory and practice. By the end of this course, students will be able to: 1. Understand the implications of spatial computing technology and its effects on the human brain, global culture, and our bodies. 2. Create concepts for new spatial computing technologies using Speculative Design theory and practice. 3. Analyze the ethical and policy implications of existing and emerging spatial computing technologies. 4. Develop new user experiences with augmented reality and virtual reality. 5. Identify and incorporate Universal Design principles into spatial computing projects.
  
• INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION
  What does it mean to create meaningful interactive experiences? In this hand-on course, students will learn how to create interactive installations and environments. Scale and space will be explored with reference to the body, while creating cybernetic systems for real-time and time-based interaction. Software (Max/MSP/Jitter will be heavily utilized with openCV, p5.js and Processing are also possible ), electronics and physical computing (Arduino) will be covered in a workshop style format, with the goal of students creating physical projects. A variety of input and output mechanisms (edge detection, tracking, capacitance sensors, presence sensors, custom switches, etc), networking and best practices will be covered in workshops. Class discussions will cover readings about interactive art and design, space, installation. Students are free to explore their own ideas/concepts through the lens of this course.
  
• MOTION GRAPHICS STUDIO
  Motion graphics can be found in a wide range of media: broadcast, web, animation, sports broadcasts, and feature films to name a few. We will introduce 2D computer animation and digital graphic design to help students create dynamic motion graphics. The course combines learning software, exploring animation and design concepts, and developing the intellectual tools to analyze moving media.
  
• SPECULATIVE NETWORKS
  This course focuses on the ethical, political and socio-cultural dimensions of digital platforms and social media. Course readings will explore the implications of digital design practices, and creative workshops will provide a means to creatively reimagine digital platforms through speculative design methods. Through a combination of seminar discussions, in-class workshops and speculative design projects, students will critically examine and remediate social media and other digital platforms.
  
• TANGIBLE ELECTRONICS FOR TEACHING & LEARNING
  This course combines theory and practice for researching, designing, and prototyping tangible educational technology. Students will gain an understanding of theoretical frameworks and best practices for undertaking a practice-based research project in educational technology, including analyzing a learning context, identifying learning objectives, conducting primary research, and working collaboratively with a “client” in the field to develop and iterate on their designs. Further, students will learn techniques for rapid prototyping and gain an overview of physical computing, including how to use microcontrollers to interface with sensors and actuators, in order to implement their designs and gain feedback.
  
• THE DYNAMIC WEB
  Imagine holding on to data without a database, local storage, or cookies! In this course we will dive into SPAs (single page web applications) with the latest React and Redux technology. After refreshing a few front end should knows and good to knows, we will build simple games using React + JSX, keep track of the progress and score via local State and Redux Store and then style them with CSS Modules and Variables. Then we will progress to a semester long project where students will learn the concepts of reusable components, atomic CSS, and create a living Style Guide using Styleguidist as we build out a custom website using React, Redux, and Webpack.
  
• THE FUTURE OF UX AND AI
  This graduate course will explore the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and user experience (UX) design, with a focus on incorporating user research and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) principles throughout the design process. Students will learn how to design effective AI-powered user experiences by understanding the capabilities and limitations of AI, and by applying user-centered design methods. Through a combination of lectures, discussions, case studies, and hands-on projects, students will gain the knowledge and skills they need to create AI-powered systems that are intuitive, efficient, and satisfying to use.
  
• VISUAL DESIGN STUDIO
  Visual Design Studio introduces students to graphic design and visual literacy through a foundation in color theory, typography, and composition and learning to use design concepts and systems for print and screen, through vector and raster graphics workflows. These theoretical and conceptual skills are developed through project-based critiques of graphic forms, interfaces, interactive prototypes and/or motion graphics. A primary learning goal is the use of industry-standard software including Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, and Figma combined with a comprehensive knowledge of the underlying technical concepts of each software.
  

4 credit , 14 week courses

• Multisensory Design
  Our users have senses that they use to perceive information in different ways. Some perceive best through sight, some through hearing, others through touch. Designers often prioritize visual information, excluding those who benefit from other sensory modalities. In this class, we’ll take a multisensory approach to design that makes interfaces more accessible to disabled and nondisabled users. Students will learn how to design for the senses (think tactile controls combined with atmospheric sounds and olfactory or taste experiences), while gaining an understanding of the assumptions we make about our users’ sensory preferences. Students should come with prior experience with physical computing and fabrication techniques and can expect to learn technical processes for the user research, usability testing, and iterative design of multisensory interfaces. Over the course of 14 weeks, students will design an interface for the 5 senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell), culminating in one final project that includes at least 3 sensory modalities.
  

1.5 credit , 7 week courses

• BIODESIGN I: MULTISPECIES THEORY & SPECULATIVE DESIGN
  This course will cover the basics of mutlispecies theory by covering case studies in the history of science (e.g. current ecological conservation practices, the green revolution, the microbial fabrication revolution), readings from feminist scholars (e.g. Donna Haraway) and critiquing design and art practice of contemporary practitioners (e.g. Pierre Huyghe, Oron Catts). The final project will be print media piece advocating for a non-human organism.
  
• BIODESIGN II: BIOMATERIALS LAB
  In this class students will learn hands-on lab technique to grow mushroom bricks. Students will learn a standard protocol in the first two weeks, then design their own brick mold with a new shape, designed to fit together in a novel way. They will then grow several units of this brick and the final project will be a prototype structure built with each student’s brick design. This course is offered in collaboration with New Lab, and students will use their laboratory facilities for mushroom culture.
  
• CRAFTING THE WEB
  This is a studio class that introduces the basics of HTML, CSS and web publishing. Students will be introduced to histories of experimental online practices including the hand coded web, works of cyberfeminism and self-hosted servers.
• PRINT AND CODE
  This is a studio class on computational design, risograph printing and experimental publishing. We will work with Javascript (libraries like the P5.JS Riso), paper, and the risograph printer, combining computational design techniques with printed forms to explore unconventional methods of publishing. Students will be introduced to histories of radical publishing and will develop experimental printed publications.
  

Undergraduate Classes Fall 2023

FOUNDATIONS

• Audio Foundation Studio
• Visual Foundation Studio
• Creative Coding
• Ideation & Prototyping
• Intro to Web Development
• Still and Moving Images
• Interactive Narrative
• Professional Practices for Creatives
• Senior Project

ELECTIVES

• Contemporary Techniques in Digital Photography and Imaging
• Sound Design for Media
• 3D Modeling
• 3D Animation
• 3D for Interactive Applications
• Intro to Game Development
• Motion Graphics Studio
• Advanced Creative Coding
• User Experience Design (UX)
• Experimental Game Narratives