[IxDA Discuss] What makes a good IxD program? (was Re: So you want to be an IxD - education)

[Dave (Heller) Malouf]

I really get the spirit of Michael's statement below.
I was going to head in a slightly more open direction with my posting 
about this thread, thus the subject line change.

The question is pretty simple, "What makes a good IxD program?"
There was a thread on the AIGA-ED list about programs as well and many 
pointed to the same schools that we listed here. I'm not so sure I'd 
agree in both cases that an ED program is the same as an IxD program.

But here goes ...
1) I do think that IxD is a graduate level program,for people who have 
business experience, or who have done undergraduate work in interactive 
design or other design disciplines. I would characterize an IxD program 
as vocational in nature, though I could see an IxD PhD level program at 
the very edges for those who really want to go out there. But b/c IxD is 
a discipline of "practice" first and foremost a Masters program should 
be centered around practice and prepare designers for a leadership role 
in designing interactive systems. [that was the first sleeve of my fire 
retardant suit]

2) it is a DESIGN program at best, and a multi-disciplinary program at 
worst. What does this mean? It means that it should be managed and 
directed more similarly to an Industrial Design program than a Comp Sci 
or Cog Sci or engineering programming. In either case it needs to have 
cross-department connections to many other disciplines beyond that 
management layer.

3) Being a design program, theory is taught through practice in a 
studio. A studio is where projects are distributed to participants, and 
students and teacher(s) review, critique and use this review and 
critique to hone theory around practice.

4) Craft is at the core of the program. If you can't model/communicate 
your designs, your designs (and your ideas) will have a harder (read 
"really hard") time getting implemented to your satisfaction.

5) Since this is a masters level program, design management electives 
should be offered and highly encouraged. Someone with a masters should 
be moving quickly out of school either towards a principal individual 
contributor role or a director/manager role. In either case, that 
leadership role should have a good understanding of Product Lifecycle 
Management, Design Research, Employee management, Brainstorming skills, 
Hiring skills, mentoring, etc., project management including estimation 
and budgeting, a courses on business mngt.

6) adjacent design skills: visual design, animation design, computer 
programming, architecture, information architecture should all be 
available as electives

I'm sure there is more, but this what in my mind would make a really 
great program.
On purpose I'm mentioning the non-obvious stuff.

-- dave

-- 
 
David (Heller) Malouf
Vice President
dave(at)ixda(dot)org
http://ixda.org/
http://synapticburn.com/

AIM: bolinhanyc // Y!: dave_ux // 
MSN: hippiefunk(at)hotmail.com // Gtalk: dave.ixd(at)gmail.com