Graduate Media Design

This course is a reflective space for students who are new to the MDP. Students will learn about their course of study as well as begin to develop their own path to thesis. Weekly discussions may include guest visits from the MDP community-faculty, thesis students, and alumni-as well as external guests. The class will also be the context for preparation for cross track and cross-level activities and final reviews and exhibitions.

Creative Technology prepares designers to research, develop and deploy technology oriented media design projects. The course teaches a range of technology skills and methodologies for designers by immersing students in programming, embedded computing, Web/network systems, mechanical design, and computer aided design/fabrication. While the class is broad and introductory, it rests on a "backbone" of programming, the lens through which a variety of content and concepts will be introduced.

This is a studio-based course in which students learn about design through a critical approach to designerly making. The course is divided into four six-week sections, each with a different instructor. The sections provide design experience for differing scales, contexts, and approaches. Through readings and viewings students will learn to incorporate theoretical and historical research into the making process. Through exposure to material and technological histories, as well as current and future perspectives, students will be encouraged to "work the material" to find novel approaches and projects. Throughout, students will learn to consider the role of the people who engage with their work as part of the design, and sometimes as part of the design process itself.

This course is a weekly 3-hour seminar in which students build a strong foundation in the theories and discourses surrounding visual culture, mass media, and design. Rather than proceeding chronologically, students investigate ideas through a series of overlapping and interrelated thematics with the goal of developing frameworks that enable a robust and critically engaged media design practice. The course materials will address a variety of media and design practices as they intersect with key theoretical discourses. Most of the texts will focus on topics related to American and European visual culture, but not to the exclusion of other cultural and geographic contexts. Course materials will be examined from a variety of perspectives, and will explore questions of modernity, textuality, visuality, technology, gender, race, and globalization.

This course is a reflective space for students who are new to the MDP. Students will learn about their course of study as well as begin to develop their own path to thesis. Weekly discussions may include guest visits from the MDP community-faculty, thesis students, and alumni-as well as external guests. The class will also be the context for preparation for cross track and cross-level activities and final reviews and exhibitions.

Creative Technology prepares designers to research, develop and deploy technology oriented media design projects. The course teaches a range of technology skills and methodologies for designers by immersing students in programming, embedded computing, Web/network systems, mechanical design, and computer aided design/fabrication. While the class is broad and introductory, it rests on a "backbone" of programming, the lens through which a variety of content and concepts will be introduced.

This is a studio-based course in which students learn about design through a critical approach to designerly making. The course is divided into four six-week sections, each with a different instructor. The sections provide design experience for differing scales, contexts, and approaches. Through readings and viewings students will learn to incorporate theoretical and historical research into the making process. Through exposure to material and technological histories, as well as current and future perspectives, students will be encouraged to "work the material" to find novel approaches and projects. Throughout, students will learn to consider the role of the people who engage with their work as part of the design, and sometimes as part of the design process itself.

This course is a weekly 3-hour seminar in which students build a strong foundation in the theories and discourses surrounding visual culture, mass media, and design. Rather than proceeding chronologically, students investigate ideas through a series of overlapping and interrelated thematics with the goal of developing frameworks that enable a robust and critically engaged media design practice. The course materials will address a variety of media and design practices as they intersect with key theoretical discourses. Most of the texts will focus on topics related to American and European visual culture, but not to the exclusion of other cultural and geographic contexts. Course materials will be examined from a variety of perspectives, and will explore questions of modernity, textuality, visuality, technology, gender, race, and globalization.

In this course students will learn about how our interactions, lives, and even thinking are structured: from cities to computation to biology to language. Students will learn to approach the designing of structures as a way to generate the unexpected rather than to merely categorize and contain.

Whether getting things done, biding time, following serendipity, or being entertained, users are readers, viewers, thinkers, and - in well-designed interactions - active participants who build their own experiences and meaning spaces. To learn about this approach, called productive interaction, students will create a tangible interaction as the means to explore an information space.

This course is a hands-on investigation into how people engage with the world around them, powered by a motivation to explore and to develop new modes of perception. Using everything from low-tech electronics to social media, students will learn to interact with people and places with the goal of generating new insights into each.

Lab Projects are a series of two-to-five-week-long conceptual projects called "Inquiries" and are built around a theme emerging from culture, technology or science. Inquiries begin with a question or a phenomenon and ask "what if"? Each inquiry engages external collaborators, project partners, and travel to locations or extraordinary situations. The projects that result take a variety of forms. Students learn to: approach design as a critical investigation; structure their time and working process; document and articulate project concepts in presentation, exhibition, and web formats; work reflexively.

Each year the Lab track runs a set of five Inquiries- 2-5 week intensive projects built around a theme emerging from culture, technology or science. Lab Projects 2 begins with a question or a phenomenon and ask "what if"? Each inquiry engages external collaborators, project partners, and travel to locations or extraordinary situations. The projects that result take a variety of forms.

In the first few weeks of the semester, Concept Year students choose from a range of workshops to build facility with skills, methods, tools, and ways of working needed to take on emerging design challenges. Since MDP students come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences, each student has the opportunity to select the workshops that are right for them.

In this course, students choose among a series of intensive project-based modules of varying durations that are based upon an emerging topic in technology, culture, global politics, and/or emerging science, developed through one or more of the MDP's research clusters. The student work that results may take a variety of forms. Students learn to: approach design as a critical investigation; structure their time and working process; document and articulate project concepts in presentation, exhibition, and web formats; work reflexively.

Colloquium is a steady flow of people, ideas, methods, and provocations. As the sole space and time that the entire Grad Media community gathers together, Colloquium is one of the prime program-wide knowledge sharing opportunities. All program business is discussed here, announcements are made, and faculty and students give reports from the field. Design Dialogues with distinguished guests and off-site visits are interspersed with departmental pecha kuchas (a 6:40 performance lecture format limited to 20 slides, at 20 seconds each) and alumni updates. Grades for Colloquium are based on attendance, contribution, and quality of project documentation and reflection on student websites.

This course provides a foundation in design-focused creative technology methods, strategies and applications. Students learn to effectively use technology for a range of prototyping approaches, from "wizard-of-oz" demos to high-fidelity functional experience prototypes. Topics include tangible interaction, networks, digital fabrication, sensors, actuators, programming, simulation, and electronics on a range of platforms, from microcontrollers to embedded computers to 3D authoring environments (e.g. Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Unity). Languages covered include Python, Javascript and C#. The course is designed to challenge both tech novices and experienced technologists alike.

This course critically examines design's normative worldview via theory, case study, research and writing. Challenging the adequacy of modernist, European value sets for contemporary design, students will explore their own worldviews, and be confronted by those of others. How can a critically engaged understanding of culture and context equip designers for productively addressing contemporary issues? In what ways does a serious consideration of context shape our understanding of materials, aesthetics, or even design itself?

This is a studio-based course in which students learn about design through a critical approach to designerly making. Students will explore systems, text, narrative, interaction, and people through experiences for scales, contexts, and approaches. Through readings and viewings students will learn to incorporate theoretical and historical research into the making process. Through exposure to material and technological histories, as well as current and future perspectives, students will be encouraged to "work the material" to find novel approaches and projects. Throughout, students will learn to consider the role of the people who engage with their work as part of the design, and sometimes as part of the design process itself.

This is a studio-based course in which students learn about design through a critical approach to designerly making. Students will explore systems, text, narrative, interaction, and people through experiences for scales, contexts, and approaches. Through readings and viewings students will learn to incorporate theoretical and historical research into the making process. Through exposure to material and technological histories, as well as current and future perspectives, students will be encouraged to "work the material" to find novel approaches and projects. Throughout, students will learn to consider the role of the people who engage with their work as part of the design, and sometimes as part of the design process itself.

In the first few weeks of the semester, Dev Year students choose from a range of workshops to build facility with skills, methods, tools, and ways of working needed to take on emerging design challenges. Since MDP students come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences, each student has the opportunity to select the workshops that are right for them.

In this course students will reflect on and focus their developing and ongoing creative practice and actively look at the culture and context in which their work lives. The course consists of a mixture of individual meetings, group discussion, design projects, weekly colloquiums, writing lab, workshops, and reading groups. Through advisement, the year mentor will work 1-on-1 to help navigate each student's experience portfolio from internal to external opportunities.

Each Topic Studio segment has a different course description. See the Department Chairs Office or the section description for more information.

This course introduces students to issues, histories and theories relevant to practices in media design and related fields. The combination of readings, screenings, research, and guest lectures comprise the critical frameworks that are core to student work in their chosen track. In this class students will learn to find their own entry point into the critical dialogue of design and experience how the act of designing is always already embedded in that discourse. Students will learn to identify and develop their own unique point of view and to articulate and share it through writing and design.

This course continues the exploration of contemporary issues, histories and theories in media design and related fields. Students are challenged to respond to the readings, screenings, research, and guest lectures by situating their projects in a context that extends beyond the grad school crit room to engage with issues that impact the field of media design.

This course provides a space for students to connect issues, histories and theories from their work in the Core classes. The combination of readings, screenings, research, and guest lectures comprise the critical frameworks that are core to student work in their chosen track. In this class students will learn to find their own entry point into the critical dialogue of design and experience how the act of designing is always already embedded in that discourse. Students will learn to identify and develop their own unique point of view and to articulate and share it through writing and design.

Students consider issues from the project in the context of political/social theory, case studies from other fields, issues in development, the rhetoric of good, and cross-cultural design. Students learn project documentation practices, how to use writing as a tool for critical reflection, and how to connect individual experience with wider issues to develop individual research agendas.

This is a studio-based course in which students learn about design through a critical approach to designerly making. Students will explore systems, text, narrative, interaction, and people through experiences for scales, contexts, and approaches. Through readings and viewings students will learn to incorporate theoretical and historical research into the making process. Through exposure to material and technological histories, as well as current and future perspectives, students will be encouraged to "work the material" to find novel approaches and projects. Throughout, students will learn to consider the role of the people who engage with their work as part of the design, and sometimes as part of the design process itself.

This is a studio-based course in which students learn about design through a critical approach to designerly making. Students will explore systems, text, narrative, interaction, and people through experiences for scales, contexts, and approaches. Through readings and viewings students will learn to incorporate theoretical and historical research into the making process. Through exposure to material and technological histories, as well as current and future perspectives, students will be encouraged to "work the material" to find novel approaches and projects. Throughout, students will learn to consider the role of the people who engage with their work as part of the design, and sometimes as part of the design process itself.

In this course students will reflect on and focus their developing and ongoing creative practice during their Concept year. The course is comprised of a mixture of individual meetings, group discussion, and design and short writing activities. These activities will help students develop their position; inform their curricular choices for Spring electives and the Summer "X-term" (eg internships, additional classes, on-campus research); and act as a foundation for their thesis year. In the later stages of the course, work will focus on preparing for the Thesis Gateway review, where students will present their foundation thesis frameworks and design explorations as demonstration of readiness to move into the critical work of the thesis year.?

The Spring project modules are of a longer duration, allowing students to take a deep dive into a topic, method, and/or technology. Each project module is again based on an emerging topic within technology, culture, global politics, and/or emerging science, developed through one or more of the MDP's research clusters. Each module engages external collaborators, project partners, and travel to locations or extraordinary situations. The student work that results may take a variety of forms. Students learn to: approach design as a critical investigation; structure their own process of research, prototyping, and design experimentation; document and articulate project concepts in presentation, exhibition, and web formats; work reflexively.

This course offers design and technology projects that complement other courses in the program, and focuses on emerging technologies such as machine learning, AR/VR, and simulation. Students learn to apply new technologies in creative ways, and experiment with fast prototyping and experimentation to discover potential and unexpected affordances of technologies. Students will also have the opportunity to work on an independent technical project with mentorship of the faculty member.

This course continues to critically examine design's normative worldview via theory, case study, researchand writing. Students will explore their own worldviews, and be confronted by those of others. Students will begin to develop their own position to productively address contemporary issues through writing and reflection on their burgeoning design practice in preparation for the independent research of the thesis year.

In this course, students take an intensive project-based module that are based upon emerging topics in technology, culture, global politics, and/or emerging science, developed through one or more of the MDP's research interests. The student work that results may take a variety of forms. Students learn: form to questions in design; approach design as a critical investigation; structure their time and working process; document and articulate project contexts / concepts in presentation, exhibition, and web formats; work reflexively.

In this course, students take an intensive project-based module that are based upon emerging topics in technology, culture, global politics, and/or emerging science, developed through one or more of the MDP's research interests. The student work that results may take a variety of forms. Students learn: form to questions in design; approach design as a critical investigation; structure their time and working process; document and articulate project contexts / concepts in presentation, exhibition, and web formats; work reflexively.

In this course students will reflect on and focus their developing and ongoing creative practice and actively look at the culture and context in which their work lives. The course consists of a mixture of individual meetings, group discussion, design projects, weekly colloquiums, writing lab, workshops, and reading groups. Through advisement, the year mentor will work 1-on-1 to help navigate each student's experience portfolio from internal to external opportunities.

The Lab is a support course taken along with Concept Studios in Fall and Spring. This Lab will assist students in learning technical skills to augment the learning in the Studio. The Lab will meet 1-3 hours per week to scaffold technical making.

The Lab is a support course taken along with Dev Studios in Fall and Spring. This Lab will assist students in learning technical skills to augment the learning in the Studio. The Lab will meet 1-3 hours per week to scaffold technical making.

In this 14 week course, students work on research projects conducted by MDP over the Summer term. These projects give students the unique opportunity to work collaboratively on creative research led by MDP faculty and visiting researchers from around the world. Student commitment is half-time, allowing time for reflection or independent work. This course requires petition through the department chair.

In this course, students take an intensive project-based module that are based upon emerging topics in technology, culture, global politics, and/or emerging science, developed through one or more of the MDP's research interests. The student work that results may take a variety of forms. Students learn: form to questions in design; approach design as a critical investigation; structure their time and working process; document and articulate project contexts / concepts in presentation, exhibition, and web formats; work reflexively.

In this course, students take an intensive project-based module that are based upon emerging topics in technology, culture, global politics, and/or emerging science, developed through one or more of the MDP's research interests. The student work that results may take a variety of forms. Students learn: form to questions in design; approach design as a critical investigation; structure their time and working process; document and articulate project contexts / concepts in presentation, exhibition, and web formats; work reflexively.

In the first few weeks of the semester, Thesis Year students choose from a range of workshops to continue to build facility with skills, methods, tools, and ways of working needed to advance their thesis work. Each student has the opportunity to select the workshops that are right for them.

Thesis Studio 1 provides a structure for students to develop their individual thesis work. Design experiments and research activities are structured through assigned briefs and deadlines that help each student to follow a line of inquiry and progressively build a body of work. Regular participation in research cluster seminars led by one or more faculty exposes students to contemporary work and provides depth and context to the students' own research questions. By the end of the term, each student will have defined the research focus and design work that is the foundation for their thesis.

In the Fall term, students produce the written component of their thesis, learning to use writing as an important generative tool in the development of the thesis. Students learn to situate their work within the discourse through both traditional and design-research-based scholarly activities.

Thesis Gateway is a Pass/Fail Zero unit course that Media Design students must pass in the Spring before entering into their final year... their Thesis Year. If a student does not pass, the student is required to do a Lite Term in that Summer to work on those issues in which the student is lacking. The student will re-take Thesis Gateway at that time. If the student does not pass a second time, the studnet will be dismissed from the program.

This course provides a structure for students as they work on their individual thesis projects. In weeks 1-7, faculty mentors guide small groups of students in the early stages of investigating and defining their thesis pursuits. In weeks 8-14, each student works with a thesis committee-a team of thesis advisors selected to support each student's particular subject and approach. Students meet with their lead advisor on a weekly basis and with committee members individually and as a group.

This course provides a structure for students as they work on their individual thesis projects. Students work independently with weekly guidance from their lead advisor and intermittent meetings with thesis committee members individually and as a group. Includes a major project review in Week 9.

This course offers design and technology projects that complement other courses in the program, and focuses on emerging technologies such as machine learning, AR/VR, and simulation. Students learn to apply new technologies in creative ways, and experiment with fast prototyping and experimentation to discover potential and unexpected affordances of technologies. Students will also have the opportunity to work on an independent technical project with mentorship of the faculty member.?

This course provides a structure for students as they work on their individual thesis projects. Students work independently with weekly guidance from their lead advisor and intermittent meetings with thesis committee members individually and as a group. Includes a major project review in Week 9.

In this course students will reflect on and focus their developing and ongoing creative practice and actively look at the culture and context in which their work lives. The course consists of a mixture of individual meetings, group discussion, design projects, weekly colloquiums, writing lab, workshops, and reading groups. Through advisement, the year mentor will work 1-on-1 to help navigate each student's experience portfolio from internal to external opportunities.

This course provides a reflective space for situating the thesis work as it is under development. Students learn to situate their work within the literature and the field through both traditional and design-research-based scholarly activities. Students work with a team of writing advisors to develop thesis statements and papers and learn to approach writing as making.

This course continues to provide a reflective space for situating the thesis work with an emphasis on the student's future practice as it is taking shape through the thesis project. Students learn about intellectual property, entrepreneurial strategies, scholarly practices, and models for design research and practice as it relates to their own.

This course provides a reflective space for situating the thesis work as it is under development. Students learn to situate their work within the literature and the field through both traditional and design-research-based scholarly activities. Students work with a team of advisors to develop the critical framing appropriate to specific projects and audiences.

This course continues to provide a reflective space for situating the thesis work with an emphasis on the student's future practice as it is taking shape through the thesis project. Students learn about intellectual property, entrepreneurial strategies, scholarly practices, and models for design research and practice as it relates to their own.

This course continues to offer a series of short project that focus on engaging with technology as a generative exercise ("making to think"). The topics complement other courses in the program, and focus on emerging technologies such as machine learning, AR/VR, and simulation, along with imaginative approaches to using more familiar tools and technologies. Students learn to apply new technologies in creative ways, and experiment with fast prototyping and experimentation to discover potential and unexpected affordances of technologies. The course also includes a seminar portion, which introduces diverse references, drawing from fields of Interaction Design, Interactive Media Arts, and Science Technology Society studies (STS). In the second half of the course, students will work on an independent technical project with mentorship of the faculty member and discuss how work with/about technology is part of their emerging practice.

Thesis Studio 2 continues to provide a structure for students to develop their individual thesis work with an emphasis on completing finished work while also situating it within various audiences and discourses. Students are expected to actively contribute to research cluster seminars. The term culminates with public events in which students share their work with guest critics, design peers, industry recruiters, and the general public.

Thesis Studio 2 continues to provide a structure for students to develop their individual thesis work with an emphasis on completing finished work while also situating it within various audiences and discourses. Students are expected to actively contribute to research cluster seminars. The term culminates with public events in which students share their work with guest critics, design peers, industry recruiters, and the general public.

In the Spring term, students focus on how to bring their work out into the world through a variety of venues from social media to academic journals to biennales. They meet and visit with curators, editors, and a range of practitioners from industry to the arts. Students learn how to frame and situate their freshly developing design practice and projects, culminating in the creation of a range of materials to promote and disseminate their thesis.

In this graduate transdisciplinary course, students research and explore emerging topics in technology, culture, global politics, and/or emerging science, developed through department's research interests. The student work that results may take a variety of forms. Students learn: form to questions in design; approach design as a critical investigation; structure their time and working process; document and articulate project contexts / concepts in presentation, exhibition, and web formats; work reflexively.

This course continues to offer a series of short project that focus on engaging with technology as a generative exercise ("making to think"). The topics complement other courses in the program, and focus on emerging technologies such as machine learning, AR/VR, and simulation, along with imaginative approaches to using more familiar tools and technologies. Students learn to apply new technologies in creative ways, and experiment with fast prototyping and experimentation to discover potential and unexpected affordances of technologies. The course also includes a seminar portion, which introduces diverse references, drawing from fields of Interaction Design, Interactive Media Arts, and Science Technology Society studies (STS). In the second half of the course, students will work on an independent technical project with mentorship of the faculty member and discuss how work with/about technology is part of their emerging practice.

This 0-credit lab grants recent alumni access to campus facilities and resources (shops, labs, EMEC, makerspaces, stages, lockers, library, print shop) as needed to complete your final projects and portfolio work from the last semester. Access will be coordinated with our facilities team in a safe and staggered schedule. Students will need to communicate with their department a specific list of projects and identify the specific resources you need to complete your work.

Required course for student that have completed all their course work but have not completed their thesis. This "0" unit, no cost course should be taken every semester until the thesis is complete.