In the introductory part of the course, common across all DMI courses, you will work with other students from diverse academic, creative and technical backgrounds to experience the commonalities in professional digital media practice.

The second part of the course looks at the core skills behind user-centred development, focusing on the analysis and design of multimodal, multimedia user interfaces that are easy to use and support compelling user experiences, and discover a range of relevant user theories (psychological, social etc.) and their relevance to experience design.

The specialist MA modules focus on developing and contributing to projects in collaboration with other students from across the full DMi suite. The optional modules include a design project, usability engineering or principles for game design.

The specialist MSc modules focus on developing and contributing to projects in collaboration with other students from across the full DMi suite. The optional modules include a design project, usability engineering, and/or mark-up languages, scripting and other ‘high level’ programming languages.

For your final project, you will take a professional role (e.g. user interface designer, user experience designer, information architect etc.) in a team with other students to produce a professional piece of work.

And after graduation …. join the ‘Kingston University Ux Alumni’ group on LinkedIn to see what can happen.

Digital Interdisciplinary Practice (15 credit Core across whole suite)

Responding to the changes and new demands of the digital media Industries, the focus of Digital Interdisciplinary Practice is establishing students’ team-working skills through innovative project development practices devised in consultation with external advisors from industry. These may be innovative and complex and involve high-levels of creative problem solving and user testing, developing students’ ability to interpret, interact and participate in iterative design processes and agile development practices. Students’ will be expected to present work in the context of their own practice, making their understanding of development processes for digital media clear and contextualising their own contribution. They will also be expected to develop an understanding of how iterative design processes and agile development practices relate to career opportunities in the digital media industries, cultivate their professional practice and initiate professional standard working relationships towards group projects.

Digital Content Production Processes (15 credit Core across whole suite)

This module forms one of the cornerstones of the Digital Media suite of courses and is one of two modules that all students will take. Its focus is on the various modes of production such as but not limited to: games production, mobile computing, online social spaces and interactive media. Indicative content may include idea development formalisations, responding to a brief, researching the brief, developing a pitch, pre-production paperwork, production pipelines, post production and testing etc. These practices will be contextualised by emerging and constantly changing legal frameworks of intellectual property, digital rights in the 21st Century and the increasing concerns over accessibility are also explored.

User Factors (Core to MA/MSc UXD)

This module aims to explore the analysis of user interaction design concerns – individual users and groups, their task goals, practices, contexts of use, criteria and, of course, user interaction design itself; o present these concerns from a variety of theoretical perspectives, and so raise a variety of design issues (cognitive, social, organisational etc) and to explore techniques for analysing these concerns, and applying the results of this analysis to the design and evaluation of user interactions.

Experience Design 1 (Core to MA/MSc UXD & MA GD)

The focus of this module is ‘active design research’. The context is emerging principles of experience design media in advertising and cultural (as well as) spatial consumption. Students will interrogate the meaning of experience design, evaluate the cultural contexts of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ experience design (in for example, mobile and interactive), and produce prototypes for the purpose of design research. Students will be given the opportunity to design and apply primary research and user experience analyses to their own prototypes. Throughout the module students will be encouraged to develop and investigate the possibility of experience design proposals for all sensory modes (see, hear, touch, smell, taste!).

Experience Design 2 (Core MA/MSc UXD & Option MA GD)

In this module you will produce an integrated interaction/experience design project with digital media tools of your own choosing. Drawing on concepts and theories explored in Experience Design (I) you will continue to work in groups. You will extend your principle investigations to produce a prototype to cover all the human senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. The prototype design should work both within and beyond the screen. You have the opportunity in this module to explore and/or experiment with the possibility of one or more experience design methodologies. Which will include structural design elements for the five senses. (For example: http://naturalinteraction.org or: http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20080428/151131)

Usability Engineering (Core MA/MSc UXD)

To give students a firm understanding of the user-centred methods and principles for the development of various kinds of interactive system, and to provide students with experience of analysing, designing and evaluating graphical user interfaces. On successful completion of this module the student will be able to analyse design issues concerning users interacting with computers to perform work effectively; design human-computer interactions at the level of task, dialog and component; evaluate human-computer interactions from a user-centred perspective, using analytic and empirical techniques; apply user-centred methods, guidelines and models in an explicit and structured approach to user-centred systems development; describe alternative user-centred development techniques and discuss their suitability, with reference to specific examples. Describe alternative types of human-computer interaction, and discuss their potential effectiveness, for different types of user and task, with reference to specific examples.

CHOOSE 30 credits

E-Commerce Technologies (Option shard across MA/MSc UXD)

To introduce students to the fundamentals of e-Commerce Technologies, including enabling them to design and implement Relational Databases, e-Commerce sites and mark-up & scripting languages. On successful completion of the module the student will be able to specify the key network components and the architecture of a web-based e-Commerce site.; describe multi-layered architectures and decide which to implement; design and implement a Relational Database, and understand how middleware is used to integrate these with a Web Server; explain the role of mark-up languages and scripting, and demonstrate their use in structuring static information; understand the use of scripting document object models and mark-up languages in developing dynamic interfaces.

Games Design (15 credit Core MA GD & Option MA 3D CGi & MA UXD)

Game development is a highly complex, intensive process requiring teams of programmers, artists, project managers, writers, musicians and many others. The Game Designer is central to this process and designers must be able to communicate their vision to artists, programmers, producers, marketing staff, and others involved in the development process, and accept feedback on their work. This involves presenting ideas both verbally and on paper and in technical demos, in a range of 2D and 3D graphics and animation packages, with some programming skills at least at scripting’ level.

Digital Audio (Option MA/MSc GD & MA/MSc UXD)

This module aims to develop students’ understanding of Digital Music production; provide students with the skills to use MIDI Sequencers and Samplers in the creation of audio files; e.g. sound effects, music, samples, field recording, MIDI, etc Also, to enhance students’ understanding of the makeup of Analog and Digital Audio; Engage students critically with the principles of sound design for digital media products including websites, CDRoms, digital video and mobile content.

Practice Research Project (30 credit Option across all MAs)

During this module two substantial projects will be undertaken based on the identification of an issue which needs to be communicated to a group or directed at an identified ‘window of opportunity’. Normally one brief will be set and the other self-initiated, however, both will encourage questioning. The set brief will be open to negotiation, rewrite or re-positioning. The second, self-initiated brief encourages independence and should be born out of autonomous research and reflection upon reading interests or concerns. It could also be an extension of a subject which has already been touched upon during earlier projects. In the development of projects students will be expected to research and to liaise with outside agencies as appropriate. Most importantly, the self-initiated part of this module acts as a fore-runner to the final ‘Major Project’ and the success of these projects will indicate the appropriateness and readiness for the next stage, completion of the Major Practice Research Project.

Creative Research Methods (15 credit Option across all MAs)

This module provides students with the opportunity to develop their own creative research methodologies while investigating a topic of their own choosing. It will address issues surrounding practice related research in digital media. These issues will be examined by looking at digital media works developed by a variety of practitioners/researchers, their methodologies and their position in research. The seminars will provide students with the appropriate research skills to develop their projects. We will examine how theory and practice run hand in hand to study and produce a practice-led proposal, developing visual research processes and methodologies with the aim to produce a digital media project and a written research paper.

Research Methods; Humanities (15 credit Option across all MAs)

This module encourages you to develop the fundamental research and writing skills needed to successfully undertake MA work, including the final dissertation. It also provides specialist help relating to electronic tools and resources relevant to current literary scholarship and research practice. Individual writing workshops allow you to analyse your own writing methods, as well as constructively analyse the writing of your peers and established authors.

Research Methods; Sciences (15 credit Option across all MScs)

Research Methods module provides the student with the research skills and techniques necessary to complete other modules and the project. This vital module will help you to select and justify a research topic, use various resources to carry out a literature search, and look at the structure and format of the project.

Introduction to Programming (Option MSc UXD)

The module teaches the students the constructs of the Java programming language and the support it provides for object oriented programming. A set of practical workshops and activities enables students to develop skill in writing, compiling and debugging Java applications. This module aims to make students familiar with the constructs of the Java language and the support it provides for objected oriented programming, tenable students to perform the mechanics of writing, compiling, and debugging Java applications.

CHOOSE 60 credits:

Final Project; CISM (60 credit Option across all MScs)

This module constitutes the major individual piece of work of the Masters Programme where the student carries out a project involving independent critical research, design and implementation (where applicable). You will be expected to apply established research methods for independent research; develop an ability to organise and carry out an extended and independent study of work at postgraduate level; pursue in-depth studies of professional or academic relevance to the student and an organisation or a company and extend the knowledge and skills developed in the taught component of the course.

Final Project; SCi (60 credit Option 3D CGi MA & all MScs)

This module presents students with the opportunity to choose a specialism from the field of Digital Technology. Students will be able to build on the skills acquired in previous modules, and develop them to a standard appropriate for admission to the media industry. The choice of specialism will be determined by both the overall degree programme that they are following, and also the student’s particular interests. Whilst the project will be individual in nature, it may be undertaken as a collaboration with other students so as to form a greater piece of work.

Final Project; FASS (60 credit Option across all MAs)

Students are required to complete a substantial piece of work in the form of an interactive or convergent media project (this may include web, video; animation; audio, photographic; or mixed-media installation production). The project dissertation is equivalent to two units and is submitted at the end of the course. The project dissertation will be a completion of a practical project and accompanying reflective/critical paper.

Final Project; FADA (60 credit Option across all MAs)

The final Module of the course, the Final Major Project offers students the opportunity to undertake an approved period of tutored and independent learning, combining practical and academic skills, working on a subject of specialist interest. Each student is asked to produce a Project proposal, including proposed research study programme and submission format for approval before starting the Module. The project should normally be structured to balance a period of critical, sociological and/or historical research with a demonstration of design analysis, methods and creative development, aiming to extend the boundaries of knowledge regarding User Experience Design, Games Development or 3D Computer Generated Imaging. The study can relate to the development of existing template/s in one of the above fields or may focus on producing, designing, realising and / or theorising the development of new work in one of these fields.