User Experience Design MSc

Why choose this course?

The aim of the User Experience Design MSc course is to equip you with the behavioural theory, design practice and technology know-how that is necessary for a career as interaction designer, usability engineer, user researcher, or head of user experience. It focuses upon the analysis, design, prototyping and evaluation of multimedia, multi-modal, and multi-platform user interfaces that are easy to use and support a great user experience. This course was developed in consultation with our industry panel, which includes Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, DreamWorks and Samsung Design Europe. Kingston University is an active member of TIGA, the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA) and supports the User Experience Professionals' Association (UXPA UK). This course was accredited by the British Computer Society (BCS), The Chartered Institute for IT in 2012.

What you will study

This programme will give you the following opportunities: Take the role of a user experience (UX) designer/analyst in an interdisciplinary team of students from across the Digital Media Kingston programme, and use industry-standard techniques to deliver on time. Learn about fundamental User Experience activities - analysis, design, prototyping and evaluation - in the context of practical projects. Projects are selected in consultation with students (and mostly individually), so that you can tailor your degree towards the industry sector, technology or job role that suits your interests and ambitions. Consider user experience in relation to cutting-edge technologies (big screens, tablets, smart phones, context-aware embedded devices and multi-modal games console), current industry trends (big data, multi-channel services, digital lifestyles), and contemporary theory (cognition 'in the wild', usability vs experience). Explore at least one kind of specialist practice in depth, to further distinguish and focus your learning, and practice track record. Learn how to present yourself to potential employers through your online professional presence and portfolio. Work with industrial hosts, and research-active academics to produce excellent, professional pieces of work that push the boundaries of current understanding and achieve design innovation.

Teaching and assessment

All taught modules are project-based and assessed by practical coursework. Typically, this involves an in-class presentation for formative feedback mid-way through a teaching-block ('term'), followed by project deliverables at the end of term i.e. as appropriate, project proposals and strategies, personas, user journeys, task models, styleguides, low-fi/mid-fi/hi-fi prototypes, styleguides, and evaluation reports. Project deliverables are typically accompanied by a design report, which relates project processes and decision-making, and/or explains the final design.

After you graduate

Graduates of this course now work in roles such as user experience designer, user experience researcher, product owner, usability consultant, interaction designer, and information architect and content strategist. Some work in-house, at companies such as John Lewis, Aviva, IBM, E-Bay, BSkyB, RAC, Thomas Cook, BBC) in UK and around the world at Google (USA), Symantec, Microsoft and TPVision (India). Others work for agencies such as Systems Concepts, weare:London, AIA Worldwide, Amaro, Wilson Fletcher and UI Centric, in the UK, and around the world at MediaEngine (Italy), Oxx (Norway) and Thoughtworks (Johannesburg).