Where do you learn experience design and interactive design? Are the D-schools doing a good job producing design thinkers? What about cross-disciplinary designs? How expensive are D-schools? I've been asked questions like these all the time.
How much does D-school costs? A two-year master's degree program would run from $27,500 to $75,000. Not much cheaper than MBAs (average cost is $40,000 for a year or $80,000 for two years. HBS costs $43,800 for tuition alone $75,000 everything for the two years). The Rhode Island School of Designs’ tuition is $66,250 for a two-year program. MFA degrees can be more affordable with state universities roughly $6,500 for state residents and $18,000 for nonresidents, making it $19,000 -$55,000 for its three-year program. Royal College Arts MA program's tuition fee for UK and EU students is £4,780 and for overseas students is £22,850 a year. D-schools need to serve two masters: student and industry. The field of design has become so broad that schools struggle to provide enough coverage and technology culture is making D-school play catch-up.
Design historically concerned itself with objects and visuals, today's designers are routinely asked to participate in innovation projects, new product strategies, interactions, and experiences. The question is are design programs teaching enough of the skills that designers really need to design for the future?
There are four components in design – investigating (understanding needs), dreaming (seeing unmet needs), visualizing and defining. The visualization part includes verbal, written and visual communication. Software is becoming a let part of the design process and students are learning to master these new tools. These are expensive tools compare to the days of pen and paper. You really can’t design interactions with pen and paper.
Who offers the best interactive design programs? I am not sure. I know Pratt in NY has a good program. In London there are Central St Martins College of Art and Design, Ravensbourne College of Design and the Royal College of Art. The London College of Communication has a BA Honors Graphic and Media Design – Design for Interaction and Moving Image, and an MA Postgraduate Diploma Interactive Media. I believe the Royal College of Art that offers the best in interaction design, with its Design Interactions MA.
The MA Communication Design at Central St Martins College of Art and Design has an interesting slant on digital media that has focused on exploring technology as useful communication, note "useful". One graduate’s project "The Way Out" was typical, mapping London Tube station exits. Travelers can use their Way Out application on their iPod to calculate which carriage to take that is closest to the exit at any destination. It is pretty cool. Central St Martins is nurturing new competencies in information design, on top of a strong print heritage.
The Master in I-Design from Domus Academy in Milan is an interesting one. It was born from a unique challenge: bring the originality of Italian Design Culture into the world of information technology. The Master in I-Design is the natural evolution of a series of educational and research initiatives developed by Domus Academy since 1983 on the theme of technological innovation and the design of immaterial relations with interactive objects and services. The Master in I-Design is integrated to a permanent laboratory on the subject of digital information based on design culture, which centers on the idea of design as knowledge of changing world and as a way of learning while designing. I-Design is closely related to the themes of information and interactive. This is definitely a good option for those who are considering a design career. I plan to visit this school next time I am in Milan.
