Interactive Media Design BA/BSc (Hons)

About the course

The Interactive Media Design degree is about the future; about creating the spaces where people and computers meet. The course places the user at the heart of the experience and focuses on design and content creation in areas such as: mobile apps, games, websites, interactive guides and installations, digital comics, next generation advertising and virtual and augmented reality systems. Our students learn to examine the communication of ideas in a networked world and consider the many impacts of digital media on everyday life.

Using the leading industry software, you will be involved in designing and making interactive content for delivery over the Internet, on tablets and mobile devices and for installations and public display. Interactive Media Design is about the pleasures and possibilities of using computers to work, play and entertain. Using interactive digital technologies, Interactive Media Design finds new ways of enabling users to tell stories and generate new forms for expression for the online world.

Why choose this course?

• The Interactive Media Design degree offers a design-led approach to creating interactive media.
• The degree covers mobile apps, games, websites, interactive guides and installations, digital comics and virtual and augmented reality.
• You will work with new devices, interfaces and emerging technologies.
• Frequent opportunities for collaboration with students on the Digital Media Arts degree.
• You will work both individually and as part of a team to develop a range of communication and production skills.
• This degree teaches you to thrive in the dynamic, innovative interactive media industry.
• Find out for yourself and watch our video!
• Visit our course blog to read about news, events and students' activities.

Study routes

• Part Time,
• Part Time, 6 Years
• Sandwich,
• Full Time,

Locations

• University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield

Careers

This programme gives you flexibility in your studies at university resulting in flexibility in your choice of career at the end of your course. You will acquire a much broader base of knowledge and experience that could really widen your employment opportunities. Graduates have found employment in diverse roles such as computer programmers, design engineers, web development specialists and project managers. Over 72% of our graduates had entered employment six months after graduation, and a further 17% had gone on to further study or training.

Teaching methods

You'll experience a wide variety of learning styles on this course. During your studies you'll develop your capacity for self-directed study and your interpersonal skills. We particularly emphasise the importance of developing design and creative abilities, structured research, well-prepared written and verbal presentations and computer literacy. Alongside elements of lectures, seminars, tutorials and computer workshops, you also learn through case studies, individual and group projects and other student centred activities. In your final year you will normally have the opportunity to practice your independent study skills by completing a Major project and dissertation.   

Work Placement

Placements are a valuable means of establishing industrial contacts and gaining an insight into the commercial reality of a chosen discipline. We have a long history of students working with industry to supplement the taught university curriculum with real life on the job experience. This has seen students working right across the creative industries sector: in graphic, product and interior design consultancies, working as artist in residence in galleries, producing props and sets for the film & TV industry, shadowing teachers in education, working with commercial photographers through to students working right across the Music industry.

We expect students interested in obtaining a work placement; to be proactive, to self-initiate this interest and to communicate and work with programme staff in their identification of companies and organisations that are able to provide the appropriate range of experiences and opportunities. We value the opportunity and benefits of the placement experience highly and as such, we encourage all students to consider obtaining a placement as part of their course. However, we recognise that this may not be a viable option for a number of reasons. In addition, we are not able to guarantee that all students will undertake a work placement as part of their studies.

Professional Accreditations

Skillset Media Academy

Structure

Year 1

Core Modules

• Pixel, Image and Sound

  Imaginative responses and creative inventiveness in making images and sounds are at the heart of this course. Through project work students develop skills of communicating ideas, facts and feelings through pixel-based and vector images and sound media. A series of lectures, demonstrations and structured workshop learning establishes a body of knowledge, working practices, and a range of skills which enable the realisation of project outcomes through workshop sessions and during independent study. Lectures on technology centred topics ensure an understanding and knowledge of underlying concepts and the ownership of a vocabulary of terms used in digital image and sound. Students work to defined briefs that require visual and sonic research, the development of ideas through outlines and sketches, the evaluation of alternatives, the gathering and creation of source materials, and the final realisation of project outcomes and their presentation. Work is considered in terms of its qualities and its fitness for purpose in a given context. Projects are defined in terms of audiences, modes of distributions, the contexts in which they will be received, and in terms of contemporary practices that use pixel image and sound. Students develop their knowledge of traditions of practice and the contemporary context through the discussion and analysis of media artefacts drawn from diverse fields.

• 2D Animation and Video Practices

  Time-based 'movie' media pervade the contemporary world, from simple animations on mobile phones, through animated title sequences for television, to short video snippets consumed through the web, on phones and PDAs, to elaborate streaming-video branching narratives. This module introduces and develops the skills and knowledge base needed to use 2D animation and digital video processes effectively to communicate ideas, information and feelings. It encourages students to creatively explore the possibilities of contemporary time-based media and its delivery forms such as dvd and mobile devices, while developing an informed awareness of current practice and the traditions it draws on.

• Principles and Practices of Interactive Media

  The design and creation of interactive media is at the centre of the new media explosion. It underpins the Web, it is the essential feature of computer games and of many information systems, and it pervades our experience of the digital world. The principles and practices of interactive media are explored in this module through a number of approaches to the design and realisation of artefacts intended for particular audiences. It includes the use of authoring software and addresses the need for interactive media designers to explore coding in order to imagine and realise their ideas.

• Media in Mind: histories, theories, contexts

  Understanding how examples of interactive and screen media work to communicate ideas and feelings, and to shape experiences, is crucial to effective creative practice within the field. Media in Mind extends knowledge and understanding of the role of interactive, screen and related media as fundamental aspects of contemporary culture. It approaches this through a consideration of the human subject, a mapping of media histories, traditions and processes, and an exploration of the emergence of the modern world. Focusing on theories drawn from communication and cultural studies, and applying these theories to specific media artefacts, the module enables students to develop informed and systematic approaches to analytical thinking, together with an ability to communicate critical responses clearly and accurately in a variety of forms. The module is structured around a core series of lectures and seminars, with assessment based on the demonstration of skills in enquiry, information handling, analysis, and argument.

Optional

Year 2

Core Modules

• Connections and Perspectives: exploring Interactive Media and Screen Cultures

  Building on learning in the Media in Mind module at Level 4, Connections and Perspectives further develops knowledge and critical understanding of the contemporary uses of interactive, screen and related media forms. Requiring students to identify their own areas of critical interest in relation to both the long traditions and contemporary contexts of the discipline area, the module is crucial as an introduction to the kind of ‘open’ critical enquiry that will characterise Level 6 contextual study. A core series of ‘catalyst’ lectures and seminars introduces new critical, theoretical and contextual ideas, while supporting students in their own exploration of the broad field of interactive media and screen cultures. Undertaking a detailed survey of traditions, locations, and perspectives, students define a topic of study, formulate a research question or title, and carry out a carefully documented enquiry leading to the submission of an ‘essay’-style outcome in an appropriate form.

• Content Management for Network and Mobile Media

  Current technologies allow for content to be addressed to individuals, to be created on-the-fly in response to such things as user generated content, personal histories of use or purchase, or geographical location, or to address the characteristics of particular devices and their displays. Underlying these applications are a set of ideas about content management of media assets and the dynamic creation of materials. This module looks at this area of contemporary and emergent media activities, enabling students to create dynamic content applications and asking them to imagine new scenarios and opportunities. Students are required to demonstrate technical skills, analytic, critical and innovative creative thinking, and an understanding of a number of theoretical and social issues that underpin this area.

• Authoring Interactive Narratives

  Through practical creative work and discussion, this module engages students with contemporary thinking about the inter-relationship of narrative and interactive media, promoting debate and critical thinking in order to better practice through the development of critical reflective and analytic thinking. Students are required to produce interactive media artefacts and written commentaries, and contribute to spoken debates that demonstrate their grasp and understanding of key ideas, theories and approaches, and which demonstrate their ability to deploy these ways of thinking to form responses to a diverse range of example of Interactive Multimedia drawn from contemporary practice (including such things as search engines, computer games, net art, on-line encyclopaedia, e-books). Up to 50% of this module, usually the work in Semester B may be from work experience or work placement, or take the form of 'live' projects undertaken with an external agency such as a commercial company or a social or cultural organisation.

• Teamwork Practices

  Few people involved in the creation of Multimedia artefacts work on their own, more usually mixed-discipline groups are involved in the development of ideas and in the realisation of the artefacts. The effective working of such groups requires teamworking abilities and skills and an understanding of such things as leadership and membership roles, interpersonal dynamics and shared objectives. This module requires that students develop the skills and practices needed to contribute effectively to shared enterprises either through teamwork or through working with clients. In Semester A teamwork projects enable students to develop those skills and to reflect upon them. In Semester B students may undertake work experience or 'live' projects, or follow an extended teamwork project within the module. Up to 50% of this module, usually the work in Semester B may be drawn from work experience or work placement, or take the form of 'live' projects undertaken with an external agency such as a commercial company or a social or cultural organisation.

Optional

• C&CS L5 Creative Arts

  This module will run in parallel programme specific Critical and Cultural Studies modules at Level 5 during Semester A, should there be a need for the school to provide a single semester (15 credits) option for its students. For example, to aid in transitional arrangements stemming from the development of C&CS in the school (2012/13), or to provide a 1 semester option to international students who will be studying at UH as part of an exchange from a recognised partner institution.

• CCS L5 Creative Arts

  This module will run in parallel programme specific Critical and Cultural Studies modules at Level 5 during Semester B, should there be a need for the school to provide a single semester (15 credits) option for its students. For example, to aid in transitional arrangements stemming from the development of C&CS in the school (2012/13), or to provide a 1 semester option to international students who will be studying at UH as part of an exchange from a recognised partner institution.

Year 3

Core Modules

• Sandwich Year (Creative Arts)

  The optional 'Sandwich' placement year may be undertaken between the levels 5 and 6. Students undertake the placement within a commercial, public or not for profit setting that is able to provide an appropriate learning experience related to the creative and cultural industries. A placement could take a variety of forms, including: * working in an external organisation; * working with a University company or professional team within the University; * self-employment within defined context and externally refereed. The placement duration would typically be sustained for at least 48 weeks, though may be sustained for a full year. While the Faculty/School actively supports the placement process, ultimately it is the placement provider that will agree to manage and select students, normally through an interview process. During the placement a member of the academic staff will be assigned to the student as a tutor and will monitor the student's progress during the placement period.

Optional

Year 4

Core Modules

• Project Realisation

  This module is about the realisation and evaluation of a project idea which has usually been defined and planned for in the preceding Project Planning and Management module. Here the student works through that project idea - developing the idea and content further as appropriate, working creatively to produce artefact(s) and other materials, working iteratively to appraise progress and plan the next stages, to manage effective documentation, and to evaluate both work to date and the final outcomes.

• Project Planning and Management

  This module presents students with the opportunity to define and refine the subject area of a project they will undertake later in their studies using planning and management techniques appropriate to their project. Students are required to propose a project and investigate aspects of its planning, content and contexts. The proposal process is aligned with industrial and professional practices where a project seeks funding from external agencies, or through internal commissioning processes, or is proposed in response to a call for participation. The assessment includes the production of background development work (aesthetic and visual design, technical and exhibition specification, subject content and analysis, audiences, time and project planning) leading to the realisation of the project artefact in a later module. There may also be the option to take an accredited Project Management qualification as a part of the module.

• Critical and Cultural Studies: L6 Enquiry / Report / Essay (Screen)

  The content of this module allows students to engage with research, enquiry or critical processes appropriate for their subject area. Students select a topic related to their area of study as the basis for an extended enquiry. Usually the topic will have a close relationship with some of the ideas, approaches and content of the student's final project. This work may explore ideas, examine artefacts or set out to solve a problem through an enquiry of some kind. The module allows students to develop their broad understanding of issues of significance, meaning and value that are implicit in their project idea or to engage in a process arising from a question or problem they have identified from their subject area aimed at providing recommendations or explanations which are supported by valid evidence. The module is delivered through a mix of lectures, seminars and individual tutorials with a strong emphasis on independent learning.

• Professional Contexts and Career Visions

  This module provides students with appropriate tools and methodologies for preparing for and finding employment and it deals with legal, ethical and economic frameworks of professional practice and employment. The module is delivered through a combination of collective enquiry activities and individual studies. In the collective enquiry students work together to investigate the broad fields of the Cultural Industries, their emergence as powerful economic forces within a knowledge economy, their geographic distribution in local, national and international contexts, typical earnings, and patterns of employment. In their individual studies they engage with job search strategies, CV preparation, job applications, interview skills training, on-line portfolios and presence, networking strategies. The module includes several forms of peer appraisal in such things as role play interviews, reading through the CVs and application letters of fellow students. These activities provide feedback and critique and are used as a means of developing student's self-awareness and critical perception of themselves and their performances in the context of others.

• Competitions, Festivals, Exhibitions

  Students are required to prepare material of an appropriate kind and quality for a recognised festival, exhibition or competition in media arts or media technology. Students are not obliged to enter the work they create. Assessment includes an account of the decision making that informed the realisation of practical outcomes.

• Emergent Media and Markets

  A characteristic feature of Screen Cultures is a rapidly changing infrastructure of adopted technologies and arrays of devices integrated into day-to-day living, and the appropriation of technologies for local uses within a globalised culture. New things come, older ones drift away. The markets for new media devices are distinctly volatile, led by early adopters and fashion trends, by fetishised style-status objects and their conspicuous display. This module looks at two important issues. Firstly it considers ways of understanding the emergence and adoption of new media technologies and devices. Secondly, through a survey of contemporary materials ranging from academic writing to popular culture imagery, it encourages the student to speculate about the 'next big thing', extrapolating from current trends to anticipate new devices, new markets, new patterns of use and consumption, new modes for wealth generation, and to consider the effects of international activities and the phenomena of global cultures. The assessment is in the form of a 5 minute small screen video production for display on a mobile media device (a vidcast artefact) in which students present a briefing report about an emergent Screen Culture phenomenon and its likely cultural effects as if for a news casting service.

Optional

Fees & funding

Fees 2013

UK/EU Students

Full time: £8,500 for the 2013 academic year

International Students

Full time: £10,000 for the 2013 academic year

Discounts are available for International students if payment is made in full at registration

View detailed information about tuition fees

Additional course costs

In addition to the fees there are some compulsory course attached to this course:

Year 1
Pens, Pencils, folders, sketchbooks - £30-£50
External hard drive - £60-£100

Year 2
Pens, Pencils, folders, sketchbooks - £30-£50
Visits to firms and exhibitions - £30-£40

Year 3
Pens, Pencils, folders, sketchbooks - £40-£60
Visits to firms and exhibitions - £30-£40

Scholarships

• National Scholarship Programme

Find out more about scholarships for UK/EU and international students

Other financial support

Find out more about other financial support available to UK and EU students

Living costs / accommodation

The University of Hertfordshire offers a great choice of student accommodation, on campus or nearby in the local area, to suit every student budget.

View detailed information about our accommodation

How to apply