User Experience Design - MSc

The term “Human-Centred Design” refers to a set of processes focused around developing products and services with an emphasis around key identified target audiences. This module will therefore focus on combining theoretical concepts around user experience design with practical hands-on approaches used widely in industry and academia to create effective interactive experiences.

You will learn about the user-centred design process and design thinking strategies that place a core emphasis on creating products, applications, and services for “people”. In particular, you will learn techniques for gathering and understanding a target audience’s requirements and methods for undertaking rapid low-fidelity prototyping.

A particular focus will be placed on gaining practical experience around how to design, conduct, and analyse usability studies through utilising a variety of evaluation techniques and then incorporating key findings back into the design process. You will apply this knowledge to collaboratively design and evaluate a digital prototype using industry standard tools.

This module complements the “Visual Interface Design” and “UX Development” modules where you will work towards designing and developing a high-fidelity version of your chosen concept.  The low fidelity designs that you create in this module will therefore be taken forward to inform the design of your high-fidelity prototypes.”

This module will introduce you to industry-leading frameworks, libraries, and platforms that are commonly utilised to develop front-end user experiences.

In particular, you will gain knowledge around different development methodologies that are adopted and utilised in industry and academic environments. Theories will be discussed and practical applications will be analysed for their suitability for deployment.

You will use the knowledge and skills gained during the module to individually develop the front-end user experience for an interactive application (utilising a library/framework introduced in earlier sessions). This application will be based around the concepts you develop in the “Human-Centred Design” and “Visual Interface Design” modules.

Furthermore, you will gain knowledge and experience around different system unit test approaches to help ensure that your work is robust and free of critical errors.

This module, closely aligned with the module Human-Centred Design, will provide you with the fundamental knowledge and skills to conceive, develop, and present compelling visual solutions for interactive digital products. 

You will examine and explore the key paradigms of visual communication as applied to the delivery of user experiences in digital devices, establish processes for the generation and development of engaging and understandable visually-led user interfaces, and learn approaches for turning digital prototypes into high-fidelity designs. 

Beginning with an introduction to the application of design principles within this specialised area and moving on to fully develop design prototypes established within the Human-Centred Design module, this module will furnish you with the ability to work in interdisciplinary teams to fully realise and communicate your concepts.

This module will focus on the importance of inclusive design, accessibility, and assistive technology in the context of user experience design. In particular, the module will introduce the types of impairments and disabilities that can influence how people experience digital technologies (including physical, visual, cognitive, and auditory).

You will also gain a deep understanding of the wide range of assistive tools that people with different impairments typically utilise when interacting with digital systems (eye gaze tracking, switches, head tracking, speech recognition, etc.) and the impact this has on the design of user interfaces and experiences. 

Moreover, the module will focus on the challenges associated with designing and evaluating systems that are accessible for everyone (i.e. universal design). You will also have the opportunity to design, develop, and evaluate accessible digital solutions that address particular accessibility needs.

The development of higher level research skills is a key focus for the module. This, alongside a technical underpinning, reinforces the overall course philosophy in being designed to provide the specialisation needed for a research career.

This module will explore the research methods and tools to enable you to define methods for research, translate technical theory to a reasoned test methodology, interpret your results and to distinguish trends leading reasoned and informed findings. 

The module will enforce practice-led knowledge and applied internationalisation via industry standardisation. It will also draw from the module team’s active involvement in applied engineering research bringing strong links with the international research communities.

Advanced and immersive interface systems, for example Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs), Eye Trackers, and depth sensors are becoming commonplace within the field of human computer interaction. These systems present innovative and exciting design paradigms, but also introduce many challenges to their successful adoption. Having a mastery in the design and development of experiences using these novel systems and understanding the potential they hold for future user experience design is paramount. 

The module will focus on the use of immersive and advanced interactive systems from a user-based perspective. You will gain highly sought-after skills to enable you to be competitive in the strong immersive and advanced technologies job market.

You will develop core understanding to design for novel interfaces, sensors and display systems. You will also explore advanced interaction methods using these devices and focus on analysing and evaluating the design considerations these systems propose, for example; system specifications, interface considerations, sensor ranges interaction paradigms and sensor tolerances.

The purpose of the module is to enable you to undertake a sustained, in-depth and research-informed Level 7 project exploring an area that is of personal interest to you. In agreement with your supervisor, you will decide upon your topic which will take the form of a practical outcome (artefact) with accompanying contextual material. The main consideration when choosing your topic is that it must be aligned to the programme you are studying and informed by the research strategy of your school, and you should consider the relevance of this topic to your future academic or professional development.

Download the full module specification