Course General Description

Our Master of Arts in Interaction Design (IxD) is a unique program for emerging designers who are passionate about social innovation and ready to tackle complex, systemic problems. Interaction Design, at its heart, is the design of the interaction between users, systems and products. We believe that the future of interaction design relies on also considering its social and environmental impact, and our curriculum reflects this forward-thinking conviction. Contemporary social problems demand interdisciplinary and collaborative solutions. An interaction designer must first seek to understand a problem’s root causes, then design solutions that effect change. Our program prepares you to create social change through a systems and human-centered framework. You will be trained to think critically about systems and design solutions that take the form of experiences, services, digital interfaces and/or physical products. The end products are not prescribed from the outset, but emerge out of a rigorous, discipline-agnostic design process. Students in our program have the opportunity to develop their design practice outside of the classroom, gaining hands-on experience through project work that crosses multiple sectors, including the public sector (by designing policy) and industry (by designing products and services).

School General Description

The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design at the George Washington University prepares its graduates to be the next generation of global leaders. Part of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, the school functions as an incubator for artists, designers and scholars, who learn from internationally renowned faculty at the intersection of creativity and social innovation. It is an academic experience like no other—inspiring students to research, create and innovate with the potential to shape the world around them. We are a community of civically engaged artists and practitioners, aiming to impact the world through social change. Our students are poised to not just join the creative field of their choice, but to define it for themselves as they become well versed in both practice and research. We embody and exemplify the Columbian College’s Engaged Liberal Arts credo, which strives to link disparate fields and better prepare our graduates for rich, multidimensional careers in the evolving world we live in. The challenges society faces are diverse, requiring different modes of thought, and we prepare our students by encouraging inquiry and collaboration. While we at the Corcoran School can prepare specialists, we pride ourselves on the diversity of our practice and view ourselves as a place of possibility for students instead of teaching art in a singular way.