Digital Interaction Design - 2011

So I was wondering:
How easy would it be to change to this course if I get product design?

How similar will this course be to Product Design? By all the descriptions I've read, it seems to be the same but creating virtal products instead of physical ones, and learning programming instead of engineering?

Are the job prospects good afterwards? I have 5As at Higher and wasn't sure whether applying to a more 'prestigious' course would have been a good idea?

Thanks <3

Hey Lannie, I'm a person on the second year of this course that just happened to stumble on this thread, hope I'm not too late.



It shouldn't be too hard at all. I suspect you'll be able to change on UCAS and may be asked to if you go to an interview or anything. The course is changing quite a lot at the moment and there's actually a good chance that product designers and interaction designers will have pretty much the same first year. We had a talk with someone involved with changing the course quite recently and it sounds like product designers and interaction designers are going to share first year and then be given the choice to do one or the other at the start of second year.



At the moment we share one class a week with product designers called "design studies" and it's a pretty general mix of design topics. Mostly it's just general design context and a tiny little bit of design history. You're expected to do a lot of home reading but are never tested too heavily on it

The distinction you heard is reasonably accurate but both courses have to learn some kind of programming as they both have to do some kind of physical computing. The language product designers use is quite old and very difficult to use and is largely engineering based. Interaction designers use Arduino which is very accessible and you will also be given full access (including 24 hour access) to the computing building. I'd suggest looking up some wee Arduino projects, they're very cool. On the other hand, product design does allow for much more opportunity to prototype physical objects and they tend to use the workshop more often but you still have full access to it as an interaction designer and you are very much encouraged to use it.

Sorry, that was longer than I was intending. It's also worth mentioning you will do iPhone apps, web design and java as an interaction designer.



Interaction design is pretty much interchangeable with user interaction design or "UX Design" and there are a bum-load of jobs in that sector and there are very few courses that focus on it so heavily. Again, I strongly suggest googling "UX Design Jobs".



Thanks to you too!

Can anyone tell me if you can study abroad, on erasmus etc, on this course?

You can, but only for one semester in third year. x

thanks, makes this course even more appealing! x

Hey again, have you been made any offers?
I have accepted my offer to Product Design so I'm super excited! Digital Interaction and Product Design share a first year so we could be on the same course!
I got a tour by the head of PD a few weeks ago and he was really lovely and so were all the pupils that I spoke to
x

Hey, yeah I got an offer for Digital Interaction, which I will definitely be accepting soon! Well done on your offer . Just a little nervous about making it official on ucas, want to be absolutely certain. Yeah would be great, have you spoken to anyone else that is going on the courses? Sounds great! x

Well done to you too! I was so nervous about accepting because so many people disagreed with my decision. I got an unconditional to the Glasgow School of Art too but Dundee just seemed way more perfect, despite being 'not as prestigious'. So yeah, I just did it and felt so much more relieved afterwards No I haven't spoken to anyone... Don't know how I would go about finding them and I didn't go to any of the post application open days! Why, have you met any? It's nice to have found someone who I'll be studying with! x

Yeah fair enough, Dundee just feels more right to me. Was it product design you applied for at Glasgow too? Neither did I, just my interview. No I don't know anyone. Will you be applying for halls? Where abouts are you from? x

Yeah it seems like it would be really interesting! And yeah, it was product design. The course did seem really good but it was more psychology and ethnography based I think... You pretty much never learn anything technical! So there weren't other people being interviewed with you? I know that for product design there was an applicants day where they all had to work in teams on projects to impress the staff, and they had to pre complete a project too. I wasn't invited for an interview/applicant day, they just sent me an offer... I've already applied for halls :-) I chose Heathfield as my first choice because it apparently has a real 'community feel' according to the guys over on the accommodation discussion xD! Oh and I'm from Orkney :-) Yourself? And are you just leaving school too?
X

Sounds like a good choice then! There was but there was no team stuff or anything, just tours and talks. And I dont know if they got in or are choosing the course. You are a step ahead of me then, still havent accepted, been really busy. Cool, im from fife, St andrews. No I took a year out, originally applied for graphic design but changed my mind. So do you know anyone from home applying to dundee for anything? x

Aaah right! So that's weird because the Product Design and DIxD will be sharing a first year and it's still different to get into each course... :P Hurry up and accept! Then I can be happy that I know someone who will definitely be on my course Did you get accepted into any other unis? Oh and all of my friends from home are off to Edinburgh or Glasgow I know one girl who is going to Dundee so far... But I'm meeting lots of new people on the Dundee Uni threads, so that's nice! How about yourself? x

Yeah I know! I'll probably do it today. I applied for Media courses at RGU etc and Film and visual culture at aberdeen uni, and yeah was well pleased I got in everywhere! Yeah most of my mates are already in Glasgow or Edinburgh or Dundee, and the rest of us are working and travelling. Don't know anyone from home going on this course, but one of my best friends is going to Dundee this year for medicine, and a few more for other courses, so I'll know quite a few people. So did you do higher art or advanced at school? x

I am just finishing off my Advanced Higher Art portfolio at the moment But it turns out that I didn't even need it in the end because they gave me an offer without asking for a portfolio interview xD Which is awesome, but also quite frustrating due to all the work I put it! It's interesting that you applied to those kinds of courses because I never even considered them until after I'd applied, when I realised that I'd have really enjoyed a course like that! But I am so lucky that Dundee has this joint year with DIxD because media is much better suited to me than physical products! So, what prompted you to take the more arty route at Dundee than a media course? You have friends in all three cities? Which city do they think is best? It's nice that you will have friends in Dundee... At least you'll never be totally lost! x

Wow that's insane! Is that common for product design? Yeah must be a bit frustrating though. Yeah when I applied straight from school I applied for straight up art courses from DJCAD and Grays in Aberdeen, but when it came to deciding I thought I'm creative but art school wasn't for me and so declined grays where I almost went. So this time round I thought about this course which is creative/technical so sounds perfect. Well although I knew I'd enjoy those courses I wasn't sure about the career opportunities, whether you would definitely get a job after it. But DIxD is more vocational and has a more focused career path. And this course seemed way more well known and respected and the graduates are in pretty incredible places right now so seemed too good an opportunity to miss. Yeah not many of us at home at the moment. Glasgow is meant to be incredible but not sure. Yeah there is that bonus! What is it like living in orkney? x