Subject Area Interaction Design

Interaction designers develop interfaces and processes between people, services and products with the aim to design these in a relevant, usable and experiential way. In their professional practice they use their creative, methodological and technological skills in the fields of user-, spatial- and interactive experience-design, service-design as well as in industrial and academic research. This task requires a continuous reflection of social, economical, cultural and technological change, in order to contextualize, accomplish and address project goals and implementation approaches. Applicants typically begin their studies with backgrounds in creative or technological fields.

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iad.zhdk.ch

Study

Coursework builds the skills and knowledge needed to research and design interactive experiences in the context of aesthetic, technological, and social questions. BA students develop fundamental digital skills and critically consider a range of issues concerning technology and the social role of designers. MA students deepen their design expertise and expand their knowledge in the areas of design and research. 

Bachelor

The aim of the three-year Bachelor's program is to develop the skills to precisely analyse project requirements and select relevant methods that lead to solutions in the form of creative and technological concepts and prototypes.
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Master

In the three-semester Master's program, with the specialization in Interaction Design, students develop abilities in practical and scientific examination using design research methods and strategies.
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Research

Understanding and creating novel embodied experiences of interaction is at the centre of our research. We work with multisensory feedback and immersion to challenge and push forward the current ideas of interactivity, both in accademic and everyday life contexts. Our main research areas are โ€œEmbodied Interactionโ€, โ€œImmersive Experienceโ€ and โ€œHealth Interactionโ€. Lecturers and academic staff, as well as BA and MA students develop diverse design research perspectives, often with interdisciplinary cooperation partners. The Interaction Design maintains a Physical Computing Lab, an Immersive Experience Lab and the Enactive Environments research group.

โ†’ iad.zhdk.ch/en/research

Labs

Interaction Design at ZHdK maintains a Physical Computing Lab, the Immersive Experience Lab and the Enactive Environments research group.

โ†’ Physical Computing Lab

โ†’ Enactive Environments Research Group

Direction

Karmen Franinoviฤ‡
Karmen Franinoviฤ‡  is head of the subject area Interaction Design at ZHdK. She also heads the research department and the Master of Arts in Interaction Design programme. She is the co-director of the Transdisciplinary Artistic PhD Centre and mentors candiates for a PhD in Design. Her research focus is on understanding and creating experiences that engage bodily and spatial knowledge in interaction. She leads research projects on sonic interaction, movement rehabilitation and responsive architectures. Karmenโ€™s practical and theoretical work challenges established interaction paradigms to foster more critical and playful uses of technology in everyday life. She is the founder of Enactive Environments group and Zero-Th Studio.

Jรผrgen Spรคth
Jรผrgen Spรคth is head of Bachelor Interaction Design at ZHdK. He studied visual design at the University of Design Schwaebisch Gmuend. After studying in Japan and USA, he graduated with a thesis on the topic of โ€œCryptesthesia in Networked Systemsโ€. In 1999, he founded the โ€œProjekttriangle Design Studioโ€ together with Prof. Danijela Djokic and Martin Grothmaak. Projekttriangle develops new forms of cultural expression and communication in both analogue and digital media. For his work, Jรผrgen has received several national and international awards and has numerous publications in magazines and books. Jรผrgen has been invited as guest lecturer at numerous international universities and conferences. Since 2002 he has been a lecturer in the field of Interaction Design at ZHdK.