MA User Experience and Service Design

Program Overview

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The MA User Experience and Service Design program at Loughborough University is a one-year full-time or up to four-year part-time postgraduate program that focuses on developing critical awareness of major issues in user experience (UX), service design, and interaction design. The program aims to equip graduates with the skills to become human-centered designers and to design socially and environmentally responsible products and services. Graduates typically pursue careers as user experience designers, interaction designers, user researchers, usability specialists, and service designers.

Program Outline

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Degree Overview:

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The MA User Experience and Service Design (MA UX&SD)

is a one-year, full-time (or up to four years part-time) postgraduate program offered by Loughborough University, focusing on developing critical awareness of major issues in user experience (UX), service design, and interaction design. It aims to equip graduates with the skills to become human-centered designers and to design socially and environmentally responsible products and services.

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Objectives:

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Achieve mastery

in the conceptualization, design, and development of transformative, responsible, and sustainable digital and non-digital experiences.

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Cultivate

the organizational, technical, collaborative, and creative skills required to apply User Experience and Service Design across a range of sectors.

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Challenge

students' preconceptions of User Experience and Service Design by exposing them to transdisciplinary working through practice-based learning and live industry projects.

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Enable

students to become independent scholars and practitioners in User Experience and Service Design, preparing them for future study or practice.

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Outline:

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Content:

• The program covers topics in:
• UX research
• UI design
• User-centered design
• Interaction design
• Usability testing
• Service design
• Social design
• Empathic design
• Design for behavior change
• Design thinking
• Prototyping (physical, digital, and immersive)

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Structure:

• Semester 1 includes modules such as:
• Experience Design
• Usability, Principles, and Practice
• Design Research Methods
• Additionally, students can choose one optional module from:
• Digital Storytelling for Creative Practice
• Design for Inclusivity
• Design for Behaviour Change
• Semester 2 includes modules such as:
• Industry Project
• Experience Design Major Project
• Service Design
• Summer also includes:

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Semester 1:

• Experience Design - Introduces the human-centered design process, core experience design principles, and how they're applied to design interactive products and services.
• Usability, Principles and Practice - Equips students with the knowledge of and competence with usability evaluation tools and principles to support the experience design process.
• Design Research Methods - Introduces the design research process, methods, and tools used to collect, analyze, synthesize, and interpret research data for design research projects.
• Digital Storytelling for Creative Practice - Explores digital storytelling and its underpinning theoretical and methodological foundations.
It familiarizes students with storytelling techniques, how to adapt and develop them in digital environments, and develops research skills for creative and analytical thinking.
• Design for Inclusivity - Enables students to systematically understand the diverse needs of a wide range of users, including elderly people and people with disabilities, and how their needs should be considered within design.
Students apply inclusive design skills by critically analyzing existing products, services, or systems, aiming to deliver an evidence-based design outcome. Students identify behavioral determinants, critically understand and apply emerging theories and strategies for designing for behavior change in design practice.

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Semester 2:

• Industry Project - Introduces students to the professional world of the experience designer through tackling an industry-set brief and delivering an evidence-based and meaningful design outcome for a sponsoring organization.
Students master professional collaboration, communication, and reflection skills and develop towards becoming professional experience designers.
• Experience Design Major Project - Integrates and applies knowledge, skills, and values from other modules in a significant user experience design project over an extended period, providing a significant example of the student's design and innovation capability for their CV and portfolio, and facilitating their further development from postgraduate student to professional designer.
• Service Design - Introduces the practice of service design and systems thinking and their underpinning theoretical and methodological foundations.
Students become familiar with systemic thinking principles and a range of design methods to enable them to design original services and systems comprising multiple inter-related touchpoints between service, stakeholder, and end-user. The module encourages critical discussion of the subject within the broader societal and environmental context.

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Summer:

• Experience Design Major Project - Integrates and applies knowledge, skills, and values from other modules in a significant user experience design project over an extended period, providing a significant example of the student's design and innovation capability for their CV and portfolio, and facilitating their further development from postgraduate student to professional designer.

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Assessment:

• Assessment is through coursework, with the submission of design projects and reports, group and individual presentations.

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Teaching:

• The program utilizes a combination of teaching and learning methods:
• Lectures
• Seminars
• Tutorials
• Independent study
• Group work
• Workshops
• Practical sessions

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Careers:

• Graduates typically pursue careers as user experience designers, interaction designers, user researchers, usability specialists, and service designers.
• Some progress to careers in research, teaching, or PhD study.
• Employment destinations of recent graduates include:
• IBM Design
• IBM iX
• Samsung
• Next
• Dyson
• Tencent
• Huawei
• Baidu
• Pivotal Labs

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Other:

• Students have access to industry-standard resources, including:
• Specialist eye-tracking software
• UX prototyping software
• Arduino prototyping labs
• Audio-visual equipment
• Students also benefit from a Mac lab with a wide range of design and UX software and access to various social, studio, and study spaces.
• Applicants should provide a portfolio showcasing human-centered design, showcasing the design process, project outcome, and an end-user experience.
Students are encouraged to critically reflect on how to improve their process and project outcomes.

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UK fee: £13,000 Full-time degree per annum International fee: £29,750 Full-time degree per annum