Design Informatics MSc

Overview of the degree

Our Design Informatics programme is an advanced, full-time course for professionals and recent graduates. It is extremely hands-on, progressive and designed with industry and reserach at it's heart. As a student, you’ll combine cutting-edge design with data science, programming and information hacking to develop products and services that will transform lives. The MSc programme is primarily for learners from a computer science, social science or more technical background, with an aspiration to learn about design practices and methodologies. You will learn design methods, working alongside designers in the MA programme, and apply your computational skills to cutting edge creative projects.

• The  one-year Masters programme that consists of two semesters of teaching, followed by three months of dissertation work. It is equivalent to 90 ECTS in the European Bologna system. 

The following courses are compulsory:

• Case Studies in Design Informatics 1: Analysing Design Informatics case studies and learning design research methodologies
• Data Science for Design:  Introduction to data wrangling, data visualisation and Python programming from a design perspective 
• Design with Data:  Creating interactive prototypes in small groups, working with an external organisation’s data 
• Histories and Futures of Technology:  Cultural and technical context for Design Informatics. Covers Digital Media, Critical Perspectives, and Introduction to Arduino 
• Informatics Project Proposal: Writing a research proposal as a starting point for the summer MSc project

Optional courses

Electives can be chosen from across the University, but typical choices include: Analysing Qualitative Data, Dynamic Web Design, Design, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, Image and Vision Computing, and Usable Security and Privacy. In 2023/24, you can choose 30 points worth of Electives in semester 2, and if you are on the two year Advanced programme, you can choose 40 points worth of Electives in Semester 1. 

Advice on Choosing Courses : MSc Design Informatics

The Design Informatics MSc is very heavily structured. We recommend that you take electives that will help you develop the skills you need for the future career you envisage. These can be from machine learning, data science, technology and entrepreneurship, digital media, games, art, or product design. 

We do not recommend taking the courses Machine Learning Practical or Machine Learning and Pattern Recognition, unless you are certain that you have the required pre-requisites. Both courses are extremely demanding and typically require excellent mathematical and programming skills.

Courses that are not provided by the School of Informatics are often capped. You will need the Course Organiser's permission to enrol in them.

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