think carrie, think!

A new Interaction Design institute is being opened in Copenhagen this year. I scanned the overview and philosophy for the school, and so far it seems a little bit heavy on the industry side. I’m not sure how much I can appreciate a school where topics like interaction design theory are mere “possibilities” for a seminar course. A person with a Master degree in any subject should at least understand the basic foundations and theories of the field.

I know interaction design is a lot about hands on studio work and experience, but I don’t think that’s all that is necessary to produce good interaction designers (or to grant a Master degree in the field). As a first year last year, I appreciated the Trials and Tribulations of Dick Buchanan, and as much as it was a brain stretch (and by stretch, I mean ripped apart to shreds), I feel like it allows me now to talk and think about interaction design in a way that is not superficial and surface-skimming. We’re not here for an interaction design workshop, we’re here to become masters of a domain. To be fair, this institute is brand new, so it will be interesting to see how their program shapes up in the next couple of years.

What also bothers me is that the institute seems to pin interaction design as a mix of “design and technology”. Which is not surprising I guess, since most other schools and organizations also do this. But what draws me to interaction design is the fact that we’re trained in methods and theories that don’t necessarily have to deal with technology. If as interaction designers our goals are to shape and mediate behaviors between people and products/services/systems etc, then technology is simply a tool, and not something that should define the field.

Also, this school wants to maintain “high standards” by giving exams at the end of the year. If nothing else turned me off from the program, this definitely did.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 and is filed under design, school, technology.