Design Informatics

Entry requirements

Normally a UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in any subject relevant to themes within design informatics.

You must submit a portfolio as part of your application. Your portfolio should include:

• a high degree of contemporary thinking, creativity and originality
• evidence of high quality and original research using recognisable methods (qualitative and/or quantitative)
• examples of sketchbook work or design process development
• examples of prototyping processes, including ability in manipulating materials or graphics
• evidence of ability to use design thinking in the development of ideas

If you do not meet the academic entry requirements, we may still consider your application on the basis of your portfolio and/or relevant professional experience.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Design informatics combines data science with design thinking in a context of critical enquiry and speculation. We build a value-aware, reflective practice at the interface between data and society by combining theory and research with an open-ended process of making and hacking.

Human activity is being constantly shaped by the flow of data and the intelligences that process it, moving towards an algorithmically mediated society. Design informatics asks how we can create products and services within this world, that learn and evolve, that are contextualised and humane. It asks questions about what we should create, speculating about the different futures we might be building and the values behind them.

The central premise is that data is a medium for design: by shaping data, we shape the world around us. Data science provides the groundwork for this, with design thinking underpinning reflective research through design. You will use this in working with the internet of things and physical computing, machine learning, speech and language technology, usable privacy and security, data ethics, and block chain technologies. You will connect technology with society, health, architecture, fashion, bio-design, craft, finance, tourism, and other real world contexts, through case studies, and individual and collaborative projects. You will understand user experience in the wider sociocultural context, through an agile programme of hacking, making and materialising new products and services.