Purdue Interaction Design MFA Program
Mission

Faculty and students at Purdue Interaction Design program are boundary crossers, developing new approaches to explore the interaction possibilities in the context of industrial design. We are interested in studying cognitive and social systems to inform our knowledge, employing research methodologies to improve the design, and adopting innovative technologies to better accommodate human experience. .

Based on our experience on design education and collaboration with the industry, we notice and understand the urgent needs of interaction design in the domain to shape everyday life. We look for the harmonious integration of both physical and visual interactions in the product design.

We seek to understand human interaction as a cognitive process and to use design to complement the users’ capabilities in creative and flexible ways. In order to do that, we assist students in gaining a deeper understanding of multi-model human cognition, perception, embodied cognition, and spatial cognition in the context of industrial design. A range of evaluation approaches are introduced so that industrial design students can explore mixed methods of inquiry to gather feedback from product users. Modern parametric CAD software opens the gate of interaction design exploration. Designers can link dimensions and variables to geometry and quickly explore the infinite variations of design. Through applying sophisticated research methods to understand users and adopting innovative technology to explore design, we believe that the needs of interaction can be well read, understood, addressed, and supported.

The area of Interaction Design offers a 2~3 year MFA graduate program.