Spring 2025 - IAT 238 D100
Foundations for Designing Interactions (3)
Class Number: 6789
Delivery Method: In Person
Overview
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Course Times + Location:
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Fri, 10:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
Surrey
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Instructor:
Paul Brokenshire
paulb@sfu.ca
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Prerequisites:
Completion of 21 units including IAT 102.
Description
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:
The course integrates visual communication and interaction design alongside developing skills in design process such as prototyping, ideation and iteration. Emphasis is placed on seeking the right solution for the right problem and receiving feedback effectively. The course culminates in an intermediate-level design project that connects interactions to foundational concepts in designing.
COURSE DETAILS:
The course that will lay out the foundational elements required for a professional practice in User Experience Design (UX Design). The primary goal of this course will be to provide students with the essential foundations required for UX Design professional practice – visual design, content design, interaction design, and the design process. The term's final project is a minimum viable product (MVP) that synthesizes these four elements and prepares students for Designing Interactions in upper division.
COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:
- Explore the role and influence that graphic design, content design and user experience play on our perception and interpretation of information.
- Explain key methods used in the context of User Experience Design (UX) to visually represent different forms of content and different experiences.
- Generate design criteria from specific scenarios and assess the utility of the criteria in the development of a user-centred design.
- Use methods - e.g. sketching, wireframing, sitemaps and flowcharts - to design applications that will translate basic qualitative and quantitative information into more human-readable representations.
- Demonstrate key principles of graphic design, content design and user experience design in the creation of web and interactive experience prototypes (via Figma).
Grading
- Graphic Fundamentals Projects 20%
- Interaction Fundamentals Project 20%
- Expressive Visual Experiences Project 40%
- Quizzes 10%
- Attendance and Professionalism 10%
NOTES:
This course uses the SIAT standard grading scale for final letter grades:
| Letter grade | Percentage range |
|---|---|
| A+ | 95% to 100% |
| A | 90% to 95% |
| A- | 85% to 90% |
| B+ | 80% to 85% |
| B | 75% to 80% |
| B- | 70% to 75% |
| C+ | 65% to 70% |
| C | 60% to 65% |
| C- | 55% to 60% |
| D | 50% to 55% |
| F | 0% to 50% |
Materials
MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:
For this term you will need access to:
- A laptop or tablet
- Paper and a pen
- A prototyping tool (i.e. Framer, Origami Studio, Figma, Axure, etc.)
- A web browser (we will use Chrome)
If you have a preference for another type of software you are welcome to use it.
REQUIRED READING:
Course readings will be available digitally through Canvas.
REQUIRED READING NOTES:
Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.
Registrar Notes:
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS
SFU’s Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.
Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the university community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the university. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the university. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html
RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION
Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.