The UX Design Minor at Western is intended for design, industrial design, computer science, marketing, and psychology majors only. Each discipline will take courses that add to their foundational understanding of the elements of user experience design. These courses are different depending on the students’ major. The intended outcome is for each student to be prepared to work in professional multidisciplinary teams designing user experiences. They will be able to cross-communicate using the various languages and terminology of each discipline. They will be able to understand the unique perspective and alternative approaches that each discipline provides. And in the end, they will have a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, collaborative interaction design project to show prospective employers.
User Experience (UX) Design is a “holistic, multidisciplinary approach to the design of user interfaces for digital products, defining their form, behavior and content. User experience design integrates interaction design, industrial design, information architecture, information design, visual interface design and user-centered design, ensuring coherence and consistency across all of these design dimensions.”
—Pabini Gabriel-Petit, Editor in Chief, UX Matters
User experience design is a multidisciplinary profession that is still evolving and yet is in high demand. It is a combination of graphic design, industrial design, psychology, computer science and business. It requires big picture, strategic design skills, and the ability to design the very detailed interactions in interface. As such, good UX designers are in very short supply.
This minor combined with design, industrial design, computer science, marketing, and psychology majors can deepen your knowledge of empathetic research, leadership and collaboration, and user centered design methodologies. Students who have completed the UX minor have gone on to work at top tech companies and design agencies such as Starbucks, Nike, Essence, Google, Microsoft, Disney, Artefact, Wongdoody, and Boeing.
The demand for this minor is high. To ensure quality and diversity, the number of students selected for this major is limited to 16-20 per year. Representative faculty from each department will review applications and make selections based on academic performance, talent, interest and work ethic. Selection occurs two times per year, once in the Fall and once in the Spring.
A grade of C- or better is required for a student’s major or minor courses, and supporting courses for majors and minors.
UX Minor Application Form →
