Design professionals are expected to be creative in innovative, conceptual, and technical ways. In our last webinar, Ashley Karr of General Assembly and Design Thinking Botique walked us through the process of fostering more Aha! Moments. To make it big in the design industry, students need to be just as expressive with creativity, and do so in ways that align with the changing needs of the industry.
To have cutting edge technical skills, high quality conceptual development, and creativity in problem solving, is to hit the bulls’ eye in making it big in interactive design. Students need a curriculum that pushes them to practice these skills. The Graphic & Interactive Design (G&ID) program at Youngstown State University, an Educational Partner of TryMyUI, offers a curriculum that does exactly that. One initiative at G&ID encourages students to invent their own operating system concept, design the graphic user interfaces (GUI), create an animated walkthrough prototype, present their work to the technology community, and ultimately be judged on their work by professional interactive designers, developers, CTOs, and more.
RJ Thompson (center), Assistant Professor of Graphic & Interactive Design at Youngstown State University
This comprehensive project enhances software skills, user experience design, problem-solving for interactive environments, and the ability to professionally articulate complex technical concepts in short, simplified explanations. The final poster session sheds the spotlight on some of the best operating system graphic user interface designs, offers insight into the design methodologies of several designs, details feedback from judges, and demonstrates innovative design thinking for interactive technologies. We see students, typically placed in the top 3 projects, springboard to successful careers in interactive design.
As part of EDU initiatives, TryMyUI will engage with YSU students at this event by providing them feedback on their projects and opening doors to industry connections for them.