Description: Bringing a new product to market is a journey that can take many paths, not all of them rewarding or productive. Lean UX applies Lean Startup principles alongside design thinking and Agile software development ideas to provide an approach to product creation that considers users' needs, and delivers value to users quickly and effectively. Working collaboratively in groups, students will learn and apply principles and processes of Lean UX. This course provides the environment for students to learn facilitation techniques for group processes, while working on UX projects that develop their analytical and design skills. A multidisciplinary team approach that integrates business, users, and technology leads to better products.
Hours: 42
Credits: 3
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Description: This self-directed course focuses on introducing new students to the supports, services, and opportunities available at Conestoga College. By the end of this course, students will understand the academic expectations of the Conestoga learning environment, as well as the supports available to ensure their academic success. Students will also be able to identify on-campus services that support their health and wellness, and explore ways to get actively involved in the Conestoga community through co-curricular learning opportunities.
Hours: 1
Credits:
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Description: In this course students will be introduced to contemporary industry standards, digital content management, technology protocols and communication solutions across multiple digital media platforms. Through hands-on projects and experiments, students will learn practical concepts in computing and digital media that transcend everyday use of common personal computing and consumer devices. Emphasizing innovation and entrepreneurial design solutions, students will develop foundational understandings of key domains such as the open-source movement and its derivatives, client/server technologies, cloud architecture, measurement tools, adaptive technology and industry standards that govern online technological platforms and a broad array of digital content and formats. Students will also examine digital content creation standards and cross-platform optimization and communication.
Hours: 42
Credits: 3
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Description: Visual Design I establishes fundamental design concepts and processes for visual communications. Students will explore such basic visual design building blocks as colour, proportion, balance, and space. They will develop an understanding of representational, abstract, and symbolic images and will be introduced to typography. Students will begin to recognize effective composition, content hierarchy and semantic design, centered on usability and human interaction with products, services, environments and systems, and apply this knowledge during critiques of their peers' projects and presentations.
Hours: 56
Credits: 4
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Description: This course will introduce students to one of the fundamental applied Human Factors design disciplines, Interaction Design, through the use of case-studies, hands-on exercises and projects, all grounded in evidence-based human-centered design. Students will develop an understanding of what makes for successful interactive digital products, environments, systems and services, where human behaviour is at the centre of design. Students will learn usability testing, prototyping designs in varying levels of fidelity, and the value of rapidly iterating through proposed solutions.
Hours: 56
Credits: 4
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Description: The world of digital products is filled with user experiences that go beyond the straightforward interaction with a desktop/laptop computer or mobile phone. Through a combination of lectures, class discussion, hands-on demonstrations, in-depth topic presentations and diverse readings for the current literature, students will survey a wide range of interesting and exciting cross-disciplinary research and products, to gain an understanding of the rich experience possibilities and support ethical and professional solutions for issues arising in an on-line environment. Students will develop a broad and systemic perspective on innovative technologies such as AI and Big Data analytics systems that shape our digital environments today and into the future.
Hours: 42
Credits: 3
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Description: Effective social media strategies align with corporate and organizational goals, branding, marketing and communication practices. In this course, students will leverage metrics-based analytics and evidence-based strategic design, to implement comprehensive social media strategies for products and services, as a result of a thorough evaluation of interactive media projects' requirements and understanding of user behaviour through a range of analytics tools and techniques. Topics include analytics insights platforms, social media planning process, integration of traditional marketing and social media, trends affecting the social media space, as well as legal implications and budgeting. Market research and user experience research complement the learning in this course.
Hours: 42
Credits: 3
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Description: This course focuses on developing awareness and skills for the student to safely manage and conduct him or herself within a variety of employment settings. Through the units of the course, participants will have the opportunity to enhance their understanding and knowledge of general Health and Safety guidelines, including WHMIS, Fire Safety and Workplace Violence. The unit on Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act will instruct the student on the requirements for Accessible Customer Service and Integrated Accessibility Standard Regulations. General information on Safe Driving, Privacy of Information and Hand Washing will be addressed as well. The course also provides participants with critical information regarding their insurance coverage (WSIB or other) while employed. As well as guidelines to follow in the event of an injury. Participants will receive a printable Record of Completion upon successful conclusion of this course, in order to demonstrate awareness of safe working practices to their employers.
Hours: 14
Credits: 1
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Description: Digital products can provide immersive experiences, either on their own or in the context of physical spaces. Additionally, spaces such as museums, theme and adventure parks are being designed from a user experience perspective, leveraging complex data sets including location analytics, that converge physical and digital experiences. Through a combination of lectures, class discussion, hands-on demos, in-depth topic presentations, and diverse readings from the current literature, students will be exposed to a wide range of interesting and exciting research and products in the broadly-defined fields of virtual and augmented reality, 3D user interaction, and spatial user interfaces. Students will have the opportunity to design a complex, semester-long media project that will include requirements evaluation and the coordination of design, development, budgeting and resource planning.
Hours: 42
Credits: 3
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Description: This course will apply software design concepts specifically to mobile platforms. Students will be introduced to best current practices in Interaction Design, and will solve a series of design problems which illustrate the unique qualities of a mobile experience. Students will also be required to develop a complex design project, working through the phases of research, conception, requirements gathering, addressing technical challenges, storyboarding, documenting and testing the design. This course will also provide the opportunity for students to evaluate the success of complex media projects from financial, technical and artistic points of view and discuss improvement opportunities.
Hours: 42
Credits: 3
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Description: This course is a continuation of Visual Design - I. The emphasis of the course is on enhancing design process skills including research, concept generation, and visual and oral presentations of complex information spaces utilizing advanced skills in design of interfaces. Students will integrate their knowledge of design of complex concepts and processes while learning to evaluate tools and practices appropriate to developing rich and dynamic media content. Students will advance their skills on the design and development of user-centered interfaces that communicate solutions based on measurable assessments of user requirements.
Hours: 56
Credits: 4
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Description: The World Wide Web was invented over 20 years ago, though the underlying HyperText Markup Language (HTML) that runs in a web browser has been updated and augmented with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Javascript (JS) and many other front-end technologies in the intervening years. Students will learn to manage the building process for high fidelity interactive prototypes of web applications that run on multiple platforms, using current and emerging front-end web technologies. They will base their management process on a thorough evaluation of the requirements for complex interactive media projects and use their application prototypes for usability testing, product demos, and frameworks and specs for development and implementation teams.
Hours: 42
Credits: 3
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Description: This course is a continuation of Interaction Design - I. The emphasis of the course is on further developing human-centered design skills including advanced methods in user experience research, prototyping and interface design in order to support accurate analysis of complex project requirements. Students will deepen their understanding of applied cognitive methods that support design concepts and approaches within the field of Human-computer Interaction, while learning about information architecture and prototyping techniques. Students will engage in a group project, utilizing their creative leadership and critical thinking skills to commission design solutions. These solutions will address both the effectiveness and economic impact of implementation.
Hours: 56
Credits: 4
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Description: This course focuses on the preparation of a professional portfolio that demonstrates the skills and capabilities of the student. Students will identify and select examples of their work that emphasizes their strengths, and customize a portfolio to fit the specific job requirements of their target market. Students will present and speak to scope of work, with focus on the production pipeline and identify the specific personal work accomplished as well as the skills and knowledge required in production.
Hours: 28
Credits: 2
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Description: This course prepares students and facilitates a placement experience with a company/agency which has been approved by the program. Students will review employability skills in class and then practise these skills as they take an active role in securing a placement. Students will refine self-marketing techniques to establish cohesive branding of themselves at a professional level. Engaging in the work environment of a professionally relevant company/agency will allow students to apply their education and skills contributing to their mutual benefit. Appropriate workplace behaviour and etiquette is expected as students use this opportunity to expand their network of industry contacts and effectively market their personal brand. Through this experience, students can cultivate confidence, escalate awareness of industry practices, add to their resume & portfolio, and contribute to their own career success.
Hours: 80
Credits: 3
Pre-Requisites: OHS1320
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