Art and Design (Old Structure)

User Experience Design

Rebecca Blum | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 262 | Wed 09:00am to 12:00pm in 370 Jay St, Room 412 Meetings:14
4 Point, Art and Design (Old Structure), Design and Fabrication (New Structure), Elective, No Tags, Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 30, 2025
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This course aims to provide students with the critical thinking and practical skills for creating effective and compelling interfaces. We will dissect what a compelling user experience is and discuss and apply design methods for creating one. Throughout this 14-week course we will examine a wide range of examples of interfaces with a focus on understanding the attributes of a successful interface and applying proven research, mapping and testing techniques. The class format will include lectures, case studies, student presentations, discussions of readings and in-class design exercises. The format is very hands-on with assignments that focus on problems that are typical of those a UX designer will encounter in the professional world.

Small-Scale Kinetic Installation (Topics in Physical Computing)

Phil Caridi | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 240 | Tues 09:00am to 10:30am in 370 Jay St, Room 409>Thur 09:00am to 10:30am in 370 Jay St, Room 409 Meetings:14
4 Point, Art and Design (Old Structure), Elective, Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 30, 2025
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Have you ever wanted to make something bigger than a tabletop? Do you like art that physically moves? Well if you answered yes to those questions then this is the class for you. Working in large site-specific formats is always an enticing proposition, this course is designed to bring students through the process of scaling a concept into a large-scale kinetic installation. Working individually at first and then moving into group work this class also teaches how to collaborate, communicate, and compromise to reach a common goal. Students will engage in a hands-on approach to designing, budgeting, and building an installation.

Prerequisites: Intro to Fab or Intro to DigiFab

Intro To Wearables: Adorning the Head and Face for Communication (Topics in Physical Computing)

Daniel Ryan Johnston | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 240 | Thur 3:40pm to 6:40pm in 370 Jay Street, Room 316C Meetings:14
4 Point, Art and Design (Old Structure), Elective, No Tags, Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 30, 2025
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This course is designed to provide an introduction to designing wearable technology for the head, face and upper body. It will also present an overview of interaction design for the body. The class will begin with an introduction to nonverbal communication through upper body adornment as well as gesture. Next, the class will move into an E-textile 101 breakdown where we will create a simple circuit using soft materials and other sewable components (hand sewing only). After gaining an understanding of sewable electronics, the class will be working with a Nano 33 IoT along with other components. Over the weeks the class will explore the available example Arduino code in order to create interactions with LEDs and light/motion sensors. Throughout the course, the class will analyze everyday interactions and explore ways of creating wearables that interact with and communicate non-verbally to the world around us.

The course will culminate with a final project and presentation that will incorporate the tools and concepts discussed in class.

Prerequisite: Creative Computing (IMNY-UT 101)

Open Call (Topics in Media Art)

Blair Simmons | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 260 | Mon 2:00pm to 3:30pm in 370 Jay St, Room 409>Wed 2:00pm to 3:30pm in 370 Jay St, Room 409 Meetings:14
4 Point, Art and Design (Old Structure), Elective, Project Development and Research (New Structure), Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 30, 2025
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This class is for students interested in making, displaying and installing art for interactive media art exhibitions. This class will prepare you to apply for and develop work for open calls and everything else that happens after you are selected. The class will have an opportunity to exhibit a group show in a real NYC gallery towards the end of the semester. The students will collaborate to title, describe and document the works in the show. They will also have an opportunity to do a public talk back about their work, organize a reception and add a piece to their portfolio.

Critical Experiences

Sarah Hakani | IMNY-UT 206 | Thur 09:00am to 12:00pm in 370 Jay Street Room 450 Meetings:14
4 Point, Art and Design (Old Structure), Elective, In-Person, Media and Entertainment (Old Structure), No Tags, Project Development and Research (New Structure), Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 30, 2025
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​​Critical Experience is an experiential journey through a research driven art practice rooted in care, community, and somatic inquiry. This class is based on the premise that there are many ways to know things and we can draw upon these ways of knowing and our desire to know in order to nurture a creative practice grounded in research, clear intention, and a critical lens. Critical here means: discerning, eager to participate differently, cast new light on, re-examine, course-correct.

You will be guided through traditional research methods (library and interview techniques, citations, informal ethnographies) and experience design while also being asked to cultivate intentional awareness of your own positionalities, communities, personal strengths, emotions, and desires through experimentation, hunch following, rituals, and contemplative practices.This class was created for or artists/designers who are interested in participation/interaction and its relationship to social practice, critical design, and change-making as well as individuals curious about knowing what moves them.

Why experience? The work in this class will be looked at through the lens of its ability to transform (a user, participant, audience, viewer). Interactivity is one way of doing that, but through the lens of experience design, all art is temporal and embodied.