Design and Fabrication – IMA Course Listings

User Experience Design

Rebecca Blum | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 262 | Thur 09:00am to 12:00pm in 370 Jay St, Room 411 Meetings:14
4 Point, Design and Fabrication, Elective, Spring 2027, Undergraduate

Last updated: October 21, 2026

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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 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.

Introduction to Digital Fabrication

Maya Pollack | IMNY-UT 252 | Tues 09:00am to 12:00pm in 370 Jay Street Room 450 Meetings:14
4 Point, Design and Fabrication, Elective, In-Person, Spring 2027, Undergraduate

Last updated: October 21, 2026

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Do you want to MAKE THINGS with your computer? Are you an artist, engineer, designer, sculptor or architect? Are you a few of those things? How are 3D scanning and 3D modeling different? What materials should I be using? Should I be 3D printing or CNC-ing this CAD file? What is a boolean operation and why is it my new best friend? This class will answer all of your questions. Don’t know what any of these things are? This class will answer those questions also.

By the end of this course, you will be familiar with all that digital fabrication has to offer. We will cover everything from laser to 3D to CNC. You will learn how to identify which digital fabrication technique works best for your projects. But more than that, you will learn what kinds of questions you should be asking in order to complete a project from start to finish. As technology advances at rapid speeds, digital making machines and software are changing just as fast. So instead of just being taught about the machines of today, you will also be given the tools to teach yourself the machines of tomorrow. Emphasis will be put on learning how to ask the right kind of questions to successfully finish a project.

What do you want to make? Let’s make it.

Design Fundamentals

Katherine Dillon | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 261 | Wed 12:10pm to 3:10pm in 370 Jay Street, Room 426 Meetings:14
4 Point, Design and Fabrication, Elective, In-Person, Spring 2027, Undergraduate

Last updated: October 21, 2026

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This class aims to provide students with the critical thinking and practical skills to explore and communicate ideas visually. This foundational course is a combination of lecture and studio format that will introduce the fundamental principles of design including typography, color, composition, branding and environmental design, and offer hands-on application of those principles through both in-class exercises and weekly assignments. The course will serve as a solid foundation of skills relevant to pursuing a degree in Interactive Media Arts and expose students to the myriad of opportunities a grounding in design principles opens up for them.

The format is a once per week 3-hour class. The structure of the class time will include the introduction of a topic each week including an in-class exercise, the introduction of a related assignment, followed by in-class presentations/discussion/critique of student work.

Topics:
What is Design
Typography
Letterforms
Color Mechanics
Color Perception
Shapes
Composition and layout
Logo design
Branding
Information systems
Environmental graphics

Information Design

Katherine Dillon | IMNY-UT 265 | Wed 3:40pm to 6:40pm in 370 Jay St, Room 407 Meetings:14
4 Point, Design and Fabrication, Elective, New, Spring 2027, Undergraduate

Last updated: October 21, 2026

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This course is designed to provide students with skills including critical thinking for designing, evaluating and appreciating visual narratives. The history and current state of information design will be explored along with hands-on application of tools and visual frameworks. Class time will include lectures, exercises, discussion and critical analysis. Students will apply the skills learned in class to a final project on a topic of interest to them.

At the completion of this course, the students will:

– Think critically about information design problems and have a framework for defining, assessing, and solving them

– Develop confidence with the vocabulary of information design and the appropriate application of the visual models

– Be familiar with best-in-class examples of information design

– Understand the power of information design as a tool of communication and persuasion