Bachelor of Design Computing
Overview
The Bachelor of Design Computing program teaches design with a focus on the pragmatic, creative and aesthetic possibilities of computer-expressed works.
Although once regarded as being only about website design, special effects, computer games and animation, digital design has infused architecture, industrial design, fashion and the arts. The experimental digital practices of a vanguard of designers have promulgated a digital design culture whose aesthetic is defining the means of conception, implementation and industrial production of designed works and the aesthetic that is producible by new computing technologies. The Bachelor of Design Computing program responds to this convergence of design and computing. The academic program prepares graduates for careers in a style of design in which computation is integral to the performance of design.
More than simply learning de facto industry software tools for the production of designed works, the Bachelor of Design Computing program establishes new ways of doing design in which the modus operandi of computation is implicated in changing the course of the realisation of designed works. You will design works such as interactive digital media, virtual environments, digital audio, information visualisation, mobile phone-based applications and digital art in the units of study. You will master advanced software from Adobe, Autodesk and Virtools for digital media production, modelling, and animation. You will learn programming in Java and other web-based languages. You will work with hardware such as sensors, information devices and high-end mobile phones. If imagining the world as it could be is your goal, the Bachelor of Design Computing program can give you the opportunity to develop your own design language.
Graduates from the Bachelor of Design Computing program have gone on to work in various design firms and design industries including computer gaming, web design, media production, public relations and marketing, digital design consulting, start-up digital design firms and digital design think tanks.
Philosophy of the Bachelor of Design Computing
The are four knowledge areas of design computing that provide the basis for developing the students' capacity to both be skilled crafters of digitally designed works and emerge as part of a new generation of digital design specialists:
Design
Focusing on masterful technical achievement with an attention to the interfacing of design, technology and originality of content, the design studios and lecture-based units of study serve as the principal forum for the conception and implementation of your designed works.
- Digital Design Studio
- Interaction Design Studio
- Information Visualisation Design Studio
- Human-Computer Experience Design Studio
- Sound Design and Sonification
- Understanding Design and Cognition
Programming
Programming is the glue between the conception and the implementation of your creative projects. The follow unit of study teaches the fundamentals of computer programming within a visual design context; however, programming is situated in most units of study. Programming languages taught include PHP, Java, Javascript and Processing. Students can increase their depth of knowledge of programming, which is still the most sought-after skill in industry, through elective units of study in the School of Information Technologies.
Modelling
Modelling takes on two key directions in the Design Computing curriculum: modelling for the representation of form and simulation of the designed work such as with computer-aided design and animation, and modelling of the design process to enable the generative processes underpinning digital design. The latter is the trend in digital design, in which ever more complex forms for designed works are impossible to conceive without the use of computing. Software used in these units of study include Maya, Virtools, and MySQL.
Interaction
The theme of interaction deals with designing for the contact surface between humans and computers. These units of study address issues in interaction design such as information architectures, handling the feedback loop between humans and computers, and ease-of-use evaluation.