The Interactive Media Design (IMD) Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Washington Bothell offers students an expansive understanding of the processes involved in designing, creating and evaluating leading-edge digital applications. Students gain the theory, practice, and knowledge necessary to succeed in a competitive global and digital economy. The IMD program focuses on the studio experience, blending academics, digital design techniques, process management, and methods for gathering and analyzing metrics. Students design and implement solutions to complex, real-world problems using the same techniques employed by technology companies. Completed projects contribute to a personal media portfolio (course requirement). IMD Graduates are prepared for positions in high demand careers:

• Multi-Media Artists and Animators
• Game Designers and Producers
• E-Book and E-Learning Creators
• Digital Arts and Media Production
• Social Media and Analytics
• Interdisciplinary Project Management
• Application Development for Emerging Technologies

The Center for Serious Play is the University of Washington Bothell’s digital media research and development studio. The Center offers students additional opportunities to contribute to university and industry research and development efforts. Teams of artists, user experience designers, writers, software developers and others create digital projects like experimental films, interactive games, data visualizations, and gestural motion tracking applications.

University of Washington Bothell

One of the Center’s imperatives are to investigate how technology, creative arts and education can combine to enhance and enrich our lives. Finding ideas and inspiration from these fields, students create interactive digital experiences. The Center launched a student-powered technology, culture, science and arts blog designed, developed and managed by students called The Next (www.uwbnext.com). It includes a student-produced film: Virtually Physical: Design in the Digital Age. Students are not just trained for competitive careers in technology—they are uniquely prepared to be innovators of technology and the digital world.

Bill Erdly, Ph.D. is the Director of the Interactive Media & Design program. Jason Pace is the Executive Director of the Center for Serious Play. Both programs are located on the University of Washington Bothell campus, which is just north of Seattle.