Solve real-world business problems through experiential learning. Working with the MBS faculty and under the supervision of an industry professional, conduct research to uncover hidden patterns, market trends, and other insights; conduct user experience research to improve user satisfaction and performance; market research analysis to analyze data on consumers and competitors; and more. Determine when, where, how, and why the target audience uses the products and services they do. Create and test prototypes. Build an online portfolio. Gain a core toolkit beneficial for a Product Design and UXD career.
Students complete their electronic portfolio as part of this practicum.
Upon successful completion of this course, be able to:
- Solve a real-world problem
- Work on a project with an organization in an industry or, organization or government agency, and within a collaborative environment
- Define user research fundamentals
- Collect, and analyze users’ qualitative/quantitative data
- Complete ask and activity analysis
- Create personas and scenarios
- Use surveys and other remote data collection methods
- Use card sorting and analytics
- Bring research into the design studio
- Plan a project
- Produce professional-level reports, presentations, dashboards, and other documentation
- Apply interface and interaction design principles in creating portfolio
- Use a CMS platform to create a portfolio
- Develop and present a professional portfolio
Testimonials
"Most degrees in UXD are science and technology driven, however the unique aspect of the MBS program is that in addition to the technical skills, we also learn important business skills. To become an effective designer, one needs to know how to design well and how to market it effectively. I would highly recommend the UXD practicum, which gave me the opportunity to design for the real world and work closely with the client, and was an extremely valuable experience." - Suleiman Ali, UXD, MBS'19
"The Practicum took everything that I learned from the previous science and business courses and allowed me to apply my design skills in a real world context. In other words I got to work closely with a real client and use design to solve their product and business needs. This helped me experiment and see how design affects not only brand identity for products, but also how simple changes can have a huge impact on the business in terms of value." (May 2019)