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The Game Design and Interactive Media major is a hybrid program of the College of Creative Arts and Reed College of Media. The major combines two core foundational areas of study: one focused on media and delivered by the Reed College of Media; the other focused on art and design, delivered by the College of Creative Arts. As such, course work exposes students to the history, guiding principles, ethics, diversity and cultural issues as related to design, technology and interactive media. The colleges’ skills-based courses provide students with ample hands-on opportunities in the technologies and design thinking germane to digital, interactive platforms.

The program begins with foundational skills in design, production, and editing using digital tools and software. These classes provide the skill sets to create interactive experiences including websites, mobile apps, immersive environments, video games, and virtual and augmented reality. Courses offered in the School of Art and Design provide skill building and theory in audiovisual design and motion graphics, while courses offered in the Reed College of Media provide theoretical exploration and applied implementation of those skills in emergent media experiences. Students are concurrently oriented to innovation and design thinking methodologies and project management skills to create expertise in coordinating a team of diverse thinkers, from computer programmers to visual designers.

Upon completion of the Interactive Design for Media major, graduates must have attained the following;

1. Knowledge of the concepts related to the visual, spatial, sound, motion, interactive, and temporal elements/features of digital technology and principles for their use in the creation and application of digital media-based work.
2. Understanding of narrative and other information/language structures for organizing content in time-based or interactive media; the ability to organize and represent content structures in ways that are responsive to technological, social, and cultural systems.
3. Understanding of the characteristics and capabilities of various technologies (hardware and software); their appropriateness for particular expressive, functional, and strategic applications; their positions within larger contexts and systems; and their influences on individuals and society.
4. Knowledge of the processes for the development and coordination of digitally-based art and design strategies (for example, storyboarding, concept mapping, and the use of scenarios and personas).
5. Ability to analyze and synthesize relevant aspects of human interaction in various contexts (physical, cognitive, cultural, social, political, and economic) and with respect to technologically-mediated communication, objects, and environments.
6. Understanding of what is useful, usable, effective, and desirable with respect to user/ audience-centered digitally-based communication, objects, and environments.
7. Knowledge of history, theory, and criticism with respect to such areas as film, video, technology, and digital art and design.
8. Ability to work in teams and to organize collaborations among people from different disciplines.
9. Ability to use the above competencies in the creation and development of professional quality digital media productions.