The Master of Science in Information Experience Design (IXD) program is an innovative blend of the information science (IS), human-computer interaction (HCI), and user experience (UX) disciplines. The IXD program educates students and prepares them for careers in the rapidly growing UX profession, which includes UX designers, information architects, interaction designers, UX researchers, usability analysts, and content strategists.
With its empathetic, research-based, and human-centered approach to technology design, the IXD program teaches students to be well-rounded UX professionals who are not just strong designers but also skilled researchers, communicators, and strategists.
The IXD program teaches students how to design understandable, useful, and engaging digital interfaces and become well-rounded UX professionals. The program is designed for people from any background; previous design or technical knowledge/experience is not a prerequisite.
The IXD program is not a UX boot camp. It is an intensive two-year graduate program where students will not only learn the knowledge and skills needed to be a UX professional, but also engage with creative, critical, and ethical challenges. Throughout their time in the program, students will create a unique and strong UX portfolio that is essential for a career as a UX professional.
For international students, please note that the IXD program is designated as a STEM program by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and thus qualifies for the STEM optional practical training (OPT) extension for F-1 students.
What will you do?
Recent job titles obtained by program graduates include:
UX/UI Designer
UX Researcher
Product Designer
UX Specialist
Information Architect
Design Researcher
Where will you work?
A selection of organizations where these graduates work:
Throughout the IXD program, students will create a digital portfolio to highlight the work they have completed and demonstrate they have met the program’s five student learning outcomes:
Research – Apply appropriate research methods to identify meaningful insights about people’s needs, behaviors, and experiences
Communication – Compose compelling narratives and convey information to diverse stakeholders using appropriate communication styles (visual, written, and/or oral)
Tools – Choose and effectively employ industry-standard software associated with all phases of the user-centered design process
Experience Design – Create quality digital interfaces through an iterative and purposeful user-centered process that incorporates relevant technical, social, and cultural factors
Ethical Practice – Construct a strong professional identity that reflects a commitment to the ethical application of design and research and critically considers their impact on individuals, communities, or ecosystems.
School of Information courses are small (average class size is 12 students) and are held at 11:30 AM, 3 PM, and 6:30 PM, with the evening session offering the most options to help accommodate students who are working during the day. 80-90% of courses are held in-person at Pratt Manhattan Center, and 10-20% are held online. Select required courses in the IXD program include:
INFO 643 Information Architecture and Interaction Design This course provides students with practical knowledge and hands-on experience designing digital interfaces from a user-centered perspective through an exploration of the dual practices of information architecture and interaction design.
INFO 644 Usability Theory and Practice Students will learn and apply usability principles and gain hands-on experience with several common usability evaluation methods, including traditional user testing and inspection- and field-based methods.
The IXD program also offers a wide-variety of elective courses. A selection of them includes:
Selecting a program concentration allows IXD students to focus their studies and build a cohesive set of knowledge and skills targeted to a specific career pathway within the User Experience (UX) profession. Students are encouraged to select a concentration early in their studies, but are also free to create their own customized study plan based on their career interests and academic goals.
Two program concentrations are available:
The Design concentration is for students interested in designing engaging and understandable digital interfaces and services. Coursework in this concentration emphasizes the full user-centered design lifecycle, from discovery research and content architecture to ideation and prototyping.
This concentration prepares students for the following types of roles:
The Research and Evaluation concentration is for students interested in understanding user needs, identifying insights to inform design decisions, and evaluating digital products. Coursework covers both qualitative and quantitative methods for gathering user feedback, assessing design quality, and measuring user engagement.
This concentration prepares students for the following types of roles:
Our faculty consists of full-time faculty, who are researchers and scholars holding doctoral degrees, and our part-time faculty, who are accomplished professionals holding a range of roles in New York City institutions and companies. Full-time faculty members act as advisors to students, help connect career goals with the program curriculum, and teach over half of the courses.
All applicants are considered for merit scholarships during review of applications; a separate scholarship application is not required. Scholarships are significant and can cover up to 80% of the cost of tuition. For students in good academic standing (i.e., if the student maintains a minimum 3.0 GPA), merit scholarships are automatically renewed for the second year of study.
Fellowships
Second-year students in the program can apply for a nine-month fellowship with a leading NYC organization. IXD students have completed fellowships at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art.
Other Support
Support for research-based scholarly and/or creative projects that enhance students’ professional development—individually or through small student teams—is available through the Graduate Student Engagement Fund (GSEF). Students can also take advantage of research opportunities working closely with individual faculty or with the team through graduate assistant funding, including at the Center for Digital Experiences.
In addition to support from the School of Information office, all students are assigned a faculty advisor upon entry, and can access a variety of services from Pratt’s Student Services division.
The School of Information meetup at the Whitney Museum of American Art (photo by Carol Choi)
The School of Information has five student groups that enrich the academic experience by organizing guest lectures, workshops, tours, site visits, and other events that will help deepen and expand your professional network. IXD students created the first student chapter of the User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA): UXPA@Pratt. Students can also form new organizations through Pratt’s Office of Student Involvement.
IXD students also participate in School of Information activities, such as the annual showcase of student work (Infoshow).
Located at the crossroads of the Greenwich Village and Chelsea neighborhoods, our home at Pratt Manhattan Center offers an excellent environment that provides easy access to all that New York City has to offer. Our specialized facilities facilitate our hands-on curriculum: from usability eye-tracking studies to archival reformatting projects and beyond. Specialized facilities designed specifically to support our IXD program include:
The User Experience Lab Participant Room is a space designed for bringing in participants for testing various interfaces, such as desktop and mobile interfaces, as well as eye-tracking studies.
Designed as a space for researchers to observe the testing activities happening in the Participant room, the Observation room is a comfortable space for IXD student researchers.
Do you love @brooklynmuseum? So do we! We are pleased to have three fellowships open now for applications at Brooklyn Museum in the area of archives, UX, and data! More information on these fellowships are available via the link in our bio.
Prof. Shruthi Chivukula hosted the workshop "Mind Tickle: Ideating UX Design Concepts," where participants worked on ways to brainstorm #UX design concepts using anchors and mindsets around design ideation. Checkout the photos here!
In our final post about the “Artists’ Archives: Rome/New York'' course @prattischool, we visited @lagallerianazionale (GNAM). Our thanks to Director Suzanne Meuer and Archivist Tina Conte for introducing us to their vast collection of bio-iconographic and personal archival materials and incredible library of artists’ books.
#artistsarchives #archividartista #prattinfoschoolinrome #RomeNewYork #VillaBorghese
Congratulations to Profs. Leanne Bowler, Irene Lopatovska and Mark Rosin (School of Liberal Arts & Sciences) - they received the Impact Award at the 2024 Pratt Research Open House. The award was received by Profs. Bowler and Rosin as pictured here with President Bronet and Vice Provost Druin. Read more about it via the link in our bio.
Current Students - we are pleased to announce that we are now accepting fellowship applications for the 2024-2025 academic year! The fellowship program supports 2-semester practicum-internships that are designed to provide students with exceptional professional-level experience in NYC's great cultural institutions. The fellowships include:
Brooklyn Museum Archives Fellowship
Brooklyn Public Library Center for Brooklyn History User Services Fellowship
Brooklyn Public Library Children's & Young Adult Services Fellowship
Franklin Furnace Fellowship
Frick Art Reference Library Fellowship
Lesbian Herstory Archives Fellowship
Metropolitan Museum Watson Library Fellowship
MoMA Archives Linked Open Data for Museums Fellowship
MoMA Library Fellowship
MoMA Product Design Fellowship
New York Public Library Digital Archives Fellowship
Pratt Center Mapping, Data Analysis & Visualization Fellowship
Whitney Museum of American Art Collections Information & Data Fellowship
Please note that the application deadline is Monday, April 15, 2024 at 5pm EST (not April 8 as indicated in the applications). For detailed fellowship descriptions, eligibility requirements, and applications, please refer to the fellowship webpage- link to it is available via our bio.
@prattischool “Artists’ Archives: Rome/New York” class visited @museomaxxi where Giulia Pedace and Giulia Cappelletti of Arte Archive Centre shared the museum’s acquisition, description, and curation process, unveiling some true archival gems along the way. A huge thank you to our hosts, Giulia & Giulia!
#artistsarchives #archividartista #prattschoolinrome #archivewalls
Students from @prattischool “Artists' Archives: Rome/New York” course led by @cpattuelli returned from their Italian spring break adventure. Stay tuned for upcoming posts detailing their site visits to the institutions that preserve Rome’s artistic legacies. A heartfelt thank you to @museomaxxi, @lagallerianazionale, @iccdfotografie, @archiviofrancoangeli and @archivio_elisabettacatalano for an unforgettable experience – grazie mille! ✨🎨🇮🇹
#artistsarchives #archividartista #prattischoolinrome
