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. 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 50% 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.
Visit the Earth Day Poster exhibition on the 6th Floor of Pratt Manhattan Center on 14th St! From optimism to urgency, the Earth Day Poster exhibition traces how artists and designers have visualized our relationship to the planet, shifting from celebration to warning.
In Happy Earth Day, New York (1992), Paula Scher transforms the Empire State Building into a sunflower, an emblem of a time when environmentalism felt hopeful. By contrast, Countdown to Mass Extinction (2022) by Winston Tseng grabs familiar pop imagery to expose the accelerating realities of climate collapse. Milton Glaser’s Give Earth a Chance (1970), echoing the fragile beauty of Earth from space, Seymour Chwast’s A Cloudy Morning Earth Day '95, where the gas mask becomes an unsettling everyday object, Amos Kennedy’s Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice (2018), centering environmental justice and inequality, Hans Erni’s Save Our Water (1961), an early, haunting vision of pollution’s consequences
Together, these works ask: What does Earth Day mean to you? ♻️
Organized by the School of Information Sustainability Committee.
The School of Information Health & Wellness Committee is organizing the first ever Pratt iSchool 5K on Wednesday, March 25th at 2pm. The run will start at PMC, take you a run down 14th St and Hudson River Park, loop around the Christopher St Pier, and finish back at PMC. The top three runners get a trophy and serious bragging rights. Walkers welcomed too! Link available in our bio to register.
Image: Flyer with geographic oddities created by ai.pratt.edu
It's the School of Information March '26 newsletter with a faculty expansion in the area of Creative & Critical Computing and much more! Link available in our bio.
Image: Archives & Art Making Class visit to Pratt Institute Archives, Spring 2025. Photo by Dahlia Dandashi for PComm.
The School of Information Office will be closed December 23 and will reopen on January 5th.
Pratt Manhattan Center will be open during the holidays, including Christmas and News Year’s Day.
Happy Holidays,
Anthony, Quinn, Meredith, Nene, and the SI student employees
It’s the February ’24 School of Information Newsletter with a call for presenters at InfoShow24, updates on the Mission of the School and Curriculum, Students, Alumni & Faculty news, and more: https://madmimi.com/p/ccd8c81
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