Honours Bachelor of Digital Experience Design Program Year 3 Bridge (G302)

Program Description

Program Overview

The Honours Bachelor of Digital Experience Design four-year degree program will give you the skills to tackle challenges by crafting human-centred, socially conscious, economically viable digital solutions. If you want to be a designer who shapes meaningful digital experiences for a variety of users, this program is for you.

If you apply to the May 2024/25 intake for this program, you will start in May 2025. To begin your studies in May 2024, apply to the 2023/24 academic year.

Full Description

The Honours Bachelor of Digital Experience Design four-year degree program will give you a comprehensive understanding of digital experience design, which includes related fields like service design, user experience design, and interaction design. This exciting specialty involves understanding human behaviour and human computer interaction, conducting research and usability studies, managing projects and working in teams, applying business skills, working with existing and emerging digital technologies, prototyping new ideas, and anticipating future trends.

In this program, you'll learn to analyze and adapt to the ever-changing conditions of technology and culture. Foundational courses will build your analytical, technical, and business skills. In upper-year courses and capstone projects, you'll collaborate on digital interfaces and applications, as well as interactive environments and objects.

This design degree curriculum focuses on three areas of learning based on the digital experience design process:

  • Think: design thinking, theory, culture, and research
  • Make: designing, building, and testing digital experiences
  • Ship: entrepreneurship and the commercialization of digital products

Interactive Digital Media is a growing industry that is quickly changing, driven by shifts in consumer behaviour and technology. As a graduate of this program, you'll be ready to contribute to and eventually lead interdisciplinary teams to solve problems across a variety of fields like security, transportation, education, and manufacturing. And if you want to continue your studies, you'll be prepared to pursue graduate programs in a wide range of academic disciplines.

Pathway Options

Students currently in year two or three of George Brown College’s existing three-year Interaction Design advanced diploma may be eligible for advanced entry into the Honours Bachelor of Digital Experience Design program.

Following the Winter semester (January–April), students who have successfully completed the second year of the George Brown College Interaction Design (G103/G113) advanced diploma with a GPA of 3.2 (75 per cent) or higher, or have graduated from the program with a GPA of 3.2 (75 per cent) or higher, will be eligible to complete a summer bridge program. Upon successful completion of the bridge, students will enter into semester 5 of the degree program in the Fall.

Option A:

Two years completed of Interaction Design.

+ Bridge (three courses + two Liberal Studies electives)

+ Two years of degree (18 courses plus 420 hours of co-op)

= Honours Bachelor of Digital Experience Design

Option B:

Three years completed of Interaction Design.

+ Bridge (three courses + two Liberal Studies electives)

+ Two years of degree (18 courses plus 420 hours of co-op)

= Interaction Design and Development Advanced Diploma PLUS Honours Bachelor of Digital Experience Design

Your Field Education Options

Students must complete a 420-hour paid co-op work term in the spring/summer period between the third and fourth year.

Students have the opportunity to complete this co-op domestically and/or internationally, as opportunities arise. The majority of co-op work terms are completed in the Greater Toronto Area, where the design sector is robust and the majority of interaction jobs are located.

The School of Design Field Placement team works with many notable training partners, including agencies such as Publicis, K9 Strategy + Design, Trevor/Peter and Relish Interactive; larger, well-known brands such as Nelvana (Corus Entertainment), Rogers Media, Mozilla, Crayola and PUR Gum; and a variety of industry-relevant arts and design institutions, including the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD) and Applied Arts.

The work term allows students to apply the skills, abilities and knowledge they've acquired in the program in a workplace environment or through an appropriate interaction design research project or initiative. Students gain valuable experience and the opportunity to reflect on the application of previous learning. A faculty member evaluates the student based on feedback provided by the employer.

Students will develop a digital portfolio of design artifacts completed during the co-op work term.

Career & Postgraduate Study Opportunities

Career Options

Graduates of this program will have the skills needed for roles in design and digital media studios, creative labs, in-house design, and digital departments within larger corporations across sectors. You'll also be ready to work independently, or as part of a start-up.

This program prepares graduates for positions such as:

  • digital experience designer
  • user experience designer
  • user interface designer
  • human interface designer
  • interaction designer
  • information architect
  • digital designer
  • digital product designer
  • visual designer
  • mobile designer
  • web designer
  • user experience researcher
  • usability tester
  • entrepreneur

Industry

Digital Experience Design

Digital Experience Design embeds and influences human experience through novel and interactive forms of digital technology, combining hardware, software and design. The term “experience” refers to the multifaceted interaction between humans and technology that respects the contextual and situational features of each. The future of digital design lies in understanding this interaction.

Digital Experience Design is gaining currency in the field of research and practice. IDEO, a prominent global design consultancy, lists “Digital Experiences” as one of their core areas of expertise. IDEO sees “Digital Experiences” as those in which there are no boundaries among platforms. They use hardware, software, web and mobile elements, and interactive media to develop effective means for people to share, create and communicate. Thus, Digital Experience Design is a dynamic field, continually adapting to new technologies and interfaces, such as smart devices, sensors, adaptive architectures, mixed realities (AR/VR), immersive environments, multiscreen and multisensorial displays. Digital experience design is revolutionizing how organizations serve customers and how we interact with each other and the world around us.

Interactive Digital Media (IDM)

The Canadian Interactive Alliance defines interactive digital media companies as creators of “digital content and environments that provide users with a rich interactive experience – either with content itself or with other users – for the purposes of entertainment, information, or education, or that provides services that directly enable these products/services” (2012 Canadian Interactive Industry Profile). IDM in Canada is a growing industry that is quickly changing, driven by shifts in consumer behaviour and technology. The comprehensive IDM sector includes companies that produce interactive content as well as firms that provide various types of products or services to enable the production of interactive content. These are sometimes called “core” and “peripheral” IDM. Core IDM content includes but is not limited to video and mobile games, cross-platform entertainment, web series, e-learning and training products (Interactive Digital Media, OMDC).

The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) leads North America in offering a diverse, talented pool of interactive digital media workers. The GTA has 15,000 technology companies employing more than 168,000 people, making Toronto Canada’s largest technology hub and the third largest North American centre for technology firms, in addition to being the third largest centre for design on the continent.

Educational Pathways

Students currently in year two or three of George Brown College’s existing three-year Interaction Design Advanced Diploma may be eligible for advanced entry into the Honours Bachelor of Digital Experience Design program.

Following the winter semester (January–April), students who have successfully completed the second year of the George Brown College Interaction Design (G103/G113) advanced diploma with a GPA of 3.2 (75 per cent) or higher, or have graduated from the program with a GPA of 3.2 (75 per cent) or higher, will be eligible to complete a Summer bridge program. Upon successful completion of the bridge, students will enter into semester 5 of the degree program in the fall.

Option A:

Two years completed of Interaction Design
+ Bridge (three courses + two liberal studies electives)
+ Two years of degree (18 courses plus 420 hours of co-op)
= Honours Bachelor of Digital Experience Design

Option B:

Three years completed of Interaction Design.
+ Bridge (three courses + two Liberal Studies electives)
+ Two years of degree (18 courses plus 420 hours of co-op)
= Interaction Design and Development Advanced Diploma PLUS Honours Bachelor of Digital Experience Design

For more information, contact digitalexperience@georgebrown.ca, or call 416-415-5000, ext. 3129.

Graduates of the Honours Bachelor of Digital Experience Design program may qualify to pursue further graduate studies in relevant program areas. Students should contact universities directly to explore graduate school opportunities.

Examples of potential graduate study and research areas include: design, interaction design, digital/interactive media, digital experience, human computer interaction, systems design, e-health, e-learning, game design, interactive arts and critical practice.

Alumni Impact

We are immensely proud of the contributions of our alumni in Toronto and around the globe.
 
From Michelin-starred restaurants to major construction, entertainment, community and financial organizations, our graduates are truly making an impact across a range of industries.

Latest alumni stories 

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