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Discover B.S. in Human-Centered Design and Development
Designing the Future
The Human-Centered Design and Development (HCDD) bachelor's degree program will help you understand how people use technology and how to identify, design, build, and evaluate technologies to enhance people’s lives. As a student you will gain skills in three critical knowledge areas:
designing and building useful technologies to meet the needs of a rapidly evolving world
identifying opportunities to enhance experiences through technology
using quantitative and qualitative methods to identify how technology can better support human activity
"We're learning the programming, but we're also learning how to be able to articulate what we have done to those who do not necessarily understand code. I like to think of it as we are the translators."
Finding Your Fit
Human-Centered Design and Development might be the right program for you if:
you are passionate about designing and building interactive technologies
you want to design, build, and evaluate web, mobile, and other software applications
you enjoy working with people to understand how they live and how technology fits into their lives
you want to design, conduct, and interpret data from user studies
you embrace uncertainty and change, and are not afraid to fail on the path to getting things right
Developing Your Skills
In the Human-Centered Design and Development program, you will take hands-on courses to help you gain a broad expertise in the tools, methods, and concepts used to create useful software and technologies that meet users’ needs.
HCDD 264 - Design Practice in Human-Centered Design and Development
HCDD 340 - Human-Centered Design for Mobile Computing
HCDD 364W - Methods for Studying Users
IST 230 - Language, Logic, and Discrete Mathematics
IST 361 - Application Development Design Studio II
IST 411 - Distributed-Object Computing
IST 412 - The Engineering of Complex Software Systems
Application Focus Areas
Within the HCDD program, you’ll learn to apply concepts to a specific domain by choosing one of the application focus areas below or working with faculty and advisers to create your own:
Data Sciences
Digital Arts and Communication
Geographic Information Systems
Healthcare
Informatics
Psychology
Security and Risk
Sociology
Custom Application Focus
Discovering Your Path
At the College of IST, every undergraduate student is required to complete at least one internship before graduating. With more than 300 organizations actively recruiting students and a dedicated Career Solutions team, you’ll have the resources and opportunities to get your career off to a strong start.
Examples of the work done in past HCDD internships held by our students include:
researching and testing application usability for customers
creating mobile-friendly websites
modernizing an airport terminal by enhancing web and mobile developments
discovering ways to integrate virtual reality into a school’s curriculum
consulting on website and technology needs for a business incubator
working in an Agile team environment to research users and plan sprints, then working with developers to code and test various applications
Recent Graduates' Positions
Examples of positions our graduates have recently accepted include:
Application Developer
Information Architect
Instructional Designer
Mobile Application Developer
Product Designer
Systems Analyst
Usability Engineer
User Interface Developer
UX/UI Researcher
Web Application Developer
"Technology is more than just the code, and I learned that while studying HCDD. A user needs to enjoy their experience with a piece of technology if a company wants the user to continue to use it.”
