This course covers a broad timeline from the age when humans first used tools to augment their abilities, to our contemporary use to as far into the future as we dare to look. Interaction design wasn’t invented from scratch or developed as a self-contained practice. Our practice emerged out of the intersection and integration of a number of disciplines from within design (graphic design, industrial design, game design), social sciences (anthropology, psychology, human factors), but also from printing & communication, architecture, computer science and beyond. There are many different definitions of what it is and through the History of Interaction Design course, students explore key moments along some of these disciplines that have come together to make this field. This course highlights key figures, well known and lesser known, as well as key moments in time that are major points of change and integration of practices. Students are asked to seek out underrepresented and marginalized voices that are often left out of the mainstream history books and to consider how designers, artists and authors envision the future of interaction through analysis of past design work, exploring technology through science fiction and speculative futures design. Through readings, videos, and their own writings, students explore their own perceptions of these moments and begin developing their own unique voice as an interaction designer placed within this interesting and dynamic lineage.

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