Just what is NYP IxD?

For the those of you who Googled "nyp ixd" and found yourself here, congratulation! You came to the right website, as I am from "nyp ixd" myself. Chances are you might have seen some groups of Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) students doing unusual or crazy stunt last Friday (20th November 2009) in between 10 am - 4 pm around Orchard area.

So just what is "nyp ixd"?

IxD actually means Interaction Design in short and NYP IxD is an Nanyang Polytechnic 3-year diploma course called 'Digital Media Design (Interaction Design)' which is a sister course to two other courses - 'Digital Media Design (Animation)' and 'Digital Media Design (Games)'. NYP IxD course focuses on human interaction with digital media. It is a primarily design course with elements of visual arts and programming and scripting peppered around it.

As with most polytechnic courses, this course is very hands-on, with the aim of real-life application of knowledge rather than memorizing a large amount of facts. This course is aimed at beginners of interaction design and thus, no previous knowledge or skills in design or design software (e.g. Photoshop, Dreamweaver) is required. It is also alright if you don't know how to use a computer or terrible in fine art as our lecturers believe that hard work is more important than talent (as quoted from one of my lecturer "in this course, talent is 1% while hard work and dedication is 99%").

 

As I am just a year 1 student right now, I can only tell you about the modules we learn in the first year. One academic year is made up of two semesters and each semesters there are 6 different modules to to take. The first semester is a basic introduction semester that builds your foundational skill as a designer:
- Digital Media Studies 1
- Imaging & Design Fundamental
- Color Theory
- Drawing & Illustration
- Communication Skills
- Studio Project 1

While the first semester is revolved around looking inwards (self expression) like a fine artist, the second semester is a basic introduction of designer as a profession where we create stuff not to express ourselves but for our clients:
- Digital Media Studies 2
- Typography
- User-Centered Design
- Audio Video Production
- 3D Modelling & Animation
- Studio Project 2

In my experience, the further you go into the course, the more interesting it becomes as even though the assignment will be more demanding, we will be required to do even more interesting stuff.

Not only that, unlike many other courses in NYP, our course does not have examination! But don't hold your breathe yet, as our exam is actually a big-scale project called 'Studio Project'. It is held during the examination period and last for the whole of three weeks. Studio Project requires you to use all the knowledge you gained in the other modules into this single exam module. Studio Project is great for people like me who hates having their grades be dependent solely on pen and paper.

If you want to find out even more about NYP IxD, you can check out our school's website: http://www.nyp.edu.sg/sidm/sidm.html