XD 225 Designing Experiences (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 101, EMS 101L, EMS 102, EMS 102L, EXP 101, EXP 101L, EXP 102, or EXP 102L
Life is about having experiences. You can think of your first day of college, a concert you attended, a sporting event, an ad campaign that went viral, or a vacation you took, among endless others. From the transformational to the mundane, we are constantly met with different types of experiences that can impact our lives in various ways. We can have effortless experiences that make things easy, or experiences that change who we are as people. Each has a place, and we need to know how to create both. This course explores the nature of experiences, how we perceive them individually and socially, and how they can be intentionally designed. We will examine from an interdisciplinary perspective to understand how we can craft experiences across industries and domains. Students will leave with a better understanding of experience design, along with how this can be applied to any areas of interest.
Typically Offered: Fall and Spring
XD 230 Content Strategy (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
If information is the commodity of the information age, effective content is the key to building value for organization. This course teaches the basics of content strategy about business and technical subjects. Students will embrace traditional, digital, social communication channels and content creation techniques for a variety of industries including fashion, health, and sports. In the process, students will be introduced to the profession and learn how to sharpen their writing, design, and communication skills.
Typically Offered: Once a year
XD 240 Fundamentals of Design (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
The world is dominated by visual images, and Fundamentals of Visual Communication will explore how to choose and present them in clear, effective ways across multiple forms of creative communication. You will build your visual literacy as you learn about typography, color, layout, images, and symbols, and learn to master principles such as image design, visual messaging, alignment, and balance. You will get an insider's look at how design systems work to unite brand identity concepts and how multi-piece projects facilitate successful communication for users and audiences. Course projects will teach the importance of creative problem-solving for UX, web, print, brand identity, wayfinding iconography, social media packages, PR campaigns, product design and prototyping, and digital design layouts for mobile Apps. This course will help you apply your creative and analytical skills, and individual passions and interests, to work that informs, connects, and entertains audiences across media.
Typically Offered: Fall and Spring
XD 250 Public Relations Theory and Practice (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
This course consists of a survey of the main sectors of public relations activity, from marketing to issues management to crisis communications. Students explore real public relations problems including some still in progress with both a domestic and international perspective. They also survey the ethical challenges faced in this profoundly influential field, and prepare recommendations and pitch proposals on behalf of a specific organization.
Typically Offered: Fall and Spring
XD 255 Public Relations Writing (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
At the heart of effective public relations lies effective writing. This course introduces students to the main areas of public relations writing: news releases, mission statements, public affairs announcements, articles, profiles, brochures, flyers, in-house public relations, and the construction of a media information pack for a specific organization.
Typically Offered: Fall and Spring
XD 298 Experimental Course in XD (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
Experimental courses explore curriculum development, with specific content intended for evolution into a permanent course. A topic may be offered twice before it becomes a permanent course. Students may repeat experimental courses with a different topic for credit.
Typically Offered: As needed
XD 320 Managerial Communication (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
This course approaches effective communication both as an essential personal-professional skill and as an important function of management. It also discusses the elements of communication (argumentation, structure, style, tone and visual appeal) and presents techniques for increasing effectiveness in each area. Students read, discuss and write about cases based on tasks that managers commonly face, such as explaining changes in policy, writing performance evaluations, analyzing survey results, and communicating with employees, shareholders, the press, and the public.
Typically Offered: Fall and Spring
XD 340 Advanced Visual Communication (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
IDCC 240/XD 240 is highly recommended.
This course prepares students to apply design methods and tools to professional communication projects. Building on the discussions of typography, color, layout, images and symbols in Fundamentals of Visual Communication (IDCC 240/XD 240), this course explores how to integrate their use and apply them to complex communication projects. Working in teams on projects for real clients, students will use design methodology to identify their needs and project constraints. Students will also develop a visual identity, estimate the budget, set the schedule for the project, and produce design copy suitable for delivery through multiple channels.
Typically Offered: Once a year
XD 345 Environmental Graphic Design (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
Wayfinding is behavior, and it means knowing where you are, knowing your destination, following the best route to your destination, recognizing your destination when you arrive, and being able to reverse the whole process and finding your way back out. Wayfinding design systems are used internationally for exterior and interior environments. Usually these communication systems incorporate signs, symbols and pictograms to assist and guide visitors, tourists and consumers to find what they are looking for in museums, airports, train stations, zoos, brick and mortar retail environments, and city centers. This course serves as an introduction to the Environmental Graphic Design discipline through lectures, and assigned projects. Examples of Environmental Graphic Design include wayfinding systems, architectural graphics, signage, interpretive graphics, exhibit design, identity graphics, pictogram design, retail and store design, mapping and themed environments.
Typically Offered: Every two or more years
XD 355 Global Public Relations (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
Digital Public relations introduces students to the tools, critical thinking, and skills needed to manage and exploit information technology in public relations. Whether promoting a product or controlling a rumor, digital media plays an important role in public relations strategy. Digital media provides an immediate means of dialogue, criticism, and persuasion among companies and their internal and external audiences. The explosion of digital media presents new opportunities for companies to deliver key messages about their products, services, activities, and reputation.
Typically Offered: Fall
XD 360 Digital Public Relations (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
Typically Offered: Spring
XD 361 Sports Public Relations (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
Sports are important socially and economically, globally and locally. Businesses, teams, athletes, nonprofit organizations and governments turn to public relations in order to maximize the benefits of sports whether promoting a particular sport or team, or a city or nation bidding to attract a major sporting event such as the Olympics. The ramifications of sport are felt politically, economically and socially, and this means that public relations practitioners are deeply involved with the sports business. In this course, you will explore the main publicity techniques used by the main stakeholders in the sports business, whether they are promoting a team, sport, athlete, location or corporate involvement. Students will also learn how sports public relations goes beyond traditional media relations to include specialist activities like issues and crisis management, reputation management, community relations and emerging technology.
Typically Offered: Once a year
XD 365 Crisis Communication and Management (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
Crises are an increasing fact of corporate life. Disasters, scandals, and rumors and are forcing corporations, governments, and nonprofits to reevaluate their approach to communication, both nationally and internationally. Today's public relations professionals need to be familiar with various crisis types and understand the impact of these crises. Shortening time frames, globalization, outsourced activities, and social media complicate the task of rescuing an organization thrown into the public spotlight. The escalation of uncertainty into crisis occurs more rapidly, with less time for stricken organizations to gain control of the turbulent crisis environment. This course helps students develop skills in crisis planning and responding through theory application, in-class discussions, case studies, development of crisis communication plans, and simulations.
Typically Offered: Fall and Spring
XD 370 Web Design I: Information Design, Principles and Practices (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
This course introduces best practices in user experience and user interface design through hands-on project work in responsive web design and mobile app design. Students will address business goals, audience needs, content strategy, navigation, usability, and accessibility in the design of digital experiences. Through group and individual assignments, students will learn the fundamentals of user experience design: creating experiences that are useful, usable, and desirable.
Typically Offered: Fall and Spring
XD 375 User Interface Design (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
Everything we interact with has a user interface, from newspapers and grocery stores to cell phones and websites. Designing such a user interface is an important and difficult process, which students will learn and practice with hands-on activities. Understanding how to approach a design problem also helps with doing research for almost any ill-defined problem as real-world problems often are. More concretely, students will learn and practice, among other things, how to brainstorm, do a contextual inquiry, iteratively approach an ill-defined problem, come up with and evaluate alternative solutions, and build models.
Typically Offered: Fall
XD 376 Concept Development (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
XD 376 Concept Development is designed to teach concept development skills for visual communication solutions. Students will learn creative brainstorming techniques. Every project starts with a creative idea. Where do these ideas come from? How do you form a visual concept? The course structure will concentrate on the essential skills necessary to understand how visual communication design is important in all areas of business best practices, that includes marketing, advertising and promotion. The course will teach real-world application skills to be able to develop concepts and actual finished visual communication design projects. The student will also learn the importance and proper use of client brand identity. The skills learned in this course will allow the student to evaluate and critique professional visual communication materials to determine that the design is the best solution for the client’s message.
Typically Offered: Once a year
XD 380 Web Design II: Information Architecture and Site Management (3 credits)
Pre-Req: XD 370 or IDCC 370
This course develops the generally accepted concepts and applications of information architecture, human factors, and usability in creating and managing websites. Topics include page layout and design, navigation systems, interface design, web graphics and multimedia, interactivity, writing for the web, site architecture, management and maintenance. The projects focus on a continued understanding of client brand identity. Students will work with professional design tools to create essential site elements. By the end of the course, students will design and create web user experience based on mobile application design, creating interactive prototypes based on smart design and organized wireframe mock-ups.
Typically Offered: Once a year
XD 385 Elements of Usability and User Experience (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
In this course, students will learn how people interact with different interfaces, how people think and reason about interfaces, how they remember how to use interfaces, how to use interfaces to make decisions, and what makes people trust systems or have fun with them. This requires that the students gain knowledge of the human cognitive processes, from perception to action, and learn about human cognitive and physical limitations and strengths. Students will undertake a thorough user analysis, including scenario writing and persona creation. Finally, students will plan and conduct a usability and user experience evaluation.
Typically Offered: Spring
XD 386 Investigations in Experience Design (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
The study of experience design requires a deep understanding of the people whose experience we aim to shape through design and communication. To understand those varied populations, research is needed to address an array of questions. This course introduces research methods, to evaluate designs and the impact of strategic communication by focusing on fundamental research concepts and methods, emphasizing experiential learning, the scientific process, and the role of research in designing appropriate experiences. This course provides students with an understanding of the range of research methods available and how to apply them to questions such as "are touchscreens safe in cars" or "does a specific message of an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) campaign resonate with teenagers." Specific topics covered include basic research principles, experimental design, data collection from various sources, quantitative and qualitative methods, and ethical issues, including bias in data coll
Typically Offered: Fall and Spring
XD 390 Selected Topics in Experience Design (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L.
This course discusses current topics in experience design based on readings in the professional literature and assigned texts. This course examines a different topic each semester offered. Students undertake individual or group research projects. (Allows repetition for credit.)
Typically Offered: As needed
XD 399 Experimental course in XD (3 credits)
Pre-Req: (EXP 101, EXP 101L, EXP 102 or EXP 102L) or [IDCC 225 and (EMS 104 or EMS 105)]
Experimental courses explore curriculum development, with specific content intended for evolution into a permanent course. A topic may be offered twice before it becomes a permanent course. Students may repeat experimental courses for with a different topic for credit.
Typically Offered: As needed
XD 401 Directed Study in Experience Design (3 credits)
Pre-Req: Instructor permission
Permits superior students to study special topics in experience design. (Allows repetition for credit.)
Typically Offered: As needed
XD 411 Research in Experience Design (3 credits)
Pre-Req: EMS 104, EMS 105, EXP 201, EXP 201L, EXP 202 or EXP 202L
and instructor permission
Requires students to select, in consultation with the departmental adviser, a topic related to experience design; to undertake both bibliographical and field research, as appropriate; and to prepare and submit for approval a substantial documented report.
Typically Offered: As needed
XD 421 Internship in Experience Design (3 credits)
Pre-Req: Internship coordinator permission
The course introduces students to the real world of design and research related to products, interfaces, and services in the industry or other professional organizations. The internship is both task- and research-oriented, emphasizing the practical aspects of user or customer research, prototyping, testing, and stakeholder communication. During the semester internship, the direct supervisor and the faculty coordinator monitor the intern's progress jointly.
Typically Offered: Fall and Spring
XD 422 Internship in Public Relations (3 credits)
The course introduces students to practical, hands-on field engagement in the experience design or public relations industry. The course emphasizes skill-building and technical expertise in an array of design, writing, and media-related activities. The internship is task-oriented, allowing students to increase their professional network and strengthen their resumes. During the semester internship, the direct supervisor and the faculty coordinator monitor the intern's progress jointly.
Typically Offered: As needed
XD 444 Faculty-Led Study Abroad (3 credits)
Faculty-led international courses are 3-credit intensive study abroad experiences offered during semester breaks, usually 10 to 15 days in length during January break, Spring break (as part of a Spring semester course), or in May after exams. The professor leads his/her students on an immersive learning experience in a region of the world where the professor has expertise, offering students the opportunity to combine cultural activities with business, NGO, or other relevant site visits. Students benefit from personal interactions with companies and organizations they would not encounter as a tourist.
The intensive format allows students to study abroad without missing a semester at Bentley.
Please visit https://www.bentley.edu/offices/international-education to learn more.
Typically Offered: As needed