A student at a desk designing how a mobile app moves from one screen to the next. The monitor shows phone layouts joined by arrows, with teal headphones and an interaction design textbook beside the keyboard.

DEGREE GUIDE

Interaction Design

What do Interaction Design Degrees involve?

Interaction Design degrees teach you how to design digital products, services, and experiences that work well for the people using them. You will learn how to research and understand user needs, design interfaces for websites, apps, and other digital platforms, and test your ideas through prototyping and user feedback. These courses combine creative design skills with an understanding of human behaviour and technology, drawing on areas such as user experience (UX) design, user interface (UI) design, information architecture, and service design. You will develop practical skills in wireframing, prototyping tools, and some front-end coding, alongside visual design and design thinking methodology. Most programmes include live industry briefs and placement opportunities. By the final year, you will build a professional portfolio of resolved design projects. These degrees suit students who are interested in how people interact with technology and want to make digital experiences more intuitive, accessible, and enjoyable.

Example
Modules

Introduction to UX Design: Explore the fundamentals of user experience design, learning how to identify user needs, define design problems, and develop solutions through a human-centred process.

Visual Interface Design: Learn the principles of designing digital interfaces, including layout, typography, colour, and visual hierarchy, creating designs that are clear, usable, and visually engaging.

User Research Methods: Develop skills in qualitative and quantitative research techniques such as interviews, surveys, usability testing, and observation to understand how people interact with products.

Common Degree Names

💼 Placement years and industry projects are widely available, with students working in design agencies, tech companies, and in-house digital teams.

🌍 Some universities offer study abroad opportunities or collaborations with international design partners.

BA (Hons) Interaction Design
BA (Hons) User Experience Design
BSc (Hons) User Experience Design
BA (Hons) UX/UI Design
BA (Hons) Interaction Design Arts

A close, top-down view of a desk where an app is being designed by hand. A paper phone with a sketched screen sits in the middle, surrounded by more sketched layouts, teal marker pens, a craft knife and paper offcuts.

Level 3 (A-level / IB Diploma (HL) / Scottish Highers)

Interaction Design sits between creative design and technology, so universities accept students from a range of subject backgrounds. A portfolio or evidence of creative and digital skills usually matters more than specific subjects. Admissions teams want to see that you can think visually, understand how people use technology, and have an interest in designing digital experiences.

Subjects that strengthen your application:

Art, Art & Design, or Graphics — demonstrate visual awareness and creative development, which are valuable for interface and interaction design
IT, Computing, or Computer Science — show an aptitude for working with digital tools and technology, which underpins much of the degree
Media Studies or Film — useful for understanding digital communication, storytelling, and how audiences engage with content
Design & Technology or Product Design — show hands-on design problem-solving skills
English, Psychology, or Sociology — helpful because Interaction Design involves understanding people, language, and behaviour

✨ Many Interaction Design courses have no strict subject requirements, so a strong portfolio or evidence of digital and creative interest can carry significant weight. A Foundation Diploma in Art & Design is accepted and recommended if you haven't studied creative subjects.

Universities may also accept:

BTEC Extended Diplomas in Art and Design, IT and Computing, or Creative Media — widely accepted and directly relevant
BTEC National Extended Certificates or National Diplomas alongside relevant A-level subjects
T Levels in Digital Production, Design and Development — increasingly accepted and directly aligned with this degree area
UAL Foundation Diploma in Art and Design — accepted at UAL and many other universities
IB Career-related Programme (IBCP) with at least two IB Higher Level subjects (ideally three) alongside your Career-Related Study; a digital, design, or media pathway would be directly relevant

Portfolio and interview requirements vary between universities. Some focus on digital work, others welcome a broader creative portfolio.

Level 2 Qualifications (GCSE / MYP / National 5)

Most courses ask for:

GCSE English Language and Maths at grade 4/C or above, or equivalent such as National 5s or MYP

📘 GCSEs (or equivalent) in Art, Computing, IT, or Design & Technology can be helpful for building early skills, but they are not essential for most Interaction Design applications.

🔍 Work Experience

You don't need work experience to apply for Interaction Design. If you're looking for practical ways to explore the field, designing and prototyping your own app or website — even a simple one — is the most valuable thing you can do. Testing it with real users and iterating based on their feedback teaches you the core of what this subject involves. If you have a school placement to fill, a design agency, tech company, or any organisation with a digital product gives you useful context.

✨ Personal Statement Tips

What interests you about how people interact with technology and designed experiences? Interaction design focuses on how users navigate apps, websites, products, and digital services — it's about understanding people's behaviour and designing interfaces and experiences that feel intuitive and satisfying. If you've thought about why some apps are a pleasure to use while others are frustrating, noticed how design choices affect the way people behave, or experimented with prototyping, wireframing, or user testing, reflect on what you discovered. You don't need coding experience, but showing you've thought critically about how design and technology meet — perhaps by analysing products you use, following UX design discussions, or exploring how accessibility and inclusion shape good interaction design — demonstrates the kind of curiosity admissions tutors are looking for. This is about designing for people, so show you're interested in understanding how they think and behave, not just in making things look good.

If your qualifications don't match the usual entry requirements, there are some other possibilities.

🌱 Foundation Diploma in Art & Design

A common route into Interaction Design degrees. This one-year course helps you develop your portfolio and explore creative and digital disciplines before applying for the full degree.

🎓 Access to HE Diploma (Art & Design, Digital Media or Computing)

Accepted by universities offering Interaction Design. A portfolio will usually be expected alongside the academic qualification, so check individual course requirements.

💼 Level 3 Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships such as Content Creator or Digital Support Technician carry UCAS tariff points from 2026 and can support a university application. Interaction Design degrees are typically offered by creative arts universities with flexible admissions policies.

Is this degree right for you?

Members can explore whether this degree fits who they are:

Skills you'd develop and whether they match your strengths
How this aligns with your interests, motivators and values
Career paths and where graduates end up

Start Your Journey → £3 a month

Full access to all self-discovery tools and guides. Cancel anytime.

Skills you would develop in X degree

Skill Name

Context sentence

Heading 6

I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.

Heading 6

I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.

custom skills note goes here

Is this a good fit for you?

Use the tabs to explore the kind of person that this would be a good fit for. Do you share the Interests, Motivations, Values, Work identity and skills that people who thrive in this course tend to have?

Not sure what these things are? Explore your Identity Tree with us first.

Interests that connect well with an Interaction Design degree

Students who enjoy this degree often share these interests. You don't need to feel strongly about all of them, and interests develop over time. If one or two catch your curiosity, or sound like something you'd like to know more about, that's a good sign.

Games, Apps & Interactive Design: Interaction Design is about shaping how digital products feel to use. You'll learn to research users deeply, design interfaces and interactions across apps, websites and services, and refine everything through prototyping cycles until it works for the people it's built for.

The Mind & Human Behaviour: Understanding users sits at the core of Interaction Design. You'll study how people perceive, think and make decisions when using digital products, learning user research methods, cognitive load, mental models and behavioural patterns as the foundation for every design choice you make.

Students who thrive in an Interaction Design degree are often motivated by

Engaging with People and Cultures

You're energised by working closely with people to understand what's really going on for them: talking, listening, asking questions, spending time, picking up on what isn't being said directly. That might be interviewing someone for a piece of research, sitting with a client who's trying to work something out, exploring a community you've not been part of, or working alongside people from a different culture. The energy comes from the engagement itself, not just from reading or thinking about people.

Sharing Your Work with Others

You take pride in showing what you've created to others, whether that's exhibiting artwork, demonstrating an invention, publishing writing, or presenting project results. The moment when someone else experiences or responds to your work gives you a buzz. You create with an audience in mind, even if that audience is small.

Practical Problem-Solving

You're energised by finding fixes to real-life issues, whether they're mechanical, technological, or social. You're motivated by problems you can see, touch, or experience directly, and you get satisfaction from solutions that work in practice, not just in theory. You'd rather build a prototype than write a report about one.

Creativity and Innovation

You're energised by the act of creating something new or finding a fresh way to approach a problem. Whether it's designing, writing, building, or experimenting, you feel most alive when you're generating original ideas rather than following established methods. The possibility that something has never been done before excites rather than intimidates you.

Making and Crafting

You love hands-on work: building, shaping, or creating physical objects. Whether it's working with tools, materials, or your own hands, you're happiest when you can see and touch what you've made. The process of turning raw materials into something finished gives you a deep sense of satisfaction, and you'd rather make something than just talk about it.

What makes Interaction Design click for the students who love it?

They care more about how a thing feels to use than how it looks: an app that fights the person using it versus one that gets out of the way. Watching someone struggle with it tells them more than guessing ever could, because the answer is written on that person's face. They like the hands-on side, building prototypes and dreaming up new ways for something to respond to a touch. And they find satisfaction in handing the finished thing to someone new and watching them fly through what used to trip people up.

These are the skills that students who love this degree tend to enjoy using. You don't need to be great at them already, but if they sound like you, that's a good sign.

Skill Name

Skills that suit this degree

You don't need to be great at these already — but if you enjoy using them or want to get better at them, that's a good sign.

Do you find yourself noticing when an app or website is confusing to use — and thinking about how you'd redesign it to make it better?
Do you like the process of trying something, testing it, getting feedback, and then improving it — working through a problem step by step until it clicks?
Do you enjoy learning new digital tools and software — and get a buzz from figuring out what they can do and how to use them creatively?
Do you find it interesting to watch how people actually use things — and want to understand why they get stuck or what makes something feel easy?
Does it appeal to you to sketch out ideas for how something digital could look and work — even if it's just rough wireframes on paper?

Careers an Interaction Design degree could lead you to

Interaction Design

What do Interaction Design Degrees involve?

Example Modules

Common Degree Names

Is this degree right for you?

Skills you would develop in X degree

Skill Name

Heading 6

Heading 6

Is this a good fit for you?

Careers an Interaction Design degree could lead you to

Example
Modules