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  1. Lecture: “The Urbanists,” January 14

    Join us for our January lecture, featuring four speakers giving four talks in forty minutes. This month’s topic:

    “The Urbanists”
    New forms of public space are emerging. Through an exploration of new definitions of urban environments, our four lecturers will examine the time when public space is more personal, ubiquitous computing is allowing cities to have an impact on users’ experiences, and the design of services can truly be vibrant and meaningful. As inhabitants of a city, these things are often invisible in the way we craft experiences. Learn from four practitioners how to be more aware and discerning of their presence around us.

    Speakers

    • Adam Greenfield, head of design direction at Nokia and author of the forthcoming The City Is Here For You To Use
    • Soo-in Yang, Founder and principal of The Living, adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture
    • Rachel Abrams, Creative Director, Turnstone Consulting LLC, and forthcoming faculty member, MFA Interaction Design
    • Phil Kline, Composer and Public Sound Artist

    Details
    Wednesday, January 14
    6:30-8:30PM (THIS FREE EVENT HAS BEEN “SOLD OUT”)
    White Rabbit
    145 E Houston Street (View Map)

    Event Partner Select attendees will receive complimentary notebooks from the venerable Field Notes, because “I’m not writing it down to remember it later, I’m writing it down to remember now.” More at Field Notes.

    About the Lecture Series The “Dot Dot Dot” Lecture Series is meant for broad explorations of interaction design, business, and aesthetic inspiration. Practitioners and thought leaders give short talks in an informal setting. Wisdom will be revealed and methods will be shared in a environment intended to satisfy both social and scholarly pursuits.

    About MFA in Interaction Design The MFA in Interaction Design program trains students to research, analyze, prototype, and design concepts in their business, social, and cultural contexts. Today, business success depends on the presence of a well-designed, engaging experience, and the new MFA in Interaction Design program explores the strategic role of interaction design in shaping everyday life.

  2. Tamara Giltsoff on PSFK’s “Think About Forever” Panel

    Forthcoming faculty member, Tamara Giltsoff, will be sitting on a panel on December 16 titled, “Think About Forever,” a discussion about long-term business thinking and a new paradigm of prosperity emerging out of these interesting times. Good Idea Salons are part of PSFK’s Good Ideas initiative, a campaign of positivity in a time when we need a little. The session will begin with a thought starter given by PSFK; followed by the panel discussion; and the session will end with PSFK writers will recall their Good Ideas for the Future from their writing this year.

    EXPERT PANEL

    • Tamara Giltsoff
    • Bart Haney, fuseproject
    • Danielle Sacks, Fast Company
    • Polly LaBarre

    DETAILS

    • Doors open: 6.30PM - wine and bubbles provided
    • Good Ideas For 2009: Discussion: 7PM
    • PSFK End of Year Party: 8PM onwards

    Tamara will be teaching “Designing for Good” in the Interaction Design program. Find out more about the curriculum or see a list of all first-year courses.

    More information and to register

     

     

  3. Application Timeline: Deadline and Rolling Admissions

    The preliminary deadline for applications is fast approaching on January 15, 2009. While this is a suggested deadline, we will continue to accept applications on a rolling admissions basis throughout 2009 until all spaces have been filled for the program.

    Prospective students can expect the following timeline from January through April:

    • January 1, 2009 Reminder for prospective students interested in pursuing financial aid; fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
    • January 15, 2009 Early application deadline for prospective students.
    • February 23, 2009 Applicants who applied by January 15 receive notification about coming in for a personal interview. (Admittance to the program requires a personal interview. Prospective students living beyond a 1,000-mile radius of New York City may request a telephone interview instead.)
    • February 24 - March 6, 2009 Personal interviews for the program.
    • April 1, 2009 Applicants who applied by January 15 receive a decision in writing from SVA.
    • Ongoing throughout 2009 Applications will continue to be accepted on a rolling admissions basis.

    The department is happy to advise students in preparing your application counsel you in preparing your portfolio. Contact the department to set up an appointment.

    To find out more about the application requirements or go directly to the application here. If you have questions, or want to stop by for a tour or a talk, drop a line to Mary Jeys, Assistant to the Chair, at interactiondesign at sva dot edu or 212.592.2561.

  4. Two Recent Faculty Additions: Wright and Hodgson

    We are pleased to announce two exciting additions to the Interaction Design faculty roster:

    Alex Wright, Director of User Experience Research, The New York Times and author of Glut: Mastering Information Through the Ages will join us in 2010. Alex spent five years working as an independent researcher, writer and designer for clients including Yahoo!, AOL, Microsoft, Macromedia, frog design, The Internet Archive, and The Long Now Foundation. Previously, he held positions as VP of User Experience at Phoenix Pop and Senior Manager of User Experience at IBM. Alex’s work has won numerous industry awards, including a Webby nomination, Cool Site of the Year award and an American Graphic Design Award. He writes regularly about technology and design at www.alexwright.org. Students will encounter Alex as a professor when he teaches Research Methods in the first year of the program.

    Rebekah Hodgson, Senior Interface Designer, Etsy comes to us with a wide range of experience building community sites for everyday users. Rebekah has led teams for various companies in the development of visual and interactive systems that inspire. Most notably, Rebekah led UX and visual design at Blurb, a self-publishing company based in San Francisco, where she designed the award winning e-commerce site. We look forward to seeing what she inspires her students to create in her course, Entrepreneurial Design.

    See descriptions of all courses in the program.

  5. Preparing Applications for Fall 2009

    The Interaction Design department is available for portfolio consultation. If you’d like advice on how you’re constructing your individual portfolios, you can get in touch with the department to set up an appointment.

    Over at the industrial design magazine Core 77, they’ve put together some tips on preparing a graduate application and portfolio: “Assembling a Competitive Application for Graduate Studies,” By Niti Bhan, and “Portfolio Preparation Tips and Suggestions,” By Stu Constantine.

    Prospective students can apply online through January 15, 2009, although the department will continue to take applications on a rolling admissions basis until spaces are filled.

    Find out more about the application requirements or go directly to the application here. If you have questions, or want to stop by for a tour or a talk, drop a line to Mary Jeys, Assistant to the Chair, at interactiondesign at sva dot edu or 212.592.2561.