Minor in Interaction Design

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Design Innovative, Interactive Experiences

EWU’s Interaction Design Minor combines creativity, technology, and emerging AI tools to help you create digital experiences that people love.

You’ll get hands-on experience designing and building projects across multiple platforms, including dynamic websites, mobile apps, augmented and virtual reality experiences, interactive data visualizations, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. As you progress through the program, you’ll also engage with generative AI assistants and multimodal applications, learning how to integrate AI outputs into real-world design workflows while staying in control of the creative process.

In this program, you’ll:

  • Work on real-world projects that build your skills and confidence.
  • Learn modern front-end development using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
  • Apply UX principles to design intuitive, user-friendly interfaces.
  • Master tools, workflows, and design systems used by industry pros.
  • Critically integrate AI-assisted tools such as Gemini Code Assist, GitHub Copilot, and Jules to accelerate coding, support design exploration, and evaluate ethical implications.

By the time you graduate, you’ll have a professional portfolio filled with high-fidelity prototypes, AI-augmented designs, and production-ready code—demonstrating your ability to bridge the gap between design and engineering.

This minor prepares you for in-demand hybrid roles such as Design Engineer, UI Engineer, or Design Technologist, where your creative vision and technical expertise—combined with your ability to collaborate with AI—set you apart in the job market.

Curriculum & Requirements

What You'll Learn

The following information comes from the official EWU catalog, which outlines all degree requirements and serves as the guide to earning a degree. Courses are designed to provide a well-rounded and versatile degree, covering a wide range of subject areas.

Interaction Design Minor

The Interaction Design Minor offers students a foundation in interaction design, front-end web development, and UX design. Students learn a full web stack — from HTML, CSS, and JavaScript through animation, component-based systems, and REST APIs — and apply UX practices to design intuitive, accessible experiences for digital products and services. Students build a portfolio bridging design and engineering, from high-fidelity prototypes to production-ready code, preparing them for roles such as Web Designer, UX Designer, UI Engineer, Design Engineer, and Design Technologist.

Note: To receive the minor, students must successfully complete each of the required courses.

Grade Requirements: Students must earn a GPA ≥2.5 in minor coursework.

Required Courses
DESN 348USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN 25
DESN 369WEB DEVELOPMENT 15
DESN 378WEB DESIGN + CODE 25
DESN 379WEB DEVELOPMENT 25
DESN 458USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN 35
DESN 468WEB DESIGN + CODE 35
Total Credits30

Students who earn an Interaction Design Minor from EWU should be able to:

  • apply foundational web design and development principles—creating responsive, front-end web applications using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and modern web technologies;
  • design user-centered digital experiences—conducting user research, testing, and refining prototypes to ensure intuitive and accessible interfaces;
  • solve real-world design challenges—utilizing design thinking and problem-solving techniques to create innovative, practical solutions for web and user experience design;
  • collaborate and communicate effectively—working with diverse teams to address design problems and present their work through professional portfolios and UX presentations;
  • design and build responsive, interactive web applications by applying core front-end technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), UI design patterns, templating systems, and modern development workflows, including version control and automated deployment;
  • develop and integrate full-stack components using JavaScript frameworks, REST APIs, databases, component-based architectures, and performance-oriented best practices to deliver dynamic, production-quality web experiences.