Course Title: Master of Science in Creative Digital Media (Creative Digital Media and UX)
**CONVERSION COURSE***
Honours bachelor degree (2.2 grade or higher) in any discipline relevant to multimedia authoring, design, production, architecture, humanities or computer science.
Please provide a Statement of Purpose with your application, in which you can include your reasons for applying to TU294, how this course will fit with your future plans, and anything else that will help us understand you and your journey into postgraduate education at TU Dublin.
Due to the considerable competition for this course, satisfying the minimum entry requirement is not a guarantee of a place.
Selection may be by interview.
If English is not your first language you will need to provide evidence of your English language proficiency as detailed on our website. Applicants for this course should have a minimum IELTS (Academic Version) English Proficiency of 7 overall (or equivalent) with nothing less than 6.5 in each component.
The MSc in Creative Digital Media & UX is a taught conversion Masters course run by the School of Media at TU Dublin, City Campus. The course provides a thorough grounding in the core skills and knowledge of digital media technologies and offers specialist production techniques that equip graduates with a valuable set of technical and design skills that remain highly relevant to a range digital media industries.
The course is designed to advance students' employment potential and addresses the specific needs of employment in the digital media industry. It is also suitable as a foundation for pursuing a career in digital media research.
A fundamental benefit of this programme is the exposure students receive to multiple rounds of design, production and testing cycles in both the taught elements and in the self-realised Major Project. These hands-on experiences in design thinking result in the students producing functional apps that are pragmatic, grounded and user oriented from the outset.
Step changes in the understanding of UX occur for our students as they progress from making sketched designs, through small functional mobile apps/games, to testing fully-functional data-connected interactive apps on users own devices.
Meeting, understanding and designing to solve real-world development challenges give our graduates the skills to join design and development teams in a variety of roles and the confidence to lead end-to-end UX solutions for their products.
Graduates of the programme can pursue careers as:
- Web and content designers and developers,
- iPhone, Android, mobile application designers,
- AR/VR designers and developers,
- UX designers,
- Project managers,
- Digital media consultants,
- Media analysts and content creators.
Over the course of the programme, students will develop novel digital media content, for mobile and tablet devices. With the range of multi-disciplinary talent within the class, graduates will find themselves working with others on new and innovative ideas that will broaden their skill set across a number of areas such as:
- Creative Digital Media
- Mobile and Tablet Application Design
- Interaction Design
- Mobile and Web Applications
- Information Design
- AR/VR Design and Development
Our graduates are working at wide range of companies including:
- Avanade
- Cenitex
- Deloitte Digital
- Elsevier
- IBM
- JP Morgan
- Merative
- Udemy
- Unity
The course is taught over three semesters and there is an expectation that students will engage in self-directed work on their Major Project over the summer between semesters 2 and 3.
Semester 1
Semester 1 is comprised of core modules for all students in the areas of software development, graphic design and production design. Certain modules may be added, changed, removed or updated depending on resources and industry demand.
- Authoring Principles
- Design Practice
- VR & AR Applications
- Ludology & Gameplay
- Production & Prototyping
Semester 2
The semester 2 modules extend student learning toward the skills and understanding needed to plan and develop a major project. As above, this module pool may be altered year by year.
- Project Development & UX Treatment
- Social Media Applications
- User Interaction Design
Semester 3
Though Semester 3 begins in September we find the most successful students will have used the summer break to gain technical competence with their chosen development platform. That done, those students are better placed to make the most of the supervision meetings in semester 3, and are able to actively tune their artefact based on user feedback and UX best practice.
- Major Project and Report
- Supervision
This full-time course is offered over 3 semesters (taking about 16 months) starting in September of each year and ending in December of the following year. Applicants for this session are likely to see this approximate schedule:
Semester 1 - Taught elements beginning in Sep 2024
Semester 2 - Taught elements beginning in Jan 2025
Summer of 2025 - Self-directed technical competence for major project
Semester 3 - Supervised completion of major project beginning in Sep 2025
Submission of Major Project in Nov-Dec 2025
Applications for this course are now open.
Apply Online – FULL TIME NON-EU SEPTEMBER START
Apply Online – FULL TIME EU SEPTEMBER START
We review applications in order of complete applications made. Places are offered to successful applicants. Conditional offers and requests for further information are also sent out to applicants who have not yet met the full requirements.
For non-EU applicants, please note June is the latest practical application date as you will need time to apply for a visa to study and live in Ireland. Please ensure your application includes evidence of your up-to-date English language proficiency.
For EU applicants there here is no specific deadline for applying to this course. While a final few places may be offered in September, this is dependent on the availability of a place.
Our general advice to all applicants is to make a complete application between February and May of 2024.
The MSc in Creative Digital Media & UX is ideally suited to graduates of diverse disciplines including media, art, design, and computer science.
The course is also suited to educators, engineers, architects and design practitioners who may require upskilling in digital media production techniques. Our typical student mix is 1/3 computing, 1/3 design, 1/3 non-digital media. This ensures a vibrant mix of backgrounds and encourages a broad range of ideas for the major projects.
The course also caters to graduates who want to transition into the digital media space in particular to those wishing to specialize in areas such as VR/AR Development, Mobile & Web App Development and Interactive Media.
A key differentiator with this course is that you will build and test the artefact you design. Feedback from our graduates flags this as a high value element of the MSc in CDM&UX.
It provides a thorough grounding in the principles of digital media design and development while at the same time mixes cognate disciplines and levels through innovative team projects, facilitating peer learning and building interdisciplinary awareness, vital to success in any digital media environment.