Degree Plan Description

My proposed degree in Digital Product Development and Design will focus on creating marketable and user-centric digital products. The Product Development and Management Association defines product development as “the overall process of strategy, organization, concept generation, product and marketing plan creation and evaluation, and commercialization of a new product.”³ It’s important to note that the term “product” also now refers to digital products: modern product examples include websites and phone apps.⁴ Because of the different strategies of generation, development, and management that digital product development entails, my degree plan will focus on an interdisciplinary approach. Thus, this proposed major will integrate coursework from Management, Information Systems, Human-Centered Computing, Psychology.

Taking courses in Information Systems will allow me to understand the different software technologies and techniques used in creation of digital products. For example, understanding fundamentals of human-computer interaction will help me apply effective design principles to create positive user-experiences with digital interfaces. The discipline of psychology will provide knowledge of human users and their behavior toward digital products. Being aware of human learning patterns and cognitive processes will aid me in creating products that are compelling and engaging for a variety of demographic audiences. This is essential for a digital product to be marketable and stay successful. Beyond Information Systems, graduate courses in Human-Centered Computing will dive deeper into concepts of human-computer interaction. Specifically, I will learn user-prototyping tools and how they are applied towards building interactive products before I finalize them in code. Courses related to management will allow me to gain understanding of the business objectives of a digital product. I will gain knowledge on communicating effectively across different disciplinary teams and stakeholders to meet a product’s business goals. I will also learn project management skills that are necessary for successful conception to development of an idea in the product life cycle.

An interdisciplinary degree in Digital Product Development and Design and a minor in Information Systems will enable me to build a strong portfolio to showcase my design thinking processes and projects. Drawing knowledge from each of these fields sets a strong foundation that allows me to create successful and marketable digital products that meet the needs of their users.