Intro

Study user experience design (UXD) in a city that is one of the UK’s leading centres for creative technology. And benefit from our partnerships and collaboration with employers and our professional networks in the city and beyond.

Our accredited course fosters innovation and creativity in interactive design. You’ll develop your knowledge of human-computer interaction and design for interactive products in a range of application areas.

With a focus on applied learning you will plan and manage an interactive design project from concept to implementation and gain an understanding of the commercial contexts of interaction design. You also have the opportunity to gain valuable work experience on placement with a digital media company as part of your major project module.

You’ll develop research skills working alongside researchers in our Centre for Secure, Intelligent and Usable Systems (CSIUS) that explores the interaction between people and software systems from the perspectives of analysis, design, evaluation and visualisation. You also benefit from our well-established links with industry and have opportunities to attend networking events and talks with user ex professionals and researchers.

User Experience Design MSc is a flexible course that has been designed so that you can study full- or part-time and tailor your learning to your personal and career interests.

Full-time students also have the option to add work experience to their masters through a year’s paid placement in industry.

Find out about postgraduate events

Key facts

Location Brighton: Moulsecoomb

Start dates September and February

Duration: full-time
September start: 1 year / 2 years with a placement
January start: 17 months

Duration: part-time
September and January start: 2–6 years

Apply online

Please review the entry requirements carefully and if you have any questions do get in touch with us.

Apply now for your place

Course content

Course structure

The course can be studied full-time or part-time.

The taught element of the course is delivered during the first two semesters. Modules involve approximately 20% classroom teaching and 80% individual or group work. The third semester focuses on your major project.

Part-time students study alongside full-time students with a minimum attendance of one half day per week, depending on the number of modules taken.

Syllabus

As an MSc student you will study five core modules and choose two option modules allowing you to specialise in areas of the course that interest you most. Full-time students also have the option of a placement year.

Core modules

Major Project
Your major project provides an opportunity to demonstrate your capacity to work at masters level as an independent researcher and/or developer in your chosen area of expertise. You will produce an independent piece of research written as a dissertation, or design and produce an interactive product.
Research Methods
You will develop the professional perspectives and skills needed to plan, carry out and evaluate research in your field of informatics-related studies. You also build your understanding of the social, legal and ethical issues in this context.
Interaction Design and Evaluation Process
This module provides professional software developers with a solid foundation for developing user interaction aspects of projects, and the capability to reliably evaluate the usability of your own and others work.
Interface and Information Design
You will build on your understanding of the user centred interaction design process, developing your interface design skills and enabling you to produce work to a commercial design quality.
Design Thinking
This module helps you develop your creative problem solving and design thinking through practice. You will be guided through the entire design process using research methods to understand stakeholder groups, identify need and create an innovative, user-centric and ethical solution. Whether a process, service, produce or an app.

Option modules*

Independent Portfolio Project
This module provides you with a structure to develop your own innovative products to the prototype stage, which can be added to your professional portfolio of work.
Independent Research Project
You will explore theories, concepts, methods and technologies in your specialist field.
Web Development
Introducing you to standards-based web technologies, you will learn how to apply best practice in front-end web design and development.
The Business and the Information System
You will learn how to critically evaluate the role of information systems within the wider enterprise, asses the issues and problems a business analyst will face in this environment and propose what they might do to address those issues.

It is possible to undertake a postgraduate certificate or postgraduate diploma instead of the full MSc.

PGCert

Students take three modules:

Interaction Design and Evaluation Process
Interface Information Design Process
Design Thinking

PGDip

Students take six modules:

Interaction Design and Evaluation Process
Research Methods
Web Development
Interface Information Design Process
Design Thinking

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Placement year

To further increase your employability and international experience we offer full-time students starting in September the opportunity to take a placement year. This means that your course will take two years, but you’ll be graduating with work experience.

The year on placement in a role related to your course will allow you to put all that you have learned on your masters into practice, enhancing your career opportunities and giving you practical experience in your area of expertise.

The placement is assessed formatively throughout the year, giving you the chance to reflect on your experience and helping to build your CV.

Work placements are optional, and you'll arrange your placement with support from our dedicated Placements and Employability team.

We offer a two-year international study visa route to support applications for this course.

Staff profile

Dr Andrew Blake, Senior Lecturer

I am course leader for the User Experience Design MSc, and my research interests encompass the theories and principles that underpin the discipline of user experience design, UXD.

The UXD course at Brighton equips students with the practical skills needed to work as effective UXD practitioners in the interactive/digital industries. We encourage students to critically reflect on and question the effectiveness of contemporary thinking that underpins UXD best practice.

My research interests focus on the efficacy of diagrams, and my PhD explores the impact of graphical choices on diagram comprehension. I am currently collaborating with colleagues from Cambridge University on a project entitled ‘Accessible Reasoning with Diagrams’; the project is funded by The Leverhulme Trust. And I am also collaborating with colleagues from Jadavpur University charting the cognitive processes active when interpreting diagrams.

I’m delighted to welcome students from the UK and all around the world onto the course – the diversity of the student body really supports engaging discussion and different perspectives that help make this course all the more exciting and prepares students for global careers in UX Design.

Careers

Professional accreditation

Accredited by the British Computer Society, The Chartered Institute for IT for the purposes of partially meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered IT Professional.

Accreditation is conditional on studying module ISM105 The Business and the Information System.

Prepare for your career

In your career you need a combination of knowledge, skills, personal qualities and relevant experiences – and you’ll get all of this from your degree.

With a flexible timetable to suit full-time or part-time students and commuters, and lecturers available to support you in your module choices, there are different study routes available to you.
Build advanced research, analytical and communication skills through working on your dissertation.
At the end of the taught element there is the possibility of a placement with a digital media company for the major project module. This puts real experience on your CV as you consolidate your expertise.
You will benefit from access to our computer suites with professional standard software, digital and games studios and our usability lab with eye-tracking technology.

Industry links

We work particularly closely with Zoonou ltd, an East Sussex-based software testing and QA consultancy.
You will have opportunities to network with companies and organisations in the sector through external speakers and taking advantage of the many digital media events organised in the city.
The course cohort has regularly attended the annual conference UX Brighton.

Graduate destinations

UXD MSc graduates will be able to work as commercial interaction designers on both software and software-enabled physical products. This may also be a starting point for a research career in human-centred interaction design.

Our graduates are working in roles that include:

digital consultant
senior developer
UX designer
web designer
digital marketer.

Entry criteria

Entry requirements

Degree and experience
Normally, a 2:2 honours degree in a relevant discipline, ie those including substantial elements of computing, psychology, information design or product design. For appropriate candidates without an honours degree, entry to the course will normally involve an interview.

English language requirements
IELTS 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each element. Find out more about the other English qualifications that we accept.

International students whose language skills do not match the IELTS scores set out here should consider applying for this course through our Extended Masters programme.

International requirements and visas

International requirements by country
Country name
Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belgium
Bermuda
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burma (Myanmar)
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guyana
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kosovo
Kuwait
Latvia
Lebanon
Liechtenstein
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malaysia
Malawi
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Montenegro
Morocco
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palestinian National Authority
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Syria
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United States
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visit our language centre

For English language preparation courses.

Visit our International College

For degree preparation courses.

Visas and immigration advice

Applying for a student visa

Check out our step-by-step guidance.

Fees and costs

Course fees

UK (full-time)9,100 GBP

International (full-time)15,800 GBP

Scholarships, bursaries and loans

We offer a range of scholarships for postgraduate students. Bursaries and loans may also be available to you.

Find out more about postgraduate fees and funding.

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2023–24.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

Fees, bursaries, scholarships and govt funding info for UK and international undergraduate and postgraduate students
Student finance and budgeting while studying
About the university’s fees by checking our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf)

What's included

You may have to pay additional costs during your studies. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. A summary of the costs that you may be expected to pay, and what is included in your fees, while studying a course in the School of Architecture, Technology and Engineering in the 2022–23 academic year are listed here.

Travel and accommodation costs are included for all mandatory taught residential field trips, but you’ll need to provide your own food and drink.
There will be opportunities to attend additional study trips or optional taught residential field trips throughout the school, but these are not required to pass your course. Normally, a contribution will be required towards expenses such as travel, entrance fees and accommodation. This will vary depending on where and how long the trip is, but you should budget around £1,500.
Where optional international field trips are offered, these are not required to pass your course. You should expect to budget £300–£500 for these, to cover flight, accommodation, food and entrance to museums. The total amount spent would be based on location and number of trips taken.
If you choose to take an optional paid placement, you’ll be expected to cover your own travel, accommodation, food and drink.
Some students require specialist outdoor equipment and/or personal protective equipment (PPE) and should budget up to £150.
You will have access to computers and necessary software; however, many students choose to buy their own hardware, software and accessories. The amount spent will depend on your individual choices, but this expenditure is not essential to pass any of our courses. Find out what free software is available from the University of Brighton.
Course books are available from the university, but you may wish to budget from £15 to £100 per year to buy your own copies and subscribe to design magazines.
In most cases coursework submissions are electronic but students may wish to print notes which would involve an extra cost.
Costs of up to £50 are included in the fees for students on engineering courses to pay for materials for their final year projects. On rare occasions where material costs exceed £50, they will need to be paid for by the student.

Architecture, interior architecture, design and product design additional costs

Students should budget around £25 for printing and binding dissertations in their final year.
In your first year of studies, you will need to buy a drawing and modelling toolkit. Each course will suggest a list of items of which some will be essential, and others optional. You should budget around £100–£250 for these.
For most courses you will need to budget between £100 to £300 per year for printing and portfolio costs. Costs will vary depending on type of printer and type and size of paper used. Some students tend to work digitally, spending more on printing and some by hand, spending more on materials so these costs vary widely between students.
For most courses you will need to budget between £10 and £100 for material costs per design project. Costs will vary depending on how and what you use to make models. You are encouraged to recycle used materials where possible.
You will need to budget between £5–£50 to exhibit work for the end-of-year show. Fundraising by the student society, BIAAS, normally helps towards this cost.

You can chat with our enquiries team if you have a question or need more information. Or check our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as more information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Location and student life

Campus where this course is taught

Moulsecoomb campus

Two miles north of Brighton seafront, Moulsecoomb is our largest campus and student village. Moulsecoomb has been transformed by a recent development of our estate. On campus you'll find new Students' Union, events venue, and sports and fitness facilities, alongside the library and student centre.

Over 900 students live here in our halls, Moulsecoomb Place and the new Mithras halls – Brunswick, Goldstone, Hanover, Preston and Regency.

Moulsecoomb has easy access to buses and trains and to all the exciting things happening in our home city.

Accommodation

Brighton: Moulsecoomb

We guarantee an offer of a place in halls of residence to all eligible students.

Halls of residence
We have self-catered halls on all our campuses, within minutes of your classes, and other options that are very nearby.

You can apply for any of our halls, but the options closest to your study location are:

Mithras Halls are stylish new high-rises in the heart of the student village at our revitalised Moulsecoomb campus with ensuite rooms for more than 800 students.
Varley Park is a popular dedicated halls site, offering a mix of rooms and bathroom options at different prices. It is around two miles from Moulsecoomb campus and four miles from the city centre, and is easy to get to by bus.

Want to live independently? We can help – find out more about private renting.

Modern accommodation at Moulsecoomb

Relaxing in halls near the campus

Student Union social space at Moulsecoomb

Local area

About Brighton

The city of Brighton & Hove is a forward-thinking place which leads the way in the arts, technology, sustainability and creativity. You'll find living here plays a key role in your learning experience.

Brighton is a leading centre for creative media technology, recently named the startup capital of the UK.

The city is home to a national 5G testbed and over 1,000 tech businesses. The digital sector is worth over £1bn a year to the local economy - as much as tourism.

All of our full-time undergraduate courses involve work-based learning - this could be through placements, live briefs and guest lectures. Many of these opportunities are provided by local businesses and organisations.

It's only 50 minutes by train from Brighton to central London and less than 40 minutes to Eastbourne. There are also daily direct trains to Bristol, Bedford, Cambridge, Gatwick Airport, Portsmouth and Southampton.

Maps

Moulsecoomb campus map

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Support and wellbeing

Your course team

Your personal academic tutor, course leader and other tutors are all there to help you with your personal and academic progress. You'll also have a student support and guidance tutor (SSGT) who can help with everything from homesickness, managing stress or accommodation issues.

Your academic skills

Our Brighton Student Skills Hub gives you extra support and resources to develop the skills you'll need for university study, whatever your level of experience so far.

Your mental health and wellbeing

As well as being supported to succeed, we want you to feel good too. You'll be part of a community that builds you up, with lots of ways to connect with one another, as well having access to dedicated experts if you need them. Find out more.

Sport at Brighton

Sport Brighton

Sport Brighton brings together our sport and recreation services. As a Brighton student you'll have use of sport and fitness facilities across all our campuses and there are opportunities to play for fun, fitness or take part in serious competition.

Find out more about Sport Brighton.

Sports scholarships

Our sports scholarship scheme is designed to help students develop their full sporting potential to train and compete at the highest level. We offer scholarships for elite athletes, elite disabled athletes and talented sports performers.

Find out more about sport scholarships.

Stay in touch

Find out about postgraduate events

Ask a question about this course

If you have a question about this course, our enquiries team will be happy to help.

01273 644644

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User Experience Design MSc (PGCert PGDip)