Life as an Artificial Lifeform

I have started studying Communication Design some long time ago as I was coming from the computer side and had an affection for creativity due to my exposure with the medium video - so Communication Design appealed to me as a path to my life. The school I choosed was the University for Applied Science in Potsdam (for all who don´t know - Potsdam is a medium sized city just on the south-western outskirt of Berlin and known for Cold-War spy exchanges and Prussian Kings). The design department at the the time was very energetic and the general feel in that old Prussian/Russian military complex that had been declared a school shortly after the wall came down was very inspiring. Much has changed over the last 6 years there - the old building have been renovated and a huge new modern laboratory complex has been build. The design department when I started there had two different but very complimentary courses - Communication Design and Product Design. You had to take a lot of crossover classes to get a degree in each of these. Yet over the years the energy has gone away in the traditional design market and that was reflected in our school as well. To renew the schools bid to be a leading design faculty they integrated a third and more modern part into the department - Interface Design. While I got bored with the uneventful classes in traditional communication design and even more bored with any product design classes the lecture offers for Interface Design grabbed my interest. Two project that I am most proud of came out of those classes - The Command Lego Interface (55 MB mpeg4 video) and The Pixow Screen Saver. If I would have the choice today I would love to get a full scope on interface design with all its facets and especially inside that product/communication designer environment it makes a lot of sense - from what can be seen in the other interface courses the outcomes are usable chic portals to the digital world. As I am struggling with overly complex ugly interfaces every day I would like to encourage anyone thinking about studying design to consider Interface Design as her/his bright future in the hope that the miseries of an over-complex world can be tackled by talented people.

If you seriously thinking about studying Interface Design the application deadline is April the 1th and I can highly recommend this fresh department either if you want to get into actual hardware interfaces (think cellphones, iPod clickwheels and the like), game interface designs, web design or have that ultimate idea that has not yet seen the light. The close proximity to Berlin (30 min by local train) is a very beneficial inspirational source for everyone that needs that metropolitan feel to get into a creative mood.

The website is completely in german but foreign students are very welcome. You can get into a Bachelor or Master of Arts degree.

Find the application here.

More Projects from the course here.