User Experience & Interaction Design Major
What is User Experience & Interaction Design?
Every time you order food in an app, buy concert tickets, or get frustrated by a confusing website, someone made decisions about how that experience should work. User Experience & Interaction Design (UXID) is the study of making those decisions well.
In UXID, you will learn to figure out what people want and need, design digital products that meet those wants and needs, and build them with code. You’ll research problem spaces, identify opportunities for innovation, design interfaces, create prototypes, test your ideas with real people, and build deliverable digital products. UXID blends technology, design, research, and human behavior. You'll also explore how technology, society, and business shape the products we use every day, including how AI is changing the way products are made and used.
Why Study User Experience & Interaction Design at Drexel?
Learn Through Experience
Drexel's five-year UXID degree includes two six-month co-ops, professional work experience in your field that you complete while you are still an undergraduate. You will graduate with real-world experience and industry connections.
Our students have completed co-ops with agencies, in-house teams, and startups. In Philadelphia, that includes Comcast, CSL Behring, EPAM, Oracle, Perpay, SEPTA, Unisys, Urban Outfitters, Vanguard, and Wawa. Others have gone further afield to Adobe, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and many others.
Create, Build, and Solve Problems
UXID is hands-on. You'll work on projects throughout the curriculum, building toward a junior-year project where you design and build a proof-of-concept prototype. In your nine-month senior capstone, you'll take a project from research and idea development through design, usability testing, and implementation, building a full-scale product, often with the opportunity to work in a multidisciplinary team. Along the way, you'll build the skills to think creatively, solve problems, and collaborate with others.
AI is part of that work in nearly every course. You'll learn to question what AI gets right and wrong, and how to use AI tools to support research, design, and development. You'll also practice building AI into your own projects to help the people who use them.
Explore What Interests You
You'll start with a strong foundation in core courses like UX Research, UX Design, Storytelling for UX, Web Authoring, and Web Scripting. Then electives let you go deeper into what excites you, such as Accessibility in UX, Interaction Design, Gamification, Internet of Things (IoT), UI Design Styles & Trends, User Research Methods, Validating Product Ideas, Web App Scripting, Native App Coding, and more.
Learn from Faculty with Industry Experience
Our professors bring professional experience into the classroom, along with the tools, methods, and teamwork practices used in the field, so what you learn connects directly to the work you'll do on co-op and after graduation.
What Skills Does User Experience & Interaction Design Help You Develop?
- User Experience Research (UX Research): Studying the market, competitors, and real users through observation, surveys, and interviews to learn what people want & need and design products that deliver meaningful results.
- Information Architecture (IA): Organizing and labeling content so complex websites and apps are easy to understand and navigate, from menus to search to page structure.
- User Interface Design (UI): Designing how a product looks and feels on screen, including layout, typography, color, and reusable design systems.
- Interaction Design (IxD): Designing how people move through and respond to a product, including screen flows, animations, and feedback.
- User Experience Design (UX): Bringing research, structure, visuals, and interaction together into accessible experiences, using agile methods, prototypes, and usability testing to refine every design.
- Development: Writing efficient code that makes products work, from websites and apps to experimental interfaces like interactive exhibits and kiosks, plus Internet of Things devices.
- Project Management: Planning projects, managing workflows, and coordinating teams to deliver work on time, as professionals do.
Is User Experience & Interaction Design Right for You?
UXID may be a good fit if you’re interested in how people use technology and enjoy solving problems, designing things, and figuring out how things work.
You’ll have opportunities to:
- Research and understand people’s wants, needs and behaviors
- Design websites, apps, and other digital experiences
- Create visual interfaces and interactive prototypes
- Organize information and improve navigation
- Learn to write code and build working digital products
- Work on collaborative, project-based assignments
- Explore emerging technologies and new ways of interacting with digital products
- Combine creative thinking with research, technology, and problem-solving
You don't need to know exactly what you want to do. Many students arrive unsure about which part of UXID they'll enjoy most. You'll get to try research, design, and coding, and your co-ops will help you find your direction.
User Experience & Interaction Design at Drexel: Paths of Study
Drexel offers a five-year Bachelor of Science in User Experience & Interaction Design that includes two six-month co-ops. The curriculum combines an interdisciplinary liberal arts education with a strong foundation in research, critical thinking, writing, visual design, interaction design, and programming. That breadth gives you flexibility to explore different areas of digital product design and shape your path around your interests and career goals.
See complete degree requirements and a BS User Experience & Interaction Design sample plan of study in the 2027-2028 Drexel University Catalog.
Careers in User Experience & Interaction Design
UXID graduates work as UX researchers, UX designers, UI designers, interaction designers, product designers, information architects, web designers, digital designers, product managers, and full stack developers.
They work in technology, design, media, education, healthcare, fintech, business, and beyond. Wherever people use technology, organizations need professionals who understand users, solve problems, and build great digital experiences, including those who can put AI to work in the products they design.
Support Drexel User Experience & Interaction Design
UPDATED OCT2026 FOR 2027-2028 ACADEMIC YEAR (SEMESTERS)