Connecting the Virtual and the Real through Media Design! The Department of Media Design provides two programs: Interaction Design and Game Design. According to the department chair, Dr. Lin, Chia-hua, Game Design is easy to understand, but Interactive Design is more difficult to imagine as it is "everywhere in our daily lives." For example, when ordering food from foodpanda or Uber Eats, we always have to use our mobile phone apps to place an order. Another example, at Disneyland, from buying tickets to queuing, we have to start from the app. How to make it user-friendly and convenient? "Media design plays the most critical role."

      Game Design focuses on topics such as board games, digital games, game behavior, planning, and development. The department has a wide range of games for students to use as reference, we have plenty supplies so that other schools come to borrow them. Dr. Chen, Yen-fu personally collects nearly 100 sets of games. He joked that he initially prepared for his class, and to make up for the regret of being prohibited from playing video games during his student days. Through playing games, starting from the experience of the player, interface design, programming languages, and most importantly, "cooperation" and "negotiation," because a game "cannot be completed alone.

      Students decide on their respective programs before admission, and both programs have the same basic courses in the first year (such as sketching and design basics). In the second year, they delve into the professional aspects of Interaction Design and Game Design. They can also take elective courses from each program flexibly. After the third year, they execute projects as a team. The department adopts small-class teaching and is co-taught by industry professionals who are at the forefront of industry trends. Many students perform well and are directly "reserved" to work in the professionals' companies after graduation.

      "Using interaction to understand the world, defining culture, creating a game strategy, and constructing the world," Dr. Lin believes that in the era of new media, design has an incomparable influence. Learning from the Media Design Department makes human life and the environment better. This is the mission of designers, and she believes that students can achieve it.

More about the Department of Media Design:
https://www.ttu.edu.tw/p/406-1000-22617,r12.php