What are Investigations?
Design projects: the central elements of the programme. In each term both Years have one or two Investigations. Each Investigation lasts from four to six weeks and is an intensive design experience, taking four very full days of each week. The week is divided into �skills� days and �studio� days. On skills days students concentrate on acquiring or developing the skills they need to apply to the design problem confronted in the studio part of the Investigation. Each finishes with a �review week� for reflection, assessment and the updating of project documentation and portfolio web pages.
In Year 1 these each have a separate focus on a fundamental aspect of interaction design. In Year 2 they are stages in each student�s Thesis project.

What are the themes of the Year 1 Investigations in 2004�05?
The first term 1 Investigation is into graphical user interfaces and programming. The skills classes, divided according to past experience, cover graphic information design and programming. One group was composed of students that had extensive experience in computing and that were considered to be beginners in design, while the other group was advanced in design and had less experience in computing. The studio themes are 1) �Touring Turing�, a project to design a visual interface to demonstrate the principles of the Turing Machine, and 2) �Memory as Information in Motion�, a project to design an application around the theme of information and memory.

The second term 1 Investigation is into physical interaction design and the basic electronics necessary for prototyping physical interactions. The theme, �Strangely Familiar�, questions the tendency for domestic appliances and devices, as they shift from analogue to digital control, to become laden with unnecessary and incomprehensible features. Working in pairs, each student takes apart a shop-bought radio alarm clock or phone answering machine, and rewires its elements to give it a new function and new ways to interact with it.

The term 2 Investigation, into service design �Zoom In/Zoom Out�, encourages students to oscillate (zoom) between a broad picture of culture and society, and the microscale of the �touch point�, the place where the individual interacts with a service or social network. Application areas this year include health and wellness.< P> The theme of the term 3 Investigation, finally, is decided in term 2 in order to take advantage of serendipitous opportunities that occur during the year. The term 3 investigation brings together all three aspects of interaction design. In 2005 the topic was "Play experiences for the next generation", a competition set by the design department of the Mattel toy company for five leading interaction design schools.