Department of Design, School of Design Media Design Course

メディアデザインコース写真
メディアデザインコース写真

Acquiring the media expertise needed to design human connections and communications

The term "media" includes not only content such as videos and photos, but also the hardware and software for producing them, as well as the means for communicating them. In the Media Design Course, students learn the basics of "Media Expression" to study content design and artistic expression, "Media Interaction" to explore technologies and systems for communication, and "Media Communication Study" to understand humans as the target of communication and learn about human behavior and society. Students will then design advanced content and mechanisms to realize them, and practice design that "connects people and communicates to people.”

Curriculum

Fields of Study

  • Media Expression

    "What to express and how to express it," learning design and artistic expression.

  • Media Interaction

    "How to connect people with others and foster communication," learning technologies and systems for communication.

  • Media Communication Study

    “How do we connect and communicate with others," understanding the human being as the object of communication and learning about human behavior and society.

  • 1 st year

    Creating a foundation for learning. Learning about design. Taking a step forward into media design.

    In the first year, students focus on KIKAN Education Subjects that develop the foundation for learning. In the Specialized Subjects, students are exposed to a wide range of design fields in "Design Literacy Basics" and learn what design is through various case studies in "Design Case Study I.” In "Introduction to Media Design I," students learn the basics of media expression, and in "Introduction to Media Design II," they learn the basics of media interaction, taking the first step toward a specialized field.

  • 2 nd year

    Learning about media design. Putting it into practice.

    In the second year, students learn the basics of media communication studies in "Introduction to Media Design III.”
    In addition, as Course Basic Subjects, students learn expression methods in "Fundamentals of Art and Design Media" and acquire programming skills for images and text in "Media Programming.” In Course Specialized Subjects, students acquire specialized knowledge and skills through lectures and exercises in the various specialized fields that make up media design.

  • 3 rd year

    Deepening the understanding. Expanding the perspectives of media design.

    In the third year, students deepen their specialized knowledge and acquire the ability to apply and practice the knowledge and skills they have acquired through a variety of Course Exercises Subjects. In "Media Design Project I," students work in small groups on complex assignments. In "Media Design Project II," students undertake their own specialized research and production in their respective laboratories. In "Transdisciplinary Projects," students collaborate across courses and grade levels.

  • 4 th year

    Creating new media design.

    In the fourth year, students work on their Senior Project in their respective laboratories as a culmination of the knowledge and skills acquired in the last three years. Each student will find a problem within a theme of interest and concern and write a graduation thesis aiming to solve it. They will present their outcomes at the Senior Project presentation and exhibition. After graduation, students can continue investigating deeper into their theme in graduate school.

Faculty Members

Faculty members in
Name Position Field of Specialization
HARA Kenji Professor Visual Information Processing
IHARA Hisayasu Professor Graphic Design
ITO Hiroyuki Professor Perceptual Psychology
KIM Daewoong Professor Contents Design
SUNAGA Shoji Professor Color and Visual Sciences
TAKENOUCHI Kazuki Professor Mechanics design, Graphic science
TOMOTARI Mikako Professor Sculpture, Art Studies
TSURUNO Reiji Professor Computer Graphics
ASO Tsukasa Associate Professor Intellectual Property Law
FUYUNO Miharu Associate Professor Cognitive Linguistics, Corpus Linguistics, English Education, Media and Education, Media and Language Culture
Ho Hsin-Ni Associate Professor Haptics
INOUE Kohei Associate Professor Pattern Recognition, Image Processing
ISHII Tatsuro Associate Professor Visual Image Expression, Enhanced Visual Image Expression
MAKINO Yutaka Associate Professor Installation, Performance,Computer Music
MATSUGUMA Hiroyuki Associate Professor Computer Graphics Design
MORIMOTO Yuki Associate Professor Computer Graphics
ONO Naoki Associate Professor Digital Image Processing and Recognition
OSHIMA Hisao Associate Professor Dramaturgy
SENO Takeharu Associate Professor Psychology
USHIAMA Taketosi Associate Professor Digital Content Environment Design
KUDO Mao Assistant Professor Sign System Design, Visual Symbol
TOH Kiriko Assistant Professor Web Design

Prospective Career

Graduates of the Department of Visual Communication Design and the Department of Art and Information Design— the two courses that now comprise the Media Design Course —go on to have successful careers as creators and engineers in mass media, gaming, IT, film, advertising, printing, and other related industries. More than a few graduates have also gone on to become researchers at universities and research institutes. The graduates of the Media Design Course are also expected to play important roles in and beyond those industries mentioned above.

Prospective Profession
Designers/Engineers (media-related, interaction design-related)
Creators (media art/games/video/advertising, etc.)

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