“Design is really an act of communication, which means having a deep understanding of the person with whom the designer is communicating.
~ Donald A. Norman, The Design of Everyday Things
Designing Experience
In an era of data science, visual communication, and information technology, our students learn how to make different forms of specialized and technical information accessible to a wide variety of audiences. We have particular strengths in preparing students for writing and design careers in user experience and interaction design. These areas of design help users effectively navigate websites and social media platforms by learning how to test user behavior and compose informative recommendations for improvement. The BA in Writing, Design, and Technical Communication features courses taught in our cutting-edge user experience (UX) research lab and by faculty with experience in UX design and research. In our program, you'll learn the same type of UX research and testing techniques that major technology companies like Apple and Amazon employ to improve their products to create a super user experience.
Our program includes a strong focus on visual and graphic communication for the web and mobile devices through document design and user experience courses. We offer courses with hands-on training in the Adobe Creative suite and other software to help our students learn critical document design skills for a broad array of technical and professional design contexts. Consider these design career examples that would be open to you as a graduate of our program:
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- You might work as a content designer for Google, where you research user behaviors, define user needs, and design content solutions that address those needs. You would be the go-to expert for writing and designing microcopies for interfaces such as the YouTube search returns, Chrome user settings, or Google Maps voice feedback.
- You could be working at a large regional hospital like the University Medical Center in Lubbock or the Northwest Texas Healthcare System in Amarillo as a web manager and information designer who helps the hospital maintain a well-designed website that enables users to easily locate important information about their well-being and thereby boosting their satisfaction with using UMC's website.
Meet Our Students and Their Design Projects
Macy Lillibridge (Fall 2020) specialized in document design, and was a research assistant for the English department's MediaLab where she helped manage social media marketing, design, and content creation. As part of her capstone portfolio, you can see her usability report for how to improve the English department websites along with this sample of her graphic design work for the department's social media page.
Amanda Arrington (Spring 2021) took technical communication courses while preparing for law school. She is currently a law student at Texas A&M University.
In her own words, Amanda shared which tech comm courses have been most beneficial: “Information design was certainly my favorite technical course and helped me to learn new software and ways to improve both my writing skills and how to best communicate my ideas via design. Another favorite was my Professional Report Writing course with Dr. Baake. I felt the material helped me to comprehend reports more quickly and effectively while also helping improve my report writing, a skill essential to law.”
Here is Amanda's design portfolio from the Information Design course: https://amaarrin.wixsite.com/infodesignport.
Marissa Martin (Fall 2019) graduated with a BA in Sociology and a minor in Technical Communication. Marissa's portfolio showcases writing and design samples that she created while taking technical communication classes. Here is Marissa's testimony:
“I am so extremely glad I decided to minor in Technical Communication. My time in the program gave me the skills and experience to succeed in the field. I met some great friends as well as mentors who continue to teach and guide me every day. Because of the program, I found my passion for Tech Comm which led me to joining the MATC program.”
Department of English
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Address
P.O. Box 43091 Lubbock, TX 79409-3091 -
Phone
806.742.2501 -
Email
english@ttu.edu