Teaching – Aekaterini Mavri, Ph.D.

MGA205: Design for Digital Media

Course Purpose and Objectives:

The course aims to examine the design of high-fidelity prototypes for digital applications, with particular emphasis on the aspect of graphical user interface (GUI) design. Mastering effective prototyping is considered essential for communicating the design objectives, both within and outside the design team, as well as for enhancing workflow throughout the design cycle. As it is conducted alongside the MGA240 module, its purpose is to combine the human-centered design principles, together with the user-experience (UX) design strategies and methods throughout the project lifecycle. At the same time, it focuses on basic principles, methods and techniques of visual communication design, as the key components in prototype creation.

Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to:

Demonstrate the necessary knowledge and practical experience for the development of original prototypes that are crucial in the development of graphical/multimedia applications, working individually or collaboratively.
Select and use appropriate UX design techniques so that they can create solid static and interactive high fidelity prototypes, with an emphasis on aesthetics and presentation.
Recognize the principles of designing for user experience and identify these as key in the creation of graphic/multimedia products in general.
Have practiced managing creative software for digital image creation and editing, content visualization and graphic design such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and other (online) tools.
Have practiced with technologies (open-source and/or affordable ones) that are suitable for interactive prototyping and workflow charting, targeted at different platforms/devices.
Be able to describe using effective written communication via annotations, in purpose of prototype presentation, as well as communication and collaboration with project stakeholders.

Prerequisites: MGA 140 Informatics

MGA240: Human-centered Design

Course Purpose and Objectives:

Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to:

Demonstrate the necessary knowledge and practical experience for the development of original prototypes that are crucial in the development of graphical/multimedia applications, working individually or collaboratively.
Select and use appropriate UX design techniques so that they can create solid static and interactive high fidelity prototypes, with an emphasis on aesthetics and presentation.
Recognize the principles of designing for user experience and identify these as key in the creation of graphic/multimedia products in general.
Have practiced managing creative software for digital image creation and editing, content visualization and graphic design such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and other (online) tools.
Have practiced with technologies (open-source and/or affordable ones) that are suitable for interactive prototyping and workflow charting, targeted at different platforms/devices.
Be able to describe using effective written communication via annotations, in purpose of prototype presentation, as well as communication and collaboration with project stakeholders.

Prerequisites: MGA 140 Informatics

MGA314: Multimedia Project Management

Course Purpose and Objectives:

The primary objective of the course is provide students the knowledge and practical experience that is necessary for the management of individual and collaborative multimedia projects. The course aims to familiarize students with the role of team leaders or project managers throughout the project life cycle. It presents the general principles, methods and tactics for the successful planning, monitoring and evaluation of projects and, more specifically, their suitable parameterization and application in projects for the digital creative industries.

Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to:

Distinguish the basic principles and techniques of project management for the development of multimedia applications.
Compare, choose and design based on the methods and practices for successful scheduling, monitoring and evaluation of multimedia projects.
Distinguish the management processes throughout the project life cycle, based on key conceptual areas: objective, completion time, cost, quality, human force, risk and resource management – as identified by the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).
To manage the appropriate software tools for the automated production of results alongside practical methods for the efficient communication and collaboration within development teams.

Prerequisite: MGA 110: Introduction to Multimedia

MGA340: Web Design and Development I

Course Purpose and Objectives:

This course aims to cultivate understanding of the basic principles of web design and development based on W3C web standards and specifications. The knowledge constructed in the previous years is transferred within the context of this course, for the design and development of usable websites.

During the first part of the course, students are taught how to hand-code web pages using HTML while combining various layout and formatting methods such as CSS. Following that, the course aims to introduce students to established methods of enhancing the UI design and interactivity as well as the usability of the website. Finally, it aims to inform about several practices throughout the web design life cycle, concerning the website architecture, search engine optimization as well as web validation tools that help generate accessible and compliant websites. Students are required to undertake a series of hands-on exercises with emphasis on aesthetics and creative interface design.

Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to:

Distinguish the basic principles and techniques of project management for the development of multimedia applications.
Compare, choose and design based on the methods and practices for successful scheduling, monitoring and evaluation of multimedia projects.
Distinguish the management processes throughout the project life cycle, based on key conceptual areas: objective, completion time, cost, quality, human force, risk and resource management – as identified by the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).
Manage the appropriate software tools for the automated production of results alongside practical methods for the efficient communication and collaboration within development teams.

Prerequisite: MGA 240 Human-centered Design, MGA 205 Digital Design for Multimedia

MGA341: Web Design and Development II

Course Purpose and Objectives:

This course aims to assist students in broadening their knowledge in web design, transitioning from static applications, to dynamic web design and development environments and technologies. These include client and server-side languages such as Javascript and PHP respectively, XML markup language, as well as new HTML5 syntax and structural features. Based on the introductory module, it anticipates that knowledge of the above technologies will be combined with known practices about designing sound layouts and applying usability principles, for the creation of fully functional, easy-to-use, aesthetically pleasing and standards-compliant outcomes. The course also aims to familiarize students with available content management systems (CMS) for the development, configuration and maintenance of dynamic web pages.

Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to:

Design and construct websites using key web development as well as customization and maintenance methods and techniques.
Examine and effectively manage the (HTML,JSON) DOM, and its manipulation through JavaScript, with content parsed from JSON documents and databases.
Compose PHP code for the development of new dynamic websites from scratch or the customization of existing ones, depending on the needs of the project.
Design and manage new or pre-existing databases using database administration tools like phpMyAdmin.
Compose SQL queries and integrating them into webpages with PHP code to communicate, retrieve and store information in DBs, thus constructing full dynamic web applications from scratch.
Manage the design, installation, deployment, customization and maintenance of open-source content management (CMS) systems.
Examine, choose and integrate suitable technologies, methods and practices, following the identification and analysis of particular project requirements for the development of successful, user-friendly, compatible and aesthetically pleasing websites.

Prerequisite: MGA 340: Web Design and Development I

Previously taught:

MGA320: Inclusive/Accessibility Design

MA516: Design for Web Applications