Technology and Information Design Major

Program Director: Elizabeth Bonsignore

The B.A. in Technology and Information Design (InfoDesign) teaches students to frame important problems at the intersection of people and information; to design solutions for those problems; and to realize, deploy and iterate on those solutions. InfoDesign supports students in their efforts to use technology in the service of the greater good; to apply and expand their creativity; to develop a start-up mentality (in which they must try solutions and fail first in order to succeed); and to engage in rapid development and prototyping grounded by rapid evaluation and assessment. Students participate in hands-on studio and laboratory classes in user-centered design, technology development, problem-solving and cross-disciplinary communication. Graduates may become designers, planners, technology consultants, project managers, and entrepreneurs, in such wide-ranging fields as user experience, mobile development, healthcare, law, entertainment, policy, smart-city development, libraries and archives.

Restriction: Students are not permitted to double-major or double-degree with the Bachelor of Science in Information Science. 

Admission to the Major

Students who are accepted to the university and list Technology and Information Design as their preferred major will start directly in our program. Students currently in the university who are interested in declaring Technology and Information Design must complete our Change of Major process. For more information, please visit the Technology and Information Design website or email infodesign@umd.edu.

Program Learning Outcomes

1. Frame important problems at the intersection of people and information
2. Analyze the interplay of people, information, and technology at various scales (e.g., individuals or small groups, communities or organizations, regions or institutions)
3. Leverage a systems-thinking approach through modeling and simulation
4. Design solutions for these problems
5. Implement design thinking skills, including user research, ideation, prototyping, and participatory design
6. Communicate ideas to gather momentum and iterate through sketching, prototyping and data visualization
7. Iteratively assemble existing components to form new solutions within a supportive culture of critique
8. Attend to the ethical and equitable implications of their designs
9. Realize, deploy, and iterate on these solutions at appropriately selected scale(s)
10. Assess the scale of the problem and the appropriate deployment of potential solutions
11. Organize people to properly implement solutions through leadership and entrepreneurship skills
12. Evaluate success of a solution in a socially embedded setting, to include the employment of skills such as testing, evaluation, and auditing

Benchmark courses (16 credits)

Failure to complete both sets of benchmark courses within the timeline indicated below may result in dismissal from the program. 

Click here for roadmaps for graduation plans in the College of Information.

Additional information on developing a graduation plan can be found on the following pages:

• http://4yearplans.umd.edu
• the Student Academic Success-Degree Completion Policy section of this catalog