The Home of Digital Media and Interaction Design, User Experience Design, Animation for Games, Web Design and Development, Games Development and Sound Design
Huge congratulations to our class of 2025, who presented their work at our exhibition day recently. Students of Digital Media and Interaction Design, Sound Design, Web Design and Development, UX Design and Animation for Games, demoed their projects to friends, family and industry experts, sharing all the fantastic work they have made this year. The showreel above features clips and posters from all the students that took part.
Look out for posts with more details of some of the projects soon and get in touch if you would like to be added to the invite list for next year!
Our post today is written by Logan Campbell, reflecting on his experience studying in Australia. The video shown here was made for a documentary class and explores the first few days abroad – as you can see from the images below, Logan quickly made friends and threw himself into enjoying his time away.
Studying abroad has been, without a doubt, the most exhilarating experience of my life! My semester at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, was a whirlwind adventure that led me to experience the whole weather spectrum spanning from February to June. I was welcomed by a scorching 45°C heat and left amid thunderstorms with temperatures dropping to the 10°Cs. This journey pushed me out of my comfort zone and led me to incredible experiences I never imagined. From snorkelling with whale sharks and giant turtles in the Indian Ocean to chasing kangaroos across a rural Australian farm, not to mention meeting Eric the pig! The friendships I forged during this time are now my second family and the connections I made will impact and undoubtedly benefit me now and in the future.
When I first saw Murdoch University on the list of exchange destinations, I hesitated. The thought of flying solo and leaving behind my friends and family was daunting, especially since I had never ventured outside Europe before. But I’m incredibly grateful I took the leap as if I had to do it all again, I would dive in headfirst without a second thought. This journey ignited a passion for travel, and now I have plans to explore Europe and North America after graduation next year. Studying abroad also opened my eyes to global career opportunities in my field, helping me envision and plan a future that extends far beyond the confines of university life.
To summarise, do it. Just, do it!
Thanks to Logan Campbell (BSc Digital Media and Interaction Design Global) for writing this piece and letting us share his media. If you are a current student and fancy an adventure like this – have a chat with your programme leader.
For her honours project Anna Llompart Reus developed “Mindscape”, a Virtual Reality game developed with Unreal Engine 5, featuring six different levels. Mindscape aims to boost mental wellbeing among university students by intertwining Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Mindfulness in an immersive narrative. The project explores VR’s effectiveness compared to non-VR interventions, highlighting VR’s potential for enhanced immersion and interaction in mental health support.
Anna concluded that although further research is required to fully comprehend the impact of VR for wellbeing, her project indicated a promising avenue for digital mental health interventions.
The images below show some of the detail of the project and you can see more of Anna’s work here – ArtStation – Anna Llompart
Anna’s poster describes the process she followed during the project.The Main hub that allows users to choose their path through the gameGlowing objects highlight interactionsSoft lighting helps to create a calm atmosphereA bright calm environment was createdThe ApothercaryAgain, lighting was key to creating the calming atmosphereInteriors contain lots of areas for users to explore
This post is part of a series celebrating the work the year 4 students have created for their honours projects. Thanks to Anna for allowing us to feature this work.
Goodnight Sara is a short animation made by Rebecca Allen for her year 2 2D animation project. In the film Sara discovers that being tired and stressed can lead to unexpected consequences.
Initial Character design for Sara
Design for Sara’s bedroom
Rebecca created her characters and backgrounds in Procreate to give a hand-drawn feel before rigging and animating in After Effects.
David created characters and landscape art for “Moonbear Typing”
Several of our Digital Media and Interaction Design and Sound Design students took part in the Global Game Jam at Edinburgh Napier University in January 24. David Richards (Year 4 Digital Media and Interaction Design ) used his illustration skills to help bring two of the games created to life.
He says “It was a brilliant experience! It was so refreshing being able to collaborate with other people with the same passion for video games.” David collaborated on the two games seen here- creating characters and landscape art for “Moonbear Typing” and creating the title screen for “Ye Olde Funnybone”.
The title screen David made for the game “Ye Olde Funnybone”
For his honours project, Johnny Viola investigated the use of motion graphics to increase engagement with history. The visuals used updated versions of colours and styles found in paintings of the period, giving the animation a rich texture that adds to the storytelling. Johnny also won a prize for this poster showcasing the work at the Honours poster day.
Visual Development – from sketch to final images
The poster explains the process Johnny followed to create the final motion graphic.
This post is part of a series celebrating the work the year 4 students have created for their honours projects. Thanks to Johnny for allowing us to feature this work.
Sensory Soundscapes was created by Ellen Scott for her honours project and focussed on visualisation techniques within virtual reality (VR) experiences. The project offers a unique, interactive and fully multisensory experience that transports participants through three musical environments. Each environment explores a different musical genre and music visualisation technique that users experience in VR via the Oculus Quest 2 headset. The clip above shows a walkthrough of the project, while the images below show some of the interiors created in Unreal Engine.
Different environments were created to represent the different soundscapes
3 different bar interiors were created – this one shows the Jazz bar
The Tiki bar
Ellen’s poster explains the process followed to create the project.
This post is part of a series celebrating the work the year 4 students have created for their honours projects. Thanks to Ellen for allowing us to feature this work.
BeWell is a mental well-being support and social app aimed at students. Jonathan followed a User centred process, involving his target users throughout to ensure that the solution met their needs. As well as a high-fidelity prototype suitable for user testing he created detailed brand guidelines and a design system to ensure consistency.
Jonathan’s poster explains the process he followed to create his app
This post is part of a series celebrating the work the year 4 students have created for their honours projects. Thanks to Jonathan for allowing us to feature this work.
For the honours project Ray investigated different free and low cost animation software, before creating an animatic; proving that you don’t need to spend a lot to get professional results. The scene was created in 3d space using Blender, an open source software, with the 2d character drawings slotted in between the 3d models. This allowed Ray to manipulate what the viewer would see in the final piece and create different camera angles and shot types.
Ray has already had some success with the project, winning “Best Poster” at the honours project showcase.
The 3D space before colour and filters are used to give the cartoon effect.
This image shows how the 2d characters can be placed within the 3d space
Ray’s prize winning honours poster, which explains the process undertaken
This post is part of a series celebrating the work the year 4 students have created for their honours projects. Thanks to Ray for allowing us to feature this work.
They are given a challenge each week to create a response to a “Playful Provocation” using the Arduinos and the skills they are learning – can’t wait to see how they incorporate these into their final projects!
Thanks to Suzi Cathro and the student on the year 2 Playful Interaction module for sharing this work.
