As the only art programme on Weihai campus, Design Interactions is jointly conducted by the programme of Digital Media Art by School of Architecture and Art of Beijing Jiaotong University and the programme of Design Interactions by Lancaster Institute for Contemporary Arts of Lancaster University. Laboratories for Design Interactions on Weihai campus combine the characteristics of the two programmes. On the basis of meeting the teaching needs of both Chinese and British sides, the laboratories provide students with a convenient practice platform as well.
Laboratories for Design Interactions consist of five specialised laboratories, which are located on the fifth floor of No. 1 Teaching Building and the fifth floor of West Siyuan Building, with more than 650 square meters of usable area. They are designed to provide spaces and equipment for the practical content of two modules, as well as for students majoring in Design Interactions to self-study and participate in projects.
1. Laboratory Introduction
As the only art major on Weihai Campus, the Digital Media Art program is jointly organized by the Digital Media Art program of the School of Architecture and Art of Beijing Jiaotong University and the Interaction Design program of the School of Contemporary Art of Lancaster University in the UK. The Digital Media Arts Lab on Weihai Campus integrates the characteristics of these two majors and provides students with a convenient practice platform on the basis of meeting the teaching needs of the Chinese and British sides.
The Digital Media Arts Lab consists of five functionally specific labs, located on the fifth floor of the No.1 Teaching Building and the fifth floor of the Siyuan West Building on Weihai Campus, with an area of more than 650 square meters. The labs are responsible for the practical teaching content of two specialized courses, and provide space and equipment for students majoring in digital media art to learn independently or participate in projects.
2. Laboratory Functions
The purpose of the Digital Media Arts Laboratory is to develop students' understanding of contemporary ideas and concepts of interaction in design, to emphasize the use of design methodologies and their interrelationships in contemporary contexts, and to develop students' ability to integrate technology and art in the form of case studies and projects to accomplish design. To meet these requirements, the Digital Media Arts program is equipped with a total of five laboratories as follows:
2.1 Workshop
The workshop is built according to the standards of Lancaster University in the UK, and contains a workshop and two supporting craft workshops, which is about 250 square meters to support the practical aspects of the course “Interaction Design Studio: Materials”. The workshop is equipped with two laser cutters, three 3D printers, one iMac graphic workstation, one pillar drill, one sanding machine, and one band saw, providing students with a variety of ways to transform design from “digital” to “real”.
Workshop
Foreign teachers and students in the workshop
2.2 Exhibition Hall
The Digital Media Arts program also has a multimedia exhibition hall, about 284 square meters, which can provide venues and equipments for professional course reports, graduation design exhibitions, academic reports and other activities. The exhibition hall is not only equipped with professional spotlights and movable partitions, but also one universal treadmill, two pairs of virtual reality goggles, one high-definition projector and two movable TVs, providing professional audio-visual experience for each exhibition.
Students make communication presentations in the exhibition hall
2.3 Virtual Reality Laboratory
The digital media art lab also includes a virtual reality lab with an area of 127 square meters, which supports courses such as “UI Design”. The virtual reality lab contains a universal treadmill, a pair of virtual reality goggles, and 25 iMac all-in-one computers, which can meet the needs of students to build their own virtual reality scenes in addition to the virtual reality experience.
East half of the virtual reality lab
West half of the virtual reality lab
2.4 Photography Studio
Photography is the basic skill of students majoring in digital media art, and it is also a common means of creation. The 35-square-meter photography studio is equipped with a green screen, an iMac graphic workstation, two sets of Canon 5D Mark IV cameras, two Insta 360 Nano panoramic cameras, and two Insta 360 Air panoramic cameras.
Photography Studio
2.5 Design Studio
The Design Studio is approximately 70 square meters and provides students with the equipment and space to produce and display their designs and discuss them with each other. The Design Studio is equipped with 2 iMac graphic workstations and 3 removable TVs.
Design Studio
3. Specialized Achievements
Digital Media Arts majors have the two basic skills of drawing and design, and are able to participate in many fields such as interactive design, graphic design, concept design and so on. The following are some of the works and achievements of the Digital Media Arts students from Weihai Campus.
3.1 Academic Competition
In 2020, three students from the class of 2018, Cui Shutong, Gao Ziqi and Ma Jingwen, majoring in digital media art, formed a team to participate in the Eighth National Colleges and Universities Digital Art and Design Competition, and achieved the second prize in the East China Region. These three students focused on the idea of how to use the cell phone, which is indispensable to modern people, to monitor the health level of users' organs, and designed a complete interactive interface.
One of the display pages of the mobile application Savorg by Shuotong Cui, Ziqi Gao and Jingwen Ma.
3.2 Innovative Entrepreneurship Program for University Students
In 2019, the college student innovation and entrepreneurship project “Blessing from the Mountain Range”, in which Yi Wang, a 2018 student majoring in digital media art at Weihai Campus, participated, brought the beauty of Chinese mountain villages to us in the form of a game (see below). The game does not rush to sell a mountain village to players, but combines the concept of “mountain village” with the impression of “beauty” to make players realize the aesthetic value of mountain villages, instead of only thinking of poverty when mentioning mountain villages.
Screenshot of the game “Blessing of the Mountain Range” Original drawing by Yi Wang
In 2018, several students from grade 17 of the Digital Media Arts program at Weihai Campus participated in the production of the Weihai Campus Interactive Roaming Map (see below).
Screenshot of the home page of the Interactive Manga Map of Weihai Campus
3.3 Course Work Exhibition
Many of the courses in the Digital Media Arts program require students to submit a piece of their own work as a final assignment, and the resulting artwork exhibition has become a beautiful landscape on Weihai Campus. Below are some of the paintings and three-dimensional works of the Digital Media Arts students.
Part of the exhibition of paintings and three-dimensional works of Digital Media Art students.
