The University of Minnesota Twin Cities College of Design is launching Minnesota’s first Bachelor of Science Degree in User Experience (UX) Design this fall semester.
McLean Donnelly, UX design lecturer and program chair, believes it’s only the second program of its kind among the 18 schools in the Big Ten, and one that is even more unique because of its location.
“The University of Minnesota Twin Cities is situated in a state with a thriving design ecosystem and the highest number of Fortune 500 companies per capita,” says Donnelly. “Students here have unmatched opportunities to tackle real-world challenges and connect with top industry leaders.”
User experience design focuses on how people interact with digital products—websites, apps, smart technology—blending psychology, research, technology, and design to create human-centered, user-friendly, and accessible experiences.
Meeting industry demand
Donnelly says that companies across tech, healthcare, retail, and finance are investing heavily in skilled designers to improve digital interactions, and UX roles are among the fastest-growing and highest-paying jobs in design and technology.
“Behind every website, app, anything you use, there's someone designing it,” says Donnelly. “And you're seeing more and more companies invest in it because it hits their bottom line. If you go to a website on your phone and it doesn't work well, it doesn't look good, how long do you stay there? Those are real dollars.”
Part of the reason for creating the major is the success of the College of Design’s UX minor.
“But it also just reflects hiring trends,” says Donnelly. “We have students now from the UX minor at U.S. Bank as full-time employees. We've got UX students at Best Buy, Target, and Medtronic.”
Formalizing a pathway in high demand
Donnelly says that students had been cobbling together UX skills through the UX minor and independent studies.
“Now that we are the first-ever bachelor's degree of UX design in Minnesota, that gives students four years to learn this. That's a real edge on their resumes,” says Donnelly.
About 50 students have already enrolled in the major.
University of Minnesota alum Eliana Smelansky (’22) majored in marketing at Minnesota Carlson with a minor in interdisciplinary design.
After an internship led to a job at Target in a merchandising role, Smelansky realized that she wanted something more creative, so she took a six-month UX/UI bootcamp at the University of Minnesota.
Today, she’s an “Experience Designer” with Best Buy.
“I was really excited when I saw this [UX major] come out,” says Smelansky. I posted about it on LinkedIn, and I was like, ‘Oh, if this was a thing back when I was in school, I would have done it.’”
She says a lot of her current work involves collaboration, brainstorming concepts, and presenting to stakeholders and leaders.
“Having a major where you're kind of doing all of that in one package … how to appease your stakeholders, how to collaborate and solve problems and design things to look cool … is definitely appealing,” says Smelansky.
Landing his dream job
Nick Horst (’25) majored in computer science at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities College of Science and Engineering, but added a UX minor—skills that helped him land his dream job, he says.
“I took a class with McLean, and it kind of opened my world to the intersection of tech and design, which is where my job is right now,” says Horst.
After graduating this past spring, Horst moved to Los Angeles to work for Respawn Entertainment—a company owned by Electronic Arts, one of the largest gaming companies in the world.
“I always knew I wanted to work in video games,” says Horst. “If you are making video games, making apps, making software that requires a user interface, UX is a very useful skill to have.”
Horst’s team works on a worldwide game called Apex Legends. “I started playing the game when I was in high school, so it’s a real full-circle moment,” he says.
As a technical experience designer for Respawn, Horst says that “Anytime that we have a new feature or anything coming out, essentially anything that appears on the screen, is something that my team would program into the game.”
“If I was a freshman, I 100 percent would have either chosen [UX design] to be my only major or heavily considered it as part of a double major,” says Horst.
Creating a well-rounded student
Donnelly says that the UX major is a good option for someone who has a little creativity and a visual eye, as well as an interest in computer science, and it opens students up to a wide range of career options.
“This degree teaches you how to look at problems, find solutions, validate, prototype, professionally present your work, and get feedback,” says Donnelly. “It teaches you how to think. And so even if technology changes … this will continue to scale and allow our students to grow alongside it. It really is a forever degree.”
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