Santa Monica College Interaction Design

Santa Monica College Interaction Design Design your future with a Bachelor’s Degree in Interaction Design from Santa Monica College.

✨Fall Kickoff at IxD!A new semester, a new cohort, and a room full of curiosity. We kicked off the fall semester by brin...
09/04/2026

✨Fall Kickoff at IxD!

A new semester, a new cohort, and a room full of curiosity.

We kicked off the fall semester by bringing Cohorts 10 and 11 together with IxD faculty, board members, industry leaders, and members of the SMC community for an afternoon of lunch, conversation, and connection.

After lunch, students headed to the Green Room for a creative reflection game led by IxD Professor Maxim. They explored questions around process, ambition, failure, inspiration, money, play, power, and what stands between where they are, and where they want to go.

The answers were as unexpected as they were thoughtful, with Claude Shannon even emerging as a shared source of inspiration. 👀

It was a pretty fitting way to start the year: asking bigger questions, getting curious, and thinking about what we want to create next.

Here’s to a new semester of creating, experimenting, and learning together. 🙌

✨ Congrats to our students and recent graduates who completed Snap Academies! Over the summer, Lie Burgess (IxD ’26) and...
09/02/2026

✨ Congrats to our students and recent graduates who completed Snap Academies!

Over the summer, Lie Burgess (IxD ’26) and Rafael Sanchez (IxD senior) participated in the Design Academy, while Devin Williams (IxD senior) explored AR through the Lens Academy.

Students spent the program experimenting, building, collaborating, and developing real-world skills alongside professional development designed to help prepare them for what comes next.

Jon Lopez (IxD ’26), and Snap Academy alum, returned as a program coach to help guide this year’s cohort, a pretty great full-circle moment for the community. 🙌

We’re proud of everything they created and the curiosity they brought to the experience.

Huge thanks to Snap Inc and Next Shift Learning for giving our students these amazing opportunities!

➡️Swipe to see what they created!

✨ Congrats to our students and recent graduates who completed Snap Academies!

Over the summer, Lie Burgess (IxD ’26) and Rafael Sanchez (IxD senior) participated in the Design Academy, while Devin Williams (IxD senior) explored AR through the Lens Academy.

Students spent the program experimenting, building, collaborating, and developing real-world skills alongside professional development designed to help prepare them for what comes next.

Jon Lopez (IxD ’26), and Snap Academy alum, returned as a program coach to help guide this year’s cohort, a pretty great full-circle moment for the community. 🙌

We’re proud of everything they created and the curiosity they brought to the experience.

Huge thanks to Snap Inc and Next Shift Learning for giving our students these amazing opportunities!

➡️Swipe to see what they created!

✨ Congrats to our students and recent graduates who completed Snap Academies!

Over the summer, Lie Burgess (IxD ’26) and Rafael Sanchez (IxD senior) participated in the Design Academy, while Devin Williams (IxD senior) explored AR through the Lens Academy.

Students spent the program experimenting, building, collaborating, and developing real-world skills alongside professional development designed to help prepare them for what comes next.

Jon Lopez (IxD ’26), and Snap Academy alum, returned as a program coac

Curious about turning ideas into meaningful digital experiences? Join us for the Santa Monica College Interaction Design...
09/01/2026

Curious about turning ideas into meaningful digital experiences? Join us for the Santa Monica College Interaction Design B.S. Program Information Session.

📅Tuesday, September 15, 7:00 PM PST
💻Zoom + Live Q&A

Learn how our thoughtfully developed, cohort-based program prepares students for creative, technology-driven careers, including Interaction Designer, Product Designer, Experience Designer, and Creative Technologist roles.

Through hands-on studio projects and collaboration within a tight-knit cohort, students build adaptable skills for tech and a rapidly changing work landscape.

The program also engages with leading industry partners, giving students exposure to real-world design challenges and professional feedback.

Whether you're accelerating your growth or considering a meaningful shift for your future, this session is an opportunity to ask questions, connect with program faculty, and explore what's possible.

🔗Link in bio to register

✨SMC IxD Professor SpotlightWould you trade Wi-Fi for curiosity? 🌎Professor Eric Minzenberg once lived in a mountain vil...
08/28/2026

✨SMC IxD Professor Spotlight

Would you trade Wi-Fi for curiosity? 🌎

Professor Eric Minzenberg once lived in a mountain village with no running water or electricity. Could you do it?

He has led study abroad programs to Brazil, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Mexico, where he arranged for students to live with local families, contribute to communities, and experience cultural exchange firsthand.

Now teaching Ethnographic Research Methods for Designers for the IxD program, Professor Minzenberg is helping students design with deeper empathy and cultural insight.

🔗Check out our 2026 Annual Report at the link in bio to discover how he spent a year off-the-grid.

🎥Swipe to check out Professor Minzenberg’s personal archive of photos from his trips.

📸Peace Corps trip in Ecuador (1995-1997)
Professor Minzenberg in La Laguna, where he worked on a pig breeding project, received from a grant, for the local peoples.

📸Dissertation Fieldwork in Brazil (2002-2004)
Professor Minzenberg with a family in Girasol, Acre, Brazil.

📸Dissertation Fieldwork in Brazil (2002-2004)
Jose and Dora making farinha.

📸Dissertation Fieldwork in Brazil (2002-2004)
A malaria check by the state government. Professor Minzenberg’s boat operator, Jesus, is on the far left.

📸Dissertation Fieldwork in Brazil (2002-2004)
Marcia, one of professor Minzenberg’s local research assistants, interviewing Seu in his home.

📸Dissertation Fieldwork in Brazil (2002-2004)
The Moa River, Professor Minzeberg traveled on to reach communities.

📸Dissertation Fieldwork in Brazil (2002-2004)
View of the Amazon from the far western part of Brazil. The Moa River in the photo is the one Professor Minzenberg traveled on to reach the communities he worked with.

📸Dissertation Fieldwork in Brazil (2002-2004)
Vangela of the group Pesacre, working with local communities in animals and hunting. This is somewhat like a Pile Sort methodology.

📸Dominica Republic Trip (2007)
Jenny’s house in Cruz Verde. Professor Minzenberg stayed with her family during the week they were there.

📸Dominica Republic Trip (2007)
Two of Professor Minzenberg’s students are resting with the family in Cruz

✨Alumni SpotlightsFrom the IxD classroom to the CES stage. 🚀 IxD alum Audra Walker (‘23) is leading product design at Jo...
08/27/2026

✨Alumni Spotlights

From the IxD classroom to the CES stage. 🚀 

IxD alum Audra Walker (‘23) is leading product design at Jona and represented the company at CES, where she showcased AI-powered health technology to thousands of attendees. 

Research, empathy, and curiosity shape her work: “Hearing from users who’ve discovered the root of their health issues and improved their lives, that’s everything.”

🔗Link in bio to our 2026 Annual Report.

Reimagining reality one experience at a time. ✨

 This year, IxD alum Christian Enriquez (‘21) brought augmented reality to one of LA’s most iconic cultural institutions: the Natural History Museum. 

As founder of Reality Experience Design, Christian creates immersive AR experiences that transform how people engage with public spaces, museums, and storytelling. 

Read more in our 2026 Annual Report. 🔗Link in bio.

From the first IxD cohort to the global design stage. 🌍 

This year, IxD alum Heidi Gaudet (‘18) received a prestigious Red Dot Design Award for TradeAware, a platform that uses AI and satellite data to help companies build more sustainable supply chains. 

Read how curiosity, experimentation, and a willingness to embrace the unknown have shaped Heidi’s career in our 2026 Annual Report. 🔗Link in bio.

✨ SMC IxD Professor SpotlightGuess which of these Professor Gillian Grebler has helped build…🎨 An art gallery🌱 A food ju...
08/18/2026

✨ SMC IxD Professor Spotlight

Guess which of these Professor Gillian Grebler has helped build…

🎨 An art gallery
🌱 A food justice initiative
🚔 Police research on interviewing and false confessions

Think you know the answer? 🤔 Drop your guess in the comments below!

Last year, Professor Grebler co-taught Ethnographic Research Methods for Designers, drawing on years of work in food justice, sustainability, and community-based research.

Through hands-on learning, she encouraged students to step beyond the classroom and engage directly with the people, places, and systems they hope to design for.

🔗 Head to our 2026 Annual Report (link in bio) to reveal the answer, and learn more about Professor Grebler's unique journey.

08/13/2026

🎉Our 2026 SMC IxD Annual Report is here!

What does a B.S. in Interaction Design at a community college look like? This year’s report gives you a peek inside.

From tackling real-world design challenges with GameStop and OpenSeed to receiving mentorship from Recharge, landing internships at BMW Designworks, Snapchat, and CNN, winning hackathons, and heading to graduate schools like Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, and Cedars Sinai, our students are learning by doing, making, and connecting beyond the classroom.

And there’s more inside! Take a closer look at the dynamic design challenges our seniors undertook, get to know our award-winning alumni and globe-trotting professors, and get a glimpse into the Design DNA of each cohort.

This year’s report was designed and produced by IxD students Fernando Herrera, Isabella Perrini, and Sandi Piorek, with the sizzle reel by fellow IxD student Romell McKenzie.

🔗 Read the full report at the link in our bio.

🐈 P.S. Type CAT on the Annual Report website for a little surprise.

Big congratulations to IxD ‘26 graduate Alexander Albao! 🎉 ✨Alexander will be pursuing a Master of Science in Health Sy...
08/11/2026

Big congratulations to IxD ‘26 graduate Alexander Albao! 🎉 ✨

Alexander will be pursuing a Master of Science in Health Systems at Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University, a program that embeds students directly within one of the country's top healthcare systems.

For his capstone, Alexander designed Nori, a storybook and medical device system to aid in pediatric Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) health literacy at home. He wrote, designed, and printed a children's storybook that is accompanied by a characterized, 3D-printed lancet device prototype. Nori empowers T1D health literacy for children and caregivers by bridging recognition with ritual.

He's now heading to grad school to become equipped with the skills and knowledge in digital health science, AI, health economics, leadership, and more.
We're so proud of Alexander and can't wait to see where this next opportunity takes him!

Bonus: the Cedars-Sinai University campus is hosted at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood!

✨Our IxD students and recent graduates just wrapped up the BMW Designworks × LA Tech Rising Internship!Their brief? Tran...
07/31/2026

✨Our IxD students and recent graduates just wrapped up the BMW Designworks × LA Tech Rising Internship!

Their brief? Transform a single parking space into an interactive experience celebrating 100 years of Route 66 while rethinking mobility, walkability, shade equity, and public life in Santa Monica. 🌊

They explored public engagement and placemaking to create spatial design solutions that would encourage users to establish lasting connections with Route 66 and Santa Monica.

Along the way, they pitched ideas, received feedback from industry professionals at Bjarke Ingels Group (), Gensler (), Metropolis, and collaborated alongside talented peers from across Los Angeles.

We’re especially proud of our recent graduate, Harmony Simpson, who returned to the program as coordinator, supporting and mentoring this year's interns throughout the experience.

A huge thank you to , , and all of the incredible partners who made this opportunity possible. 👏

🎓 Congratulations to the SMC IxD Class of 2026!Over the past two years, this incredible cohort has asked big questions, ...
06/23/2026

🎓 Congratulations to the SMC IxD Class of 2026!

Over the past two years, this incredible cohort has asked big questions, tackled complex challenges, built ambitious projects, and supported one another through it all. Along the way, they've collaborated with partners including GameStop, BMW Designworks, and OpenSeed.

Now they're headed toward exciting next chapters:

✨ Graduate study at Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, and Cedars-Sinai
✨ Jobs and internships with BMW Designworks x LA-Tech and Snap Academies
✨ New opportunities across design, research, technology, and innovation

Most importantly, they're leaving behind a body of work, a community, and a lasting impact on the program.

We're proud of everything they've accomplished and can't wait to see where they go next.

Want to learn more about this graduating class and the SMC IxD program?

Check out our 2025–26 Annual Report at the link in our bio, featuring highlights from an incredible year.

Congratulations, Class of 2026. ❤️

📸Shot on Pentax 17 .photography.official .film.photography

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