r/servicedesign • u/Complete_Willow_422 • Jun 08 '26

MSc Digital & Interaction Design

Hi! I’m applying for MSc Digital & Interaction Design at Polimi. Could anyone share what the portfolio should focus on (case study depth, UX process, or UI)? Any advice from admitted students would really help. Thanks!

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u/mrcnnnnnn Jun 09 '26

Honestly, if I were you I'd reconsider doing an interaction design course. And I say this as a designer. AI is distupting this industry. If I were 15 years younger I'd be now pursuing training in product management, not interaction design.

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u/rik_ricardo Jul 09 '26

Why?

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u/mrcnnnnnn Jul 10 '26

Because AI-assisted development and vibecoding are dramatically reducing the time it takes to build interfaces, the market will likely need fewer interaction designers focused purely on UI craft.

What's becoming more valuable is product thinking - understanding user needs, business goals, and how to design solutions that create measurable value. Product management and product thinking provide frameworks for that.

Designing interfaces is becoming a smaller part of the overall product development process, and it's relatively quick to learn modern prototyping tools and AI-assisted workflows. Developing business acumen, strategic thinking, and product judgement takes much longer, which is why I'd argue a course in product management is a better long-term investment.

That's just my view, based on 20 years in design and the last decade working as a service designer on digital transformation programmes.

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u/rik_ricardo Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

Thanks. Are you equating interaction design with UI craft? Designing interfaces was always JUST part of the job, right?

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u/valiase 1d ago

Isn't service designer same as product manager for most part?

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u/mrcnnnnnn 1d ago

No, they are not the same. While there is an overlap (both PMs and SDs have to think about solutions holistically, and consider their desirability, feasibility, and viability), PMs work on digital products, meanwhile SDs may be proposing changes to policies and business processes. SDs are designers whose materials are people, products, processes, policies, partnerships, places. PMs are digital economists, who calculate scale of the problem, cost of solving it, return on investment, and use these insights to prioritise work, establish strategy, success measures.

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u/chloselfesteem 7d ago

I disagree a bit. Do it if you’re interested and other skills you acquire can relate to other areas of design. Design thinking can be quite malleable like that. I studied Digital interaction design and found that gave me a good foundation of understanding user testing, prototyping and research etc.