Game on
Where art and technology meet – create cutting-edge websites, apps, games, virtual reality and other digital experiences.
Tell stories
Storytelling gives voices to diverse worlds. Choose from many specialisations at Massey to become a leader in digital media.
Design your own degree
All Massey design students start with broad core courses. Then in later years you can specialise or gain wide-ranging skills.
Global top 100
Get creative at Massey. The only New Zealand university to be ranked by QS in the top 100 for art and design.
Overview
Game on! Create websites, mobile apps, games, virtual reality and other digital experiences, even if you start with no art or programming knowhow. Get hands-on and try new things, then shape your qualification around your specific skills and interests.
Learn from staff with award-winning experience in world-leading companies. Explore new ideas in areas such as interactive spaces, UI and UX design, or visualisation. Experiment with industry-quality tools and emerging technology in our dedicated studios, labs and workshops. Create a unique work-ready portfolio showcasing your creative and technical skills.
Web, game and interaction design are a good fit if you:
- enjoy school subjects such as design, visual arts (ngā toi), technology (hangarau) or maths
- want to work in a fast-changing, innovative field
- like thinking creatively, team work and have a good eye for detail.
Web and interaction design
Digital design is the look and feel of digital products, such as apps, websites and interactive experiences. Web design or digital design focuses on:
- visual design, such as typography, colours and proportions
- user experience (UX) design and user interface (UI) design – how people interact with and experience a product, system or service.
Massey web designing courses may cover:
- experiential information design
- typography
- user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design, also called interaction design
- visualisation for media production
- web and interactive production
- web and mobile media.
Web, digital and interaction design at College of Creative Arts – Toi Rauwhārangi
Website coding
Website coding or web development is the technical side of creating websites and other digital products. Master your tools at Massey and get creative by learning:
- front-end web development – HTML, CSS and Javascript
- back-end development – programming languages and databases.
Massey web development courses may cover:
- coding for creative practice
- hardware prototyping
- interaction and interface
- prototyping for creative technologies
- programming for interactive projects
- VR, AR and MR (mixed or hybrid reality), also called immersive design.
Creative technologies at College of Creative Arts – Toi Rauwhārangi
Game design
Game designers lead the overall experience of a game by creating the plots, logic, difficulty, characters and more. Game designers work in teams with game developers and game artists.
Learn how to use game industry tools to create immersive games for desktop, mobile, console and VR goggles.
Massey game designing and game development courses may cover:
- 3D modelling and texturing
- character design
- concept design for imaginary worlds
- game technologies and mechanics
- spatial design
- VR, AR and MR (mixed or hybrid reality), also called immersive design.
Game development at College of Creative Arts – Toi Rauwhārangi
How to study web, game and interaction design
Discover what we offer if you’re interested in web, game and interaction design – whether you’re coming to university for the first time, changing direction or returning to advance your study or career.
Undergraduate study
Undergraduate bachelor's degrees with honours
Bachelor of Design with Honours – BDes(Hons)
Extend your skills and push the boundaries of design innovation with our four-year Honours degree.
Concept Design – Bachelor of Design with Honours
Imagine new worlds with Massey's Bachelor of Design with Honours (Concept Design). Learn how to design concepts for entertainment and education within film, animation, television, gaming, and location-based experiences.
Integrated Design – Bachelor of Design with Honours
Take a unified approach to design. Develop strong design strategies and contextual understanding, applying your technical skills in the design fields of your choice.
Mātauranga Toi Māori – Bachelor of Design with Honours
Study creative arts and help shape a future where te ao Māori is at the forefront of Aotearoa creative industries. A first for Aotearoa tertiary education, the Mātauranga Toi Māori major engages te ao Māori in any of our creative disciplines in Design – Concept, Fashion, Industrial, Integrated, Photography, Spatial, Textiles or Visual Communication Design.
Visual Communication Design – Bachelor of Design with Honours
Visual communication is one of the most universal forms of design. It is at the heart of how our world works; guiding, informing, persuading, and inspiring us every day.
Animation – Bachelor of Screen Arts with Honours
Animation is a huge industry, found in almost all the visual media we consume, such as games, film, television, and interactive media.
Game Development – Bachelor of Screen Arts with Honours
Games are one of the most powerful forms of storytelling, allowing players to creatively engage with characters and narratives in innovative ways.
Mātauranga Toi Māori – Bachelor of Screen Arts with Honours
Study creative arts and help shape a future where te ao Māori is at the forefront of Aotearoa creative industries. A first for Aotearoa tertiary education, the Mātauranga Toi Māori major engages te ao Māori in any of our creative disciplines in Screen Arts – Animation, Factual Production, Film Production, Game Development, Immersive Media or Visual Effects.
Undergraduate certificates
Certificate in Creative Arts – CertCreativeArt
Massey’s Certificate in Creative Arts is a flexible qualification that will introduce you to the basics of art and design - creative thinking, visual communication, specialist skills, and critical awareness.
Undergraduate diplomas
Diploma in Creative Arts – DipCreativeArts
You’ll study with art and design degree students in a range of studio and lecture-based courses covering everything from critical and contextual studies, to social media, painting, and digital fabrication.
Graduate diplomas
Graduate Diploma in Design – GDipDes
Develop your technical skills and learn to think like a designer.
Relevant undergraduate subjects to major or specialise in
When you apply to study at Massey, for some undergraduate qualifications you can choose what subject you’d like to specialise in. You can usually change your mind after you get to university, depending on the courses you enrol in.
Postgraduate study
Master's degrees
Master of Design – MDes
Go in depth with an advanced design research qualification. You’ll develop a creative outcome, often of direct application to design industry or community. We will help you make strong connections with the business, public or non-profit sector.
Master of Fine Arts – MFA
Embed yourself in a rich dialogue about your creative practice in Massey’s Master of Fine Arts. Our MFA embraces intersections between knowledge systems, a spectrum of making processes, and modes of audience engagement.
Master of Screen Arts – MSA
Pursue screen arts research pathways, supported through connections and partnerships with industry and the sector. Our Master of Screen Arts (MSA) spans many fields; animation, film production, factual production, game development, immersive media, emerging technology and visual effects.
Postgraduate diplomas
Postgraduate Diploma in Design – PGDipDes
Go beyond your bachelor’s degree and advance your design thinking with a Postgraduate Diploma in Design.
Postgraduate Diploma in Screen Arts – PGDipScreenArts
PhD and other doctoral degrees
Doctor of Philosophy – PhD
A prestigious research qualification that demonstrates your ability to carry out independent and original research in your chosen field.
Our facilities
Computer labs and video editing suite
Students have ready access to computer labs where they can use the latest software to scan film, edit video, audio and photography, and create 3D models. The College also has a state-of-the-art audio and video postproduction suite with all the gear needed for students to create very high quality media.
Electronics technology laboratory
Students can access a dedicated Technology Lab, that has specialist equipment for hardware development, software development, electronics, prototyping and 3D printing.
Toystore
The Toystore offers a wide range of audiovisual equipment for design students to borrow, as well as access to large format printing and technical support.
Fab Lab
Fab Lab Wellington is Australasia’s first digital fabrication laboratory affiliated to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Fab Lab's capabilities include:
- A computer-controlled laser cutter
- numerically-controlled milling machine
- a sign cutter
- a precision milling machine to make 3-dimensional moulds
- surface-mount circuit boards
- and small 3D printers.
VFX studio
Massey University’s Wellington campus houses cutting edge digital production and post-production tools. Students can use high-end digital cameras with the 300m2 green screen and lighting gear to create the perfect shot in post-production. Our range of camera equipment will help get your shot moving, or keep it perfectly still, or post-production artists can record motion-capture takes using our 24 camera Vicon motion capture array.
Virtual and augmented reality
A specialised room where students can explore and prototype virtual spaces and experiences, or create virtual artworks or designs using virtual reality and augmented reality equipment.
Jobs in web, game and interaction design
Digital jobs are always changing as new technologies come along. Tools may change but creativity and problem-solving skills are in constant demand. When you study with us, you can specialise or gain wide-ranging skills when you complete collaborative, cross-disciplinary practical projects.
Careers can span most industries, from entertainment to government agencies, healthcare to social enterprises, digital agencies to galleries and museums.
Web, game and interaction design careers include:
- backend developers, who work with programming languages and databases in websites and other digital products
- frontend developers, who code what web users see and interact with, including buttons, menus or pages
- game designers, who work out plots, difficulty and other parts of the gaming experience
- spatial designers, who specialise in areas such as exhibitions or virtual spaces
- user experience (UX), interaction or experience designers, who create ways people can interact with digital products or spaces
- web designers or user interface (UI) designers, who create the look and feel of websites and other digital products.
Annual salary ranges for jobs
- Game developer – $60,000 to $100,000 and over
- Web designer or UX designer – $100,000 to $175,000
- Web or software developer – $110,000 to $160,000 and over
Salary ranges disclaimer
Indicative pay rates are:
- in New Zealand dollars
- based on careers.govt.nz data.
Which web, game and interaction design qualification?
Examples of where our qualifications may take you.
| Jobs | Examples of what you could study |
|---|---|
| Experience designer or spatial designer |
Bachelor of Design with Honours (Spatial Design) Bachelor of Design with Honours (Mātauranga Toi Māori / Spatial Design) Master of Design |
| Game designer or UX designer |
Bachelor of Screen Arts with Honours Bachelor of Design with Honours (Concept Design) Bachelor of Design with Honours (Integrated Design) Bachelor of Design with Honours (Spatial Design) Bachelor of Design with Honours double major with Mātauranga Toi Māori Master of Creative Enterprise Master of Design |
| Web designer or UI designer |
Bachelor of Design with Honours (Visual Communication Design) Bachelor of Design with Honours (Mātauranga Toi Māori / Visual Communication Design) Master of Design |
| Web developer, game developer |
Bachelor of Design with Honours (Integrated Design) Bachelor of Design with Honours (Spatial Design) Bachelor of Design with Honours double major with Mātauranga Toi Māori Bachelor of Screen Arts with Honours Master of Creative Enterprise Master of Design |
Accreditations and rankings
QS Ranking - Art & Design
College of Creative Arts – Toi Rauwhārangi ranks in the global top 200 for art and design by QS World University Rankings.
Red Dot Design ranking
Ranked 2nd in Asia-Pacific by International Red Dot Design Awards, the only design school to be ranked in New Zealand and Australia. This significant achievement recognises the high calibre of our teaching staff and the exceptional quality of our students' design concept work.
Get an information guide
Download our guides to find out more about studying web, game and interaction design at Massey.
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