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Classes are designed to challenge your thinking and develop your professional skills. You’ll leave each class with a unique set of tools to approach new communications challenges.

Tailor your experience to your career goals by focusing on one of eight areas of specialization. Use the search widget below to sort classes by quarter, specialization, instructor and degree track for each quarter. Get a comprehensive view of the full academic year in our Course Guide.

View the University of Washington Academic Calendar for important dates, including quarter start and end dates, registration dates and deadlines, and campus holidays.

Registration numbers (SLNs) are located on the Time Schedule. Please read the Department’s statement on internet resource requirements for access to courses.

COMMLD 530D: Building a Social Video Channel: Formats, Series, and Audience

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- 2026-2027 | Winter 2027

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 1/6 – 3/10, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 21999

Course Description

This course is designed for students interested in both content creation and marketing roles. Students will develop a social-video channel or recurring series for an organization, business, community, or area of interest. Rather than concentrating primarily on a single video, students design a sustainable system for producing an ongoing body of work.

Students identify their audience, develop a channel identity, design repeatable formats, and produce a small group of short- and longer-form social-native videos. They use audience feedback and basic analytics (such as retention, completion, and engagement) to refine their formats and production strategy. Students finish with a channel concept, a portfolio of completed videos, a repeatable production plan, and recommendations for future content.

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COMMLD 510A: Content Infrastructure and AI Systems: Designing for Truth

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- 2026-2027 | Winter 2027

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Thursdays 1/7 – 3/11, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12642

Course Description

Truth in an organization is a human judgment about which sources are authoritative. AI systems can be built to amplify truth, but generative AI by itself does not. This course looks at how content design shapes what AI systems produce, and how communications leaders can keep authority and accountability visible.

Students will get hands-on experience building a content repository using the building blocks of machine-readable content: Markdown for documents, YAML for metadata and GitHub for version history. Each student picks a domain (product content, brand messaging or internal comms) and writes the source material themselves, so they know it well enough to recognize when an AI gets it wrong.

Weekly experiments run the repository through AI tools to see where truth lives in each system and how structure, metadata, vocabulary and provenance change the answers. Students write evaluation criteria to judge those answers against a defined standard, and practice the human judgment that automated scoring cannot replace. Readings in media theory and the politics of AI place this work in a longer history of who controls information and how it spreads.

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COMMLD 594: Capstone Preparation: Research and Development

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- 2026-2027 | Winter 2027

Open Elective | Meets Research Methods Requirement | 3 Credits
Mondays 1/4 – 3/15, 6:00pm – 8:20pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 21986

Course Description

This course builds a foundation in research design and practice to support the development of an impactful, and well-scoped research project. A range of research approaches will be introduced, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods.

Students will begin by exploring existing academic and professional conversations to identify gaps, opportunities, and areas of relevance. From this foundation, they will learn to frame meaningful research questions, select appropriate methodologies, and design ethical, context-aware studies. The course also includes strategies for identifying relevant participants, stakeholders, audiences and data sources aligned with research goals.

The primary outcome of the course is a complete research plan, which will serve as the foundation for students to continue the work through the academic year, culminating in the Spring Quarter Capstone class.

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COMMLD 590A: Quantitative Methods for Communications Research

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- 2026-2027 | Winter 2027

Open Elective | Meets Research Methods Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 1/5 – 3/9, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 21943

Course Description

This course introduces the foundational principles of quantitative social scientific research that underpin research in fields such as public relations, marketing, user experience, community engagement, and public opinion. Students will learn how to conceptualize and measure variables, design surveys and experiments, analyze quantitative data, and critically evaluate empirical evidence, with particular attention to causal inference—how researchers assess whether and how one factor influences another. A central component of the course is a hands-on research project in which each student develops and conducts a minimalist, three-variable study using an online survey or survey experiment, guided by their own interests or career goals. Students will collect and analyze original data and present their findings in a structured research report. Through this process, they will develop practical research skills and the methodological literacy needed to conduct and critically evaluate empirical research that informs professional decision-making.

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COMMLD 580A Communicating the Future with Scenario Planning

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- 2026-2027 | Winter 2027

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Thursdays 1/7 – 3/11, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12674

Course Description

This course exposes learners to the strategic storytelling techniques that businesses, governments, and nonprofits use to explore possible futures. Scenarios provide organizations with the tools they need to anticipate and navigate the future by developing multiple paths along which it might unfold. Rather than looking at the world through the lens of what we know, scenario planning starts with uncertainties: social, technological, economic, environmental, and political forces that will evolve over the next several years in unknowable ways. This helps organizations see opportunities, mitigate risks, and work toward futures that align with their missions and values.

The course teaches learners how to develop scenarios and use them within organizations for strategy and storytelling. Each student will choose an area of interest as an overlay atop a generalized set of futures, document key uncertainties, write scenario narratives, and create a physical scenario board to share during the final class. Students will leave the course as scenario planning practitioners, a valuable skill for any leader in an uncertain world.

In this course you will:

  • Build a set of future scenarios from scratch through uncertainty identification, scenario matrix development, and strategic implications
  • Conduct a scenario-based exercise in a practical setting
  • Integrate scenarios into thought leadership narratives and other content during times of uncertainty and volatility
  • Employ scenarios to establish credibility, humility, and thoughtfulness in marketing content

AI use expectations: Required. Students will use AI as a collaboration partner to document uncertainties, understand scenario parameters, and develop and test scenario story logic. Students must disclose how they use AI and share the prompts and conversations that support their assignments.

Special considerations: Bring your curiosity about the world and your passion for helping create better futures.

For more information: Scenario Planning and Communications: How Does Scenario Planning Apply to Communications Jobs?

“I went into Scenario Planning as a marketer and left as a strategic storyteller. Dan taught us to look into the future and fashion a whole story out of it, in scenarios and contexts I otherwise wouldn’t have imagined. It also trains you to think of the future beyond just a linear eventuality to help prepare for it in the best way possible. Personally, the application of what I learned was beyond a business context, and I can say this: it helped all of us look at everything in a more multi-dimensional manner.” — Matthew Joseph, MCDM cohort ’22 alumnus

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COMMLD 570B: Stakeholder Mindset & Communication

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- 2026-2027 | Winter 2027

Open Elective | Meets Law & Policy Requirement | 3 Credits
Thursdays 1/7 – 3/11, 6:00pm – 8:20pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12672

Course Description:

In August 2019, the Business Roundtable, a group of 181 CEOs from the largest corporations in the world, created, signed, and distributed  a formal document, “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation.” This communication stated that this group was committed to leading their companies for the benefit of all stakeholders — shareholders, communities, employees, suppliers, and customers. 

In this course, we’ll examine this diverse set of stakeholders and take a closer look at how they interact with corporate leaders and each other internally and externally. What role will marketing communication professionals have in making companies’ messaging more stakeholder focused and inclusive going forward? 

From Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover to the mercurial work policies at Amazon, we’ll examine why companies which do not support stakeholder theory risk losing value. And why the ones that do gain it.

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COMMLD 546A/B: Professional Long-Form Writing

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- 2026-2027 | Winter 2027

Open Elective | Meets Professional Writing Requirement (3 or 5 credit) or Research Methods Requirement (5 Credit) | 3 or 5 Credits
Sundays 1/10, 1/24, 2/7, 2/21, 3/7, 9:00am – 5:00pm | Room on Time Schedule
3-credit 546A Registration SLN: 21976
5-credit 546B Registration SLN: 21977

Please note: 546A is 3 credits, and 546B is 5 credits. These courses will run concurrently. Students registered for 546A (3 credits) will attend the first three dates, and students registered for 546B (5 credits) will attend all five dates.

Course Description:

Have you ever read an in-depth piece online that so moved you or shifted your thinking that you immediately sent it on to a friend or colleague? The “long-form” medium offers the writer ample space for synthesis, critique, and personal stories to capture the imagination, change the conversation, and inspire action. With a broad selection of writers and cultural commentators as curricular guides, this course invites each student to hone their long-form professional writing skills and deepen their understanding of the current professional long-form landscape. With scaffolded steps to refine their writing voice and scope through the research and production of an original piece, this course serves both students with writing experience, as well as those keen to develop this foundational skill.

In this course, students will produce refreshingly original long-form writing that is ready for public consumption. This will be the culmination of a full writing process, including in-depth research, pitching, drafting and redrafting, and presenting the finished work as part of a panel presentation. 

In this course you will:

  • Describe the key characteristics of strong professional long-form writing
  • Incorporate critical feedback to improve your own writing
  • Verbalize your topic in conversational and accessible language

3-credit class Meets Professional Writing Requirement. 5-credit class meets either Research Methods or Professional Writing requirement. Class cannot be used to meet both requirements.

About this class experience: This is a screen-free classroom experience and no cell phones, smart watches, or laptops are used in class unless specifically instructed. Cell phones and watches are stowed at the start of class and made available at breaks. Laptops must be kept out of sight at all times. Paper and writing utensils are used for composition and note-taking during class. 

AI use expectations: Conditional. Some AI is allowed, but otherwise strictly prohibited for composition, no matter the language. Permitted AI use will be detailed in the syllabus and discussed in class. 

“Anita teaches invaluable research and writing skills that pushed me to become a more curious thinker. She encourages her students to dive into multifaceted research on your choice of subject and produce a polished long-form piece. As a brand marketing professional, I’ve applied what I learned in Anita’s class by practicing clear written communication and empathetic collaboration. —Amanda Chou, MCCN cohort ‘22

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COMMLD 541B: Crisis Communication

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- 2026-2027 | Winter 2027

Open Elective | Meets Law and Ethics OR Law & Policy Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 1/5 – 3/9, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Online
Registration SLN: 12663

Course Description

The 24-hour news cycle, social media, and digital age have fundamentally changed how institutional leaders, executives, celebrities, politicians, and organizations address crises big and small; internal and external; local, national, and international. Effectively managing a crisis means not just employing PR strategies, but developing a comprehensive communications plan that disseminates actionable content and engages stakeholders across multiple and diverse networks.

This course examines how communication tools influence crisis strategies, the key issues that must be addressed during an organizational crisis, and the ethics and behavior required of communication professionals. Through current events, interactive discussions, real-time exercises, case studies, and guest lectures, students explore how to engage traditional and social media, digital networks, lawmakers, internal and external stakeholders, and consumers or constituents. Students will complete weekly case studies and a midterm analysis before developing a realistic, specific, and actionable crisis communication plan that demonstrates their ability to navigate a crisis with confidence and make strategic recommendations.

In this course you will:

  • Describe how modern communication tools intersect during a crisis
  • Identify key communication issues and ethical considerations
  • Develop messaging and implementation strategies for engaging diverse internal and external audiences
  • Create a realistic and actionable crisis communication plan

AI use expectations: Conditional. 

Instructors will advise on AI use with clarity for key assignments as noted via Canvas. Students may not use AI for weekly in-class or online discussions. Any permitted AI use must be disclosed, including the tool used and how its output was evaluated, modified, and verified.

Special considerations: This is a highly interactive course built around discussion, collaboration, small-group work, and real-time exercises. Students should come prepared to participate actively.

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COMMLD 540C/D: Public Speaking and Presenting with Impact

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- 2026-2027 | Winter 2027

Open Elective | Meets Ethics & Leadership Requirement | 2 or 3 Credits
Wednesdays 1/6 – 3/10, 6:00pm – 7:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
2-credit 540C Registration SLN: 12660
3-credit 540D Registration SLN: 12661

Course Description

When you hear “public speaking,” do you think of a stage, a microphone, or a room full of strangers? The most critical communication you will do in your career often happens outside the spotlight: recording a video, interviewing for a job or promotion, pitching a client, leading a team meeting, or speaking up when you have something valuable to contribute. The ability to articulate ideas clearly is a high-impact skill that defines professional success.

This interactive course treats public speaking as a vital, everyday competency rather than an occasional performance. Through real-time practice in small groups, students will learn to replace anxiety with confidence, transform complex ideas into compelling narratives, and connect with audiences in different settings. The course bridges analytical content and emotional delivery, helping students communicate with clarity, authenticity, poise, and conviction.

In this course you will:

  • Use strategic storytelling to make messages compelling and memorable
  • Communicate concisely with confidence and executive presence
  • Apply vocal variety, body language, and audience awareness in online and in-person settings
  • Manage anxiety, technical challenges, and difficult questions with greater composure

AI use expectations: Conditional. While AI use is allowed, this is a learning environment, so your work should rely primarily on your creativity and ideas, with AI serving as a support tool only. Assignments should include a brief disclosure of which AI tools you used, how you used them, the extent of AI involvement, and the ways it contributed to your work. This disclosure should indicate this balance and can be no more than five sentences long.

Special considerations: COMMLD 540C is the two-credit version. COMMLD 540D is the three-credit version and includes additional presentation assignments and deliverables.

I learned practical strategies for public speaking, presentation delivery, body language, and thinking on my feet, while gaining the confidence to command a room and influence an audience. The class was supportive, collaborative, and genuinely encouraging. Dana is an excellent instructor who fosters both community and growth. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to become a stronger speaker.— Emily Victoria Huang, Student

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COMMLD 532: Advanced Video Storytelling

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- 2026-2027 | Winter 2027

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Saturdays 1/16, 1/30, 2/13, 2/27, 3/13, 9:00am – 5:00pm | Off-site location, see SharePoint
Registration SLN: 12657

Course Description

The world of video production is a mysterious and ambiguous place consisting of freelancers, business owners, and in-house roles. In this course students will learn how to add structure to their client interactions, how to ensure that they’re delivering content that fits their client’s needs, and how to navigate studio-based filming environments. Class will consist of qualitative analysis of how to approach storytelling problems as well as hands-on experiences with advanced camera gear in a professional setting. Students will collaborate in teams throughout the quarter to create one short video for a real-world client.

This course is a good match for students who:

• Have taken the Foundations of Video Storytelling course OR have a very strong understanding of how to create video content

• Are open to a simulated real world experience which includes working in groups

• Are prepared for a time consuming and rigorous learning experience

Students who have taken or are currently enrolled in COMMLD 531 may register for this class in Register.UW using the SLN. Students who have taken COMMLD 530: Foundations of Documentary Storytelling and those who have taken neither class must submit an application. See below for application details.

Students must prove their proficiency in video production to register for this course by meeting the minimum qualifications:

1. Proficient experience in editing video on the following platforms: Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, and/or DaVinci Resolve.

2. Experience in shooting video with either DSLRs or Video Cinema Cameras.

Please fill the form below to the best of your ability. You may be reached out with further clarifications. If your form is approved, you will receive an add code to register for the course. (Note: applications will be time stamped, and qualified applicants will be added to remaining class spots on an equitable basis determined by time of application and remaining time in the program.

The application will be available at 6:30 AM PST on November 9, 2026. You can access the application here: WIN27 – COMMLD 532A: Advanced Video Storytelling Application – Fill out form

Here are the questions on the form to help you prepare before it goes live:

Full Name
UW Email

Have you taken (or are currently taking) COMMLD 530: Foundations of Video Storytelling: Documentary with Elliat Graney-Saucke?

If you have not taken the Foundations of Video Storytelling courses, do you have other comparable experience? We do not cover basics of how to use gear or software in this class, we focus largely on client relations and storytelling principles so you need to have a solid foundation of video creation methods in order to succeed. Please provide examples of your work if applicable.

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COMMLD 530C: Mobile Media Production

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- 2026-2027 | Winter 2027

Open Elective | 5 Credits
Mondays 1/4 – 3/15, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 21940

Course Description

The Mobile Storytelling course prepares professional communicators to create visual stories spontaneously, record them inexpensively, and distribute them instantly. High-quality visual storytelling no longer requires expensive equipment or large production teams for every story you want to tell. Students will learn how to plan, shoot, edit, and distribute compelling visual content using smartphones and other accessible, low-cost production tools, and evaluate their impact once posted online. Whether you’re working at nonprofits or small businesses and need solutions that won’t break the bank, or you work at larger organizations looking to move fast, mastering these skills can help you deliver professional, powerful stories using technology that’s already in your pocket.

This course covers visual storytelling, camera techniques, lighting, sound recording, interviewing, mobile editing, and social media publishing and campaigns. Students will explore how to adapt visual content for different audiences, platforms, and communication goals. Through practical exercises and real-world production projects, students will develop the creative, technical, and strategic skills to produce effective visual content independently, even with limited time, equipment, and budgets.

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COMMLD 530B: Foundations of Video Storytelling: Documentary

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- 2026-2027 | Winter 2027

Open Elective | 5 Credits
Thursdays 1/7 – 3/11, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12655

Course Description

Foundations of Video Storytelling: Documentary is a workshop-based course where students get hands-on experience building documentary stories from start to finish. This course supports and cultivates a curiosity-driven mindset and the technical skills needed to produce compelling documentary media for innovative marketing and media production. How do you take a compelling topic and make it an engaging story? Documentary Storytelling will teach you to take stories, characters, and themes and craft them into narratives by breaking chronology, building emotional resonance, and cultivating buy-in so audiences become invested in the outcome.

Paired with guest speaker workshops and film case studies from award-winning professional documentarians, this course examines technical proficiency, ethical responsibility, production roles, documentary industry standards, and the power dynamics inherent in capturing others’ stories. Students will apply this learning by researching, filming, and editing a finished original documentary short film for their portfolio.

In this course you will:

  • Craft character-driven nonfiction narratives while developing skills in research, story craft, video and audio production, field recording, interviewing, editing, and constructive feedback
  • Lead documentary productions through a combination of independent work and various crew structures
  • Understand the responsibilities associated with different roles throughout the production process

AI use expectations: Conditional. AI may be used for specific supporting tasks, such as transcribing interviews or improving access to equipment manuals while students learn to use microphones, cameras, and editing software. Students must research, film, and edit their own projects without AI in order to develop their storycraft skills.

Special considerations: Students may create a documentary in any language, provided that process edits and the final version are submitted with English subtitles.

This course helped me better understand how to use visual storytelling to explore the topics I care about. Through filming and editing, I learned to reflect more deeply on my storytelling choices, the perspectives I present, and how my own point of view shapes the story. As an international student, documentary filmmaking also gave me a meaningful way to express my experiences and find my own voice. – Yi Gao, cohort ‘25

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COMMLD 521: Digital Media Branding & Marketing

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- 2026-2027 | Winter 2027

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Mondays 1/4 – 3/15, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Online
Registration SLN: 12653

Course Description

This course is designed for students who will be utilizing their education and experience in marketing career tracks or in leadership functions where an understanding of marketing is critical. The focus of the course will be on how to build a brand online or extend a legacy brand digitally by applying marketing fundamentals and examining how the most interesting and dynamic brands operate today.

Students will simulate brand management and build campaigns for real-world brands, exploring how they reach target customers to meet objectives and participate in online culture. While online platforms have offered us many more opportunities and “shiny objects” to reach and communicate with customers, the fundamental marketing skills and theories don’t change much or quickly. Learning to be strategic about how to apply these fundamentals will allow students to remain flexible and relevant. Students will bring this work together in a portfolio-level brand plan.

In this course you will:

  • Build expansive, omni-channel marketing strategies and tactics for brand building
  • Develop a CMO view of brand management and building marketing capabilities
  • Create a portfolio-level brand plan

AI use expectations: Conditional. Students should expect to use AI to assist idea generation, content production and attribute use of AI at their discretion. Students are not required but encouraged to use AI as it helps their individual workflows.

What a tremendous class. Thank you for balancing real-world marketing concepts with engaging and interactive roleplays with the C-suite of brands. The group work and collaboration with other Comm leaders allowed our unique voices and experiences to shine through our projects, while learning new frameworks to grow our collective creative thinking. All of the in-house presented marketing campaigns from REI and the professors’ work demonstrated that marketers continue to have a defining impact on the brands we love. – Sean Sheffer 

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COMMLD 520D: Product Marketing

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- 2026-2027 | Winter 2027

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 1/5 – 3/9, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12652

Course Description:

This course introduces students to the role of product marketing and its impact across the product lifecycle. Students will learn how product marketers identify target customers, develop positioning and messaging, conduct competitive analysis, support product launches, enable sales teams, and contribute to go-to-market strategies. Through real-world case studies, industry articles, guest speakers, classroom discussions, pop quizzes, and hands-on assignments, students will apply product marketing concepts to existing businesses.

Across three group assignments, students will develop customer personas, positioning and messaging, and competitive intelligence for a selected company. They will then synthesize these concepts into product marketing recommendations and present them in an internal stakeholder pitch deck by the end of the course. Individual peer evaluations will assess each team member’s contributions.

In this course, you will:

  • Analyze customers, market opportunities, and competitors to support product marketing decisions
  • Develop customer personas, positioning, value propositions, and messaging for a product or service
  •  Evaluate pricing, packaging, go-to-market strategies, and sales enablement approaches for existing businesses
  • Communicate product marketing recommendations effectively through written assignments and professional presentations

AI use expectations: Conditional. Students may use AI tools, such as ChatGPT, to generate ideas, obtain a second opinion, or explore different approaches. However, all submitted work must reflect the student’s own original thinking and writing. Directly copying or submitting AI-generated content as one’s own work is not permitted. Minor misuse may result in up to a 50% grade deduction, while significant reliance on AI-generated content may result in a grade of zero on the assignment.

Honestly, Product Marketing has been one of my favorite classes in the program. The class never felt like a lecture where we were just sitting and listening—it always felt like a conversation. I loved how interactive everything was, and somehow every class went by incredibly fast. – Sylvia Shi – COMMLD 520 D – Spring 2026 

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COMMLD 520C: Market Research Approaches in the Age of AI

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- 2026-2027 | Winter 2027

MCDM Elective | Meets Research Methods Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 1/5 – 3/9, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12651

Course Description

Marketers are blind without research. From learning unmet needs, to shaping solutions, to setting prices and optimizing creatives, input from customers is how you go from good to great. The aim of this course is not to teach you sampling, statistics, and analytics, but rather to be an expert in knowing what research to resource when, what quality looks like, and how to persuade change. 

The instructors are two client-side researchers at Microsoft who do just that. Plan to learn about 20 different research approaches that the global market-research industry has grown to answer the most common questions, and that most marketers “buy rather than build.”  Know when to ask for an ethnography, a pricing model, a journey study, or a campaign effectiveness study, among many others, and to know what makes them good, what “money slides” each produces, and the typical moves in persuading change with the results. Get your hands dirty in class with all the work needed to do research other than the math (making stimuli, writing survey questions, designing logical paths, and visualizing data with the best art and storytelling) and explore with us how AI can speed up and streamline much of it. We will build the class around a hypothetical tech product “an AI privacy defender” and by the end of the class, we’ll know what research to ask our VC to fund to bring it to market. 

This class is a good match for students who:

• Know some fundamentals of marketing

• Want to create a pitch deck for venture capital funding of an incubation tech product

• Have little desire to do math, but want to wield its power

Meets Research Methods Requirement.

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COMMLD 515: Advanced User Design: Generative AI Studio

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- 2026-2027 | Winter 2027

MCDM Elective | Meets Research Methods Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 1/6 – 3/10, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12648

Course Description

The interfaces people will use next do not wait to be clicked. AI agents now reason, act, and adapt on a user’s behalf, and the discipline of designing for them barely exists yet. This studio course puts students on that frontier. Working in small teams that mirror real product design groups, students take a concept from pitch to working prototype through user research focused on intent and trust.

Teams will create a customer journey map showing human-agent handoffs, failure states, and recovery, along with an agent persona defining goals, reasoning style, memory, autonomy boundaries, and escalation rules. Students will then build an individual LLM-based prompter and a team Figma prototype, test and iterate with real users, and present a final design proposal grounded in user evidence, UX theory, and the constraints of AI capability. Students leave with a portfolio piece at industry depth and a defensible point of view on what makes an agent trustworthy.

In this course you will:

  • Design agentic UX systems and translate human goals into agent behaviors, guardrails, and interaction contracts
  • Create agent personas and human-agent journeys that account for trust, handoffs, failure, and adaptation
  • Prototype, test, and refine an agentic experience that demonstrates real task execution
  • Evaluate AI systems for usability, reliability, explainability, and ethical risk, and defend design decisions to stakeholders

AI use expectations: Required. AI tools are the material of this course. Students work with Figma and Figma Make alongside tools such as Google Gemini, ChatGPT or Claude, and Google Stitch. AI may support brainstorming, outlining, light copyediting, and rephrasing students’ own ideas, but it may not replace their reasoning or produce unchecked work. Students must disclose AI use and remain responsible for the accuracy and originality of all submitted work.

Special considerations: This advanced studio requires COMMLD 511, 512, or 517, or demonstrated familiarity with design thinking and UX fundamentals. In-person attendance and active participation are required. Students work in small teams throughout the quarter on a concept selected by the class. Some tools have daily token limits, and students may need to purchase additional access.

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© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington