What this subject family covers
This area sits within computing but asks different questions from general computer science or software engineering. It has two connected branches, and your evidence should show which one you mean.
- Human-computer interaction and human-centred computing study how people use technology. They cover how to design interfaces and interactions, how to test whether designs work, and how technology fits into people’s lives. The evidence here is about people as much as code. It includes observing users, questioning assumptions, testing with real people and changing a design because of what you found.
- Computer graphics studies how images, geometry and motion are represented and computed. It covers rendering, modelling, animation, shaders, simulation and the mathematics behind them. Some courses connect this to virtual or augmented reality, which brings the two branches together. Evidence here is more technical and mathematical. Linear algebra, coordinate systems, performance limits and the gap between a picture and the algorithm that makes it all matter.
Many courses combine both. A statement that only says “I love technology and design” fits neither branch. Name the problems that interest you and the branch they belong to.
Showing an interest that belongs to this subject
Interests count as evidence when they show you have thought about how something works or why it succeeds or fails. Some starting points:
For interaction and human-centred computing
- Why a particular interface confuses people. Examples include a self-checkout, a ticket machine, a banking app or a school’s online system. Show that you can explain the cause, not just complain. The cause might be unclear feedback, hidden options or language that assumes expert knowledge.
- Accessibility. This could be how screen readers handle a website, how captions or colour choices affect use, or how a relative with limited mobility or eyesight manages a phone. Say what you noticed and what trade-off a designer would face.
- The difference between what people say and what they do. If you asked people about a design and then watched them use it, what changed?
- Ethical or social questions tied to interaction. Examples are persuasive design and notification habits, consent screens, or who is left out when services go digital-only. Keep these specific and connected to design choices. Broad opinions about “technology and society” are not enough.
For computer graphics
- How an effect you have seen in a game or film is actually produced. Examples are reflections, shadows, lighting, water or hair. Go as far as your knowledge honestly allows, such as what you read about rasterisation compared with ray tracing.
- The mathematics you have met in school and how it connects to graphics. Examples are vectors, matrices, transformations, trigonometry for rotation, and interpolation for animation.
- Performance trade-offs. Why do games lower detail at a distance, and what is being sacrificed?
- Procedural generation, simulation of physical behaviour, or 3D modelling tools. Focus on what you understood about the underlying method rather than how good the result looked.
In either branch, one interest followed in depth is stronger than a list of fashionable topics such as VR, AI and the metaverse.
Preparation and activities worth considering
None of these are requirements. Choose what fits your circumstances, and write about what you learned, not just that you did it.
Interaction-focused activities
- A small usability test. Ask a few people to complete a task on an app or website while you watch. Note where they hesitate. Then propose or build a change and test it again. What this shows: a basic understanding that design is checked against users. What it does not show: formal research method. A handful of friends is not a representative sample, and saying so shows good judgement.
- Redesigning something you use. Sketch or prototype an improvement to a school system, club sign-up form or local service. Explain the problem, your reasoning and what you would test. Paper sketches are fine. Tools do not matter as much as reasoning.
- Reading about design principles and applying one idea to a real case. Ideas such as feedback, affordances and consistency work well. Do not just name-drop terms.
- Building a simple web page or app with accessibility in mind. Check it with a screen reader or keyboard-only navigation, and describe what failed.
Graphics-focused activities
- Writing a small renderer, shader or animation. This could be a basic ray tracer following a tutorial, a creative coding sketch or a shader experiment. The useful part is explaining one concept you had to understand to make it work, such as how a ray is tested against a sphere or why normals matter for lighting.
- 3D modelling or game engine projects. These show familiarity with tools. They count for more if you can say what the engine was doing for you. An example is noticing how changing polygon count affected frame rate.
- Mathematics beyond the minimum, if you have the opportunity, especially vectors and matrices. Link it to a graphics problem rather than listing results.
Where the branches meet
Virtual and augmented reality projects can draw on both branches. A VR scene shows graphics work. Asking why users felt disoriented, and changing movement or interface design in response, shows interaction thinking. If you are interested in this overlap, describe both sides.
Making use of experience that is not directly relevant
Many applicants have no project or placement in this field. Ordinary experience can still be useful if you draw out a genuine connection and do not overstate it.
- Retail or hospitality work. You may have watched customers struggle with till systems, ordering screens or card machines, or used a clumsy staff system yourself. This connects to interaction design through what you observed about errors, workarounds and how quickly people learn. It does not make you a usability researcher. It is an informal observation that gave you a question.
- Caring responsibilities. Helping an older relative or someone with a disability use phones, online forms or health apps gives direct insight into accessibility barriers. Describe specific barriers and what might have helped. Do not generalise from one person to everyone with that condition.
- Helping people with technology. This might be through volunteering at a library, supporting a younger sibling, or acting as the family’s unofficial technical support. It shows awareness of how mental models differ between people. Be clear that this is support work, not design work.
- Art, drawing, photography or film. These can connect to graphics through light, perspective, composition and colour. Perspective drawing relates directly to projection in rendering, for example. They do not show computational skill, so pair them with some evidence of mathematical or programming interest if you are applying for graphics.
- Gaming. Playing games is not evidence on its own. It becomes relevant when you analyse something. That could be why a menu system works, how a game teaches its controls without text, or why a graphical setting changes performance. Modding or level design is stronger, because you made something and dealt with constraints.
- Schoolwork. Several subjects can supply evidence. Psychology can give you perception, memory or experimental design. Art and design can give you iteration and critique. Physics can give you optics and light. Mathematics can give you vectors and transformations. Computing coursework counts if you designed it with a user in mind. Explain the specific idea and how it relates to the course, not the grade.
What useful reflection looks like
In this subject, reflection means showing how evidence changed your understanding or your design. Useful patterns include:
- An assumption that turned out wrong. “I expected users to find the search bar, but three of five used the menu instead, so I…” This is the core habit of interaction work.
- A technical limit you understood. “My ray tracer took minutes per frame, which made me understand why real-time rendering relies on approximations.”
- A trade-off you can name. Examples are simplicity against flexibility, visual quality against speed, or accessibility against a particular aesthetic.
- A next step. State what you want to understand properly at university that your current experience could not reach. That might be rigorous evaluation methods, or the mathematics behind lighting models.
Weak reflection describes what you built or used and then states that you are passionate. Strong reflection shows a decision, the reason for it, and what you learned from the result.
Distinguishing this subject from its neighbours
- Compared with computer science, your statement should show why people, perception or visual computation in particular interest you, not just programming generally.
- Compared with software engineering, the focus is less on building reliable large systems. It is more on how systems are experienced and seen.
- Compared with information systems, the emphasis is on individual interaction and visual or interactive technology rather than organisational use of data and processes.
If your evidence is mostly general coding, connect at least some of it to a user or a visual problem. Otherwise it reads as a statement for a different course.
Study is not the same as a job title
Some applicants write as if the course leads straight to a role such as UX designer, technical artist or games graphics programmer. A degree in this area teaches methods, theory and technical foundations that can feed into several careers and into research. Mention a career aim if you have one. Base your case on what you want to study, though, not on a job you are assuming the course guarantees.
Pitfalls specific to this subject
- Treating design as personal taste. Saying an interface is “ugly” or “sleek” is not analysis. Explain how it affects what users can do.
- Overclaiming user research. Asking friends for opinions is a starting point. Do not describe it as a study.
- Mistaking tool use for understanding. Listing software such as engines, modelling packages and prototyping apps says little. Explain what you understood through using them.
- Vague enthusiasm for VR or AI without any specific question or experience attached.
- Ignoring the mathematics in graphics. A purely artistic statement may not fit a technically focused course.
- Ignoring people in HCI. A statement that only discusses code misses what makes the field distinct.
- Generalising about users. One relative’s experience does not describe all older people or all disabled users. Show that you know this.
For general advice on planning, structure and editing, read our personal statement writing guide.
Human-computer interaction and graphics personal statement examples