All students entering the College of Design enroll in a multi-disciplinary "first year" curriculum that encourages entering freshmen to think critically about and act creatively across the academic majors of the College of Design by engaging the world around them.

FIRST-YEAR STUDIO

Introduces students to the heart of design education. Here students learn to use the design process, establish disciplined work habits, discuss their work and collaborate with others. This forms the foundation of all subsequent design work in the College and design professions.

DESIGN THINKING

Examines the fundamental concepts and language of design thinking especially those processes, methods, philosophies, theories and special topics, such as making choices in a consensus driven organization or in a collaborative venture.

DESIGN CULTURE AND CONTEXT

Presents an interdisciplinary survey that analyzes the impact of Culture on the ideas, stye and expressions of art and design.

Course Details
 

D100 DESIGN THINKING I

Presents fundamental concepts and language of design thinking especially as it evolves over many centuries and in various settings.

D101 DESIGN THINKING II

Surveys modes of thinking including the discovery, application, integration and the sharing of knowledge as it evolves from the direct application of design thought in the various design disciplines of the College of Design.

D102 DESIGN CULTURE AND CONTEXT I

Explores the impact of culture on the ideas, styles and expressions of art and graphic design, architecture, industrial design, film and new media since 1900. Coursework and presentations examine contested ways of seeing and thinking and, ultimately, creating what is basic and necessary in our current and recent human experience. Visual and narrative references from a variety of sources will be used to place the things people create -- their material culture -- within a frame of significance, utility and public need.

D103 DESIGN CULTURE AND CONTEXT II

Investigates design action and the relationships between design and other systems, chiefly the natural and built environment, society and culture, and technology and economics. Case studies by affiliate faculty and a review of recent proejcts and special initiatives by the designers, architects, and principal investigators in the specialties of Universal Design, Natural Learning and Museum Practice introduce students to the negotiations that take places among the decision-makers, manufacturers, and civic and community patrons in understanding the nature and implications of crafting meaningful solutions to current challenges and public needs.

D104 FIRST YEAR STUDIO I

First Year Studio I provide College of Design freshmen with a comprehensive introduction to foundational design concepts and methods representative of creative thought and activity across design and artistic disciplines. An integral component to the larger interdisciplinary curricular framework that is a “First Year Experience,” this 4-credit Fall semester course encourages entering freshmen to think critically about and act creatively through design and art, and the world around them, as they secure a skillful level of craftsmanship in the development and making of all studio-based work.

D105 FIRST YEAR STUDIO II

First Year Studio II is a continuation of the comprehensive introduction to foundational design concepts and methods representative of creative thought and activity across design and artistic disciplines, started in First Year Studio I. Spring Semester is an integral component to the larger interdisciplinary curricular framework that is a “First Year Experience”. In this second semester studio, the students will further exercise their design thinking abilities, and improving their skills, methods and knowledge of design practice through assignments related to more focused and smaller scale than the first semester. The students will have a larger scope of context understanding and a practice designing small projects. Students will reaffirm a personal commitment to the development of design thinking and skills, and recognition that DESIGN is a life-based creative endeavor.