Cut through the hype and excitement surrounding generative AI by understanding for yourself what these tools can and cannot do. Through this course students will learn to understand, design, and build with generative AI. The class is a mix of theory and hands-on work. Students develop practical skills in designing, building, and testing with generative AI. Readings and discussions address key concepts in AI, their ethical implications, foundations in human computer interaction and human AI interaction, and design implications for creators. Students will experiment with bringing generative AI into their existing creative practice including writing, two-dimensional designs, illustrations, 3D, and product design. No previous experience with either the theory or use of AI is required but students will need to learn to use the tools through course tutorials and independent work.

Elective

This course is a fast-paced journey into designing a physical computing device. Students will gain a solid foundation in the essential technologies behind most modern electronics. Throughout the course, they will build several microcontroller-based electronics projects using devices like the Arduino series. The course prepares students to be the future generation of creatives by treating electronics like any other materials for creative practices, exploring their properties, implications, and possibilities. By the end of the course, students will be equipped with the knowledge, skills, and mindset to use technologies to fuel their creative decisions and expand their creative horizons. A brief introduction to the New Product Development process in the tech industry will be given as a starting point for discussions on the holistic impact of technology on humanity and society.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00

Elective

In the Cohen Brother’s movie, “The Hudsucker Proxy”,  the main character pulls out a piece of paper with a circle on it and expounds “You know for kids”. Eventually it becomes clear that he is pitching the idea of the Hula hoop. A toy whose origin dates back go back to at least 500 BC. Humans are innate designers especially when it comes to pleasure, amusement and distractions. This course will explore one of the most effective solutions of these needs: toys. 

Using Cubebot, a toy I designed in 2009, as our touch point. We will focus on the relationships people have with toys, games and playthings they grew up with. For the first three weeks you will be given three assignments to create a toy that fulfills a certain need. The final two weeks will be an opportunity to resolve one of your initial designs.  

Elective

Dear Student,

No matter what professional design direction we choose, we will work with people. This studio is about cultivating a people-centric design practice. Public engagement is about listening, and is
an intricate process that informs decisions and approaches towards change.

We will begin by co-creating our studio’s space, and practice intentional methods for
collaboration and critique. Our first projects will be to find the tools and spaces where we already engage with people. We will learn about concepts like the ‘user’, then interrogate and integrate them meaningfully into our work through understanding our positionality, exercising question design, interview protocols and survey best practices.

Larger projects in this studio will include a collaboratively curated experience for our ID
community. We will practice prototyping with smaller sketch models, and at full scale with power tools and found materials. Assignments will be based on creating presentations, short videos, sketches, models and mapping tools. We will learn more about the city of Providence and other communities through case studies, documentaries, field trips, archives, walks and conversations with people. This studio is about finding unconventional connections by studying existing public engagement, learning about its historically complex and problematic contexts and systems, and ethnographic practices, and by designing intentional and inclusive experiences for people.

Sincerely,

Ayako Maruyama
 

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

Design is often seen as neutral, sleek, and detached—but what happens when we reclaim it as a tool for protest, liberation, and authentic self-expression? In this social design course, we reject the sterile in favor of the deeply personal, exploring how our identities and lived experiences shape the way we create. We break down barriers between art and design, 2D and 3D, institution and student body, working across disciplines to foster a design practice that is engaged, intersectional, and community-driven. Through a three-part exploration—self, personal community, and wider community—students will develop both an individual project and a collaborative project of substance with a local community partner. Discussions with institutional leaders, Rhode Island-based artists, designers, and changemakers will deepen our understanding of how design can be leveraged for social impact.

This SEI-tagged course provides a space to engage with social justice topics such as race, gender, sexuality, class, and human rights in a collaborative and supportive environment. We center historically marginalized voices, welcoming QTPOC and those who have struggled to integrate their lived experiences into their creative work. Here, design is not just a profession—it is a practice of care, resistance, and transformation. Whether you are an artist, activist, or simply someone looking to make meaningful work, you will find a space to explore, create, and connect.
 

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

Mainstream games, such as Monopoly and Settlers of Catan, normalize extractive relations while
creating bitter competition between players. Meanwhile tools used in “community engagement” and “participatory design” in architecture, design, and planning fields create illusions of choice and public approval by gamifying public processes. This studio asks, how can games encourage a different set of relations and be a medium through which folks of all ages can practice care, collaboration, and learning at the grassroots level?

After examining their positionalities and analyzing existing board games, students will work in teams to develop their own semi-cooperative board games. The game development process will be introduced in stages as students critically discuss how design can both help and/or harm people with relevant personal, social, and political perspectives. Deliverables will include concept sketches, worldbuilding stories, rulebooks, zines, physical crafted prototypes and components, and student-organized playtesting sessions. Students must consider how to align their design decisions with their core values and goals, how to source materials ethically and sustainably, and how might their game be played and produced in community - all while ensuring the game is playable and fun!
 

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

Why did ancient Peruvians use knots to write numbers? How did Persians traditionally make ice without electricity? In this studio, we will examine these and other questions by recreating traditional technologies and examining different forms of knowledge from around the globe, in order to open the door for other viewpoints in our design practice.

We will begin the semester by exploring different cultural understandings of concepts like time and safety. After recreating some of these traditional technologies, we will then respectfully build new objects based on these ancient approaches.

In the second half of the semester, we will examine the specific cultures and subcultures that we each belong to and design new objects and technologies that spring from these different ways of being.

This studio will involve lots of hands-on exploration and thinking through making – please come with a curious and open mind and be ready to have some serious fun!
 

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

Have we considered what it truly means to critique? This course explores the role of critique, dissects real-life cases and challenges existing methodologies to foster more just and equitable ways to look at design. We'll closely examine how professionals, clients, and stakeholders present and evaluate design work to critically reflect on methods within ID for ethical and inclusive practices. Engaging in workshops, role-playing, and discussions, students will reshape their understanding of design and critique, fostering decolonized, equitable, and empathetic approaches. By the conclusion of the studio students will have designed and developed tools and models for public and private critique. Students will be equipped with enriched perspectives and a comprehensive toolkit of critique and discussion methodologies that are continuously applicable in future practices.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

The ability to conceive and prepare for different future(s) is a vital human capability. Designers are frequently commissioned by multinational corporations, government agencies and cultural institutions for foresight and strategy work. But in times of uncertainty we all have to be futurists. This special topic studio will introduce students to the tools and techniques of foresight practice and discursive design. We will also examine afro-futurism, decolonised futures and participatory design to see how these practices are being used by communities and cultures rarely supported in futures practices. Students will finish the semester with designed objects and written products that support more resilient futures thinking.

If you have questions about the studio please do not hesitate to contact Charlie Cannon via email. cccannon@risd.edu.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

Modern surroundings embody every aspect of our lived spaces, from the material surroundings of the clothes we wear, the objects that we cherish to the immaterial surroundings of networked mediated spaces (eg. Zoom, IG, AltspaceVR). The drive to simulate physical reality has led to more intuitive computational environments that more closely resemble the experience of the world around us yet is counterbalanced by the recognition of unpleasant effects of digital technologies such as anxiety and fatigue and the need for environments supportive of physical and mental health.  This course offers students an opportunity to learn CLO3D, an apparel and soft goods simulation software, in concert with other 3D capture and modeling tools, to explore the possibilities for the design of sensory surroundings, both material and immaterial. Readings and presentations on visual haptics, somatic therapy and neuroaesthetics will provide a theoretical framework to ground these material explorations. Textile skills (eg. sewing, knitting, embroidery), while not required, will probably lead to more meaningful explorations.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

This course is intended to introduce basic sewing skills and soft goods construction techniques in bag making and soft product design. Students will learn how to operate standard industrial sewing machines and create three-dimensional products from flat patterns. Fabric and notion selection for product performance will be taught as students learn to prototype and create final models of bags and soft products. Access to a portable sewing machine is suggested, as the eight industrial machines will be shared. You will be given some basic sewing supplies but can purchase additional materials based on your preferences.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

Building off Metals I, this course equips industrial designers with essential metalworking skills to fabricate prototypes, simple tools, and functional hardware components. Techniques taught are designed to be useful both in a full metalworking studio and in a smaller more sparsely equipped studio. We will be working with brass, steel, and tool steel for each student to fabricate their own metal-marking scribe, an adjustable-angle pocket bevel, and a functional hardware component of their own design.

Through step-by-step instruction, we will understand the working characteristics of metals, mastering layout and marking techniques, and executing fundamental fabrication processes—including cutting, drilling, filing, sanding, silver brazing, and heat treating. 

Participants will gain confidence using a range of tools, from hand tools like hammers and files to shop equipment such as drill presses, band saws, stationary sanders, and oxy-acetylene torches.
By the end of the course, students will have not only refined their metalworking skills but also developed a deeper understanding of material properties, craftsmanship, and the integration of metal components into their design work.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

Emergent Forms is a studio that invites students to explore form through a hands-on, material-driven design process. Working with a range of materials—each with its own structure, resistance, and expressive potential—students create prototypes as tools for thinking, testing, and discovery. The course encourages close observation of how forms evolve in nature—through movement, tension, repetition, and structure—and how those principles can inform human-made design. Through iterative making, students develop an understanding of space, proportion, and meaning, while also learning to understand themselves through design, reflect on their process, and communicate ideas with intention. Projects may range from tabletop objects to small furniture, giving students opportunities to work across scales while developing a personal design language—one that grows from curiosity, material sensitivity, and the intelligence of making.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

In a time of unprecedented biodiversity loss and ecological change, this studio course will challenge students to rethink traditional human-centered design approaches and imagine a world where designers can actively contribute to the protection and survival of the flora and fauna around us. As a result of human activity, it is estimated that one in four species are at risk of extinction – but is it possible that we can halt these losses through creative design solutions?

Together, we will envision a more symbiotic relationship between humans and nature. We will investigate already existing interventions for threatened species and better understand how designers are tackling these challenging issues. We will study critical topics such as habitat loss, decline of bird and pollinator populations, and shed light on often-overlooked animals that play significant roles in our ecosystems. Through observation, research, and insights from guest speakers and field trips, students will begin to develop and prototype their own design projects that may include the creation of analogous habitats in urban environments, pollinator-friendly support systems, or protective interventions that allow for coexistence between humans and animals. Completed projects will reimagine what design can do in a more-than-human world!
 

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

In many ways, biodesign introduces a fresh paradigm for our era. It’s design with/for biology! As such, biodesign promotes new forms of collaboration with living organisms, whether they are naturally evolved or lab-synthesized. Biodesign de-centers the dominant, yet limited, focus on humans that human-centered design championed at the turn of the century. It also eschews biomimicry, as it does not expect organisms to teach us or provide us with learning opportunities, nor serve us as merely models for emulation. Instead, its design tenets are biological principles that are observable in nature. Things grow and evolve, and are interdependent, so the products of biodesign are not thought of as ends in themselves. They’re part of a broader system or ecology that design aims to complement, or even enhance. As a result, biodesign projects are inherently complex, requiring multidisciplinary collaboration amongst specialists and generalists, including designers. This semester, we will explore biodesign across various scales, from molecules and materials to products and environments, while engaging with key pioneers in the field. No scientific background is required to succeed in this class.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

Students learn to explore form with low fidelity hand sketching and high fidelity thinking. Hand sketching processes students learn provide a vehicle to explore different opportunities for forms, shapes, and structural systems. This drawing process helps narrow down and evolve the best ideas and form choices for a design need. After learning this drawing process, it improves a person’s ability to sketch by hand. Even for people that think they do not have the natural talent to hand sketch will gain confidence when learning this process. 

As far as design workflow, this drawing process is often beneficial before building ideas to CAD or other high fidelity design tools. Successful CAD work often starts with first having reference hand sketches that clearly define the structural systems, forms and proportions of an idea. Form is not an endless spectrum, when making decisions and developing ideas these hand sketching methodologies help people to explore form options in an organized and scientific manner. This type of drawing starts as a concept in the brain, and often the new object is not fully seen until it is drawn first, hence “draw and see”. Throughout the semester students use this process to generate ideas around self-selected product categories.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

This practice-driven course equips design students with the foundational tools to navigate the business side of creative work and design practice. Blending entrepreneurial thinking with design management, it offers a designer’s perspective on essential MBA concepts such as value proposition, market fit, customer segmentation, and business models. The course is ideal for students looking to launch their own ventures or pursue leadership roles in the design management field.

The curriculum builds professional fluency through modules on grant writing, client management, portfolio development, and gaining exposure via design fairs and trade shows. Students will learn to communicate the value of their work—and of themselves as creative professionals—to diverse audiences, while grounding their strategies in ethics and sustainability.

Students will engage with applied frameworks like the Lean Canvas, Agile, and the Business Hypothesis Model to articulate assumptions, identify meaningful problems, and test early- stage ideas. Agile methodologies will help students manage iterative, collaborative design processes effectively. Course activities include Pecha Kucha-style business presentations that sharpen communication and pitching skills—crucial for engaging funders, clients, and collaborators. Conversations with guest professionals will offer insider perspectives on launching and sustaining a design venture.

The curriculum also builds professional fluency through modules on grant writing, client management, portfolio development, and gaining exposure via design fairs and trade shows. Students will learn to communicate the value of their work—and of themselves as creative professionals—to diverse audiences, while grounding their strategies in ethics and sustainability.

By the end of the course, students will have built a tested business or studio concept, developed key entrepreneurial and management skills, and crafted a clear, compelling vision for their creative career.

Elective

This course is for industrial design graduate students in their final year to work independently on their graduate thesis. The instructor serves an advisory and support role in all projects. Students must submit for instructor agreement, a written proposal for work planned and the criteria for evaluation. Course meetings are arranged individually, and/or with the group as needed.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Industrial Design Students.

Elective

Graduate Communication Introduction is a studio course about writing and speaking as design tools. We think about writing and speaking in two ways. First as a communication tool and second as a design tool. On the communication side, we address the many ways that writing and speaking surrounds a designed object (as a proposal, as sales copy, as instructions to users, as specs for manufacture, as criticism, etc.). We think about the audiences for those various kinds of communication and how to think about what they want and need. We look at examples of great design communication and we develop and practice our own skills for succinctly explaining our ideas. On the design tool side, we think about the many ways that writing can help clarify and quickly test out ideas. We think about writing as a form of rapid prototyping alongside sketching, model making, etc. We talk about what writing is good at, when other methods might be more useful, and when to combine methods. We explore techniques such as design fiction, scenario planning, and other narrative methodologies that are used in industrial design and related fields.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | MID Industrial Design

Graduate Communication Introduction is a studio course about writing and speaking as design tools. We think about writing and speaking in two ways. First as a communication tool and second as a design tool. On the communication side, we address the many ways that writing and speaking surrounds a designed object (as a proposal, as sales copy, as instructions to users, as specs for manufacture, as criticism, etc.). We think about the audiences for those various kinds of communication and how to think about what they want and need. We look at examples of great design communication and we develop and practice our own skills for succinctly explaining our ideas. On the design tool side, we think about the many ways that writing can help clarify and quickly test out ideas. We think about writing as a form of rapid prototyping alongside sketching, model making, etc. We talk about what writing is good at, when other methods might be more useful, and when to combine methods. We explore techniques such as design fiction, scenario planning, and other narrative methodologies that are used in industrial design and related fields.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | MID Industrial Design