During this course we will examine natural environments, systems, processes, and organisms with an intent to design a more circular, and less harmful human-planet experience. Students will embark on a creative and rigorous exploration and application of the deep biomimicry and biodesign methodology as a pathway towards innovative materials, products, manufacturing methods, services, and experiences.These materials and methods will be placed in context to support the Hyundai Motor Group’s theme of future structures, creating solutions that demonstrate our discoveries’ real world applications in the fields of mobility and manufacturing.A close partnership with the RISD Nature Lab and the ID Department will provide access to the expertise and equipment necessary to complete our research.This course features a series of guest lectures and demonstrations throughout the semester to provide insight into the different arms of the quickly expanding field of biodesign and regenerative design, as well as expert guest critics.

Note: The activities in this course are a continuation of Fall research conducted in the HMG sponsored course. SCI 1116 - The Language of Design in Nature is a prerequisite.

Elective

As first described by Donald Winnicott, play takes place in a “transitional space between the inner and outer reality which enables creative action… a transitional reality in which one can experiment with different ways of relating to the external world.” This class aims to make this abstract space literal as we analyze and design objects, spaces, and activities conducive to play, especially adult play. Through this process, we will also explore our own relationships to play and learn how playing can invigorate our creative practice as artists and designers. 

Rather than focusing on traditional consumption-maximizing models of toy design, this class focuses on designing for explorative, embodied, and open-ended play. The process will be highly iterative, and the end project will prioritize creating objects and activities that facilitate truly playful states more than creating a refined, marketable item. Purely digital game development will be discouraged in this class. Students outside are invited to bring in skills from their own art and design practice while learning principles of industrial design, such as user testing and rapid prototyping, through the lens of play. 

We will learn how to test for playfulness and read a variety of literature that frames and defines play and playful objects. We will co-create a trusting classroom environment, for part of designing playful objects and experiences is that we play test them and become (re)comfortable with playing. This may involve acting, dancing, moving, and thus a degree of trust and vulnerability will be required. 

Activities will include a field trip to Tillinghast Place for outdoor play space mapping and in-class contact improvisation and movement workshop.

With a focus on practical application, Prototyping Studio delves into the intersection of design thinking and user-centered innovation. Students will learn how to transform their ideas into tangible working prototypes that can convey meaningful design decisions, leveraging diverse perspectives and methodologies to enrich their approach to creative problem-solving.

In this intensive Wintersession course, students will go through the prototyping journey of CAD (computer aided design) modeling, 3D printing, physical modeling and soldering to bring their ideas together.

This course offers a hands-on exploration of functional prototyping. Through workshops, projects, and critiques, students from all disciplines will dissect, re-imagine, and redesign everyday items.

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.

Elective

Turning an idea into a sustainable reality requires a fundamental understanding of business, but the frameworks that guide business principles overlap, complement, and enhance design principles. This course seeks to educate students to understand business as a critical design factor- a defining constraint or liberating perspective along the same lines that other design principles are taught. The guiding principle is that design and business are inextricably linked: Design work is intrinsically linked to business and will always be at the service of business, fulfilling the need for an enterprise (profit or non-profit) whose business model is critical to its survival. Design will find new channels, new outlets, through a more complete understanding of business needs and how businesses see opportunity. Design can and should be considered as critical strategic input for business. The objective of Business Principles: Design and Entrepreneurship is for students to understand basic business vocabulary, to explore how design vocabulary and design processes overlap, complement and enhance business vocabulary, and to understand how design thinking skills can be used to identify and execute business opportunities.

Elective

Turning an idea into a sustainable reality requires a fundamental understanding of business, but the frameworks that guide business principles overlap, complement, and enhance design principles. This course seeks to educate students to understand business as a critical design factor- a defining constraint or liberating perspective along the same lines that other design principles are taught. The guiding principle is that design and business are inextricably linked: Design work is intrinsically linked to business and will always be at the service of business, fulfilling the need for an enterprise (profit or non-profit) whose business model is critical to its survival. Design will find new channels, new outlets, through a more complete understanding of business needs and how businesses see opportunity. Design can and should be considered as critical strategic input for business. The objective of Business Principles: Design and Entrepreneurship is for students to understand basic business vocabulary, to explore how design vocabulary and design processes overlap, complement and enhance business vocabulary, and to understand how design thinking skills can be used to identify and execute business opportunities.

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

In this product design studio, we will dissect an existing product, analyze a market segment, and redesign the product to fit the described market. The methodology used to complete this task will be accelerated, giving students an overview of a typical industrial design process. Students will be exposed to design drawing techniques, foam modeling methods, and the concept of designing for consumers.

Elective

The aim of the course is to open a window on the complex and multifaceted present design environment. A preliminary overview about the major historic design movements will be followed by an extensive description of the design's state of the art together with a spot on the latest trends. Students will be invited to think and tinker, learning how to approach a design project, how to formulate proper research questions and how to use analog and digital prototyping to experiment, validate and communicate their own ideas. They will also initiate a dialogue with forms, functions, and interactions, defining the borders of the design activity and the actual role of designers. The main goal of the course is to get students familiar with the design vocabulary and with the basic tools involved in design processes. Areas covered: Ideas and concepts creation, quantitative and qualitative research, sketch models making, digital fabrication, physical computing, project's narrative and storytelling.
 

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | MID (2.5yr): Industrial Design

The execution of two assigned design projects provides the framework for a thorough examination of the design process. This structured and intensive studio will focus on the relationship between the implementation of sound design methodologies and successful problem solving in the design process. This first studio experience is intended to provide the methodological infrastructure for the remainder of the MID thesis experience.

Preference is given to Graduate Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | MID Industrial Design

The execution of two assigned design projects provides the framework for a thorough examination of the design process. This structured and intensive studio will focus on the relationship between the implementation of sound design methodologies and successful problem solving in the design process. This first studio experience is intended to provide the methodological infrastructure for the remainder of the MID thesis experience.

Preference is given to Graduate Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | MID Industrial Design

This required studio continues the explorations you began in Graduate Studio One. Again, you are challenged through a series of projects to purposefully locate your personal position within contemporary industrial design practice. The projects will introduce you to a variety of issues, application methodologies and audiences associated with the industrial design process that will equip you with a critical understanding of the field that can direct a practical means of applying your ideas. At the end of the semester, your deliverable is an exhibition piece resulting from a final self-directed project. This concluding project is a personal, insightful and original synthesis of your semester's activities and clearly communicates your maturity in problem solving design approaches. Graduate Studio Two is offered as part of the Graduate Industrial Design core curriculum in conjunction the required Graduate Shop Orientation and Graduate Communications courses.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | MID Industrial Design

This required studio continues the explorations you began in Graduate Studio One. Again, you are challenged through a series of projects to purposefully locate your personal position within contemporary industrial design practice. The projects will introduce you to a variety of issues, application methodologies and audiences associated with the industrial design process that will equip you with a critical understanding of the field that can direct a practical means of applying your ideas. At the end of the semester, your deliverable is an exhibition piece resulting from a final self-directed project. This concluding project is a personal, insightful and original synthesis of your semester's activities and clearly communicates your maturity in problem solving design approaches. Graduate Studio Two is offered as part of the Graduate Industrial Design core curriculum in conjunction the required Graduate Shop Orientation and Graduate Communications courses.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | MID Industrial Design

This course gives the student a hands-on opportunity to develop design skills through the interaction with industrial materials that have strictly defined properties. Experimenting with these materials and the processes by which they are manipulated and formed promotes innovative thinking, problem solving and idea development. Students will achieve a more precise, professional and sensitive approach to design while broadening their technical skill base.

Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

This course gives the student a hands-on opportunity to develop design skills through the interaction with industrial materials that have strictly defined properties. Experimenting with these materials and the processes by which they are manipulated and formed promotes innovative thinking, problem solving and idea development. Students will achieve a more precise, professional and sensitive approach to design while broadening their technical skill base.

Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

This course gives the student a hands-on opportunity to develop design skills through the interaction with industrial materials that have strictly defined properties. Experimenting with these materials and the processes by which they are manipulated and formed promotes innovative thinking, problem solving and idea development. Students will achieve a more precise, professional and sensitive approach to design while broadening their technical skill base.

Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

This course gives the student a hands-on opportunity to develop design skills through the interaction with industrial materials that have strictly defined properties. Experimenting with these materials and the processes by which they are manipulated and formed promotes innovative thinking, problem solving and idea development. Students will achieve a more precise, professional and sensitive approach to design while broadening their technical skill base.

Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

This course gives the student a hands-on opportunity to develop design skills through the interaction with industrial materials that have strictly defined properties. Experimenting with these materials and the processes by which they are manipulated and formed promotes innovative thinking, problem solving and idea development. Students will achieve a more precise, professional and sensitive approach to design while broadening their technical skill base.

Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

This course gives the student a hands-on opportunity to develop design skills through the interaction with industrial materials that have strictly defined properties. Experimenting with these materials and the processes by which they are manipulated and formed promotes innovative thinking, problem solving and idea development. Students will achieve a more precise, professional and sensitive approach to design while broadening their technical skill base.

Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design