Department Head:
Leslie Fontana, Associate Professor
phone: 401 454.6169
email: lfontana at risd.edu

Department of Industrial Design
ID Building
161 South Main Street
Providence, RI 02903 USA
phone: 401 454.6160
fax: 401 454.6157

The Master of Industrial Design program explores design as a vehicle for addressing social, cultural, environmental and other concerns. The program recognizes that design is no longer simply a professional service, but rather a way of connecting our interests and values to a social framework. The most fundamental design opportunities facing industry today are those promoting the preservation of our environ-ment and a better understanding of human behavior.

For candidates who do not have an undergraduate degree in Industrial Design, the department offers a 2˝–year program in which students begin their studies midyear – during Wintersession and spring semester – in order to gain the necessary foundation in design, materials and visual communication methodologies specific to the field. The department believes in the importance of creating a multidisciplinary graduate forum in which as many as half of accepted candidates have degrees from disciplines other than ID (architecture, fine art, engineering, graphic design, anthropology, etc.). This helps create the climate necessary for broadening design perspectives and enhancing critical thinking skills. The ideal MID candidate without an undergraduate degree in ID is likely to be someone who has worked for several years after completing his or her undergraduate education, and who has, either through work experience or educational measures, accrued some experience in an art or design field.

The core two-year MID program provides students with an environment for testing and developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills. During the first year, faculty members propose a series of projects intended to enhance and expand individual industrial design methodologies, both through direct practice and discussions regarding case studies and product history. This helps to define personal value systems, working methodologies and the means of effectively engaging audiences in dialogue.

Final projects each semester are viewed as opportunities to reveal this development, which culminates in a thesis during the second year of study. Graduate students are expected to demonstrate a high level of independence, motivation and competence in developing the physical and ideological aspects
of their thesis work. Since the study of history and theory are fundamental to the program, they are used to complement, support and inform these final projects. A series of seminars on relevant contemporary issues encourages dialogue among students as they develop their own perspectives on design.

Thesis topics cover a broad range of fields, from product and furniture explorations to design for aerospace and medical applications.

Graduate students work independently under the guidance of a faculty advisor and thesis committee. Since they need effective presentation skills for success in the professional realm, MID candidates are required to make a final oral and visual presentation - multimedia or interactive - and submit a written and bound thesis documenting the project. Each graduating student is also required to participate in RISD’s Graduate Thesis Exhibition in May, which showcases individual bodies of work to the campus community and the general public.