This course introduces the Graduate Thesis project starting with the development of a research question through secondary research reading methods. This question has its assumptions articulated and verified through experimental making and primary research methods that engage specific audiences for qualitative discourse.

Enrollment in this course is limited to Graduate Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | MID Industrial Design

This course introduces the Graduate Thesis project starting with the development of a research question through secondary research reading methods. This question has its assumptions articulated and verified through experimental making and primary research methods that engage specific audiences for qualitative discourse.

Enrollment in this course is limited to Graduate Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | MID Industrial Design

This course introduces the students to methods, materials, and manufacturing processes that translate design activity into finished goods. A significant portion of downstream design activity is devoted to manufacturing issues - the techniques by which materials are selected, shaped, and then assembled. Students will be evaluated based upon success of weekly field study research assignments and a final exam.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

You will be introduced to the fundamentals of footwear design and construction based on two different shoe styles: pump/court/slip-on and derby. During that first project you will develop skills for working with a last, pattern making, sewing, construction and finishing techniques. These skills will be applied to a second project of your own choosing and design. You will gain general understanding of the parameters of the last and its correlation to feet and pattern-making. You will gain general understanding of footwear production. From Sketching demo to Spec Specification Sheet Overview to different construction techniques applied. You will acquire a general understanding of footwear construction and terminology. You will learn basic pattern making skills and how to develop your own ideas/styles using the skills acquired. You will acquire skills necessary to work with the tools/machines on hand (knives, sewing machine, lasting pliers etc.) You will develop the skills necessary for constructing basic cemented footwear from start to finish, applying it to different styles. You will learn about materials used in shoemaking, in particular leather, but also alternative materials. For the second half of the semester (final project) you will apply and experiment using techniques/skills learned on a style of your choosing, incorporating your personal skill set to design and build your own unique footwear project (either a pair or two singles).

Elective

Designing Process: From Exploration to Application approaches design through a hands-on
investigation of material properties and fabrication techniques in wood. This 6-credit studio will
delve further into advanced woodworking techniques as a means to understand a process-based practice and its role in the design of functional objects. A deep understanding of these methods will enable students to design and develop a unique component as the foundation for a collection and consider application at various scales. We will explore form and materiality through process and employ a design-for-production mindset, bridging the gap between free exploration and focused application. Throughout the semester, students will learn to systemize their creative process for consistency and repetition. Ultimately, students will design a cohesive collection and craft a distinctive visual language that is their own. 

The tools and techniques integral to the production process are at the core of this studio. Jigs and fixtures embody a set of instructions as well as the material properties and methodologies at play. This not only makes many operations possible but also reproducible. Beyond their technical functions, the design and use of a jig or fixture offers a process-oriented, systematic approach to making. We will explore how jigs and fixtures can be used to design a process rather than just a product and engage in iterative making as a means of formal exploration. Students will approach this in different ways and alternate between creating jigs/ fixtures for a desired result and creating jigs/ fixtures to inspire new outcomes. 

This studio will consist of in-class demonstrations and exercises, guest lectures, and short-term projects that lead into the final project. Students are free to choose how they might apply their explorations (i.e.: furniture, toys, table-top objects) and will finish the semester with a small collection of final artifacts, designed through and around their unique component. The studio demos and lectures will be based in woodworking, though students are welcome to bring in other materials and skill sets. Students should expect to spend the majority of class time and outside work time in the woodshop.
 

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design, MID (2.5yr): Industrial Design

Additive Manufacturing? 
Roaming and crisscrossing between craft, digital fabrication and serial production

Manufacture: from Latin manu factus, literally, made by hand (Merriam Webster online)

This studio will explore the objects and possibilities that arise from using additive manufacturing as a method for serial production. The semester will start with the mapping of all the current 3d printing technologies, their strengths and weaknesses, and continue to speculate about the future of these technologies and their incorporation in production facilities, from the small workshop to the large factory. What kind of potentials do these technologies offer? How can they be employed to make objects different from the ones possible in traditional manufacturing? How can they be combined with other materials and methods of making to expand the range of object potentials?

This is inherently a making studio, that will incorporate learning about and testing materials,
technologies, field trips, speculative scenario building and more, to create vibrant and enticing results on a broad spectrum of possibilities. Outcomes could include full-scale furniture pieces, consumer products, Grasshopper scripts, written verse, printer prototypes and more.

Recommended Prerequisite: this is a CAD intensive course, however, it is not a CAD class, and there will be few software demos. Fluency in 3d modeling software (Solidworks, Rhino or the like) is necessary to succeed in this course.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design, MID (2.5yr): Industrial Design

This studio course offers an opportunity to explore advanced biomaterials, engage with experts, collaborate with peers, and develop innovative climate solutions for water scarcity. Over the semester, we will work alongside faculty and students from the Department of Architecture, specifically within the ARCH-21ST: The Tall Building Workshop studio course. Together, we will design atmospheric water generators for tall buildings in arid regions, utilizing responsive biomaterials to transform dry desert air into liquid water.

In 2010, the United Nations recognized access to water as a fundamental human right and included it in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 6.1). However, ensuring clean water access remains a challenge, particularly in climate-affected areas where global warming disrupts rainfall patterns, intensifies droughts, and depletes water resources. As freshwater availability declines due to environmental pressures, this project focuses on harnessing hygroscopic biocomposites and biodesign principles to support arid communities in adapting to climate change. The approach spans multiple scales, from standalone devices and installations to integrated roof and façade systems for skyscrapers.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design, MID (2.5yr): Industrial Design

Play is a radical act of imagination, joy, and liberation. In this hands-on, interdisciplinary design course, students of all backgrounds will explore the power of play as a tool for social change. Using a liberatory design framework, we will center equity, co-creation, and critical reflection to design playful experiences that challenge norms, foster belonging, and inspire transformation for all ages.

Students will engage in research, prototyping, and testing as they create interactive experiences—ranging from toys and games to storytelling, movement, and immersive play. We will examine play across cultures, ages, and abilities, learning from grassroots movements, augmented realities, and kid powered creations. Through collaboration and iteration, students will develop projects that activate joy, disrupt oppression, and expand possibilities for more just and playful futures. This Industrial Design course is open to junior, seniors, and grads from RISD and Brown and encourages experimentation across disciplines. Participants must want to have fun, have curiosity for play and a commitment to social change.
 

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design, MID (2.5yr): Industrial Design

For millions of people, work takes place in shared spaces (i.e. offices) dedicated to bringing people together to pursue a shared goal. The way we experience work has constantly evolved throughout history due to technological advancements and cultural influences. The way we address work has changed with the increased awareness of the impact of work on the health of individuals, environmental change, and societal change. With the recent dramatic shift in the modality of work and intensified economic disparities brought on by the global pandemic, the world needs new experiments and explorations in how we work.

This class will investigate the past, present, and future of work. We'll examine the history, the evolution, and the changes that have taken place in the workspace. We'll redefine what work means by understanding human needs and behavioral motivations. Students will identify opportunities for current work trends and work speculatively into the future, pushing boundaries of what exists today. Students will also discuss the role and responsibility of designers to build a more inclusive and ethical future of work. This class consists of lectures, intensive research, field trips, experiments, prototyping, collective projects as well as independent projects. 

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design, MID (2.5yr): Industrial Design

Is there a right way to design and a wrong way? In this studio, we will explore that question as we forge new paths to creativity by dissecting and rebuilding the design process itself. We will be questioning everything about how we design: purposely doing things “incorrectly”, borrowing approaches from other disciplines and drawing inspiration from other thinkers and makers, whether human, animal or plant. We will then put everything back together and test our newly minted design methodologies by creating new objects.

As a point of departure, we will explore our current design process through three experiments to test how our design process impacts our designs. In the second part of the semester, we will each build a newly constructed design process and then use it to address a concern of our choice through design. Throughout the semester, we will be working in both groups and individually, with inspiration from the Nature Lab, the RISD Museum and a few short readings.

If you want to be partners in your learning, if you are interested in both a bird’s-eye-view of design and hands-on, no-limits experimentation, this is the studio for you!

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design, MID (2.5yr): Industrial Design

In 1994 NASA held the first of what became an annual contest for universities, colleges and secondary schools from around the world. The competition, then called the “Great Moonbuggy Race,” was based on the design and engineering hurdles faced by NASA when developing the Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle, popularly called the “Moonbuggy”. The rover was first used on the Apollo 15 mission in July of 1971 and additional rovers continued to be used for the final two Apollo missions in 1972. Since then the Rover Challenge has brought together more than 10,000 students from all over the globe to develop new skills and learn more about space exploration, design and engineering.

Organized by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville Alabama, the Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) invites student teams to design, fabricate and compete on a lightweight, 2-person, human-powered vehicle, over a course that simulates many of the obstacles on the Moon or Mars. RISD’s first entry into the event, completed during the 2009/2010 academic year achieved remarkable results, finishing in third place in the college division and receiving the “Best Newcomer Award.” That first entry, designed as a part of an Advanced Design Studio, led to the creation of a club-based team – RISD Rover – to support continuing entries into the competition. This studio returns RISD Rover to its roots as a formal part of the curriculum in the ID department.

NASA describes the HERC as, an opportunity “for student teams to design, develop, build, and test human-powered rovers capable of traversing challenging terrain.” “The competition requires two students, at least one female, to use the student-designed vehicle to traverse a course of approximately one half-mile that includes a simulated field of asteroid debris, boulders, erosion ruts, crevasses, and an ancient stream bed. The challenge’s weight and size requirements encourage the rover’s compactness and stowage efficiency.”

This advanced design studio will work alongside the RISD Rover club to create a competition entry for HERC. Students in the studio will learn to design and develop composite structures, learn skills in pattern- and mold-making, discover the ergonomics of human-powered vehicles, design lightweight and efficient structures, work with carbon fiber, foam, aluminum, and other lightweight materials, all while designing an award-winning rover. At the end of the semester, the rover will be tested here at RISD, in preparation for the competition. There will be opportunities for students to travel to the Challenge to the US. Space and Rocket Center and Marshall Space Flight Center in April, to compete against rovers from around the world.Recommended Prerequisites: Good shop skills are important, Metals II is not required but recommended for this class.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design, MID (2.5yr): Industrial Design

This class will cover basic camera optics and lighting techniques necessary to generate high quality digital images for either print or digital portfolio applications. The focus of the class is to master manual controls on the digital camera such as film and shutter speed settings in conjunction with aperture openings to obtain whatever the desired effect might be to best represent two and three-dimensional objects. Manipulation of natural and artificial lighting is the other main focus of the class. Students will learn the use of fill and bounce cards with sun, tungsten and strobe light sources. The emphasis will be on the strobe lighting studio where through a series of assignments students will learn direct, diffused reflected lighting techniques. Students will be required to participate in the final critique during the final week of the semester.

Elective

This class will cover basic camera optics and lighting techniques necessary to generate high quality digital images for either print or digital portfolio applications. The focus of the class is to master manual controls on the digital camera such as film and shutter speed settings in conjunction with aperture openings to obtain whatever the desired effect might be to best represent two and three-dimensional objects. Manipulation of natural and artificial lighting is the other main focus of the class. Students will learn the use of fill and bounce cards with sun, tungsten and strobe light sources. The emphasis will be on the strobe lighting studio where through a series of assignments students will learn direct, diffused reflected lighting techniques. Students will be required to participate in the final critique during the final week of the semester.

Elective

This class will cover basic camera optics and lighting techniques necessary to generate high quality digital images for either print or digital portfolio applications. The focus of the class is to master manual controls on the digital camera such as film and shutter speed settings in conjunction with aperture openings to obtain whatever the desired effect might be to best represent two and three-dimensional objects. Manipulation of natural and artificial lighting is the other main focus of the class. Students will learn the use of fill and bounce cards with sun, tungsten and strobe light sources. The emphasis will be on the strobe lighting studio where through a series of assignments students will learn direct, diffused reflected lighting techniques. Students will be required to participate in the final critique during the final week of the semester.

Elective

Graduate Thesis Communications I is a studio course run in parallel with our sibling studio course which focuses on design research methods. Together, we will spend the fall semester casting about, planning and prototyping towards some kind of design proposal or product for execution in the spring. We think about writing in two ways. First as a design tool and second as a communication tool. On the tool for design 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 use writing to help clarify and crystalize the thesis plan. On the communication side, we think about the many ways that writing 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 writing and how to think about what they want and need. We talk about the thesis as a tool for explaining the design but also as a tool for helping you advance your career goals. At the end of the course, you will have a partially complete draft of your thesis. which will set you up for an excellent spring.

Enrollment in this course is limited to Graduate Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | MID Industrial Design

Graduate Thesis Communications I is a studio course run in parallel with our sibling studio course which focuses on design research methods. Together, we will spend the fall semester casting about, planning and prototyping towards some kind of design proposal or product for execution in the spring. We think about writing in two ways. First as a design tool and second as a communication tool. On the tool for design 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 use writing to help clarify and crystalize the thesis plan. On the communication side, we think about the many ways that writing 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 writing and how to think about what they want and need. We talk about the thesis as a tool for explaining the design but also as a tool for helping you advance your career goals. At the end of the course, you will have a partially complete draft of your thesis. which will set you up for an excellent spring.

Enrollment in this course is limited to Graduate Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | MID Industrial Design

This 3-credit class is an introduction to computer-controlled machining. You will learn each aspect of the model-to-machine workflow and at the end of the course be able to design for CNC machining, and operate and mill parts using the CNC machines in the ID Metal Shop. Time spent in class will be technical and process oriented, focusing on proper machine setup, operation, and troubleshooting of toolpaths created in CAM software.

Initial assignments will focus on the use of the built-in facing wizards, engraving metal, and using CAM software to create GCODE files for both 2D and 3D parts. Later course assignments will transition to being projects of your own design. We will be learning in the context of machining metals, but working with other mediums like plastics, wood, and waxes will be possible for individual projects. You will need to draw on some basic CAD knowledge and some machining skills; specifically the interpretation of control drawings, and the selection of appropriate tooling and workholding techniques.

ID 2452 - Metals II is a prerequisite/corequisite for this class.

Elective

This 3-credit elective course, offered by the Industrial Design department, focuses on foundational 2D and 3D milling techniques using the Camaster Panther 4x4 CNC router table. The course is open to students from any department, who meet the course prerequisites/co-requisites , or equivalent, as determined by the instructor.

Students engage in hands-on assignments that progressively build their skills throughout the course. These include designing and producing a flat pack stool using 2D profiling, creating 2.5D models for mold-making applications, executing a multisided operation assignment for a full 3D object, and culminating in a final portfolio piece that demonstrates individual creativity and proficiency in CNC machining.

The course's learning outcomes include mastering an understanding of machining principles, utilizing CAD and CAM software, and Designing within the limitations of machinery. The course aims to equip students with practical skills and knowledge essential for utilizing CNC machining tools in diverse design applications. The course's process-oriented approach ensures students acquire skills beyond just design mastery, seamlessly aligning with real-world CNC workflows. This holistic perspective prepares them for professional design and fabrication.

Note: ID 2453-XX Wood II is a pre or corequisite for this class.

Elective

History is a powerful tool; a basic understanding of the history of design and familiarity with important design movements and designers is essential for thorough design work. By examining the work of other designers, we are better able to identify our own interests and concerns, and avoid repeating mistakes that have been navigated in the past. This lecture-based class will present the history of Industrial Design in a way that links it to today's studio work, and offers connection points to link past innovation and design activity with future design success. The lectures present a chronological overview of the profession of Industrial Design and its antecedents. Topics discussed will include major design movements, significant designers, manufacturers, and design-related companies, innovations in technology and material use, the development of sales, marketing, and user-focused designing, and the history of design process. Coursework includes extensive reading, in-class presentations based on independent research, projects, and writing.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given to Sophomore Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

History is a powerful tool; a basic understanding of the history of design and familiarity with important design movements and designers is essential for thorough design work. By examining the work of other designers, we are better able to identify our own interests and concerns, and avoid repeating mistakes that have been navigated in the past. This lecture-based class will present the history of Industrial Design in a way that links it to today's studio work, and offers connection points to link past innovation and design activity with future design success. The lectures present a chronological overview of the profession of Industrial Design and its antecedents. Topics discussed will include major design movements, significant designers, manufacturers, and design-related companies, innovations in technology and material use, the development of sales, marketing, and user-focused designing, and the history of design process. Coursework includes extensive reading, in-class presentations based on independent research, projects, and writing.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given to Sophomore Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design