The purpose of the CAD course is to introduce students to CAD softwares and techniques used in Industrial Design for 3D modeling. Students may select from sections devoted to (a) solid modeling for manufacturing and assembly, using software like Solidworks or Fusion 360, (b) surface modeling and rendering, using Rhino and Grasshopper, and (c) other forms of computer aided design. Specific offerings vary year to year. The CAD requirement is fulfilled by taking a CAD offering within the department or in a comparable course offered outside the department with department approval.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

The purpose of the CAD course is to introduce students to CAD softwares and techniques used in Industrial Design for 3D modeling. Students may select from sections devoted to (a) solid modeling for manufacturing and assembly, using software like Solidworks or Fusion 360, (b) surface modeling and rendering, using Rhino and Grasshopper, and (c) other forms of computer aided design. Specific offerings vary year to year. The CAD requirement is fulfilled by taking a CAD offering within the department or in a comparable course offered outside the department with department approval.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

The purpose of the CAD course is to introduce students to CAD softwares and techniques used in Industrial Design for 3D modeling. Students may select from sections devoted to (a) solid modeling for manufacturing and assembly, using software like Solidworks or Fusion 360, (b) surface modeling and rendering, using Rhino and Grasshopper, and (c) other forms of computer aided design. Specific offerings vary year to year. The CAD requirement is fulfilled by taking a CAD offering within the department or in a comparable course offered outside the department with department approval.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

The purpose of the CAD course is to introduce students to CAD softwares and techniques used in Industrial Design for 3D modeling. Students may select from sections devoted to (a) solid modeling for manufacturing and assembly, using software like Solidworks or Fusion 360, (b) surface modeling and rendering, using Rhino and Grasshopper, and (c) other forms of computer aided design. Specific offerings vary year to year. The CAD requirement is fulfilled by taking a CAD offering within the department or in a comparable course offered outside the department with department approval.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

The purpose of the CAD course is to introduce students to CAD softwares and techniques used in Industrial Design for 3D modeling. Students may select from sections devoted to (a) solid modeling for manufacturing and assembly, using software like Solidworks or Fusion 360, (b) surface modeling and rendering, using Rhino and Grasshopper, and (c) other forms of computer aided design. Specific offerings vary year to year. The CAD requirement is fulfilled by taking a CAD offering within the department or in a comparable course offered outside the department with department approval.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Major Requirement | BFA 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 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

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

This course concludes the Graduate Thesis through iterative prototyping, application and verification that positions and delivers a human-centered, discipline-engaging proposal that will be communicated through an exhibition format, product, product prototype and a final Graduate Thesis document.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | MID Industrial Design

This course concludes the Graduate Thesis through iterative prototyping, application and verification that positions and delivers a human-centered, discipline-engaging proposal that will be communicated through an exhibition format, product, product prototype and a final Graduate Thesis document.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | MID 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

Get ready to immerse yourself in Senior Studio, where you determine the independent project you will work on and create a robust portfolio project with the support of the faculty lead, classmates, and external advisors and experts.

Senior Studio is a juried six-credit course for second-semester senior industrial design students with a solid academic record of success. Students should also have demonstrated the ability to conduct qualitative and quantitative design research, iterate ideas, explore solutions, and validate concepts through testing, as well as think critically, communicate effectively, and present work, and support fellow classmates.

Students must be self-motivated, organized, capable of directing their own design decisions, and be able to create and adhere to a work schedule. They must also be committed to making tangible deliverables and to attaining and providing evidence of third-party validation of design solutions through user testing.

Note: Senior Studio uses an early application process that has already concluded for the Spring 2027 semester. Registration is by department only.

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

Designing Process: From Exploration to Application approaches design through a hands-on investigation of material properties and fabrication techniques in primarily wood. This studio is structured as both a material and process-based exploration as well as a professional bridge into collection development, business strategy, and market readiness with respect to handcrafted functional objects. Students will first engage deeply with advanced woodworking techniques, explore form and materiality through process, and employ a design-for-production mindset to bridge the gap between free exploration and focused application. Formed in collaboration with Alyssa Gerasimoff (FD’20) founder of design marketplace Erria, students will be introduced to strategies for positioning, communicating, and marketing their work, and will be paired with established Erria makers for one-on-one creative and career mentorship.

This class builds upon the department’s wood curriculum and as such Wood II (ID 2453) is required to take this class.

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

This studio is about making, methodologies, and the ideas built into what we design.

You're thrown into technological change with no real precedent, yet it keeps getting built on top of whatever was already there, mostly without anyone asking what the consequences might be. You are living through it: the phone in your pocket, algorithmic feeds, gig apps, connected devices, and AI. The ground keeps shifting under all of it. The common reflex, in culture and in design, is to look backward, with digital detoxes, flip phones, and bringing back how things used to be. This studio doesn't rely on that to get us through. Every designed thing carries a built-in idea of the person using it, and that idea usually goes unexamined. A notification relies on your attention always being available; a delivery app relies on someone's time being cheap and on call. We take things like these apart, find the idea inside, and build working alternatives on a different one, which is how you stop accepting the defaults. You'll make devices, services, and everyday objects you can hold, use, and test with other people.

You'll work through very different ways of designing, from loose and value-driven to nearly mechanical, and see how the same problem turns into different things depending on the method. Alongside that, a series of fast prototyping sprints shows how the way you make something steers what it becomes, just as the method and the values behind it do. The thinking comes from well beyond the Euro-American canon, including Matriarchal Design Futures (judging a design by whether it centers care), Seventh Generation thinking (weighing decisions by their effect seven generations ahead), and conviviality (tools that extend your own capacity instead of quietly replacing it). You'll also build a shared research library with your classmates along the way. By the end you'll have built your own method and run a full project through it, and you'll leave with portfolio-ready work and the ability to turn a messy problem into something concrete.

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

In “Designing Food” students will explore the product development process through an edible lens. Students will learn to design food-based products ranging from fine dining tasting experiences to sensory experiments to traditional packaged products. With an emphasis on material exploration and iterative design, students will identify opportunities surrounding undervalued ingredients and examine how design fits in a culinary landscape. We will practice iterative making with frequent group tastings and discussions to perfect form, formulation, and process. Through the semester we will host visiting industry experts including chefs, food entrepreneurs, and botanists to explore the material, ecological, economic, and interpersonal power of food product design.

The two main assignments that run-in tandem throughout the semester are The Iteration Project and The Hero Ingredient Project. The first is an individual assignment where each student will choose one dish they wish to perfect. They will prepare the dish multiple times for their class with tastings, evaluations, and close documentation. The Iteration Project culminates in a final tasting showcase and a finished Food Journal documenting the journey. The Hero Ingredient project is a group assignment where students will research and choose an edible material or ingredient with vast design potential. They will investigate and test that material with the goal of discovering its full and perhaps hidden expressions and creating a product that leverages its unique characteristics. Past projects have included fine perfume, restaurant concepts, high fidelity packaged goods, material libraries, and fine dining experiences.

Other assignments will include short in class exercises and individual research. Class will often center around group discussions on various parts of food systems, with weekly dialogs around assigned readings and videos.

Learning objectives include strengthening critical thinking and opportunity identification abilities, honing user research skills, understanding culinary benchtop formulation and processes for manufacturing, navigating group work, and strengthening communication and presentation skills. This studio is focused on sharing so bring your voice and your appetite!

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

This studio explores bags, wearable objects, and systems of carrying through research, material exploration, and hands-on making. Students will develop projects that begin with a human behavior, personal interest, cultural observation, or functional question, then translate those ideas into full-scale prototypes.

Projects may take the form of a market-ready product proposal, an experimental carry object, or work between those positions. Through making, testing, critique, and iteration, students will learn how ideas move from concept to physical form. The course will include mentorship and selected working sessions with industry practitioners in design, materials, development, and manufacturing. Final work will include a resolved prototype, process documentation, and a concise development package that communicates material, construction, and design intent.

The course combines creative inquiry with the practical realities of bag design and product development. Students will explore textiles, leather, hardware, soft construction, ergonomics, interior space, and the relationship between an object and the body.

This studio will run with industry Mentors from Tumi (luggage company), Victor Sanz, Global Creative Director, and Douglas Davidson from Canvasworker, who served as Senior Design Director at Burton Snowboards, Design Director of Equipment at The North Face, and has designed or consulted for brands like Nike, Apple, Adidas, Lululemon, and Vans. Leslie Fontana will oversee the daily studio classes.

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

This spring, I was invited to create a childlike tabletop game for a meeting with a subcommittee of the Providence Children’s Museum Board to help them gather insight for the museum's future offerings. The meeting was both fun and functional. The experience inspired me to propose this studio, where we will explore creating fun products, experiences, and/or services that use playfulness as the source of purposeful achievement. A certain delight arises when we engage in serious activities that evoke youthful wonder.

Students will begin the semester with a few off-site field studies, including a visit to the Children’s Museum. Students will define their final project and choose between a solo or group project. The course will begin with a short solo project, followed by a short peer-collaborative project, and then a longer final project. A goal of the semester is to explore and document the practical use of AI tools in the development process to determine “Best Practices” for designers in general.

Students will create and co-create three projects during the semester, with the emphasis on thoughtful documentation of their design process. These projects will be research-based, with students conducting primary user and market research and documenting and responding to user feedback. I read a quote on LinkedIn recently, which was something like: “Designers aren’t passed over due to lack of work in their portfolio, but rather a lack of good reasoning in their design process.” I believe that when we work as much on the process as we do on the product, we create a stronger presentation. I plan to invite guest critics with expertise in storytelling and in putting theory into practice. There will be a studio documentation booklet, which is a collection of each student’s individual document.

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

With the EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation and Right to Repair Directive, governments are requiring products to last longer and be easier to repair. These directives focus on important, yet incremental improvements: available spare parts, better documentation, and accessible repair services.

This studio wants to go further. What if a product were designed to be open to its user? An incomplete object invites you to take part in its life, with parts you can reach, understand, and care for yourself. And what if repair felt as simple and delightful as changing a lightbulb?

We will start by studying how repair and maintenance are experienced - across different products and systems: what keeps things functioning, and what makes us want to keep them. Then we take those lessons to re-think a collection of small household appliances - a category where sealed housings, planned obsolescence, and specialized parts are deeply entrenched.

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