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

In a rapidly changing world, industrial design faces the pressing challenge of sustainability amidst growing environmental and economic crises. Given the energy-intensive nature of glass production, rethinking its role in modern design has become essential. This course delves into the complexities of the glass recycling industry, exploring how waste glass can serve as a cornerstone in the transition to sustainable product design practices.

Using waste glass as the primary material, students will examine how circular economy principles can reshape product design by minimizing waste, maximizing resource efficiency, and extending the lifecycle of materials. Through this lens, the course will explore how designers can embrace local, circular solutions that reduce environmental impact while empowering local economies. We will also critically engage with the role of decolonization in design, addressing the deeply entrenched colonial frameworks of production and consumption that shape global industries today.

By the end of the course, students will have developed innovative product designs using recycled glass, reflecting on sustainability, circular economy principles, and the importance of decolonizing design practices.

Elective

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

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

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 M.I.D. 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 M.I.D. 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