ID Course Catalog

428 Advanced Architectural Photography
Offers basic instruction in architectural photography primarily for upper level undergraduate and graduate level architecture students. Covers basic camera operation and exposure, photography of flat art and studio lighting, interior and exterior photography, and the photography of distinguishing features of the urban landscape.

482 Graduate Intro to Design
Instills familiarity with the professional practice of design in its main forms, disciplines and applications, including product design, communication design, design planning, design research, interaction design, service design and design education. Covers the skills required, activities, challenges, common tools and leading players in these areas of practice. Also covers design industry employment skills and basic drawing and visualization.

483 Graduate Intro to Communication Design 1
Provides a sound understanding of two-dimensional form and introduces basic concepts of graphic design, including factors of visual perception and syntax, principles of creating order and meaning, compositional techniques, aesthetic properties of visual form, information processing, and understanding the environmental, cultural and personal context of the viewer. Considerable emphasis is placed on typography.

484 Graduate Intro to Communication Design 2
Provides fundamentals for planning and editing information and communicating it in print, web, and three-dimensional exhibition form, from concept generation to visualization. Relevant perceptual and cognitive principles are discussed.

485 Graduate Intro to Product Design 1
Teaches the fundamental principles and processes of product design through simple projects and skill building exercises, and study of more advanced projects and case studies. Skills taught include diagramming, orthographic sketching and rendering, basic three-dimensional model building, and documenting intent for presentation.

486 Graduate Intro to Product Design 2
Prepares students to practice basic product design and instills professional understanding of the responsibilities and value of product design to manufacturing organizations and end-users. Key topics include establishing design criteria, design ideation, geometry, structure and assembly, materials and fabrication, drawing, prototyping and solid modeling, and final presentation.

487 Graduate Intro to Photography
Acquaints design students with the field of photographic image making, how images are constructed and the ways they are used to communicate. Students learn the fundamental principles of image making, color theory, lighting, and digital image processing through the practice of creating images. All work is performed using digital cameras and softare.

488 Graduate Intro to Digital Media
Surveys the basic media types used in interactive software. Includes a culminating project that demonstrates basic principles of screen design and computer-human interaction using a variety of media. Projects require use of common software applications for creating and editing six data types: text, bitmap, geometry, sound, animation and video.

510 Principles and Methods of Design Research
Introduces the basic principles and methods for assembling, developing, and analyzing information in the tasks of design research. Techniques for collecting data, testing hypotheses, and presenting conclusions are learned in the context of conducting a pilot research project.

511 Philosophical Context of Design Research
Explores the philosophical framework for conducting research and building knowledge in the field of design. Topics include concepts from epistemology, phenomenology, and structuralism. Comparisons are made between design research and research in other fields.

514 Design Planning
Introduces students to the context of design planning. It includes a discussion of the general forces acting upon an organization -- competition, technological developments, channels of distributing information and products, and how to understand the people who use design. Particular attention is paid to how, within the context of all of these forces, design can benefit an organization.

515 Design Policy
Investigates the formation and intent of design policy by governments across the world. Particular attention is focused on the relationship of organizations implementing these policies to the political and economic structure of different countries, and on measures assessing their success.

516 Observing Users
Introduces the rationales, strategies, and methods of user research: ways of putting ethnography and participant-observation to systematic use in developing design solutions that make sense to users because they are based on a deep understanding of the contexts where users live and work. Topics include the development of user research and related disciplines (anthropology, sociology, psychology); semiotics, cultural analysis, and "context research"; workplace studies and participatory design; research planning, recruitment, and sampling methods; video ethnography; interviewing and discourse analysis; performing research on tight time schedules, and communicating results effectively.

517 Design Languages
Covers the rhetoric of design case making using verbal, quantitative, visual, and spatial modes of persuasion. Includes a survey of document and presentation types useful in the product development process.

518 Business Frameworks
A descriptive course in business strategy for designers covering new venture strategy, competitive strategy, marketing strategy and tactics, decision sciences, entrepreneurship, private equity, business plan writing, innovation, introductory finance and "self-discovery." This course will build a series of non-mathematical models of success and failure in both entrepreneurial and corporate settings.

519 Economics and Design
Considers the relationship between theories and practice in the two very different realms of economics and design. Economic theory has fundamentally influenced a wide spectrum of governmental and business policy and has enormous influence on how design is viewed in these contexts. Why do we need to justify design in economic terms? Anyone aspiring to work in a strategic role in design needs to frame economic arguments for the value of design that makes sense in a business context.

520 Communication Planning
Presents and demonstrates the principles and methods of formulating a plan for a communication project. It is particularly concerned with the relationships between the project plan and the organization's overall design strategy and policy.

521 Product Planning
Presents and demonstrates the principles and methods of formulating a plan for a new product. It is particularly concerned with the relationships between the project plan and the organization's overall design strategy and policy.

522 Technological Development and Design Innovation
Concentrates on the exploitation of developments in material and manufacturing technology as a critical component in innovative design. Case studies are used to analyze the development of new products from precursor advancements in the technologies of materials and/or manufacturing. Product development is considered from perspectives of project management, interactions among different technological domains, and the metaphoric transformation of design problems by design and development personnel aware of the technological advancements.

524 Strategic Design Planning
Focuses on how the processes and goals of design planning can relate to the overall strategic plan of an organization. It includes topics related to technological innovation, market trends, financial analysis, and other forces that influence the future of an organization.

525 Design Planning and Technological Innovation
Shows how design relates to technological change in media, manufacturing, and products. Special attention is paid to the confluence of computing and communication, flexible production systems, and the increased use of sophisticated electronics in control systems of products.

526 Design Planning and Market Forces
Focuses on methods in design planning that build information about how products and information should be used. It includes a comparison of marketing and design planning as distinct processes for developing new products, services, and information.

528 Advanced Design Planning
Presents students with background information about the forces influencing a design problem. Using knowledge about planning processes, students will be asked to write a design plan that describes the relevant methods and predicted solution to the problem.

529 Structured Planning
Introduces the basic principles and methods of structured planning, a set of tools used in the planning phase of the design process. Procedures are developed for exploring the issues relevant to a project, obtaining detailed functional requirements and insights, organizing this information, synthesizing innovative concepts, and describing them in a plan for the subsequent design phase.

531 Computer Applications in Design
Introduces students to the construction of computer programs for design. Issues of program design are considered including modularity, data structures, computer graphic modeling, interface design, and other aspects of programming for the support of design processes. Prerequisite: ID 468 or consent of instructor.

532 Computer-Supported Design Processes
Continuation of ID 531, with emphasis on advanced graphic techniques and artificial intelligence procedures for the support of design processes. Primary emphasis is on writing a complete design software application program. Prerequisite: ID 531 or consent of instructor.

533 Design Analysis
A survey of design methods from many fields concentrating on problem definition, description, and analysis. Among the topics covered are diagrammatic techniques for process and organizational description, semantic differential techniques, means/ends analysis, and morphological analysis.

534 Design Synthesis
A survey of design methods for enhancing creativity and developing concepts. Topics include morphological synthesis, a wide variety of creativity stimulation techniques, synectics, and other group creativity processes.

535 Decision Support Techniques
Covers methods for decision-making and evaluation in design. Topics include criterion function analysis, decision-making under varying conditions of certainty, utility theory, Delphi techniques for obtaining group consensus, and game and metagame theoretic processes for competitive decision-making.

537 Artificial Intelligence and Design Problem-Solving
Introduces a variety of problem-solving and heuristic paradigms from artificial intelligence and cognitive science and explores their application in different types of design problem-solving processes.

540 Advanced Communication Design
Involves students in practicing methods for rapidly developing prototypes that demonstrate appearance and/or functional aspects of potential messages. The class will include evaluation methods that are useful in the process of iteratively developing and testing alternate solutions.

541 Advanced Product Development
Familiarizes students with the nature, methods, and design implications of current mass production practice and trends. Addresses the translation of product concepts into actual production by anticipating development needs in all portions of the manufacturing organization.

542 Interaction Design Methods
Focuses on a role of design to bring technologies to human contexts by creating interaction mechanisms for better user experiences. The content includes the concept of interaction, underlying theories, as well as methods for understanding user needs and contexts, representing different aspects of interaction, and designing and evaluating interactive systems.

543 Intelligent Products
Introduces students to the professional and theoretical aspects of defining new products. Covers the process of creating a new product definition in detail, the characteristics of new product definition documents, and aspects of organizational structure and dynamics as they relate to developing new product definitions.

544 Interface Design
Focuses on user-computer interface design. Topics included are cognitive models, interactive techniques, sign systems, display organization, and prototyping methods. Prerequisite: Working knowledge of computer programming.

545 Interactive Media
Introduces students to the principles of integrating electronic publishing, interactive video, and computer graphics. Particular emphasis is on social and cognitive human factors and the use of multiple sign systems. Prerequisite: ID 544 or consent of instructor.

546 Diagram Development
Explores the language of diagrams and alternative techniques for increasing communication effectiveness. Subjects of study include computer-based diagrams that introduce interaction and motion to convey meaning.

548 Life Cycle & Sustainable Design
Introduces students to the issues, resources, and methods of designing product systems with consideration for their environmental and social impact throughout their lifecycle. The course is formatted to help students develop a professional point of view and set of references for assessing lifecycle and sustainable issues when developing new products.

549 Prototyping Methods
Introduces and explores a wide variety of prototypes and how they can be used to inform new product development. Explores how prototyping affects understanding of the project goals, management of the process, project risk, learning, and quality. Examines paper prototypes, architecture & platform prototypes, behavioral prototypes, interactive prototypes, visualizations, simulations.

551 Cognitive Human Factors
Presents the advanced ideas and methods that can be used to design information and products that fit the cognitive abilities of people. Important topics include the design of information that corresponds to mental models of users, control systems that help users develop appropriate mental models, and the analysis of different methods of representing information.

552 Social Human Factors
Presents advanced ideas and methods used to design information, products, and environments that fit the social patterns of groups. Particular attention is paid to understanding and designing systems that support group work.

553 Cultural Human Factors
Presents ideas and principles used to understand the relationship between design and cultural values and behavior. Emphasis is placed on designing information and products for people who are from significantly different cultures.

554 Physical Human Factors
The physical aspect of human experience and interaction design is investigated through topics such as 'learning by doing'; interaction between actions and cognition; physical interface; enhancement of cognitive activities; spatio-temporal dimensions of interaction design; and the 'shared reality' concept for multi-modal communication

555 Metaphor and Analogy in Design
Investigates the ideas and methods for creating visual messages through comparing, juxtaposing, and substituting images within specific contexts. Discussion will include issues of similarity, such as isomorphism and analogy; the connotative attributes of images; and the dissonance found in metaphors and other rhetorical forms.

556 Meaning and Form
Focuses on how the visual appearance of products and information can convey specific information about the purpose of the designed item and how it should be used.

557 Dynamic Diagrams
The study and development of real-time, computer-based diagrams for pattern finding and pattern communicating. Particular attention is paid to the roles of motion, interaction, sound, and modes of manipulation that can be combined with 3-D models and traditional diagrammatic sign systems. Prerequisite: ID 546 or consent of instructor.

558 Theories of Information and Communication
Describes general paradigms of information and communication. Particular attention is paid to models that consider the importance of the values, behavior, and knowledge of the people for whom the information is intended.

567 Economics of Product Development
Involves students in reading and discussing the role of design in the context of case studies. Particular attention will be paid to the relationship between design and other forces influencing the goals of the organization. Case studies may relate to either design planning or human-centered design.

568 Research Methods for New Product Development
The design and development of new products requires rigorous research throughout the process to improve insight and reduce the risk of innovation. Ethnographic and activity-based methods are used early to identify latent needs. Behavioral testing with prototypes is used to understand the quality of emerging concepts. Quantitative and qualitative validation studies help understand final concepts in detailed ways. This course examines research methods used throughout the design and development process from process, financial, and results standpoints.

569 Intellectual Property
Introduces the principles and methods for securing intellectual property rights. Topics covered include utility and design patents, trademark, copyright, and trade dress. Emphasis is placed on the ability to articulate novelty, the appropriate process of securing intellectual property, and common ways intellectual property can be valued.

572 Systems and Systems Theory in Design
Investigates principles and methods for exploring the behavior of systems. System dynamics techniques are used to model design concepts with the goal of revealing complex, non-incitive relationships. Important topics include general systems theory, modeling, causality, and formalisms.

577 Product Form
The form of a product is a result of resolving technical conditions, organizing the product for use, and a means for communicating. In this course students examine what technical and social dimensions impact product form and conversely, how product form can be controlled by the designer to improve the product�s performance. Topics include the relationship between a product�s form and corporate identity, visual trends, new materials, semantics, product architecture, ergonomics, specific industries, and others.

578 Design Planning Implementation
Introduces frameworks and methods for effectively implementing change in organizations. Using cases, students will explore key failure modes, which undermine initiatives. In addition, students will identify principles, actions and measures that mitigate risk, improve implementation success, and inform stronger designs.

579 Production Methods
An introduction to the common methods used to produce or manufacture products. Alternative processes, materials and finishing methods, relative costs and applicability to design of products will be explored.

581 Photography Workshop
Involves students in a major project that is in the context of contemporary ideas in photography. (Credit: variable)

582 Communication Design Workshop
A project-oriented workshop in communication design, this course synthesizes methods used in other courses in the context of a design problem related to learning. Various kinds of prototypes and user observation are developed as steps toward solution.

583 Product Design Workshop
A project-oriented workshop focusing on design principles that link theoretical methods to practice in the area of human-centered product design.

584 Design Planning Workshop
A project-oriented workshop that involves students in analyzing user needs, conceiving of innovations, and developing plans for new communications, products and businesses. Students will present their ideas through plans, prototypes and demonstrations.

588 Interactive Media Workshop
A project-oriented survey of the methods and issues in the creation of interactive multimedia software. Methods will cover the use of several authoring systems and the effective use and combination of five basic data types: text, graphics, sound, animation and video. Issues addressed will be metaphor, mapping, informational organization, interactive strategies, navigation, tailoring and alternative communication models for user-controlled environments.

589 Systems Design Workshop
Introduces the application of structured planning methods to complex design problems at the system level. Team techniques are emphasized, and formatted information handling and computer-supported structuring processes are used at appropriate stages of project definition, information development, structuring, concept development and communication.

591 Research and Thesis

592 Research and Demonstration Project for M.Des. Degree

595 Internship
A tracking course for students participating in Curricular Practical Training

598 Special Problems
Topics change each semester.

685 Research Seminar
Investigation and discussion by faculty and students of topics of interest from different perspectives such as building a design research discourse (reading research papers critically, selecting among publication venues); investigating alternative philosophical bases for design research (comparing empirical, pragmatic, and phenomenological approaches); or exploring methodological and theoretical conflicts in design research.

691 Research and Thesis for Ph.D.
(Credit: variable)

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