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Industrial Design

Introduction to Industrial Design

SF 841
Instructor: Emily Pilloton
Mon., Wed., Thurs., 6:30-9:30 p.m., June 2-July 31
(no class July 14-18)
Sat., 9 a.m.-2 p.m., June 28, July 12 & August 2
27 sessions. $1,700 pass/fail* (3 credits). Prerequisite: none

Industrial design has traditionally been seen as a profession that creates everyday consumer products. This is a unique opportunity to learn about industrial design while working on a real–life project that exemplifies how industrial design can be implemented for global change. Based on two school case studies—a local Northern California public school district and a school for HIV/AIDS orphans in Southern Uganda, instructional concepts treat industrial design as a tool to address social issues and improve lives.

Project H: Design for Education is a studio–based collaboration between students, designers, educators, and elementary school children to design an educational product that offers global reach. Through individual, team, and class projects, students research and frame a design problem in an elementary-school context, conceptualize potential solutions, review each others' work, present ideas to guests and the public, and solidify a concept as a produceable and marketable product for the case study and even wider–scale implementation.

Over the course of the project and beyond, students might have the opportunity to consult with actual manufacturers and retailers to explore the potential production and distribution of viable design solutions. The organization Project H Design champions product design initiatives for Humanity, Habitats, Health, and Happiness and will provide the umbrella for discussions and juried reviews with local product designers, teachers, children, and manufacturers.

Design can change the world, and the Project H: Design for Education studio will work with this mantra.

Introduction to Industrial Design is geared toward those who are intrigued by the world of the industrial designer. All products have been designed by an industrial designer: iPod, tennis shoes, coffee mug, bicycle, and so forth. As a broad introduction to the field of industrial design and product ideation, including basic model-making skills, materials selection, and translating conceptual ideas to paper, students trac product development from inception through ideation to completion. Students design an innovative product during the course.