BFAIndustrial Design
Design products, systems, and experiences that transform lives and restore the planet
Overview
Design for a better future
Turn curiosity into creative leadership
We nurture your curiosity, push the boundaries of our industry, and align values with your professional goals. The program emphasizes life-centered design, focusing on sensory experiences and emotional connections to create innovative products. Hands-on coursework and cross-disciplinary CoLAB Studios explore how design intersects with culture, inclusion, and equity. You’ll graduate as an adaptable design leader ready to navigate evolving technologies and innovate in the global design landscape.
Studios & Shops
Where your ideas take shape
Experiment across disciplines
At CCA, imagination meets execution in dynamic studios, labs, and shops equipped with cutting-edge tools and technologies. You'll work across a wide range of tools and techniques — from generative AI, sensors, and 3D modeling to AR/VR prototyping, CNC machining, 3D printing, laser cutting, vacuum forming, casting, forging, electronics, woodworking, sculpture, textiles, and ceramics — building the skills to innovate across physical and digital design landscapes.
Makers Yards and more
Our expanded campus is designed for the exploration of timeless craft and hands-on learning, including in outdoor spaces called Makers Yards. You’ll gain an education rooted in both innovation, modern techniques, and tradition — from woodworking and metalworking to emerging digital fabrication. We’ll help you go from prototypes to finished products as you explore a variety of medium, modern techniques, and experiments, delivering finesse with each design.
Explore Industrial Design studios, shops, and labs
Faculty
Learn from Bay Area design leaders
You’ll learn from the Bay Area’s leading industrial designers, who have experience spanning startups to corporations, breakthrough products to enduring brands. They’ve launched products for Apple, Samsung, and Nike, as well as founding their own companies. Their insights give you a front-row seat to how to make your own ideas market-ready.
Shu Bertrand, Chair of Industrial Design. Photo courtesy of Aplat.
Shujan Bertrand leads a transformative curriculum grounded in life-centered design, the circular economy, and entrepreneurship. With over 25 years of global experience and as founder of zero-waste brand Aplat, she champions regenerative systems, sensory intelligence, and purposeful craft. Her leadership empowers students to become imaginative, hands-on designers shaping a more sustainable future.
Vision
Design the future, together.
We believe industrial design is a force for good—reshaping systems, products, and experiences that regenerate the planet, improve everyday life, and build a more equitable future.
Mission
CCA Industrial Design prepares the next generation of creative leaders to design with purpose and imagination. Our curriculum blends craft and technology, systems thinking and storytelling, to equip students with the tools to build a circular, connected, and collaborative world. Through hands-on studios, industry coaching, and a future-forward mindset, students learn to prototype ideas that are beautiful and impactful.
Curriculum
Designers in-making
Build career-crucial skills and networks
As an Industrial Design student, you’ll build strong foundations in design thinking principles, circular systems design, life-centered design, product sketching, full-scale prototyping, and digital renderings. Learn to connect meaning with making by working on product evolutions for global brands and participate in design challenges.
Through hands-on projects, interdisciplinary collaborations (third-year CoLABS), and industry partnerships, you’ll sharpen your communication, user experiences, and entrepreneurial skills while building your portfolio. By fourth year, lead your own thesis journey with professional coaches and alumni mentors, building critical networks and career readiness skills. View sample courses.
Studio project with names you know
Corporate-sponsored workshops and studios are a cornerstone of CCA’s Industrial Design program. These practical projects give you the opportunity to design solutions for top-tier companies like NASA, Google, Samsung, Adobe, Lenovo, Lucid Motors, Camelbak, Colgate, Logitech, YouTube, Prowl, and Zoox as part of your third-year coursework.
Deepen your practice with a minor
Personalize your Industrial Design journey through one of three embedded minors, seamlessly integrated into the core curriculum:
- Furniture design emphasizes craftsmanship and fabrication, enabling you to develop hands-on skills through studio work and material exploration.
- Computational Practices bridges physical and digital design, equipping you with tools to create intelligent, futuristic products.
- Ecological Practices centers on sustainability and regenerative systems, guiding you to design with environmental impact in mind.
Each minor shapes the curriculum around a focused lens, empowering a deeper practice without adding to your course load.
Start strong with the First Year Experience
All undergraduates begin with a two-semester First Year Experience, where you’ll explore tools and materials across disciplines. Through studio projects and critiques, you’ll build the creative and conceptual foundation to thrive in your major.
Career development
Launch your career with purpose
Lead the future of design
Our graduates are bold thinkers, skilled makers, and systems-minded problem-solvers. You’ll leave with hands-on experience, a deep understanding of sustainability and the circular economy, and the ability to design for both people and the planet—with real-world projects, industry mentorship, internships, and cross-disciplinary collaboration under your belt. Whatever path you choose, you’ll graduate with the skills, experience, and vision to lead the future of design.
What careers do Industrial Design students pursue?
A strong foundation in circular design and manufacturing with advanced technical CAD and CRAFT skills prepares our alumni for dynamic careers across industries—from furniture to robotics, and healthcare to lifestyle, entertainment, and emerging technologies. Our students have gone on to work in corporate companies and startups, including Apple, Amazon Lab126, Google, Mattel, Pact, IDEO, Fuseproject, The North Face, and more.
Success stories
Lily Chinn
Lily Chinn
Graduating from the college with a BFA in Industrial Design, Lily Chinn is now pursuing a master’s degree in Strategic Product Design at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
Nick Cronan
Nick Cronan
Four Industrial Design alumni make contributions to sustainable products, materials, and systems in a global industry typically known for the waste it creates.
Liz Hernandez
Liz Hernandez
Four esteemed graduates of the college—artists, industry leaders, and designers in their own right—share why they stay involved with our community and continue to give back to CCA.
News & Events
Meet and learn from practicing designers
How to Apply
Start your industrial design journey
Reimagine what design can do
CCA’s Industrial Design program is where big ideas meet bold action. You’ll join passionate designers pushing boundaries, building beautiful products, reimagining ecosystems, and improving lives. From your first sketch to your final prototype, you’ll be part of a creative community building what comes next.