Department Head

Charlie Cannon

Graduate Program Director

Ayako Takese

• Learn more about Industrial Design at RISD

• Department Location and Contacts

Curriculum

• Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design

• Master of Industrial Design: 2.5 year

• Master of Industrial Design: 2-year

Learning outcomes

Graduates of the BFA program are prepared to:

• develop material ideas with facility, clarity and rigor.

• conceptualize and develop ideas imaginatively and accurately in three dimensions.

• effectively communicate their design intent to disparate audiences (including clients, users and fabricators).

• apply knowledge of user experience, human factors, applied ergonomics, contextual inquiry, user preference studies and usability assessments in the design development process.

• understand the contribution their work is making to the profession and the discipline.

• exercise collaborative skills for working across disciplines and in multidisciplinary fields.

Graduates of the MID two-year program are prepared to:

• predict the impact of their design approach.

• adeptly frame problems and solutions.

• apply rapid modeling and prototyping skills.

• develop and refine personal design methods and research approaches.

In addition, graduates of the MID two and a half-year program are prepared to:

• extend their understanding of the Industrial Design discipline to practical design problems.

• effectively bring their previous experience to their design practice.