The School of Design is embedded within the heart of UIC, a Tier-1 research institution. Our mission is to create dynamic thinkers/makers who, while able to create the singular, highly resolved formal design, arrive at their well-crafted considered solutions through a process of deep research and critical thinking.
Designers will shape the future not only through well-designed objects, systems and interactions, but by their ability to offer solutions to large-scale problems facing society today as the leaders driving social, technological, and environmental innovation.
In this era, Industrial Design transcends the notion of object; an object is no longer a singular embodiment, but an essential part of a larger, complex system of meaning. Every aspect of design now influences a larger ecosystem impacting the economy, environment, technology, manufacturing, and society as a whole.
Designers work today within cross-functional teams solving complex issues and UIC Design education reflects this new reality. Advanced technologies are integrated into the curriculum as tools to enable and facilitate outcomes. The substantive advancement in design education is in the process of creating designers who think dynamically and holistically in terms of objects, systems and services and can simultaneously bridge the gap between each speculative outcome and its broader context.
Extensive multidisciplinary research is brought into the classroom by way of coursework, sponsored research, lectures, and critiques, challenging students to understand how their design may be viewed and understood through a range of lenses. The UIC School of Design continues to be a leader in strengthening the synthesis of thinking and making across objects and communications serving as the catalyst for innovative development and the future of design practice.
The program culminates in a public exhibition of the master’s research project.