Each year the School of Design offers elective courses with changing topics. The following are past electives:
DES400 INNOVATIVE MATERIALS LAB: EASTMAN TRITAN provides designers the opportunity to work with new materials. In this course, students will work closely with the Eastman Chemical Company to design biomedical devices with their newly developed Tritan line of impact-resistant, BPA-free, and chemically inert plastics. Guided material experimentation will reveal findings about how industrial resins will be used in future biomedical products, and students will present their findings and designs to Eastman representatives. The course will encourage the design of objects that interact with fluids, and students will learn to work with fluid simulation software so that the behavior and properties of liquids can inform designs. While designing objects for the future of patient treatment, other course topics will include material exploration and analysis, speculative research into biomedical products and their future users, experiments into how liquids interact with solids and infuse with other liquids, and 3D simulation for aero- and hydro-dynamic surface streamlining.
DES432 PARAMETRIC DESIGN AND DESIGN STORYTELLING is an introduction to advanced digital techniques used to visualize design concepts. SolidWorks, an advanced feature-based modeling tool that uses parametric modeling principles to design objects that are flexible, constructible, and considered. SolidWorks topics include parametric drawing and modeling techniques, the creation of product specification drawings, and combining modeled parts into assemblies. Renderings and animations produced in PhotoView 360 and KeyShot will enable students to visualize the narrative that defines an object’s concept, fabrication, form, and function. In addition, students will be introduced to algorithmic modeling in Grasshopper 3D and programming objects with the Arduino development platform. Lessons on mechanisms, electronics, sensors, actuators, micro-controllers, and other data collection tools will enable students to design objects that are interactive, kinetic, transformable, and shaped by an awareness of their surroundings and users.
For course registration approval, please email design@uic.edu.