“The sociology, the history, the economics, the graphs, the charts, the regressions all land, with great violence, upon the body.” — Ta-Nehisi Coates in Between the World and Me (inspired by James Baldwin‘s The Fire Next Time)
Early interaction with nature has been proven to increase children's capacity for creativity, critical concentration skills, and relationship building.
The scarcity of N95 masks has occupied headlines and the minds of the public since the outbreak of COVID-19—hoarders of the masks have been busted, stockpiles have been donated, and several alternatives have been developed.
Ten years since it launched and one name change later, Toy Product Design (now Product Innovation Lab or iLab) remains one of product design's most popular courses.
When the decision was made to shift classes to remote learning, faculty, students, and staff undertook one of the biggest teaching and learning challenges to date. As the semester wraps up, our interior design instructors share how they adapted their spring classes to remote learning, the challenges they faced in the process, and what they learned through the experience.
Today the College of Design announced that Jennifer Yoos, FAIA, will be named the next head of its School of Architecture, effective June 8, 2020, and pending approval by the Board of Regents.
Like industries and higher education institutions across the globe, the Retail Merchandising Program has had to quickly shift to working and learning remotely. Through the use of new technology and ingenuity, retail merchandising faculty, staff, and students have come together to embrace this new learning landscape.
Led by Professor Tasoulla Hadjiyanni (Interior Design), the Culturally Enriched Communities (CEC) Initiative champions healthy and connected communities in which everyone can thrive.
Change is intrinsic to the field of landscape architecture, which has prepared the Department of Landscape Architecture to meet the rapid changes we are facing on a daily basis. As we begin to wrap up the spring semester, I want to share how our department has been adapting and responding.
When Molly Sanford accepted the position as fabrication director for the College of Design’s Fabrication Shops in March 2020, her most urgent problem was a dust collector on the fritz. Two weeks and one global pandemic later, Sanford began working to reframe the crisis as an opportunity for open-hearted collaboration, creative resourcefulness, and new beginnings.
As a professional career coach for over 20 years, I know first-hand how stressful it is to search for a job or internship. Now, with dramatic changes and uncertainty, it can feel overwhelming.
The Goldstein Museum of Design’s (GMD) galleries may be closed to the public, but our graduate students are bringing Minnesota’s design museum to your (virtual) door.
The need for N95 masks has skyrocketed in recent weeks in response to COVID-19. To address this challenge, an interdisciplinary research team at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities has designed two respirator mask prototypes from donated filter material by Cummins and bendable components from Bedford Industries.
The fields of medical device and apparel design may not seem to have a lot in common, but alumni from the College of Design are changing that.
Students in GDes 3353: Packaging and Display partnered with a student group from the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) last fall to create a brand identity for a proposed tap house on the St. Paul campus.
This February, members of the University got to view ongoing work at the College of Design’s annual Research and Creative Scholarship Showcase.
After almost a decade of practice in urban design, Anna Claussen (MLA ’07) broke out of traditional practice to explore how sociopolitical issues relate to surrounding landscapes.
At the time of her graduation, Susan Hegland Blumentals (B.Arch ’59) was one of only two female students in her class at the School of Architecture. Her husband, Janis Blumentals (B.Arch ’59), was born in Riga, Latvia and immigrated to the United States after World War II in 1950.
Pushing the boundaries of traditional fashion, this year’s senior apparel design fashion show, Amplified, speaks to a variety of lifestyles and cultures. From modest formalwear to colorful street style and theatrical costume play this year’s show explores fashion’s influences on social responsibility, gender fluidity, virtual reality, modern cultural expressions, and much more.
Whether it’s buying a coffee every morning or relying on take-out for dinner, convenience makes it easy to overlook the long-term consequences of our consumption choices. Last fall, graphic design students in 2399W: Design and its Discontents were challenged to examine their own consumption habits and create a tangible representation of what they discovered.
It’s one thing to design a product, it’s quite another to design an entire experience. Product design students were challenged to design an immersive, brand experience pop-up shop for one of two unfamiliar user groups: Baby Boomers and Generation X.
High above the Arctic Circle in the fishing village of Vardø, Norway sits the Steilneset Memorial. Created by architect Peter Zumthor and artist Louise Bourgeois, the memorial remembers the 91 women and men who were burned at the stake after being found guilty of sorcery in 1621.
After decades of dormancy, Professor Tom Fisher (MDC) has helped revive, along with a number of enthusiastic students, the Tau Sigma Delta fraternity at the College of Design.
On December 3, students, faculty, and staff celebrated the official opening of the new Center for Retail Design and Innovation (CRDI).
It was while flipping through a magazine in the old Rapson Library that David Krummel (B.Arch ’84) stumbled across the field of set design for the first time. Although he no longer remembers the magazine, the article on production design for the Terry Gilliam movie Brazil stuck with him, sparking an interest he’s never lost.
What started as a class project for Ian Harris, Warda Moosa, and Mary Xiong (all Apparel Design) turned into the prize-winning entry at the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) Advanced Textiles Student Design Competition. Together the three seniors (then juniors) created an emergency avalanche transceiver garment that took first place in this national competition.
Faculty and staff from across the College of Design are celebrating their latest book releases on Wednesday, November 20.
On the second floor of McNeal Hall, a new research center is opening its doors. Designed to connect retail industry professionals with faculty and students, the new Center for Retail Design and Innovation (CRDI) brings a unique design thinking approach to retail industry problems.