Industrial /Interactive Design Foundation (IDF)

This is an advanced drawing course developed for designers of all disciplines who want to improve the designer?s ability to apply knowledge imparted in other courses to the development of designs. Wherever possible the subject matter of the students? design studio courses will be used as the subject matter for drawing exercises.

This course is concerned with the exploration of materials used in the mass production of products, the processes used to shape these materials and the applicability of these materials to product-design solutions. Students should be prepared to visit a number of manufacturing facilities. A survey of rapid prototyping technologies completes the course.

This course introduces shop techniques as they pertain to industrial design model-making and prototype construction. All industrial design students must take this course for shop equipment safety training and pass a safety test. Throughout the semester, attention is given to safety precautions for the shop, along with demonstrations of shop equipment and fabrication processes. A major portion of the course will consist of developing an understanding of the materials and machinery commonly used by industrial designers for producing both working and appearance models.

This course analyzes human factors as related to broad aspects of design development. It explores the issues of operator/ user human factors and their impact on design. The outcome of this course will be to ascertain the relationship of basic human dimensions on product design. Subjects include systems reliability, sensory and motor processes, basic research techniques and anthropometric studies.