Spring 2024 Courses
DES 102: Introduction to Interaction
Mode: In-Person
Room: AHG 1.310
Schedule: M 2:00-5:00pm
Instructor: Cathryn Ploehn
Explore the fundamental principles and methods of interaction design, including an introduction to a variety of technology and software used by design professionals. Class meets January 22-February 19.
DES 102: Introduction to 3D Design
Mode: In-Person
Room: AHG 1.310
Schedule: M 2:00-5:00pm
Instructor: José Perez
Explore the fundamental principles and methods of 2D design making, including an introduction to a variety of technology and software used by design professionals. Class meets February 26-April 1.
DES 305: Design Studio II
Mode: In-Person
Room: ART 1.202 / ART 1.204 / ART 3.218
Schedule: TTH 11:00am-2:00pm
Instructor: Carley Cullen / Cathryn Ploehn / Brooke Davis
Build upon vocabulary, principles and techniques of design across disciplines through project work in a studio setting.
DES 308: Intro to Design Theory & Criticism
Mode: Online
Flags: Ethics (E)
Room: N/A
Schedule: MW 12:30-2:00pm
Instructor: Carma Gorman
Introduces design theory and criticism, examining how people's beliefs and values inform the way they make, understand, and evaluate works of design.
DES 130T: Exploring Materials
Mode: In-Person
Room: ART 3.218
Schedule: M 11:00-2:00pm
Instructor: Keila Perez
Designed to introduce students to a variety of fabrication methods, labs and resources across the UT campus. An invaluable opportunity to experiment with a range of materials. Class meets January 22-February 19.
DES 130T: Harm by Design
Mode: In-Person
Room: AHG 1.310
Schedule: MW 9:30-11:00am
Instructor: Libby Riddell
This course will explore the harm design can do through current and historical examples, ranging from methods, architecture, graphic design, and technology. Students will be asked to question their responsibility as designers, practitioners, and industry members when it comes to the ethics of projects.
DES 323: Color in Theory and Practice
Mode: In-Person
Room: ART 1.204
Schedule: TTH 9:30-11:00am
Instructor: Carma Gorman
Explore contemporary color notation systems and color management techniques. Survey economic, health and safety, environmental, cultural, legal, political, and other ethical considerations pertinent to using color.
DES 326: Objects and Spaces
Mode: In-Person
Room: ART 3.218
Schedule: TTH 8:00-11:00am
Instructor: Kate Catterall
Projects introduce rendering and prototyping techniques used for solving problems in three-dimensional media such as product design, packaging design, environmental graphics, and/or architectural/landscape design.
DES 330T: Developing a Joyful Creative Practice
Mode: In-Person
Room: ART 3.210
Schedule: MW 11:00am-2:00pm
Instructor: Bella Varela
Engage in photography, video, performance, textile/sewing, and installation to nurture the development of a joyful, compassionate, and enduring artistic practice. Construct a creative practice that aligns with their individual interests while engaging with various communities and subcultures and aim to continually challenge conventional notions of joy on a daily basis.
DES 330T: Design, Race, and Culture
Mode: In-Person
Room: AHG 1.310
Schedule: F 11:00am-2:00pm
Instructor: Michael Ray Charles
Explore the complex interplay between race, design, and culture. Examine how race has historically influenced and continues to shape the fields of design, architecture, fashion, and the arts. Develop a deeper understanding of the ways in which race intersects with design practices and cultural expressions through critical examination of historical and contemporary examples.
DES 330T: Design Lab Print Studio
Mode: In-Person
Room: ART 2.212
Schedule: T 5:00-8:00pm
Instructor: Henry Smith
Print Studio is an exploration of printmaking basics across new and old technology, while encouraging students to push the boundaries of the concept of “print.”
DES 330T: Gender Bias in Design
Mode: In-Person
Room: AHG 1.310
Schedule: MW 11:00-12:30pm
Instructor: Vic Rodriguez Tang
Through a series of methods such as research, making, and critiques, among other techniques, this course invites students to look into their gender biases when it comes to making design choices and ask them to propose ways to challenge their decision-making process.
DES 334C: Interaction Design I
Mode: In-Person
Room: ART 3.218
Schedule: TTH 2:00-5:00pm / MW 5:30-8:30pm
Instructor: TBA / Jiabao Li
Explore theories, methods, and techniques for designing time-based and interactive experiences, including video, motion graphics, and web and mobile applications.
DES 335: Typography II
Mode: In-Person
Room: ART 1.204
Schedule: MW 11:00am-2:00pm
Instructor: Carley Cullen
Students use typographic principles to design complex print and on-screen publications.
DES 336: History of Design
Mode: In-Person
Room: AHG 1.308
Schedule: MW 11:00-12:30pm
Instructor: Monica Penick
Surveys the history of graphic and/or industrial design from c.1450 to the present, with an emphasis on the last 150 years.
DES 337: Decolonizing Graphic Design
Mode: Online
Flags: Writing (W)
Room: N/A
Schedule: M 2:00-5:00pm
Instructor: Cheryl D. Miller
This remote course presents Miller’s own BIPOC heritage of the West African origins and transatlantic slave trade influences to North American Black graphic design history. The history of the slave artisan fills in the gaps of Black graphic design history erasure through the broad history of the graphic designer and the traditional canon of the history of graphic design.
DES 340C: Identity Systems
Mode: In-Person
Room: ART 1.202
Schedule: MW 2:00-5:00pm
Instructor: Vic Rodriguez Tang
Examine the relationship between business and graphic design to simplify, unify, and amplify a brand's identity in a studio format.
DES 344: Objects and Spaces II
Mode: In-Person
Room: AHG 1.310
Schedule: TTH 11:00am-2:00pm
Instructor: José Perez
Explore the principles, techniques, and tools used in creating visually stunning and functional 3d models. Develop hands-on experience in designing objects, environments, prototypes, and renderings using 3d modeling software and the fabrication labs. Conceptualize, model, and fabricate projects to develop the necessary skills to bring ideas to reality.
DES 346: Project Studio
Mode: In-Person
Room: ART 1.406
Schedule: TTH 11:00am-2:00pm
Instructor: Jon Freach
Professional experience solving real-world problems, including commissioned projects, student-initiated projects, and/or pro bono projects.
DES 347: Publication Studio
Mode: In-Person
Room: ART 2.212
Schedule: F 11:00am-5:00pm
Instructor: Kevin Auer
Advanced publishing projects in print and/or digital media.
DES 353: Ecological Interaction Design
Mode: In-Person
Room: ART 3.218
Schedule: W 2:00-5:00pm
Instructor: Cathryn Ploehn
This project-driven studio course offers an exploration of the methods, poetics, and politics of designing interfaces and interactions for (and with) ecology. Engage with themes and tools such as: sustainability, the politics of resolution, eco-feminism, permaculture, biophilic design, botanical simulation, computational design, ritual design, and data visualization.
DES 260: Design Internship
Mode: Hybrid
Room: AHG 1.308
Schedule: M 9:00-11:00am
Instructor: Kate Canales
Introduces students to ethical standards and professional practices in design; allows completion of an approved professional internship.
DES 160I: Internship in Design
Mode: Online
Room: N/A
Schedule: M 8:00-9:00am
Instructor: Kate Canales
Participate in a professional design internship in a field of interest.
DES 375: Capstone Design Exhibition
Mode: In-Person
Room: AHG 1.308 / ART 1.406 / AHG 1.310
Schedule: TTH 2:00-5:00pm
Instructor: Vic Rodriguez Tang / Tasheka Arceneaux-Sutton / TBA
Students collaboratively curate, design, and install a senior B.F.A. exhibition, and publish collateral materials that publicly showcase their capstone projects.
DES 376: Independent Study: Design
Mode: In-Person
Room: N/A
Schedule: N/A
Instructor: N/A
Student-defined projects completed under faculty supervision.
The courses below are cross-listed with the Center for Integrated Design for the Spring 2024 semester.
DES 330T: Intro to Design in Health
Mode: In-Person
Room: ART 3.218
Schedule: T 5:00-8:00pm
Faculty: Byron Wilson
Introduction to how design is playing a role in the changing healthcare industry. Students can expect to explore the creative design-based approaches and problem-solving methods and their application to solving contemporary health care challenges.
DES 330T: Play-Design Lab
Mode: In-Person
Room: ART 3.218
Schedule: W 11:00-2:00pm
Faculty: Keila Perez
In this course, we explore the emerging field of play-design and its potential to create better conditions in our rapidly changing societies. It will examine how play can contribute to the development of social and creative processes exploring boundary lines of a practice in designing for play and designing through play. Through studio sessions, participants will gain a deeper understanding of play design theory as well as embodied experiences of play to inform design choices in their projects. We will experiment with various playful qualities, such as imagination, exploration, storytelling, risk-taking, humor, joy, and pleasure, among others.
DES 330T: Speculative Futures: Bio Design
Mode: In-Person
Room: AHG 1.310
Schedule: W 2:00-5:00pm
Instructor: Jiabao Li
This course offers an interdisciplinary platform for students to engage, collaborate and experiment in regard to biotechnologies and our futures.
DES 330T: Future Shaping
Mode: In-Person
Room: ART 1.202
Schedule: TH 2:00-5:00pm
Faculty: Tamie Glass
Explore how designers from the past imagined living in the future. This seminar delves into how designed objects and spaces can enhance experiences, promote well-being, and influence behavior. We will investigate various contexts and design disciplines in an exploratory practice of future-shaping. Drawing upon insights and research from psychology and sociology, we will analyze behavioral prompts that can strategically encourage different forms of engagement. Imaginative case studies, illuminating readings, and futures design will provide the basis for speculative concepting activities and a deeper understanding of life in the decades and centuries to come. Our driving question: how can and should design enable how we want to live, work, and play?
DES 110T: Portfolio Design
Mode: In-Person
Room: AHG 1.308
Schedule: MW 12:30-2:00pm
Instructor: Edward McFarland-Catalan
Five-week course designed to help design students enhance their portfolios and, in turn, their employability and success in the field.
Navigating Your Courses
We offer a wide range of topic courses that may evolve or change each semester. Consult with your advisor, faculty, or department leadership if you have any questions prior to registration.