TIMELESS INFLUENCE

This hands-on workshop explores the current state of sustainability in design — what’s moving forward, what’s rolling back, and where designers can take action. Through a mix of interactive dialogue and a creative postcard-making activity, participants will reflect on their own practices, send bold messages to decision-makers, and commit to tangible design behavior changes. Whether humorous, heartfelt, or provocative, each postcard becomes a statement for a more circular future.

This session will empower industrial designers with creative tools and a values-based framework to take action on sustainability challenges—through circular design thinking and expressive advocacy.

“Your Manifesto Starts Here: Define, Disrupt, Design.”

This fast-paced, hands-on workshop invites designers to articulate their core values and beliefs by creating a personal (or collective) design manifesto. Through a series of guided prompts and small group discussion, participants reflect on what matters most in their design practice—what they stand for, what they challenge, and what they aim to impact.

The session culminates in the creation of a short written manifesto—a declarative statement that can serve as a touchstone for future decisions, projects, or career paths. Participants will leave with a printed takeaway they can post, share, or revisit as they grow in their practice.

This interactive exercise introduces newcomers to key techniques in user experience (UX) and human-centered design through a guided, game-like scenario that mirrors real-world consumer behavior. Participants engage in activities like interviews, card sorting, and persona creation to learn core research skills—observation, empathy, synthesis, and storytelling. Designed as an accessible, low-barrier entry point, the session requires no prior experience and fosters intuitive learning. By framing design as a creative, inquiry-driven process, this activity sparks curiosity and reveals that great design stems from understanding people. It also serves as a powerful recruitment tool, encouraging students to explore design with purpose and passion.

Panelists: Kevin Gilboe, Ani Grigorian, Habacuc S. Bessiake

Want to future-proof your design practice? Start by designing for everyone. Presented by the IDSA Disability Section, this engaging session explores the power of universal and inclusive design through real-world examples and insights from practitioners creating access-forward solutions. Then, get hands-on in a collaborative design activity, hosted with Design Core Detroit, where you’ll reimagine real scenarios through the lens of inclusion. Whether you design physical products, digital tools, spaces, or services, this session equips you with actionable strategies and fresh perspectives to create smarter, more equitable outcomes. Leave inspired—and ready to make inclusion central to your creative process.

"Manage design research with purpose—translate user needs into metrics that drive meaningful results."

Design research is more than a discovery phase—it’s a strategic capability that, when well-managed, delivers measurable impact across the organization. This exclusive PARK Academy masterclass, offered ahead of the IDSA International Design Conference, empowers design leaders to manage design research with intent, align cross-functional teams, and translate findings into clear, actionable KPIs. Using PARK’s proprietary Design Research Roadmap and Livebook toolkit, participants will learn how to structure, lead, and scale research efforts that drive business value and elevate design's influence at the executive level.

This workshop will outline the history of data-driven design and it’s exclusive use by entities with the resources required to conduct large-scale studies, citing scientific literature. In collaboration with findings from a technological partnership between Neurable and Hollman Inc., this workshop will offer insight into new, user-friendly, medical-grade, brain-reading technology that has the capability to positively impact design research in new ways. We will outline the scenario in which the technology was adopted and how it fits into the landscape, briefly touching plans for driving physical design. The workshop will review the implications of how now-accessible technology, traditionally exclusive to industry giants, changes the landscape of the field, and some additional technologies worth exploring for similar reasons. Attendees are invited to a creative exercise to imagine mock research scenarios across industries using the technology. We will review the attendees proposed studies and end on basic design strategy when collecting data, and the balancing act it plays with anecdote and intuition between these new technologies and traditional design research methods for informing design directions. 

Join the Consulate of Italy for a dynamic conversation exploring how Italy’s centuries-old design heritage fuels its cutting-edge contributions to industrial design, artificial intelligence, and the metaverse.

Moderated by Allegra Baistrocchi, Consul of Italy in Detroit, the discussion will spotlight how Italy’s deep-rooted artisanal excellence is not a relic of the past but a living legacy—one that continues to inspire new generations of creators and innovators. This is a rare opportunity to witness how the timeless principles of Italian craftsmanship are being reinterpreted through today’s most transformative technologies.

“Italian Drive: Design Futures Powered by Innovation and Imagination” will showcase two global trailblazers in Italian design: Franco Bevione, CEO USA of Wedoo, and Fabrizio Mina, CEO USA of Italdesign. From advanced prototyping and immersive digital environments to sustainable mobility and AI-generated design, Italy is showing the world how tradition and innovation can work hand in hand. 

Make impactful product decisions: behavioral science meets aesthetic experiences.

Throughout the lifecycle of creating products, designers make countless decisions about form, function, experience, emotion, and context. That process can be complex, especially as AI adds new possibilities and new design constraints. This interactive session introduces the NOTES, a practical framework that helps designers make intentional choices while accounting for a product’s emotional, behavioral, and systemic impact on our lives. Built at the intersection of neuroaesthetics, behavioral science, and systems thinking, NOTES gives you concrete tools you can use at every stage of your product development. We’ll look at real-world product examples that illustrate how aesthetics and behavioral science merge to create memorable and meaningful experiences. You’ll leave with a toolkit for designing behaviorally-informed products, digital tools, and services that spark joy, solve real problems, and elevate everyday experiences.

Greg Smiley will share insights, gained over his 30+ year career, in an encore presentation of Neohvi Methodology, ideation through variation and iteration. With this toolkit, you'll learn how to generate more and better ideas over less total time, to help drive the future of design.

Students seek a launch to their careers through meaningful opportunities at school. Whether it be internships, study abroad, or undergraduate research, students need experiences outside of classroom. In this session, Virginia Tech students will host a panel to discuss their successes and failures in building their own bridge to the design profession. For students and professionals, hear first hand experiences and advice from students who have established best practices for applying, completing, and growing from internships, study abroad programs, and undergraduate research.

Design has always been about shaping possibility, but what happens when the tools we use begin to imagine alongside us? For industrial designers, this moment is both thrilling and unsettling: trying to seek out answers to what it means to design in an age where intelligence itself is evolving.

This session first sets the foundation of how industrial design can embrace AI not as a gimmick, but as a force for transformation, a collaborator, a mirror. We’ll move beyond the surface-level experiments of image generation and text prompts to uncover how AI can reshape design research and open radical new modes of creativity. At the same time, we’ll wrestle with the shadows—the seduction of speed, the flattening of originality, and the ethical ambiguities that come with giving machines a seat at the creative table.

5–7 PM

Shinola Flagship, 441 W Canfield St, Detroit, MI 48201

Join us at Shinola’s flagship store! Join the Shinola design team and the Industrial Designers Society of America for drinks, light snacks, and a guided store tour. Connect with fellow conference attendees and get a first look at what’s new from Shinola.

RSVP here!

What happens when two of the oldest design firms in the country sit down to talk not about the past, but about how they're still shaping what’s next? In this rare conversation, leaders from Teague and Sundberg-Ferar open the conference with a bold, honest exploration of what it means to design with a legacy — and how that legacy becomes a tool for navigating uncertainty, building resilience, and driving innovation today. With nearly two centuries of combined experience, they'll share the mindsets, missteps, and moments that helped them endure — and the future signals they're watching now.

This is more than a history lesson. It’s a provocation: What do we carry forward, and what do we leave behind?

What does it take to lead design that moves fast, feels right, and leaves a lasting mark? In this candid conversation, Ralph Gilles explores the intersection of performance, emotion, and vision in automotive design. Drawing from decades of experience, he reflects on how great design pushes past constraints—beyond the curve—and becomes a force for culture, innovation, and strategic impact.

As we close a day dedicated to honoring design’s legacy, this powerful conversation invites us to look forward — through the lens of those who’ve redefined what human-centered truly means. Patricia Moore, whose pioneering work reshaped how we understand aging and empathy, joins Dr. Isabel Prochner, a leading voice in socially engaged and gender-equitable design, for a generational dialogue about inclusion, responsibility, and the evolving role of designers in shaping a just world.

In a world driven by quick wins and rigid processes, creativity is expected—but rarely nurtured. Imagine creative thinking not only as an innate talent but as a powerful strategic lever that can drive business impact via new design mindsets. Participants will strengthen their creative confidence with inventive problem-solving methods to create meaningful innovation in this audience-driven dynamic workshop. Through live creative challenges, breakout collaboration, and on-the-spot recalibration of your design tools, attendees will learn to reimagine familiar approaches through a new lens. We'll explore how design’s value can be reframed in today’s business landscape, technological disruption and economic uncertainty—and how designers can lead with relevance and resilience. If you think design is dead, show up and let this session prove otherwise.

Born in Detroit and shaped by its resilient spirit, Shinola has redefined what it means to be an American watch brand. This session will explore how Shinola’s design philosophy is inseparable from the cultural narratives that inspire it—from the city’s legacy of craftsmanship and innovation to the broader stories that connect people, objects, and meaning. By embedding culture at the very genesis of the design process, Shinola’s team has cultivated timepieces that not only mark time but also mark history, identity, and sentiment. As the brand looks to the future of American watchmaking, the conversation will examine how industrial design can serve as both a reflection of and a catalyst for cultural evolution. The participants will be encouraged to engage in an open discussion with the Shinola team. If timing allows, a limited Shinola factory tour—including watch assembly, testing, and the watch strap factory (max 30 attendees)—will be offered either following or to kick off the session to deepen engagement and conversation.

Designers have a unique superpower: deep sensitivity and creativity. But that inner spark is often shaped by old stories—beliefs we've carried from childhood or social systems that subtly influence how we show up at work. This interactive workshop explores how Emotional Intelligence (EQ) helps designers recognize those internal patterns and shift them for good. Through real talk, reflection prompts, and small-group conversations, we'll look at why EQ is a competitive advantage, how to respond creatively in low-EQ environments, and why reframing challenges can unlock better collaboration. We’ll also dive into how diversity and lived experiences shape design outcomes—and how high-EQ teams create space for everyone to thrive. Whether you're facing a tough project, leading a team, or just trying to understand yourself better, this session offers practical, human tools to help you stay creative, grounded, and ready for whatever comes next.

Panelists: Nancy Liu, Ken Musgrave, Michael Seum

Moderated by Marty Gage

In today’s competitive market, user research is a critical driver of innovation, reduced risk, and differentiated experiences. This panel brings together Vice Presidents of Design from Kohler, Whirlpool, and other top companies to share real-world examples of leveraging research for strategic and daily decisions. Topics include aligning teams around user insights, integrating research into agile workflows, and communicating findings to executives. Attendees will gain a clear understanding of how user research fuels meaningful design, cross-functional collaboration, and long-term business growth. The session highlights why research is essential to design’s strategic value and how to maximize its influence in large organizations.

Ever had an idea so bad it's brilliant? The Bad Ideas Workshop is your creative reset—designed to combat burnout, perfectionism, and pressure with playful, judgment-free exploration. Led by Alex and Jill, this hands-on session invites you to embrace chaos, push boundaries, and unlock surprising insights through laughter and shared risk-taking. You’ll reframe constraints, break creative blocks, and rediscover the power of play as a serious innovation tool. Perfect for anyone seeking fresh energy, trust-building, and a mental reboot, this workshop transforms bad ideas into bold breakthroughs. It’s messy, fun, and unexpectedly powerful—a creative recharge disguised as a good time.

Panel Discussion

What does it really take to manage and lead design in today’s fast-moving, cross-functional environments? This session explores the practical realities of design leadership—from balancing team dynamics and stakeholder expectations to scaling process without stifling creativity. Hear from senior leaders who are in the trenches, navigating the daily push and pull between execution and vision. Whether you're building teams, shaping culture, or aligning design with business goals, this conversation will offer real-world insights you can put into practice.

Workshop 

Want to get ahead of the curve? Start designing for the edges. Join this fast-paced, interactive workshop to experience the power of inclusive design through the lens of disability. Through hands-on simulation tools and a rapid group design challenge, we will explore the everyday barriers faced by people with physical disabilities. Expect to leave with an understanding of the benefit of inclusive design, tangible tools to bring inclusive design to your workplace, and, most importantly, a mindset shift that sticks.

Panel Discussion

• Nichole Rouillac, Scott Nol, Norio Fujikawa

• Lea Plato, Jon Polhamus, Audra Norvilas

As designers step into roles with greater influence, the impact of their decisions reaches far beyond individual projects — shaping people, products, and organizational culture. This session brings together practitioners who have navigated complexity, tension, and change to discuss what responsibility in design really looks like in practice.

Together, they’ll explore how to balance power and accountability, foster trust, and contribute to cultures that prioritize both impact and integrity. Expect a candid conversation about the choices designers make, the responsibility those choices carry, and how to stay grounded in values while driving results.

6–9 PM

Kick off IDC in style! Join us for an evening of great food, drinks, and celebration as we come together to mark the start of the conference.

• Please wear your conference badge for entry.

• Each registered attendee will receive a drink ticket.

• This event is exclusively for full-conference registrants.

We can’t wait to see you there!

Sponsored by PLC and Pepsico.

In 1889 Hamilton Carhartt co-created his first pair of bibs working directly with railroad engineers in Southeast Michigan.  Today, we follow his directive by using our closeness to hard-working people to drive our designs, and brand, forward. How do you keep an authentic brand relevant?  By obsessing over your consumer.

Artificial intelligence is an unprecedented technology that defies our conventional methods of comprehension. Grasping the potential of Ai-driven design is fueled by emotional intelligence, curiosity, and a willingness to suspend what you think you know.

Professor Quintin Williams and Greg Aper don't have all the answers. For them, that's part of the appeal of Ai. The opportunity to explore the unknown, to try things that haven't been tried before. What they do have is the accumulated knowledge gained from thousands of hours spent testing, failing, retrying, succeeding, teaching, and training others how to use Ai to turbocharge their innate creative talents.

They have discovered by doing, and what they've experienced is that the realities of using Ai for design are much different than the perceptions. They welcome you to join them as they relate the challenges of helping both design students and professionals acclimate to Ai and share their passion for what's possible with Ai. (Spoiler: Anything is possible.)

Just where are we with sustainability? How much progress have we actually made? Critically, given today’s headwinds – geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty, escalating environmental challenges and a world that feels increasingly fragile – where do we go next? How might we design a future where we have addressed today’s challenges head on, and starting to create the conditions where people and planet can thrive? This session will make the case that shifting our mindset and approach towards regeneration just might hold some new answers, and some new possibilities.

This fast-paced, hands-on workshop dismantles the myths and fears surrounding AI in design. Through live, unscripted demos, participants will explore how AI can amplify creativity—not replace it. Using audience input, we’ll co-create a new company concept and design a micro experience in real time with cutting-edge AI tools. Expect bold experimentation, real results, and a few surprises. Whether you're skeptical or curious, this session will give you practical, eye-opening exposure to AI's true potential in design. Join us to move beyond debate and into action—building the rocket ship after liftoff and redefining what's possible in the creative process.

Workshop & Panel Discussion

Moderated by Kevin Gilboe

Curious about founding a business that contributes more than it consumes?   Dive deep into circular design, business models for positive community impact and creative applications of automation.   In this two-part workshop, you will explore real-world insights in designing a regenerative business: fusing product design, technology and leadership.  Collaborate with experts and small teams to sketch concepts that just might inspire the next chapter in your professional journey!

The Attendee will learn...

• How to sketch out a business model fusing circular design with positive community impact. Regenerative businesses contribute more than they consume.

• Founder lessons-learned to help you grow a design-led business

• Generate ideas to spark new sustainable futures

Workshop

How can you actually make Ai actionable in your day-to-day? This Ai intro session will demonstrate practical Ai workflows resulting in the relevant outcomes you’re looking for. From large language models to image and video generation models, you’ll walk out of the session with a better understanding of what can be achieved through the use of vetted workflows comprised of the top Ai tools and models.

The Attendee will learn...

1). A clear understanding of the Ai landscape for industrial design: Ai integration, tools, platforms, and workflows

2). Practical, "easy-win" applications using the top image, video, and large language cloud-based models (examples include Midjourney, Vizcom, etc.)

3). Tangible techniques to speed up ideation, visualization, and storytelling in your design process

Workshop

Most talented designers struggle to get noticed, and it's rarely about the quality of their work. It's about knowing how to talk about it. The market rewards clear communication over perfect execution every time.

But how do you do that in a crowded online world? This workshop unlocks how to vouch for yourself and build a presence that feels true to who you are, while being strategic enough to attract the work you actually want.

We'll tackle the uncomfortable stuff head-on: how to show up online without cringing, how to share your story without overselling, how to build relationships without “networking” and how to position yourself in a way that opens doors. Led by designer and community-builder Sushant Vohra, fortunately this isn't another generic "personal branding" session. You'll walk away with your unique personal positioning statement, a content strategy that doesn't feel forced, and a 30-day action plan to start building authentic visibility. Whether you're freelancing, job-hunting, or just figuring it out, you'll leave knowing exactly how to take control of your narrative.

The audience will learn...

1.How to build an audience that is interested in your unique voice

2. How to leverage online connections and turn them into career opportunities

3. Leveraging your creative identity to build a marketing system that works for you

Join Nicolas (Nyko) de Peyer, Senior Product Expert Team Lead at Vizcom, for a dynamic session blending presentation and hands-on demonstration. Nyko will share Vizcom’s founding story and values, offering insight into how the platform is shaping the future of creative workflows. The session will feature a live industrial design demo and an overview of Vizcom’s latest features, highlighting what the team is building toward next. This open workshop is designed for conversation—bring your questions and ideas, and explore how AI can support and elevate your design process.

Workshop

Your career is the most important project you’ll ever take on. Whether you’re aiming to grow into leadership, or seeking strategic momentum after years in the industry, the path forward isn’t always obvious. This interactive workshop gives you the tools to intentionally design your next move. Using a Career Development Roadmap, you’ll reflect on your strengths, define your aspirations, and identify the skills, networks, and opportunities that will move you closer to your goals. You’ll leave with a personalized roadmap, and the confidence to approach your career with the same creativity and strategy you bring to every design challenge.

The Audience Will Learn:

• How to assess their current career stage and identify opportunities for growth.

• Strategies to navigate career transitions and plateaus.

• A structured framework to map goals, skills, networks, and next steps with clarity.

• Ways to communicate design’s value in business terms to boost visibility and influence.

What does it take to prepare the next generation of designers for a world that’s evolving faster than ever? This session invites educators, students, and industry leaders to reimagine the future of design education—not by tearing down what exists, but by building stronger bridges between institutions and industry. From skill-building to mindset-shifting, it explores how we can create learning experiences that are dynamic, relevant, and rooted in real-world impact. The future of our field depends on how we teach, mentor, and evolve—together.

What does it mean to be a designer when the boundaries between physical, digital, and service design are dissolving? In this insightful talk, Christopher Robin Roberts draws from decades of experience across hardware, UX, and systems design to reimagine the path forward. It’s not about choosing sides — it’s about building a career that moves fluidly between disciplines, guided by purpose and possibility. Whether you're sketching in a notebook or prototyping an app, this is your invitation to design without borders.

User research is being redefined—not by any one technology, but by the way we work, what teams expect, and how quickly the world is changing. Drawing on decades of experience leading ethnographic and behavioral research, Marty Gage unpacks what’s changing, what still holds true, and where we're headed next. He'll explore how tools like AI are shaping how we synthesize and share insights, and why human connection, curiosity, and critical thinking remain the most powerful tools we have. Whether you're a researcher, designer, or strategist, this session will challenge you to rethink how insight can lead in an uncertain world.

The most impactful design doesn't just solve problems — it expands access, deepens belonging, and reimagines what’s possible for more people. In a world shaped by inequality and accelerating change, inclusive design offers a path toward solutions that are not only more just, but more effective for all. This session invites us to consider how social impact can be embedded at every level of the creative process — not as an add-on, but as a design lens that benefits everyone. It’s not about designing for all—it’s about designing with purpose, empathy, and the courage to shift the status quo.

Sustainability is no longer a specialty—it’s a design imperative. As global challenges accelerate, designers are uniquely positioned to lead the shift toward products, systems, and services that restore rather than deplete. This session explores why integrating sustainable thinking isn't just good practice—it’s the future of meaningful design. From materials to mindsets, you'll leave with a deeper understanding of how to embed sustainability into your work, and why your influence as a designer matters more than ever.

This is a defining moment for industrial design.Today’s designers are no longer confined to a single role, process, or product. They are shaping experiences, influencing culture, driving innovation, and leading in spaces far beyond the studio. Designers today are being called to think bigger, lead smarter, and show up where it matters most — in business, in community, and in shaping what’s next.

As industrial designers confront new tools like AI, shifting business models, and rising ethical stakes, one question becomes urgent: how do we stay relevant while staying true to our values? This workshop blends provocation and play to explore the responsibility we carry, as individuals and as a profession, at a time when creativity can be automated and disruption is constant. Through group exercises, reflective discussions, and a future-focused mindset, participants will explore how to futureproof their design practice by doubling down on what only humans can do.

In a world dominated by flat screens, frictionless swipes, immersive visuals, and spatial audio, the physicality of experience--especially touch--has been left behind, reduced to a secondary sense. Yet touch remains incredibly efficient: it demands far less "brain power" than vision, and creates fast, intuitive, and trustworthy feedback loops.

Drawing on over a decade of design and business model experimentation, the team at Box Clever will share insights on how independent, agile creative teams can drive exceptional value for both startups and Fortune 100 companies. This session explores the limitations of traditional fee-for-service models and introduces alternative approaches to better balance risk and reward. Through real case studies and lessons from Box Garden Ventures, presenters will offer a compelling look at a new, sustainable model for design studios. Join Bret, Dickon, and BGV partners in an honest discussion about building and designing companies for today’s evolving business and design landscape.

Design Your Career Journey: Build the Future You Want. This is an interactive workshop designed for industrial designers at every stage of their career. Through a blend of guided reflection, industry insights, and hands-on activities, participants will explore both timeless and contemporary approaches to career development. Inspired by real-world journeys from their favorite design leaders, attendees will gain clarity on their own goals and values—then translate that insight into a personalized, visual career roadmap you can take with you at the end of the session. Whether you're just starting out, pivoting, or leveling up, this session offers space to rethink, refocus, and take action.

As artificial intelligence transitions from screen-based applications to embodied physical forms, industrial design faces a critical paradigm shift. This research addresses how designers must adapt to create for AI-enabled products with agency—devices that sense, decide, and act. Triggered by advancements such as OpenAI’s collaboration with hardware designers and projections of artificial general intelligence by 2030, the paper explores new frameworks for engaging with embodied AI (EAI). It argues that legacy design principles must evolve to meet the demands of a future where products are not only smart but autonomous actors in human environments.

This project investigates how sensory design, through materials, form, and multisensory cues, can help sustainable products gain broader acceptance. While ethical intent is increasingly prioritized in design, emotional resonance and desirability are often overlooked. By analyzing how tactile and visual qualities influence perceptions of quality, trust, and care, this work reframes sustainable design as both ethical and appealing. It challenges the assumption that responsibility compromises beauty and proposes strategies to integrate sensory experience with sustainability. Aligned with the theme “Where Legacy Meets Future,” it connects material culture, emotional engagement, and consumer behavior to foster deeper, lasting connections to sustainable products.

This project investigates how foundational design education can integrate material exploration and spatial thinking to build both technical skill and reflective insight. Through a sequential studio process, beginning with observational drawing and progressing through carving, casting, and narrative development, first-year students cultivate process literacy grounded in tactile making. The project revitalizes analog traditions while incorporating contemporary storytelling and time-based media, presenting a holistic pedagogical approach. Aligned with the theme “Where Legacy Meets Future,” it demonstrates how hands-on experiences can bridge physical and digital fluency, fostering design literacy that extends beyond aesthetics to support critical, embodied, and interdisciplinary design thinking.

This work critically investigates how gender is constructed and reinforced through the aesthetic and rhetorical design of tools, focusing on “cute” or “feminized” toolsets. It explores how such products, while marketed as empowering and approachable, often reinforce patriarchal norms by infantilizing women and limiting perceived technical agency. Using examples like pink-handled tools, the study reveals the paradox of accessibility versus stereotype. The project challenges the legacy of gendered product design and proposes future approaches that prioritize inclusive functionality over superficial gender cues, encouraging tool design that embraces diversity without resorting to reductive or symbolic aesthetics.

As generative AI tools like Vizcom make it possible to produce countless design variations in seconds, design education must evolve. This paper advocates for a critical shift from emphasizing production to emphasizing thoughtful selection and evaluation. Rather than teaching students only how to generate ideas, educators must cultivate reflective practices that guide students to discern which AI-assisted outputs align with real-world constraints, user needs, and ethical considerations. Rooted in the theme “Where Legacy Meets Future,” the work proposes a future-forward pedagogy that prioritizes judgment, context, and intentionality in the AI-enhanced design process.

This study explores how Industrial Design (ID) programs can responsibly and effectively adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI) while honoring established workflows and traditions. Through qualitative research involving ID faculty, industry professionals, and over 70 students, the project identifies key challenges, opportunities, and perceptions around AI in design education. It proposes a pedagogical model emphasizing a progressive learning trajectory, critical thinking, and ethical reflection. The study advocates for an AI-collaborative mindset that enhances, not replaces, core design values. It offers a roadmap for integrating AI meaningfully into ID curricula and preparing students for future design practice.

This study explores a generative co-design methodology to address a critical challenge in Type 1 Diabetes care: insulin pump infusion set leaks. These leaks can lead to life-threatening complications and often go undetected, especially in adolescent users. Through participatory sessions with teens managing T1D, the research uncovers lived experiences, emotional responses, and unmet needs, translating them into conceptual product ideas and early-stage prototypes. Grounded in co-design’s legacy and looking ahead to user-centered innovation in healthcare, this project demonstrates how collaborative design methods can inform more responsive, empowering, and safe diabetes management technologies.

This research explores the regenerative potential of milkweed fiber in product design, asking how material practice can contribute to ecosystem restoration. Drawing on historical studies of plant-based materials and traditional fiber techniques, the work examines how milkweed, a native species with ecological significance, can be reimagined for locally attuned, contemporary applications. Through partnerships with students, nonprofits, and communities, the project bridges legacy knowledge with sustainable futures. It challenges extractive models of design, proposing instead a regenerative approach that supports biodiversity, restores landscapes, and positions product design as an active participant in environmental care and repair.

This project addresses the digital visualization gap faced by industrial design students, especially those from non-technical backgrounds, who excel in physical prototyping and sketching but struggle with advanced CAD modeling. The research introduces a hybrid educational approach combining traditional craftsmanship with emerging technologies like AI-powered visualization and 3D scanning. By reducing software anxiety and expanding access to digital tools, the initiative empowers students to communicate complex ideas more effectively, refine designs iteratively, and elevate their professional portfolios. The work bridges legacy prototyping practices with future-focused digital fluency, aligning directly with the theme “Where Legacy Meets Future.”

This study explores the integration of Systems Engineering (SE) and Design Thinking (DT) to design a digital learning platform for Indonesian social entrepreneurs. It addresses the challenge of aligning technical system models with lived human experiences, embedding empathy and usability within functional design. By reimagining SE tools like ConOps and OPM within user-centered frameworks, the project bridges analytical rigor with human relevance. In line with the theme “Where Legacy Meets Future,” it presents a hybrid methodology that prepares emerging designers to navigate complex, systems-level design with both structure and sensitivity.

A future-oriented pedagogical model that challenges students to explore “what-if” scenarios and rethink existing design paradigms. Through regenerative prompts, case studies, and Socratic dialogue, students engage in systems thinking and imagine transformative design futures. This model calls for a shift from teaching trade-based skills to cultivating self-directed, adaptable designers. By bridging industrial design’s legacy of problem-solving with future-facing ethical and ecological challenges, students are prepared not just to meet market demands, but to lead systemic change. Aligned with the theme “Where Legacy Meets Future,” this approach empowers designers as agents of resilient, meaningful impact.

The ISPARK Mobile Makerspace Initiative brings design tools and support directly into hospital intensive care units (ICUs) to empower frontline healthcare teams as innovators. Led by a cross-disciplinary team, this project aims to bridge the persistent gap between bedside challenges and medical innovation by providing mobile, accessible prototyping resources. Grounded in the theme “Designing Legacy: The Past, Present and Future of Industrial Design,” ISPARK reactivates the legacy of hands-on making while promoting inclusive, real-time design thinking in high-stakes environments. It demonstrates how democratized design can lead to meaningful, immediate improvements in patient care.

This research investigates how generative AI tools are transforming the learning processes and outcomes in industrial design education. It focuses on how these technologies influence core teaching pillars such as form, function, and manufacturability. Positioned within the theme “Where Legacy Meets Future,” the study explores the integration of AI alongside traditional practices like sketching and prototyping. It aims to equip educators and students with strategies to responsibly incorporate emerging tools while maintaining critical design thinking. The work highlights the evolving balance between foundational methodologies and forward-looking, AI-enhanced workflows in industrial design.

This study explores how AI-generated 3D modeling and 3D scanning technologies support graduate industrial design students—particularly those from non-design backgrounds—in transitioning from 2D sketching to 3D modeling. Traditional design workflows can present challenges in visualizing and building dimensional forms. By comparing generative AI tools and scanned physical models, the research identifies key pedagogical strategies that reduce ambiguity and enhance spatial understanding. Findings suggest emerging technologies can reshape foundational design methods and improve accessibility in design education. Aligning with the theme “Where Legacy Meets Future,” this work highlights opportunities to redefine industrial design learning through the integration of advanced digital tools.

Textile waste is a mounting global issue, contributing nearly 10% of carbon emissions (Igini, 2023), yet public understanding of its environmental and health impacts remains limited. This project uses game-based design to raise awareness and inspire behavioral change. Framed by the Stanford Design Thinking Process, grounded in empathy, creativity, and iteration, it reframes textile waste not just as a problem to solve, but as a catalyst for reimagining our material relationships and future systems. By integrating playful, interactive learning experiences rooted in human development theory, the project engages communities in meaningful dialogue and collective action. It encourages reflection, imagination, and responsibility, essential components of just, inclusive, and sustainable design futures. In alignment with the theme “Where Legacy Meets Future,” it honors design’s pedagogical roots while fostering a culture of transformation.

This project explores how co-design methods with students can strengthen their connection to school environments and improve classroom attendance. In response to post-pandemic absenteeism, it investigates how engaging students as design partners fosters a sense of ownership, belonging, and agency. Grounded in design research and environmental psychology, the project centers the physical and emotional impact of classroom objects and spatial experiences. By inviting students to actively shape their environments, this work challenges traditional education hierarchies and proposes that participatory design can play a critical role in re-engaging learners—positioning design as a tool for empathy, inclusion, and educational transformation.

This project addresses the psychological and emotional toll faced by first responders at disaster sites. Drawing from personal experiences and global events, it explores how industrial design can play a restorative role through a vibroacoustic therapeutic vest. The vest leverages modern wearable technology to deliver stress-reducing therapy on-site, offering emotional support in high-stakes environments. By centering care and well-being, this design honors the long-standing legacy of first responders while envisioning a future where mental health and empathy are integral to product development. It exemplifies how design can foster healing through human-centered innovation.

This research challenges ageist assumptions in design education by exploring how technology learning experiences for older adults can center autonomy, joy, and dignity. In response to persistent technoageism, it proposes a forward-looking pedagogical model that bridges historical gaps in technology design for aging populations. Through inclusive, inquiry-based design education, the project empowers the next generation of designers to create emotionally meaningful and equitable digital futures. Aligned with the theme “Where Legacy Meets Future,” it invites industrial design educators to reimagine their role in dismantling stereotypes and building intergenerational technological resilience and empowerment.

This curriculum bridges the gap between traditional industrial design education and the fluid, often unpredictable realities of creative careers. It equips students and early-career designers with reflective, iterative tools for navigating identity shifts, job transitions, and evolving opportunities in a rapidly changing industry. Through career-mapping, self-inquiry, and speculative future-building, the course reframes uncertainty as a designable challenge. Aligning with the 2025 theme “Where Legacy Meets Future,” it honors design’s core methodologies while preparing participants to engage creatively and strategically with emerging disruptions, including AI, layoffs, and shifting professional roles, with resilience, adaptability, and intentionality.

This research challenges industrial design’s colonial-capitalist foundations through “Critical Jugaad”—a decolonial framework rooted in informal, grassroots making practices. It centers how marginalized communities transform waste, trauma, and ancestral knowledge into tools for autonomy and liberation. Through ethnographic engagement, community-based design, and critical exhibition curation, the project documents subversive acts of making—offering alternatives to Western design elitism and novelty obsession. Legacy is reframed not as static heritage but as embodied resistance. This work expands the boundaries of design by valuing epistemic justice, collective creativity, and the radical potential of design as a liberatory cultural practice.

This research investigates how user-modified objects can inform more inclusive, adaptable, and sustainable industrial design practices. By analyzing modifications made to everyday, mass-produced products, it explores how these interventions reveal friction points in design, and offer valuable insight into diverse user needs. The concept of “modification affordances” emerges to describe design features that support adaptation. Through interviews, qualitative coding, and a research-creation project, this study highlights user-driven innovation as a form of critique and collaboration. It calls on designers to embrace modifiability as a tool for democratizing design, enhancing longevity, and fostering more equitable and user-centered futures.

This research explores how co-design and speculative design can empower individuals assigned female at birth (AFAB) to envision their own sexual and reproductive futures, especially in a sociopolitical climate where reproductive autonomy is under threat. By centering voices often marginalized in design discourse, the project facilitates imaginative agency through collaborative, future-facing design methods. It challenges industrial design to engage more deeply with intimate, overlooked domains and expand its ethical and cultural relevance. Aligned with the theme “Where Legacy Meets Future,” the work invites designers to consider who is shaping the future—and whose futures are still waiting to be imagined.

This research explores the intersection of emotional response and biometric data to inform the design of emotionally resonant products, particularly wearables. By capturing both felt experiences and physiological reactions, the study aims to identify where design “feels deepest.” Bridging legacy human-centered design with future-facing biometric sensing, it advances empathy-based methodologies through empirical evidence. Honoring emotional design traditions while integrating data-driven insight, the work demonstrates how emotional valence can guide more meaningful, responsive, and innovative design. This approach underscores that at the core of impactful products lies the deep emotional connection between people and the things they use.

This project explores design history as a critical lens for shaping the creative mind of today and tomorrow. Rather than serving as nostalgic reflection, historical awareness is framed as an essential tool for contemporary innovation and critical thinking. The curriculum spans major movements from the Arts and Crafts period to Postmodernism and Contemporary design, spotlighting figures such as William Morris, Walter Dorwin Teague, Ray and Charles Eames, Raymond Loewy, Marcel Breuer, Dieter Rams, Ettore Sottsass, and Yves Béhar. Through this foundation, students learn to draw upon legacy to inform meaningful design futures.

This reflective inquiry challenges industrial designers to critically examine their purpose and responsibility in a saturated market. Using the familiar trope of the water bottle, it asks: do we truly need to design another one? Or should we redirect our skills toward deeper ethical, environmental, and social issues? This presentation explores the evolving role of designers—not just as creators of objects, but as advocates for change, facilitators of dialogue, and stewards of collective impact. It invites educators and professionals alike to reimagine design education as a platform for values-driven practice, empowering students to navigate complexity and lead with conviction.

This case study explores the role of public art—specifically environmental murals—as a culturally resonant medium for health communication in low-resource contexts. Centered in Malawi, the project highlights collaborations between students in an Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices program and local public hospitals to design and implement murals promoting maternal and infant health. By blending traditional storytelling methods with visual communication strategies, the murals support community health education in a way that is accessible, engaging, and rooted in local cultural values. Aligned with the theme “Where Legacy Meets Future,” this work bridges ancestral knowledge and contemporary health challenges, offering a model for interdisciplinary, socially embedded design education. It expands the scope of industrial design by demonstrating how participatory visual practices can inform public health while fostering deeper community engagement.

This project addresses the urgent need for safer and more intuitive mobility aids for individuals aging with dementia who wish to remain in their homes. As cognitive decline increases the risk of falls, and as family caregiving becomes less feasible due to geographic separation, there is a growing demand for supportive, empathetic design solutions. This research explores how mobility devices can be adapted to meet the unique perceptual, emotional, and functional needs of people with dementia—offering both physical stability and cognitive reassurance. The goal is to promote dignity, independence, and safety through thoughtful, user-centered assistive design.

This project explores an educational approach that equips industrial design students with hands-on, practical knowledge of molding by leveraging 3D printing technologies. Recognizing that many students struggle to grasp the complexities of moldability and its implications in mass production, this method bridges theoretical understanding and production realities. By integrating digital modeling with low-cost mold-making via 3D printing, students gain firsthand experience with form, parting lines, draft angles, and functional constraints. This pedagogy prepares students to design for manufacturability, maintain design intent through production, and reduce costly downstream errors—ultimately increasing their industry readiness and confidence in navigating manufacturing processes.

Ready to grow or explore what’s next in your career? Join a one-on-one Mentoring Session and connect with seasoned design leaders for personalized advice and encouragement. With 40 sessions available, professionals with 3+ years’ experience can gain clarity, confidence, and fresh perspective to grow intentionally—guided by someone who's walked the path before.

• Mentor sign-up link: https://forms.gle/9U4G7tN5eSBVAK9YA

• Mentee sign-up link: https://forms.gle/zNHTbEDJw6eeRTkf6
  

Join a relaxed, one-on-one session designed for professionals with 2+ years of experience to exchange feedback, share ideas, and reflect on your work with a peer. No polished portfolio needed—just curiosity and openness. You’ll be paired with someone at a similar career stage for thoughtful conversation, fresh perspective, and meaningful connection outside your usual circle.

• Sign-up link: https://forms.gle/kKFjaNhGQ3KETRg68

Part of Open Design Day at IDC 2025, this in-person session offers students and junior designers (1–3 years experience) up to two 25-minute one-on-one reviews with seasoned professionals. Get valuable feedback on presentation, storytelling, and design direction. Bring a ready-to-review portfolio—digital or printed—and gain real-world insight to grow your confidence and sharpen your work.

• Reviewer sign-up link: https://forms.gle/G9FNVYn5R5Qpsz6n9

• Student and Junior Designer sign-up link: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=22727985&calendarID=10581139
  

Fireside Chats are informal, facilitator-led sessions shaped by the people in the room — not slides or scripts. Across 10 intimate conversations, we’ll explore real questions designers face across all stages of their careers, from early growth to leadership. Expect honest dialogue, shared stories, and fresh perspectives on topics like confidence, burnout, evolving your identity, leading teams, and defining balance. Whether you're just starting out or redefining what success looks like, these sessions create space for connection, reflection, and real talk among peers navigating the same design journey — just from different points on the path.