Students discussing product project

The common core of courses shared by students in the College of Architecture (interior design, architecture, landscape architecture) and the Hixon-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, provides students with an understanding of the design and fabrication process at a range of scales.

The minor in product design provides an opportunity to explore design at a smaller, yet related scale. It allows students to develop academic strengths that will prepare them for advanced study and careers in the design of objects that people interact with on a personal level, of a size and function related to human dimensions. This includes furniture and a variety of manufactured objects. The minor is available to students majoring in interior design, architecture, landscape architecture, emerging media arts, graphic design, art, and mechanical engineering.

Product Design Minor Requirements for College of Architecture Students (12 credits)

  • IDES 201 Introduction to Product & Industrial Design  An investigation into industrial design, the history of the profession, process and methods used in the creation of objects, and contemporary issues facing the field.
    (3 credits/ online)
  • IDES 301 Material Applications (3 credits)  Conceptual application and aesthetic study of materials and the impact they have on an interior environments atmosphere and experience. Fabrication tools and techniques are studied and tested as they relate to the customization of materials and objects for interiors.
    (or DSGN 421 CNC Router (1 credit), and DSGN 422 Metals (1 credit), and DSGN 423 Plastics  (1 credit))
  • IDES 416 Product Design Visualization  Explore the full scope of the product design process from opportunity discovery, design development, to fabrication of full-scale prototypes. (3 credits)
  • IDES 417 Product Design 

    (IDES 210, IDES 301 (or DSGN 421, DSGN 422, and DSGN 423), and IDES 416 pre-requisites)  Generate a design from conception to a finished product that emphasizes the awareness of the human and the environment in the creation of product design solutions. (3 credits)

Select 6 credit hours from the following courses:

  • CERM 131 Ceramics for Non-Majors: Wheelthrowing (3 credits)
  • CERM 132 Ceramics for Non-majors: Handbuilding (3 credits)
  • ENTR 321 Foundations of Entrepreneurship (3 credits)
  • GRPH 221 Graphic Design I (3 credits)
  • IDES 445 History of Interiors & Designed Objects (3 credits)
  • IDES 484 Material Culture: The Social Life of Things (3 credits)
  • IDES 491 Selected Topics in Interior Design* (Dependent upon topic and review of program faculty) (3 credits)
  • MECH 370 Manufacturing Methods and Processes (3 credits)
  • MECH 492 Special Topics (Making for Innovation) (3 credits)
  • MRKT 300 Contemporary Marketing (3 credits)
  • SCLP111 Sculpture for Non-majors  (3 credits)

Product Design Minor Requirements for NON-Co.Arch students (18 credits)

(Students majoring in Hixon-Lied Fine and Performing Arts, or by permission.)  

  • DSGN 110 Design Thinking (3 credits)
  • IDES 201 Introduction to Industrial/Product Design (3 credits/online)
  • IDES 301 Material Applications (3 credits)

(or DSGN 421 CNC Router, DSGN 422 Metals, and DSGN 423 Plastics)

  • IDES 417 Product Design

Select 6 credit hours from the following:

  • IDES 421  Environmental Graphic Design
  • IDES 445  History of Interiors & Objects (3 credits)
  • IDES 484  Material Culture: The Social Life of Things (3 credits)
  • IDES 491  Courses by permission of the Program Director (3 credits)
  • ENTR 321  Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Organizations (3 credits)
  • MRKT 300  Contemporary Marketing (3 credits)
  • GRPH 221 Graphic Design I (3 credits)
  • CERM131 Ceramics for Non-Majors - Wheelthrowing (3 credits)
  • CERM132 Ceramics for Non-Majors - Handbuilding (3 credits)
  • SCLP111 Sculpture for Non-majors (3 credits)

Contact Info

College of Architecture
210 Architecture Hall
Lincoln NE 68588-0107
USA
402-472-9212
( On-campus, 2-9212 )