Center for Integrated Design
At the Center for Integrated Design, we believe that anyone can learn creative mindsets and methods.
Our vision is To provide Design-based learning experiences at The University of Texas at Austin for every student to integrate human-centered Design skills into their own disciplines.
Integrating Design into all disciplines
We are breaking down traditional silos in academia and leading with our values of collaboration, creativity, and empathy.
Designing life-changing learning experiences
We are integrating Design into all parts of the UT campus. Every year, we teach hundreds of students to work collaboratively across disciplines, understand challenges using empathy, build prototypes that test their ideas, and practice skills of storytelling and communication. Our courses range from Design Thinking to Artificial Intelligence, and Sketching to Future Studies, but each class is grounded in the principles of Design and teaches students new ways to understand and respond to complex and ambiguous problems.
What’s Your Designer Type?
Finding Innovate Ways to Build a Sense of Belonging
What’s Your Designer Type was created to create an engaging and fun reflection on the skills and talents that everyone brings to the practice of design. It also provides an identity within the larger discipline of design beyond traditional professional titles, and it honors the learning and work that each student is doing to integrate design into their experiences. It was created in collaboration with MFA in Design student Christoph Sokol.
Design Principles
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Design amplifies the creativity of our work when it’s integrated into other disciplines. With equitable and inclusive access for everyone to learn Design, we can improve the world around us. Design + Business leads to more empathetic organizations. Design + Engineering leads to more humane products. Design + You leads to a better society.
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Creativity is the most coveted competency in industry and academia. Design is a discipline of increasing returns and a catalyst for creative actions and equitable outcomes.
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Design mindsets help you tackle today’s problems that are wicked, complex, systemic, and generational. Design mindsets help you find tomorrow’s opportunities that improve the lives of all people.
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Design methods jump-start creative ways of working so you can move beyond obvious ideas and imagine visionary solutions. Empathy is a mindset that invites you to understand the people you are designing with and co-create with humility and awareness.
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Design practices equip you to co-create with a diverse group of collaborators to build tangible outcomes that are responsive to the needs of your target audience.
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Item descriptionDesigners cultivate an appetite for experimentation and create an environment that supports cycles of learning, growth, and evolution. Understanding history, power, and privilege in your design work strengthens the iterations of the design process.
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We actively work to dismantle systems of oppression to establish a more equitable practice of Design. Broadening and opening the field of design to those who are Black, Indigenous, People of Color, LGBTQ+, first-generation students and all underrepresented individuals creates a stronger discipline and more equitable practices.