Academic Catalog

Industrial Design Department

Sam Montague, IDSA, Chair
Annex East Room 204
Phone: 617-989-4640

Faculty

Professors

• Herbert Fremin, AIA, IDEC, NCIDQ
• Fredrick Kuhn, IDSA
• Rachel G. Pike, ASID, IDEC, NCIDQ, LEED AP

Associate Professors

• Robert Meszaros, AIGA
• Sam Montague, IDSA
• Jeffrey Michael, IDSA

Assistant Professors

• Peter Greenberg, AIA, IDEC, LEED AP
• Nick Ortolino, CAA
• Ralf Schneider, IDSA
• Sean Stewart, AIA, LEED AP, NCIDQ
• Lynette Suslowicz, IIDA, NCIDQ
• Simon Williamson, IDSA

Department Vision and Mission Statement

The mission of the Department of Industrial Design is to prepare students to be creative and thoughtful product designers. Through classroom, studio experiences, and organized critiques, students learn and implement the design process of understanding user values and needs and translating them into creative solutions that improve the products and services we interact with daily. Students also hone their ability to present their work in a visually dynamic way. During their tenure, they acquire an intellectual library of the design methodologies, materials, and approaches that they will need in their professional careers.

Degree Program

Industrial Design: Leading to a Bachelor of Science degree

Professional industrial designers (product designers) work at the intersection of art, business, and technology. Through research and experience, designers enrich the lives of those around us, by interpreting our psychological and social desires/aspirations and transforming them into improved products and systems we interact with daily. Designers help provide innovative vision and structure for companies, individuals, and networks, as well as empathy for environmental and social issues, and enjoyment of our world.

As a graduate you will have opportunities to innovate products for the mass and private markets. Areas of possibility include consumer electronics, education, toys, sports, medical equipment, footwear, house wares, furniture, and exhibit design. Many graduates begin their careers immediately, designing either as a consultant, or as an in-house designer for some of the nation’s leading brands. As they continue to grow, graduates often end up in leadership roles within their respective companies, making top-level decisions as a design director, or creative manager.

Much of your educational experience will consist of studio based projects as well as courses in drawing, model making, manufacturing technologies (such as computer-aided design and rapid prototyping), user research, and design history. Classroom and studio experiences are complemented by two required co-ops that reinforce curricular goals and help bridge the gap between student development and professional practice. A one-semester study abroad program in Europe is offered in the junior year that includes all courses to continue on track for graduation. Students apply in the fall of the junior year; the program accepts a limited number of students.

Wentworth’s Industrial Design program leads to a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Design. It is a fully accredited four-year program by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). The Industrial Design educational experience includes a cooperative work program in which students are required to spend two semesters working as an intern in the professional design field.

BIND Sophomore Review

A portfolio is not required for admission to the freshman year. However, Industrial Design students are required to meet the following criteria for advancement into the junior year:

• A minimum of 63 earned credits with an overall 2.0 GPA in their first two years of study. All INDS Studio courses, Visualization courses and Modeling Techniques courses must be completed with a passing grade.
• A minimum 2.5 GPA for all first- and second- year INDS prefixed courses
• A successful portfolio review exhibition of studio design projects and assignments created in related disciplines (completed and in progress). The intent of the exhibition is for each student to demonstrate appropriate development and maturity in their design abilities over four semesters (freshman and sophomore year) of academic work.

Students who achieve a minimum departmental GPA of 3.00 (In all INDS courses) in the BIND program at Wentworth automatically qualify for advancement into the junior year. Students meeting this standard may still be required to present their portfolios at review for faculty program assessment.

Departmental Grade Requirements

1.  Students in the BIND program must achieve a minimum department GPA of 2.0 for all DSGN and INDS courses by the end of the freshman year (spring semester).

2. The Industrial Design Department has a special grade requirement that applies to all design studio courses from the sophomore year onward. Students in the BIND degree program must comply with the following design studio grade requirement:

Final grade must be C or better if the final grade in the previous design studio is less than a C.

Students who receive a final grade below C for two consecutive semesters are not permitted to continue in the program until they successfully repeat the 2nd studio for which they received a sub-standard grade

Freshman Year

Fall Semester	Course	R	L	C
DSGN105	Drawing I	0	6	3
DSGN130	Design I	1	6	4
DSGN135	Intro to Computer Graphics	1	2	2
ENGLISH	English Sequence†	4	0	4
INDS150	Design History I	4	0	4
	Total	10	14	17
Spring Semester	Course	R	L	C
DSGN165	Design II	1	6	4
ENGLISH	English Sequence†	3	0	3
INDS205	Design History II	4	0	4
INDS215	CAD I	2	2	3
INDS222	Visualization I: Perspective Drawing	2	4	4
	Total	12	12	18

Sophomore Year

Fall Semester	Course	R	L	C
ELECTIVE	Lower Level Social Science Elective	3	0	3
INDS265	Modeling Techniques I	2	4	4
INDS275	Industrial Design I: Studio	1	6	4
INDS280	Visualization II: Ideation	0	6	3
MATH211	Plane and Solid Geometry	4	0	4
	Total	10	16	18
Spring Semester	Course	R	L	C
ELECTIVE	Lower Level Social Science Elective	3	0	3
INDS300	Industrial Design II: Studio	1	6	4
INDS310	Visualization III: Rendering Techniques	2	2	3
INDS325	Modeling Techniques II	2	4	4
PHYS211	Conceptual Physics	3	2	4
ENGL350	Sophomore Writing Assessment	0	0	0
	Total	11	14	18
Summer Semester	Course	R	L	C
COOP300	Pre-Cooperative Work Term (Optional)			0

Junior Year¹

Fall Semester	Course	R	L	C
INDS330	Materials & Manufacturing	4	2	4
INDS405	Visualization IV: Information Architecture	2	2	3
INDS415	CAD II	2	2	3
INDS420	Industrial Design III: Studio	0	8	4
INDS440	Human Factors in Design	4	0	4
	Total	12	12	18
Spring Semester	Course	R	L	C
COOP400	Co-op Work Semester I			0
Summer Semester	Course	R	L	C
ELECTIVE	Upper Level Humanities or Social Science Elective*	4	0	4
ELECTIVE	Technical Elective2	-	-	4
INDS500	Industrial Design IV: Studio	0	8	4
INDS515	CAD III: 3-D Modeling	2	2	3
	Total	-	-	15

Senior Year

Fall Semester	Course	R	L	C
COOP600	Co-op Work Semester II			0
Spring Semester	Course	R	L	C
COMM270	Business Communications	3	0	3
ELECTIVE	Upper Level Humanities or Social Science Elective*	4	0	4
INDS565	Design Perspectives: Topics of History	4	0	4
INDS575	Industrial Design V: Studio	0	8	4
INDS580	Directed Studies Research	2	0	2
	Total	13	8	17
Summer Semester		R	L	C
INDS600	Professional Practice	4	0	4
ELECTIVE	Upper Level Humanities or Social Science Elective*	4	0	4
INDS625	Directed Studies Studio	0	8	4
INDS635	Senior Seminar	2	0	2
	Total	10	8	14

R=Class Hours Per Week, L=Lab Hours Per Week, C=Semester Credit Hours

^†Please refer to the English sequence requirement.

*Please refer to the upper level humanities/social science elective requirement.

¹Prior to entering junior year courses, students must have completed the requirements listed here.

²Courses selected with the faculty advisor's approval to complement and to broaden the student's educational experience.