Our 20th Anniversary
• Celebrating two decades of teaching, learning & playing together.
In October 2025, the d.school turned 20 and celebrated by creating an interactive learning laboratory and inviting the community in to play.
Over 600 folks came through our doors on October 4, 2025 to take part in this milestone event. What they discovered was a space transformed and a palpable sense of joy.
“This Is Design Work,” was created as a way to explore the diversity of design work that happens inside and outside of the d.school, and to celebrate all of those who have intersected with the d.school to make that work possible over the years.
But that’s really just the what of the event. The why is what fueled it. At the heart of the planning and building was a metaphor: a red thread that connects us all–those who come into the d.school for a time, and then go back out into the world. Any celebration of the d.school is really a celebration of those who have been a part of the d.school. Through the metaphor of the red thread, and through the physical red thread woven throughout the building, our aim was to convey a feeling of connection and community.
Here's a look back at the activations and celebrations that took place.
Creating the space
THE ENTRYWAY. “We knew we wanted something that made a statement that was like, you're here, you've arrived. And we wanted to find a way to bring that string and red thread metaphor into the grand entryway. ... I collaborated closely with Renee and John on bringing this to life. It was really fun to work with both of them to iterate on the different string patterns and designs, ways to fill the shape of our logo and bring your focus and draw energy inward towards the archway of the “d” so that, again, it really welcomes people into the space. We even had a giant red ball of yarn out here right next to it that formed the dot of the “d.” –Kelly Schmutte
CONFLUENCE. John Edmark created Confluence, a morphing hyperboloid composed of two steel tubes connected with 456 pieces of yarn and 912 taper pins, measuring 12’ x 17’.
Confluence embodies the disparate trajectory of d.schoolers. Each person, like each string, has a unique starting point. We all come from wildly different places on the planet. From all around the country, from all around the world, and we have a broad range of expertise that we brought with us. Like the strings on Confluence, we wind together while at the d.school, and then launch back into the world, each of us in our own unique way, until we reunite once again.
20 ALUMNI FOR 20 YEARS. To commemorate 20 years of the d.school, we profiled 20 different alumni from all of our different types of programs: BS and MS Design degrees, professional learning programs, design fellow programs, and K-12 program. They represent an amazing breadth of work and exemplify ways of making impact in the world through design.
Designers make across many mediums, from the enduring to the emerging.
From wood and glass to algorithms and algae, d.schoolers build with a vast array of materials. They consider the lasting impacts of the objects, technology, and experiences they release into the world. Today’s d.schoolers actively practice and push the boundaries of making and prototyping. We have a new printmaking studio on campus, continue to cherish the Product Realization Lab, and are building new collaborations with labs and maker spaces across campus and the greater community.
Make Activations
BOUND TO MAKE. Create a notebook to capture your ideas. An assortment of letterpress- and Risograph-printed covers and pages we're set out for folks to assemble, stitch, and stamp custom notebooks.
JUST MY CYANO(TYPE). Cyanotype is one of the wild and wondrous mediums explored in DESIGN 242 Wild Ways of Making, a course where students experiment with traditional and emergent materials and processes, from silk production to 4D printing and beyond. Wild Ways of Making is taught by Meenu Singh.
“The process of making a cyanotype is experimentation-based, which is why I think it's a really great representation of the course Wild Ways of Making, where students are exploring everything from ancient, traditional ways of making to speculative future, facing ways of making. “--Meenu Singh
COMMUNITY PRINT GALLERY. This gallery is a collection of student prints made in DESIGN 236P Print on Purpose, DESIGN 236S Community Print Shop Studio, the Amos Kennedy Residency Workshop, and open studio hours. All of this work was created during the last year in the d.school’s print shop led by Core Lecturer Patrick Fenton.
We care for all people, the planet, and the data we generate.
Care is multidimensional. It involves using ethical reasoning and considering the near and long term implications of design work. It involves integrating historical, environmental, and cultural awareness. It involves understanding and being responsible for the long tail of designs we put into the world, and shepherding them forward. Through everything from systems thinking, reflection, material awareness, and data privacy, today’s d.schoolers practice care in multiple formats.
Care Activations
PRIVACY PLANTERS. Take a seat, put on a pair of headphones, and plug the cable into a plant pot—and leave it plugged in—to listen to a perspective. These privacy planters are a “living wall” of plants. While we can’t install living walls to increase privacy in our digital lives (at least not yet), we can plug-in to these tiny planter pots to hear perspectives from people thinking about data privacy and consider how we might individually and collectively design better ways to care for our personal data.
THE LEMON:AID STAND. We have all heard the saying “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” But as designers, sometimes we are the ones that make the lemon. Inspired by Grapefruit by Yoko Ono, Lemon:aid is an opportunity for designers to squeeze with care their “lemons”—or work they have put out into the world that has soured over time—into a sweet, short and shareable shot of “lemon:aid”—or a lesson worth learning for the next generation of designers.
“Hearing these stories opened me up to knowing that you actually need a community to lift you and to move you forward. Care is what allows us to become intentional designers. Intentionality and showing up is critical to care in design work, whether we are designing for communities that we know or designing and building with communities that might be far away. How do we help our next generation of designers really show up with that intentionality? “--Manasa
WISHING WELL TIME CAPSULE. What design projects do you think will be important in 2100? We asked folks to write a response to this question on a wooden coin and slip it into the wishing well. The well was then sealed and the coins will be resurfaced and read in the year 2100.
PAINT A STAKE. Sometimes care means giving your time and effort to something that benefits others, even if you don’t get to see the fruits of your labor. We teamed up with the Stanford Farm to paint stakes to label their crops.
NANGA POUMAMU. Gifted by the people of Aotearoa, New Zealand to Stanford University in July 2025, this stone is a symbol of the connections we create through design. This taonga (treasure) of strength and resilience, honoring the enduring relationships between Stanford and the people of Aotearoa, New Zealand and the shared pursuit of ideas, purpose, and impact. Special thanks to Justin Ferrell for leading our collaboration with Edge in New Zealand.
To adapt is to learn with courage in today’s fast-paced world.
Designers are learners. We integrate knowledge and data from a wide range of experiences and research. We overcome, and even leverage, emotional and intellectual disorientation and collaborate with each other. We take initiative but also pause, reflect, and redirect when needed. We play with pace and practice patience. Today’s d.schoolers learn to navigate ambiguous projects with a range of methods and tools. Learning to learn, and designing design work are key skills they practice in an beyond the walls of this building.
Adapt Activations
BRAINSTORM. Where bolts of “brainstorming” once helped spark an industry around creative problem solving and design, a new storm gathers. How might we adapt our understanding of human imagination and creativity in an era where AI is rapidly transforming how we generate and consume information, from childhood development to copyright law?
This installation is powered by DREAM-0. DREAM-0 is an art computer by Human that transforms voice inputs into real-time generative video. An integrated microphone captures spoken words, which are then directly processed by custom-trained image and language models. The system interprets the spoken words to algorithmically render dynamic visual compositions, continuously adapting its output with each new input. The integration of this interactive technology with the physical form invites direct viewer engagement. (DREAM-0 was debuted at Art Basel Miami Beach 2024 in collaboration with Bright Moments and is on loan from NODE.)
FINDING BALANCE. Adaptive learning requires us to navigate ambiguity and find our balance. In this space there are many ways to experiment with finding balance: Spun chairs, Swing table, balance boards, and flooring treatments. In learning and life, we learn how to learn and design our design work.
YOUR FATHER’S NOSE. These mirrors allow you to combine your face with the person across from you. Use the swings to align yourself with a partner. Do you like what you see?(These mirror plans are available via Creative Commons License from the Exploratorium.)
YOU ARE HERE! We invited everyone to tag the wall with their name or a picture. These walls live on in our classrooms.
In search of the quirky creativity that brings new ideas to life.
Designers are relentlessly curious. We notice patterns and outliers. We synthesize information from disparate sources, quantitative and qualitative, and find opportunity within. Today’s d.schoolers learn to notice, to gather, and to pay attention and find their unique design voice. They learn to find relationships between seemingly unrelated elements, and try on frameworks to search for insight and possibility.
Spark Activations
LIGHT PLAY. Light Play reminds us that what we expect isn’t always what happens. By experimenting with light and shadow, we see how objects behave in ways that surprise us, often contradicting our assumptions. This is the value of tinkering: starting without knowing the outcome, playing to see what emerges, and discovering sparks of possibility that no amount of careful planning could have revealed. (Light Play was developed by the Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium and generously lent to the d.school. The piece has inspired faculty and students on field trips to the Exploratorium.)
“You don’t know what’s possible until you’ve seen the other side.” –Rose Barcklow
BLOOMS. Blooms began as an exploration of spiral geometry by John Edmark (Core Lecturer, MS Design 2002). When the transformation of a spiral was animated in rapid succession, something surprising appeared: a continuous flow of motion that felt alive, far beyond what was expected. That spark of discovery became the genesis of these strobe-animated sculptures.
FLOW OF LIGHT. Light usually travels straight, but here it seems to bend and flow through space. Flow of Light began as an exploration of the manipulation of sand by Koh Terai (MS Design 2025). While experimenting, a surprising discovery appeared–mixing particles with fluids creates a number of unexpected visual effects in the dark. The spark of discovery became the starting point of this piece–the latest part of his series on bending light.
CONNECTING, LINKING, AND GROUPING. Here, everyone begins with an identical set of dots—a shared constraint that allows for the blossoming of countless unique directions. This is an activity from DESIGN 60 Visual Expressions based on Bruno Munari’s book Flight of Fancy.
Same starting point, different results. Invent your own way of connecting, linking, or grouping the dots.
SHIMMERING STRINGS. The inexplicable can be a source of creative inspiration as the mind endeavors to make sense of a mystery. These strings seem to be magically shimmering on their own. What explanations come to mind for you?
Credits
Special thanks to Patrick Beaudouin for the photos and to Tyler Winick of Eye Six for the videos.