There’s no one degree or course checklist that officially makes you a design thinker. Instead, a student’s relationship with design comes in many different shapes and sizes: through different degree programs, classes, clubs, and physical ‘maker spaces’ around campus. If you’re curious about design, you can integrate design into your life at Stanford in the way that suits you.

Design-related Degree Programs

• Design Impact
• Learning, Design & Technology
• Human Computer Interaction
• Science, Technology, and Society 
• Symbolic Systems
• Mechanical Engineering
• Architectural Design

Other Design-related Initiatives

• Biodesign
• Center for Design Research
• Effective Philanthropy Lab
• FEED Collaborative
• Legal Design Lab

Stanford Classes

Mechanical Engineering, Product classes (not an official track)

•     ME 219: The Magic of Materials and Manufacturing (endearingly called “Magic”)
•     ME214: Good Products, Bad Products
•     ME203: Design and Manufacturing
•     ME101: Visual Thinking
•     ME110: Design Sketching

Product Design undergraduate track (usually only for PD and some STS students)

• ME115A: Introduction to Human Values in Design
• ME15B: Product Design Methods
• ME115C: Design and Business Factors
• ME216A: Advanced Product Design: Needfinding
• ME216B: Advanced Product Design: Implementation 1
• ME216C: Advanced Product Design: Implementation 2
• See all required classes for the Product Design major here.

Studio Art Classes

• ArtStudi 160: Intro to Digital / Physical Design
• ArtStudi 350B: Art & Design II: Personal Practice
• There are many other Art Studio classes related to design. See a full list here.

HCI classes

These are coded under many different departments. Here’s a full list of HCI classes.

CS Design classes

• CS 91SI: Digital Canvas: Intro to Visual Design on the Web
• CS 147: Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction Design
• CS 194H: User Interface Design Project
• CS 147: Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction Design
• CS 247: Human-Computer Interaction Design Studio
• CS 377E: Designing Solutions to Global Grand Challenges
• CS 377M: HCI Issues in Mixed and Augmented Reality
• CS 377U: Understanding Users
• Search the full list here.

Other

•  Design Introductory Seminars are offered from time to time.
• The ME Design program also offers Designing Your Life and Designing your Stanford classes.

Student Clubs

• Design for America  
• Design Initiative (currently undergoing a transformation)

Maker Spaces

Stanford's premiere space for making, open to all students, is the Engineering School's Product Realization Laboratory.  

There are many design and production spaces around campus, from the Art Gym to the Physics machine shop. Get familiar with the map below. See you there!

Other Resources

• Unofficial Product Design Facebook group (started by students)
• Unofficial d.school Facebook group (also started by students)

Mailing Lists

• designkids: designkids@lists.stanford.edu
• PDSA: PDSA@googlegroups.com
• PD undergrads: pd_undergrads@lists.stanford.edu
• Product Design Alumni: design-alumni@mailman.stanford.edu