UIC Master of Design (MDes)
in Industrial Design

The UIC MDes is a two-year professional degree program focused on an independent masters research project that offers students the opportunity to explore a topic of inquiry with the potential to inform and shape disciplinary knowledge. Graduate courses are designed to guide students through thesis development and to augment this process through the introduction of topics and projects related to design theory and practice.  

Felicia Ferrone served as Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) in Industrial Design from Spring of 2015 through August 2022, overseeing curricular development, recruitment, and instruction for the ID MDes program. In the role of DGS Ferrone led the development of an ID MDes mission statement and the detailed development of individual courses that had been established concurrently to the formation of the UIC School of Design, established 2013. The current ID MDes program, implemented in the Fall of 2018, provides a framework of interconnectivity between research courses (DES 501, DES 502, DES 531, DES 532) and studio courses (DES 500, DES 550, DES 551) over the four semesters. This framework strengthened formal design development opportunities and brought more structured guidance to thesis development.   

In addition to leading overall revisions to the ID MDes program, Ferrone co-developed course materials and instructional techniques for several of individual courses: DES 531 ID Master Project Research I (4hrs), DE532 ID Masters Project Research II (4hrs), and DES550 ID Masters Project Studio (12 hrs).

Graduate Course Development

DES 520 Chair, Table, Wood, Door, Wall

Chair, Table, Wood, Door, Wall is a multidisciplinary graduate seminar co-created and co-taught by Felicia Ferrone (Design) and Ania Jaworska (Architecture). The course is a selective offering to advanced students in the Graphic Design (MDes), Industrial Design (MDes), and Architecture (MArch) programs. It represents the first offering of a joint course between the UIC School of Architecture and the UIC School of Design.

The course explores nuanced relationships between designed objects, furniture, and architecture through disciplinary intersections. The subject posits that objects and spaces are not a given but constructed and that designed objects and spaces are a product of social, economic, and cultural conditions. The surfaces and forms addressed—doors, windows, walls, beds, tables, or chairs—provide a framework for interactions and behaviors. A series of 3-dimensional exercises guide students through iterative work that fosters understanding of everyday environments and creates new possibilities for living and interaction. In addition to understanding the semiotics of object and space, we deconstructed and recomposed space as a social dimension explored across disciplinary boundaries.

DES 550 Thesis Studio: Year 2

The UIC MDes Year 2 Thesis Studio provides supervised independent work that builds from prior research activities. Emphasis is ideation, prototype iteration, formal/technical development, model fabrication, and user evaluation. The purpose of the course is for students to fully develop and execute a masters thesis project from an engaging and appropriate project statement developed in Thesis Research I.