School of Design

Creativity, criticality, service, and social impact. We are researchers, coders, artists, and makers designing objects, systems, and experiences.

 

Faculty Spotlight

Design faculty Allen Turner leads Chicago Housing Authority youth, drawing from his own personal history and inspiring them to reveal their environment and creative personality with media and interaction tools.

 

Idea Realization Lab

A student community that encourages crafting knowledge, improvisation and direct engagement. Physical technology classes are found here.

IRL WebsiteIRL Annual Report
 

School of Design Talks

Diverse speakers from across the globe leading workshops from Engaging the Body in Play to The Mechanics of Reading to When Good Design isn’t Enough.

SoD Talks
 

Study Abroad

Unique opportunities to study abroad, from exploring designers’ relationships to society and the natural world in Scandinavia to touring cultural sites and game and animation companies in Japan.

Study Abroad

Highlights

design students working on typography

DePaul was ranked a 2019 Top Graphic Design School where “students learn both history and theory, acquiring skills to research and develop concepts and prototypes,” according to GDUSA.

GDUSA: Top Graphic Design School

Students in the Virtual and Augmented Design Lab led by faculty Brian Schrank develop compelling experiences for emerging platforms.

Virtual and Augmented
Design Lab
playing with wet flour at a park

Assistant Professor Peter McDonald was awarded a DePaul Humanities Center Faculty Fellowship to work on his project The Impossible Reversal and Other Styles of Playfulness. Peter will look at the ways children played in the 1960s and ‘70s, examining ethnographic studies of classrooms, educational materials and toys, and psychological theories of children’s play.

Our Programs