MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 10AX design thinking


Design Thinking and the Art of Innovation is a hands- on seminar that introduces students to the multi- disciplinary practice of product, service, and experience design through the lenses of both art and engineering. A project-based, studio-driven class promises a deep dive into Design Thinking, Stanford’s unique approach to problem finding and problem solving. Along with a survey of tools such as need finding and ethnography, structured brainstorming, rapid prototyping, visual communication, and story-telling, the class will include thought provoking and inspirational field trips to San Francisco’s MOMA and other Bay Area museums, The San Francisco Ferry Building, and IDEO, the internationally renowned design and innovation firm headquartered in Palo Alto.


This course is designed to introduce students to cutting edge techniques and processes used in the field of design. Through emphasis on design problems where aesthetics, technology, human behavior, and business needs overlap, students will both increase visual literacy and develop creative competence. The course provides an overview of contemporary professional design practice and exposes students to the world of design and the “wicked problems” that are the grist for the mill of design work.


Bill Burnett is a consulting assistant professor and the executive director of Stanford’s innovative Product Design program. One of the earliest interdepartmental majors, this undergraduate and graduate degree program combines curriculum from the departments of


Mechanical Engineering and Art to produce human-


and the art of innovation Bill Burnett and Jonathan Edelman


centered, values-driven designers. A graduate of the program, Bill has designed a wide range of products, from award-winning Apple PowerBooks to the original Star Wars action figures. He holds a number of mechanical and design patents and awards for a variety of products including the first slate computer. Bill’s research and teaching are focused on enhancing human creativity and technology innovation. In the design program, he teaches the senior capstone project class “The Designer’s Voice,” and a somewhat mystical industrial design class called “Formgiving,” which is as much a guided meditation and values clarification exercise as it is a class about design. One student said that learning design this way was like learning to use “the Force.” Bill could not have said it any better. More.


Jonathan Edelman is a Lecturer in Design in the Department of Art and Art History at Stanford and a member of Stanford’s Product Realization Lab’s Leadership team. Jonathan received an MFA from Stanford’s Product Design program, as well as a PhD in Design


Theory and Methodology from Stanford’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. In 2009, he was named a GlaxoSmithKline Fellow by Stanford’s Graduate School of Business Summer Institute for Entrepreneurship. He is the co-founder of Parallel Design Labs, a design consultancy focused on connecting craft, human- centered design, and systems thinking. Before coming to Stanford, Jonathan worked as an interactive motion graphics designer and programmer and spent 20 years


as a lighting designer for film and television. More.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12