Environmental Product Design (EPOD)

The environmental product of design major creates design leaders prepared to take on challenges facing humanity and our environment(s) through the rigorous development of design solutions.

Students will implement a critical and hands-on design process that leverages design thinking, ethical consideration and speculative design in conjunction with rapid prototyping, experimentation, fabrication techniques and product development.

Environmental product of design majors graduate with creative confidence and a diverse problem-solving skillset poised to make innovative solutions towards improving our human, natural, and built environments. 

 

Hands-On Learning

Environmental Design Core

Anchored through a combination of lecture courses and studio instruction, our core curriculum builds upon studios where students solve design problems at interrelated scales of the built environment: buildings, landscapes and urban systems.

  • Intro to environmental product of design, 8-week studio
  • Intro to architecture, 8-week studio
  • Core technology 1
  • ENVD Colloquium
  • Core lecture: Design Theory & Thinking
  • Intro to landscape architecture, 8-week studio
  • Intro to sustainable planning & urban design, 8-week studio
  • Core technology 2
  • Core lecture: History of the Built Environment
  • Choice of core design studio, 8-week studio
  • Choice of core design studio, 8-week studio
  • Core technology 3
  • Core lecture: Ecology & Design
  • Core lecture: Planning & Implementation 

Students pursue in-depth projects and gain specialized skills necessary for pre-professional work or graduate study through upper-division course work.


 

Intro to Product of Design

   ENVD Core 8-week design studio
The first of four introductory studios introduces students to concepts and techniques related to the design of products at a human scale. In an immersive project-based studio environment students develop the foundation of design communication and thinking through a series of hands-on projects with physical outcomes.

 

Fundamentals of Product of Design

   ENVD Core 8-week design studio
Building on the foundation introduced in EPoD Studio 1, this studio introduces students to more advanced methodologies and techniques related to the design of products at a human scale while considering the interdisciplinary nature of the other specializations. Using complementary skills in 3D modeling, drawing, diagramming, and through physical making and fabrication, students explore imaginative and innovative design solutions of small-scale products.

 

Foundations of Product Design

   ENVD major 16-week design studio
Immersive, project-based studio environment where students focus on the design of products at a human scale with an emphasis on more advanced 3D modeling, parametric design, advanced visualization, and file-to-factory fabrication methods.

 

Intermediate Product of Design

   ENVD major 16-week design studio
Introduces students to innovative emerging technologies and techniques in digital fabrication and design through a project-based studio environment. Students will be asked to develop design solutions that could be leveraged to benefit humanity through material investigations, cradle-to-cradle methodology, and more advanced methods in design optimization. Repeatable for up to 12 total credit hours.

 

Capstone in Product of Design

   ENVD major 16-week design studio
As a culmination of the students learning and interests within the EPOD major, students use a Design Thinking Process to identify, design, and manifest a physical prototype which addresses a specific need, opportunity or problem.

 

Innovative Curriculum

Signature and innovative, or core curriculum provides an intensive and balanced introduction to the traditional professions within the broad field of environmental design. Set a foundation with a three-semester introduction to design theories and practice before declaring your major.

 

ENVD Core

3 semesters of ENVD core

 

Interdisciplinary

six eight-week design studios

 

5-credit

technology course sequence

 

4

sixteen-week major design studios

 

Be visionary.

Experiential learning is a core component of design education with students engaging in design, build and fabrication activities.

Learning Objectives

Major Objectives

  Problem Solving through User Centered Design Methodology and Ideology
  Critical Thinking and Ethical Concerns
  Verbal, Visual and Written Communication
  Self-Teaching and Efficacy
  Prototyping, Fabrication and Craft
  Visualization using Analog and Digital Tools
  Materials Usage and Impact
  Entrepreneurship in Product Design
  Personal and Professional Accountability

B.EnvD Objectives

Critical Thinking 
Students will use creative, critical, and convergent thinking to address social and environmental issues through precedents, theory, research, and problem‐defining techniques in order to analyze the need for and impact of design solutions. 

Problem‐Solving 
Through iterative design students will develop conceptual or material solutions to socio‐environmental issues by synthesizing critical feedback and collaborative findings with their peers and the communities that they engage. 

Communication & Representation 
Students will employ graphic, verbal, written, spatial, and other communication strategies in order to organize, demonstrate and argue for design concepts and proposals. 

Stewardship & Sustainability 
Students will apply tenets of social and environmental justice through design stewardship and sustainability to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of all project constituents. 

Technical Skills & Methodologies 
Students will develop the foundational technical skills and learn to apply the methodologies necessary to enter the academic and professional disciplines of environmental design. 

The Student Experience

Meet Current Students

Liana Bradley
Liana Bradley loves seeing the relationship of people to products and what makes them loved or hated. 

Nate Kingdom
Nate Kingdom hopes to design products that can help everyone and be used all over the world.

Andrew Song
Andrew Song has always loved creating and loves being in a creatively enriched environment.

Ainsley Watkins
For Ainsley Watkins the hands-on problem solving and material studies was appealing and helped solidify her choice in product design.

Product of Design in the News

Read More

Affiliate Student Organizations

The CU Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) Student Chapter is a student-led organization that focuses on building community and highlighting what it means to be a product designer.

Professional Development

2+

internships completed on average by
ENVD students before graduation

 

80%

of students were hired in design fields
within three months of graduation*

 

Most

environmental design
grads in the U.S.

 

Beyond Graduation

Careers in Product Design

Product design majors might work in the following positions:

  Product Designer  

  Furniture Designer  

  Packaging Designer  

  Environmental Designer  

  Graphic Designer 

  Outdoor Product Designer  

  Interaction Designer 

  Exhibit Designer 

  Maker/Fabricator  

  Design Entrepreneur  

Meet our Alumni

Curt Hammerly, B.EnvD '09

Founder/CEO  
Hammerly Ceramics  
Broomfield, Colorado  

Juliana Barton, B.EnvD '17

Lead Designer
Studio Giancarlo Valle
Brooklyn, New York

Thomas Hoffmann, B.EnvD '17

Founder/CEO
Campworks 
Hygiene, Colorado 

Daniel Rubenstein, B.EnvD '19

Product Manager
HiveTech Solutions
Boulder

Eduardo Samayoa, B.EnvD '18

Co-Founder & CEO
simplo
Mexico City