This page lists spring 2017 courses. For other semesters, please visit our primary course listings page.
This graduate course highlights the context and value of product development — the formalized process bridging the gap between device proof-of-concept and an FDA approved biomedical product in the marketplace. Instructor-led activities and student-led case studies form the core of the coursework.
Hayley Lam & Shyam Patel | 3 units | Class number: 32000
This course will teach students the basics of 3D modeling and printing, particularly through the use of the Autodesk Fusion 360 software. The program will be taught in a series of lectures and demos, and its material will be reinforced by in-class assignments and two team projects.
Jennifer Chen, Tiffany Chiang, & Brent Yi | 2 units | Class number: 34778
CS 160 is an introduction to Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Students will learn to prototype, evaluate, and design a user interface. They will be expected to work within a group of four or five students in this project-based course. A project topic will be proposed by each student group, and implementation will be tailored to users’ needs based on interviews with them. The focus of the course is on developing a broad set of skills needed for user-centered design. These skills include ideation, needs assessment, communication, rapid prototyping, algorithmic implementation, and evaluation.
John Canny | 4 units | Class number: 26408
Intro to iOS Development is a student-run course designed as an introduction to application programming for the iPhone and iPad. The goal of the class is to provide the tools and guidance needed to write applications for iOS.
Akilesh Bapu & Paige Plander | 2 units | Class number: 26580
Web Design DeCal (WDD) is a 2-unit course at UC Berkeley that will teach you how to build a beautiful website. It is divided into a programming section (HTML, CSS, and jQuery) and a design section (web design philosophies such as responsive design and flat UI).
Mahira Ahmed, Ellen Hong, Pamela Hu, Sarah Huang, & Stephanie Tang | 2 units | Class number: 34350
This introductory course aims to expose students to the mindset, skillset, and toolset associated with design. It does so through guided applications to framing and solving problems in design, business, and engineering. Specifically, students will learn approaches to noticing and observing, framing and reframing, imagining and designing, and experimenting and testing as well as for critique and reflection. They will also have a chance to apply those approaches in various sectors.
Rob Hennigar | 3 units | 33080
Anyone can sketch. Great communicators today should never hesitate to reach for a pen and draw. Sketching is an effective expression of thinking and problem solving. It is a form of visual communication that can be learned and is a skill that can improve with practice and a little guidance.This course will give participants practice and confidence in their ability to communicate through sketching.
Rob Hennigar | 3 units | Class number: 33081
Topics include a range of prototyping and fabrication techniques including laser-cutting, 3D modeling and 3D printing, soldering, basic circuits, and interface mockups.
Chris Myers & Michael Shiloh | 3 units | Class number: 33082
The {Design.} DeCal is an introduction to design theory and practice, with a focus on human-centered design. Students will look at skills ranging from brainstorming and creative thinking to sketching and prototyping. With a focus on product design, the course will explore multiple facets like eco-friendly/green design, humanitarian design, persuasive design, aesthetics, and more.
Serena Chang, Leon Zhang, Masha Andreyeva | 2 units | Class number: 33931
Students in this class will design and prototype innovative interventions to tackle the drivers of extremism. The world is facing increasing threats from violent extremists, and the internet has emerged as a key arena in which violent extremists engage with the public. Working directly with the U.S. Department of State and other key government agencies, students will design and prototype ways to counter extremism, including promoting alternative narratives, enhancing social inclusion and civic engagement, identifying early signs of radicalization, countering discrimination, reintegrating former extremists, improving relationships with law enforcement, and building resilient communities. This course involves both a rapid design process to identify new opportunities with stakeholders, as well as a technology component where students will show how interventions would be implemented through working software prototypes.
Bjoern Hartmann & Zvika Krieger | 3 units | 33909 (DES INV), 33957 (CS)
This studio course introduces students to design thinking and the basic practices of interaction design. Following a human-centered design process that includes research, concept generation, prototyping, and refinement, students will work as individuals and in small teams to design mobile information systems and other interactive experiences. Assignments approach design on three levels: specific user interactions, contexts of use, and larger systems. Becoming familiar with design methodologies such as sketching, storyboarding, wire framing, and prototyping, students will learn core skills for understanding the rich contexts of stakeholders and their interactions with technology, for researching competing products and services, for modeling the current and preferred state of the world, and for prototyping and communicating possible solutions. No coding is required.
James Pierce | 3 units | Class number: 33910 (DES INV), 33921 (INFO)
This project-based course, open to advanced undergraduates and master’s-level students from across campus, will explore mobility futures with a focus on problem-finding and the early stages of the design process. Course participants will envision meaningful interactions between people and new transportation modalities, from car sharing to automation. By the end of the semester, student teams will build on their ideas and produce a concrete prototype. The course will be taught by an expert design instructor from the Jacobs Institute and will feature input, mentorship, and guest speakers from Ford Research and Innovation Center.
Rob Hennigar | 3 units | Class number: 34338 (DES INV), 34347 (ME)
The Graphic Design Principles DeCal is designed for students who have prior experience in Adobe programs such as Photoshop and/or Illustrator. Although this is a technical course in that students are taught extensive knowledge of the programs, the class will also cover conceptual and theoretical aspects of design such as color theory, branding, and user interface design.
Jeffrey Shi | 2 units | Class number: 33928
This course teaches graphic design through the use of Photoshop and Illustrator. Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator CC will be taught in a series of tutorials complemented with exercises to perform during class and at home. These exercises give students the opportunity to practice the tools, create designs, and exercise their creativity. Students will also explore graphic design trends and their applications, and learn to receive and give critiques in order to improve design work.
Anjile An, Jeffrey Chen, Margaret Zhou | 2 units | Class number: 33930
This course is centered around the DOE’s Solar Decathlon competition. The Solar Decathlon 2017 is a two-year competition in which 16 collegiate teams from across the globe design, build, and fund a Net Zero energy home. The primary objective of this course is for students to gain practical knowledge while participating in a multidisciplinary design and build project. The spring 2016 offering will focus on teaching students hands-on construction skills. The class will consist of three-hour “lab” time once a week at the Richmond Field Station, where the group will work on a certain construction activity or learn a new skill.
Samuel Durkin & Brenton Krieger | 1 unit | Class number: 34669
E27 is a hands-on introduction to manufacturing and tolerancing that is a required lower-division course for Mechanical Engineering majors and is open to students from across campus. Students work in teams of 4-7 on a series of practical assignments in which they reverse-engineer manufactured products, study the dimensional variability of manufactured components, and undertake a mechanical design project.
Hayden Taylor | 2 units | Class number: 27280
Participants in this DeCal will be trained in game analysis, mentorship, and the mechanical, electrical, and programming aspects of PiE’s robotics kit. Participants will then take this knowledge with them as they mentor local, disadvantaged high school students in a seven-week season to build a robot to compete in the annual PiE competition.
Yejin Angela Kwon, Clancy Lee, & Scott Numamoto | 2 units | Class number: 27009
Bioinspired design views the process of how we learn from nature as an innovation strategy, translating principles of function, performance, and aesthetics from biology to human technology. In this course, diverse teams of students will collaborate on, create, and present original bioinspired design projects. Lectures discuss the biomimicry design process from original scientific breakthroughs to entrepreneurial start-ups.
Robert Full | 3 units | Class number: 33127 (IB), 33107 (L&S)
This course surveys topics related to the design of products and interfaces ranging from alarm clocks, cell phones, and dashboards to logos, presentations, and web sites. Design of such systems requires familiarity with Human Factors and Ergonomics, including the physics and perception of color, sound, and touch, as well as familiarity withcase studies and contemporary practices in interface design and usability testing. Students will solve a series of design problems individually and in teams.
Stephen McKinley | 3 units | Class number: 27352
Through a competition-based format, students work in simulated lean start-up teams vying to create innovative products to further a social cause. Teams navigate weekly challenges, understanding real-world constraints, using iterative build-and-validate development methods, and frequent interaction with sponsors and mentors. The final outcome is a working prototype and pitch presentation. Past winners have gone on to create successful social enterprises and won Clinton Global Initiative University awards.
Ken Sandy & David Law | 4 units | Class number: 27356
This course is designed for graduate students to understand how the business world works and how their research may be applicable to the business world. Topics are focused on the process of innovation such as opportunity recognition, strategies for effective R&D, disruption, cognitive inertia, product management, market selection, attracting stakeholders, business models, pricing strategies, direct and indirect sales, resolving channel conflict, logistics, talent management, negotiation, managing creativity, and leadership styles. The course explores also key operational, leadership, and financial concepts at a high level.
Ikhlaq Sidhu & Naeem Zafar | 3 units | Class number: 33978
The unifying theme of “Sense and Sensibility and Science” (S&S&S) is that we need to redesign the way groups deliberate and make decisions in a fashion that reflects our need for both the authority of experts and the authority of democratic processes. The ingredients of this redesign are the elements of scientific-style critical thinking and an understanding of human cognitive failings and group behavior. In the early parts of this course we develop these ingredients, and then bring them together to explore novel concepts for group deliberation and decision-making, including both online and in-person interfaces. We will explore key aspects of scientific thinking — including how to differentiate signal from noise, evaluate causal claims, and avoid reasoning biases — and we’ll look at the best models for using science to guide decisions. We experiment with various designs for group deliberation and also start the class thinking about how these could be improved.
Saul Perlmutter, John Campbell, & Tania Lombrozo | 3 units | Class number: 17633
This course provides an introduction to the engineering design process and conceptual design of products. Design concepts and techniques are introduced; the student’s design ability is developed in a design project or feasibility study chosen to emphasize innovation and ingenuity, and provide wide coverage of engineering topics. Design optimization and social, environmental, economic, and political implications are included. There is an emphasis on hands-on creative components, teamwork, and effective communication, and a particular focus on the management of innovation processes for the development of sustainable products.
Euiyoung Kim | 3 units | Class number: 27574
This is an upper-division elective on the processing of materials in manufacturing. The class places a strong focus on giving students opportunities to practice material and process selection to meet functional requirements. The class contains a substantial term-long project in which students work in teams to identify a product need, design a mechanical assembly to meet that need, and then select appropriate materials and processes for manufacturing several of the key components in their designs.
Hayden Taylor | 3 units | Class number: 27578
The focus of the course is management of innovation processes for sustainable products, from product definition to sustainable manufacturing and financial models. Through a project involving the design and development of a product or service focused on sustainability, students will learn processes for collecting customer and user needs data, prioritizing that data, developing a product specification, sketching and building product prototypes, and interacting with the customer/community during product development. The course is intended to include students from a mix of disciplines and to be a hands-on experience in the “green” product development process.
Bill Shneiderman | 3 units | Class number: 34176
Lectures will cover the past, present, and future of space exploration; the International Space Station research and benefits; exploration missions to the planets of our solar systems, human exploration mission to Mars; and life beyond Earth including a visit to ET.
Lawrence Kuznetz and Boris Rubinski | 2 units | Class number: 33301
Critical Making will operationalize and critique the practice of “making” through both foundational literature and hands-on studio culture. As hybrid practitioners, students will develop fluency in readily collaging and incorporating a variety of physical materials and protocols into their practice. With design research as a lens, students will envision and create future computational experiences that critically explore social and culturally relevant technological themes.
Eric Paulos | 4 units | Class number: 31863 (NWMEDIA), 31864 (ME)
This course provides a platform for the Fung Fellowship cohort’s continued teamwork and project-based learning and is the second semester of a four-semester series on developing digital wellness products targeted for underserved populations. The course is designed around the case-based and learning-by-doing models, with students working predominantly in teams to create prototype wellness products to meet specific needs.
Jaspal Sandhu | 3 units | Class number: 34356
Eat.Think.Design is a team-oriented, project-based course designed around the case-based and learning-by-doing models. Working with community partners on a public health issue related to food, student teams apply human-centered design skills to the problem, and design a solution with and for their community partner.
Kristine Madsen, Jaspal Sandhu, & Nap Hosang | 3 units | Class number: 32547
This page lists fall 2016 courses. For other semesters, please visit our primary course listings page.
This class is an introductory course for undergraduates in the fundamental approaches to innovation. Learning models of the design process will ground the course. The class targets students from across disciplines and will examine innovation from multiple disciplines as well.
Sara Beckman, Stacy Jo Scott, Lisa Wymore, & Sean San Jose | 4 units | Class number: 10736 (UGBA), 12865 (ART), 23690, 23691 (THEATER)