Design Showcase ☆
Wrapping up the semester!
(1) Event Highlights
(2) From the Co-Presidents ❤︎
(3) Reminders ⧖
(4) Design Beyond DI
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Fall Design Showcase and Wisconsin Idea Panel! It was exciting to see our community come together to explore how design builds trust, supports real people, and creates public impact across Wisconsin, reflecting the spirit of the Wisconsin Idea. The panel shared thoughtful perspectives on storytelling, community engagement, and designing with care. Our cohort teams presented projects that brought those values to life through work on Wisconsin Conservation Voices, UniverCity Alliance, Morgridge Hall wayfinding, and our merch design initiative. We are grateful for the energy you brought to the event and for the creativity our teams showed throughout the semester.
Message from the Co-Presidents ❤︎
As we wrap up another incredible semester, we want to share our gratitude for each of you - the people who show up to workshops and speaker sessions with curiosity, who bring joy to our social study nights, and who pour their time and creativity into cohort projects.
Every semester, we build towards the Showcase, but you are the ones who give that journey its energy and purpose. Seeing familiar faces return week after week, watching friendships form, and witnessing your growth as designers keep us inspired. Human-centered design is at the core of everything that we do, and none of it would be possible without all of you humans showing us who we’re designing for and why it matters.
Each member shines their own light within this community - leaving flakes of themselves in DI’s history and shaping what it becomes next. Together, we are making a real mark on the design & tech landscape at UW-Madison, and we are so excited to see how your impact grows.
Thank you for bringing your passion, your ideas, and your full selves to DI. With the Wisconsin Idea guiding us, we will continue to broaden our reach and further our mission on campus and far beyond.
We are just so so proud of this community - and so grateful for YOU.
- Gabi & Kenzie
Fall 2025 Co-Presidents, Design Interactive
Reminders ⧖
Exec Board Applications
Decisions for the Spring 2026 Exec Team will be shared with applicants tomorrow.
Questions about Exec Board? Email Kenzie at mkujava@wisc.edu
Feedback Form
Your feedback helps us improve our events and plan for next semester.
Design Beyond DI ⬇︎
Bucky’s Data Viz Challenge
Entries due Wednesday, January 7 | Virtual submission
Are you a designer who has found creative ways to share data? Show off your data storytelling skills in Bucky’s Data Viz Challenge, a campuswide competition for students, faculty, and staff. This is a great opportunity to share creative visualizations, communicate insights in new ways, and gain recognition for your work during Love Data Week. Whether you design for fun, for research, or for class projects, this challenge is a chance to highlight your creativity and insight.
Driving Brand Consistency with Adobe Express
Friday, December 12 | 1–2 PM | Virtual
Explore how the Wisconsin School of Business uses Adobe Express to build cohesive, on-brand design across teams. Creative Director Katie Schauer will share how templates and simple design workflows help students, staff, and faculty create professional visuals that stay true to the UW brand. A great session if you’re interested in branding, visual design, or design systems.
Winter Design Festival
Friday, December 12 | 5:30-7 PM @ Nancy Nicholas Hall
Hosted by UW–Madison’s Master of Science in Design + Innovation program, this festival celebrates creativity and innovation through an interdisciplinary showcase of student projects, installations, and interactive experiences. Connect with peers across design disciplines and get inspired by what’s next in the world of design!
Civic Design: Systems Thinking in Service Design
New Spring 2026 Course
Interested in design, public service, or systems thinking? A new Civic Design course is being offered this spring, taught by Professor Esther Kang. Students will partner with a local government agency and work with real research on student voter engagement to design service-based strategies that support the campus community. This course offers hands-on project work, community collaboration, and an introduction to service design and systems thinking. If you’re eligible to vote in Wisconsin, Professor Kang is also inviting students to take a short anonymous survey on voting patterns.
✧ Good luck with finals, and see you next semester! ✧