(1) Fall Course Recommendations
(2) Resources & Inspiration
(3) Podcasts & Books
(4) Opportunities & Events
Care-Package Overview 📫💌
We hope you all are having a wonderful start to spring break! :) Weather you’re traveling or at home, we wanted to pull together some design education & resources for you to explore. Been meaning to learn Figma? Searching for design courses to take in the fall? On the hunt for a good design podcast? We’ve got you covered 😎
Fall Course Recommendations
Still deciding on classes for Fall? We’ve got you covered! We’ve put together some design course recommendations to help you get started.
DS 341: Design Thinking for Transformation
Over the semester, you'll get to work on a design sprint challenge, conduct design research, and work on a final project focused on supporting student mental health. Professor Dennis is truly amazing and includes mindfulness breaks during our long class sessions.
LIS 470: Interaction Design Studio
Get into interaction design—where creating digital systems starts with putting people first. You’ll explore key design principles, processes, and how human values shape interactive experiences. Through discussions and hands-on practice, you’ll apply data-driven, human-centered methods to develop a new digital product.
DS 240: Human-centered Design and Business
Design thinking focuses on solving complex problems with innovative solutions. You’ll explore the process from empathy and problem definition to ideation, prototyping, and testing, while also diving into the business side—balancing desirability, feasibility, and viability to bring solutions to market effectively.
CS 570: Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction
This course lays a great foundation in the principles and methods of HCI and user research. You’ll work on two team projects throughout the semester that you can choose the direction for.
Resources & Inspiration
Build it in Figma: Designing a book app for designers
The Figma Youtube channel has tons of great documentation on how to learn their product. Below, we’ve linked a video where Rogie shows how to create a book app for designers. He walks through his thought process for the design, creates components, and starts wireframing. This is great video not only for learning how to use some of Figma’s tools, but also the thought process for wanting to create something!
Portfolio to Interview: Crafting a Compelling Case Study Deck
Creating a portfolio can be a lot of work—spring break is the perfect opportunity to slow down and start thinking it through. This video is not only breaks down how to create a strong case study, but it also focuses on the hiring & interview process for designers. They cover common interview questions and best practices.
Podcasts & Books
Ed Catmull: Creative lessons from Lucasfilm to Pixar and beyond
This is one of my all-time favorite episodes from the incredible Design Better podcast. They chat with Ed Catmull, the co-founder of Pixar, who is responsible for helping to create movies ranging from the original Toy Story on through The Incredibles, Wall-E, Moana, and Inside Out. They touch on a range of topics, but the most interesting may be about how to sustain creativity & give feedback so people will actually listen.
Mismatch : How Inclusion Shapes Design (Design, Technology, Business, Life)
This is a book that I will be listening to on audio book over spring break 🤭 Mismatch by Kat Holmes (previously a Design Director @ Google and Microsoft) explores how everyday designs can unintentionally exclude people and how inclusive design can help fix that. Through powerful stories of designers and innovators who experienced exclusion themselves, Holmes shows how thoughtful design can create a more accessible world for everyone.
Upcoming Opportunities & Events!
In These Times: Dialogues on Queer Design
This Thursday, March 27th from 2:00-3:30pm, explore the intersection of queer identity, design, and politics, showing how visual strategy and creative storytelling impact activism and elections. This webinar will discuss how queer design plays a crucial role in political campaigns, advocacy, and cultural movements—from campaign visuals to grassroots organizing.
Design Dash: Strategic Idea Challenge
If you’re a SoHE student, this opportunity is for you! :) On April 18th, SoHE is hosting a 1-day high-energy collaborative case sprint where student teams will tackle a real-world challenge: how to increase student engagement for Day of the Badger. More information in the link below. Applications close this Friday, March 28th at 11:59pm!
That’s all for now! 🗓️👋
We hope you have a restful, curious & inspired spring break! 😎