DIfferent

Rethinking the Design Insitute

We are entering a new phase of the DI's existence.  The mission and a number of the Design Institute continues under the auspices of the College of Design.

The College of Design at the University of Minnesota has named graphic design faculty member Brad Hokanson as the new director of the Design Institute (DI), effective December 1, 2009.  “Brad’s positive vision for the Design Institute and his grounded intellect and multidisciplinary background make him the perfect person to direct the DI,” said College of Design Dean Thomas Fisher. See the full press release.

When the University created the College of Design in 2006, joining together the design disciplines it created a college whose mission encompassed that set for the DI by former University President Mark Yudof in the late 1990s:

• to create connections between the design disciplines across the University;
• to engage in outreach and public education about design;
• to pursue research that would define new areas of design thinking and application.

Design as a way of connecting diverse disciplines, envisioning alternative futures, provoking innovative ideas, and organizing collective action is alive and well at the University of Minnesota's College of Design. New projects will address these concepts.

The interdisciplinary undergraduate design minor, administered by the DI until 2007, has significantly expanded its enrollment and curriculum, with the creation of eight new elective courses. Enrollment in the minor is open to any undergraduate at the University of Minnesota. Click here for further information about the Design Minor.

Second Printing of ELSE/WHERE: MAPPING - New Cartographies of Networks and Territories

The second printing of the DI's award-winning book is now available through the University of Minnesota Press and from Amazon.