MDes students design, research, learn, and teach closely with design faculty.
Faculty
One of the unique qualities of the UW MDes program is its relatively small size, which allows students to work closely with design faculty who have expertise in visual communication design, interaction design and industrial design. See the faculty directory here. →
Our faculty have expertise in:
- typography
- information visualization
- publication design
- exhibition design
- medical design
- sustainable design
- virtual and augmented reality
- speculative design
- Internet of Things
- design history
- design ethics
- entrepreneurship
- materials and fabrication
- soft goods
- design research
Professor, VCD →
Annabelle Gould
Typography, Visual Communication Design
Associate Professor, IxD →
Audrey Desjardins
Interaction Design, Design Research, Research-through-Design, Critical and Speculative Design, Design methods
Chair, Division of Design →
Axel Roesler
Industrial Design, Interaction Design, New Media
Assistant Professor, VCD
Chad Hall
Information Design, Interface Design, Data Visualization
Teaching Professor →
Dominic Muren
Biological Art, Design History, Industrial Design, Social Practice, Sustainability
Associate Professor + Chair, ixd →
James Pierce
Critical Theory, Digital Arts, Digital Fabrication, Human-Computer Interaction, Industrial Design, Interaction Design, Social Practice, Sustainability, User Experience Design
Associate Professor + Chair, ID →
Jason O. Germany
Digital Fabrication, Industrial Design
Professor, VCD →
Karen Cheng
Visual Communication Design
Professor + Chair, vcd →
Kristine Matthews
Information Design, Sustainability, Visual Communication Design, Exhibition Design
Assistant Professor, ID →
Meichun Liu
Industrial Design
Professor, ID →
Sang-gyeun Ahn
Industrial Design
Taylor Miles Hopkins (MDes 2021) with thesis committee members Jayme Yen and Audrey Desjardins.
Samer Fouad (MDes 2020) and faculty Kristine Matthews.
Members of the MDes 2019 cohort, at an impromptu cooking session.
Coreen Callister (MDes 2019) for the 2019 design show.
Faculty Karen Cheng, Annabelle Gould and Jason O. Germany.
At the annual poster show, 2nd year MDes students present their thesis work-in-progress.
Inspiring cross-pollination happens between MDes students who enter the program with a range of skills, expertise and interests to share.
Students
MDes students enter the program already with an understanding of design as a profession and practical skills in design. During their time at the University of Washington, they often explore new facets of design and dive deeper into a specific area of interest. See the MDes student directory here. →
MDes 2027 →
Christine Watridge
Co-creation, Typography, Design history, Health communication design
MDes 2027 →
Chula Chhay
Interaction design, Speculative design, Tangible design
MDes 2026 →
Dahae Cheon
Industrial design, CMF design, Material exploration, Furniture & objects, Photography
MDes 2028 →
Diana Issa
Community, Representation, Typography, Print
MDes 2026 →
Jeff Jiang
Footwear design, Fashion design, 3d modeling, Industrial design, Digital fabrication
MDes 2027 →
Kendrick Ma
Product design, AI exploration, AR design
MDes 2026 →
Li-Yuan Chiou
Human-AI Interaction, Speculative Design, Industrial Design
MDes 2027 →
McKinley Smith
Speculative design, Industrial design, Fine art
MDes 2027 →
Richard Zartman
Industrial design, Digital arts, Digital fabrication, User experience design
