Core Design Program Curriculum

* Required of all undergraduate students who enter the College of Design. Students who are part of the Design Exchange learning community take DSNS 1100: Design Exchange Seminar (1 credit) in place of DSNS 1150: Design Collaborative Seminar (1 credit).

** Students who intend to apply to the Architecture major must complete MATH 1450, PHYS 1310, and PHYS 1310L during their Core year. Students who intend to apply to the Industrial Design program are advised to take PHYS 1010 and a MATH course during their Core year. Students who intend to apply to the Landscape Architecture program are advised to take MATH 1400 during their Core year. Graphic Design applicants are advised to enroll in COMS 1060 during their Core year.

All students at Iowa State University are required to own or obtain a laptop computer or other device appropriate to their program of study. The first-year Core Design Program emphasizes hand drawing and manual skill building within studio courses, as well as digital literacy integration via the online Digital Design Literacy course. Students should purchase or bring a computer capable of running the programs used in the digital literacy course.

Note that the College of Design provides Core students with a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud for access to Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop software for the digital literacy class. Please do not purchase an individual subscription.

After completing the Core, undergraduate students admitted into a design major and design graduate students are presented with the opportunity to purchase a laptop through the College of Design through our laptop program.

To ensure that all students in the Core Design Program have access to high-quality, low-cost materials for their required projects, the College of Design has partnered with the University Book Store to create a specialized toolkit.

In fall 2024, all students in DSNS 1020: Design Studio I and DSNS 1310: Drawing I received a Core Toolkit on their first day of class. The supplies in the toolkit are common to all studio sections of the two required Core courses. The toolkits were included in the course fee for all students and help ensure all students have access to the essential educational materials they need for the courses.

There may be other supplies, not included in the basic kit, that your instructors may also require you to have. These additional supplies reflect different media preferences among faculty members and will be communicated in course syllabi.

In spring 2025, students will need to purchase the DSNS 1310 or 1020 toolkit they did not receive in the fall from the Bookstore.