DRI at Illinois
The MFA in Design for Responsible Innovation focuses on interdisciplinary making for research and practice. We prepare students to contribute to the field of design by entering into practice, academia, or both. Students can explore responsible futures through research in traditional print media and emergent technologies including, but not limited to, data visualization, digital interaction, information design, systems thinking, and visual narrative. We prepare our graduates to make significant scholarly contributions and practical impacts through design research.
The MFA DRI consists of three years of coursework totaling 64 credit hours and a thesis project which can be delivered in either of these ways:
- Option 1: A written thesis document + exhibition in the Krannert Art Museum
- Option 2: A written thesis document + two national peer-reviewed conference presentations + public on-campus lecture here at Illinois
We Are Interdisciplinary
We provide unique opportunities to make a real-world difference by working with world-class University of Illinois design faculty whose research addresses Afro-futurism, equity-centered design, sustainability and sustainable materials, social innovation, multimodal interfaces for social computing, the fight against human trafficking, the design of virtual reality narratives, and the history and theory of immersive media. MFA DRI students participate in ongoing projects in Urbana-Champaign and around the world, and in addition they can:
- Engage all the resources and opportunities of studying in a world-class Tier 1 Research University
- Collaborate with PhD students in Informatics who specialize in design
- Develop partnerships at the Research Park, a nationally recognized technology hub that cultivates start-ups and accelerates corporate innovation at companies such as Abbott Laboratories, ADM, Ameren, Capital One, and State Farm
Recent Books by Faculty
- Prototyping Across the Disciplines: Designing Better Futures
Jennifer Roberts-Smith, Stan Ruecker, and Milena Radzikowska, eds. - Design to Renourish: Sustainable Graphic Design in Practice
Eric Benson and Yvette Perullo, 2017 - I Am Alfonso Jones
Tony Medina, Stacey Robinson, and John Jennings, 2017 - Visual Interface Design for Digital Cultural Heritage: A Guide to Rich-Prospect Browsing
Stan Ruecker, Milena Radzikowska, and Stéfan Sinclair (eds.), 2011
Current Project Highlights
Recent Visiting Design Critics
- George Aye (AY 2022)
- Sadie Red Wing (AY 2021)
- Elizabeth Resnick (AY 2021)
- Andrew Shea (AY 2020)
- Tad Hirsch (AY 2020)
- Fransceca Zampollo (AY 2020)
- Terresa Moses (AY 2020)
- Samantha Barrett (AY 2020)
- Benjamin Bross (AY 2020)
- Ricardo Triska (AY 2019)
- Jiameng Wang (AY 2019)
- Gerry Derksen (AY 2018)
- Zhabiz Shafeiyoun (AY 2018)
- Piotr Michura (AY 2017)
Faculty Research Interests
Eric Benson
Biological Systems Thinking, Sustainable Materials, Dystopian and Utopian Futures
Molly Catherine Briggs
Immersive Rhetorics in Print Media, Nineteenth-Century Popular Media, Landscape Representation, Spatial Epistemologies, Visual Culture
Deana McDonagh
Empathic Design Research, Disability, Aging, User-Centered Design, Invention to Innovation, Gender
Lisa E. Mercer
Social Innovation, Social Impact, Responsible Design, Interaction Design
Stacey Robinson
Afro-Futurism, Black and Brown Utopias, Race, Graphic Novels, African Diasporas and Wakanda
Stan Ruecker
Academic Prototyping, Digital Humanities, Design Theory, Experience Design
Juan Salamanca
Social Computing, Interaction Design, Mediating Artifacts, Visual Analytics
Nekita Thomas
Co-Design, Race, Urban, Social Justice
Core Courses
The MFA DRI Studio provides tools for working individually or collaboratively to establish a design research agenda informed by the DRI program’s mission. This course equips the student to situate their research in a rigorous theoretical framework and select viable methods for research and pedagogy.
The Design Research Methodology Seminar coordinates readings in design theory and the processes and principles of human-centered design with graduate students’ emerging thesis research interests. It addresses the role of design research methodology in establishing design practice and design pedagogy.
The Ethics of a Designer in a Global Economy (EDGE) Studio presents complex ethical problems in design practice. Individual sections address either social or environmental issues.
The Design Research Impact Seminar helps MFA students connect their research with pedagogy and professional development strategies to disseminate their research via publishing, conferences, community outreach, and other relevant venues.
In the final two semesters, the Thesis course allows the student work concertedly on the written thesis document in close consultation with their Thesis Committee Chair. This course serves as the gateway for deposit with the Thesis Office at the Graduate College in the final semester.
You’ll also choose Studio Electives and Electives from the School of Art & Design, the College of Fine & Applied Arts, and diverse programs throughout the campus.
View Course Descriptions and Class Schedule on the Course Explorer.
Explore Possible Responsible Innovation Research Paths
Rather than offer simple answers about what is or is not “responsible,” we provide conceptual tools like the interactive model below to help students think critically about the intended (and unintended) consequences of designed artifacts, systems, and services. Our curriculum allows users to devise coordinated research paths by choosing among contemporary issues, ethics stakes, research methodologies, and design modes and methods. The MFA DRI program offers designers a systemic perspective on the often-overlooked implications of innovative offerings and serves as a scaffold for developing sustainable solutions to complex social and environmental problems.
Read more about the development of the interactive MFA DRI tool. This model is based on research conducted by DRI faculty members Juan Salamanca, Molly Briggs, and Lisa Mercer.
Advice for Applicants
Learn all about applying to A&D graduate programs and review the required application materials carefully. Please note that while the application requests a personal statement, we strongly recommend that instead you write a research proposal of preferably 3-5 pages that addresses the following points:
- Propose a research topic that connects with one or more of our faculty’s research interests
- Refer to specific theorists and comment on how the proposed project might build on their work
- Demonstrate some familiarity with relevant research literature
- Describe 2 or 3 research goals
- Propose 3 or 4 research questions related to those goals
- Mention 2 or 3 possible use cases and/or data-collection methods that could be used to provide evidence related to those questions
- Comment on how the University of Illinois in particular might be a good location for this work
Not every statement can be this complete, but this is the general direction. The purpose of the research statement is to demonstrate your capacity for pursuing design research, not to declare a final plan. It is normal for plans to change as the student goes through the program.
Recent MFA Theses
- Faithful Oladeji, “Presence in the UnBuilt Environment: Designing the User Experience of Architecture With Virtual Reality” (access via Issuu and IDEALS)
- Keenan Dailey, “Generalizable Afrofuturist Ontology”
- Ana Rodas, “Emmanuel: God in Our Midst”
- Rachel Melton, “From the Ground Up: Developing Creative Community through Rural Arts Engagement”
- Miriam Salah, “The Design of Gastronomy: Beyond Art and Science”
- Natalie Smith, “A Book Designer’s Intervention to Teaching Typographic Systems”
- Carolina González Montemayor, “Dear Startup Brand: How Can Startup Brands Effectively Engage with Their Audience through Instagram?”
- Eunmi Moon, “Role-Playing Living Lab Method: Increasing Maker Empathy through User-Generated Content for Role-Playing Activities”
- Alex Dye, “Rethinking the Electronic Medical Record”
- Qing He, “Mobile Gaming Application: Promoting Positive Attitude towards Body Image for Girls Age Five to Eight”
- John Jennings, “Utilizing Graphic Design Theory to Enhance Graphic Storytelling in Sequential Art”
- Taekyeom Lee, “Re-materialization of Type”
- Huang Li, “Hybrid Sense: The Immense Possibilities of Interaction of Digital Information with Physical Environments”
- Ruchita Arvind Mandhre, “Experiential Learning Spaces to Enhance Typographic Communication”
- Maurice Meilleur, “Five Theses on the Future of Type”
- Wenjun Wu, “Everyday Walking as Aesthetic Practice”
