From the Dean
Find out what it means to live a life of design by exploring our website.
Your visit to this website is a first step in crafting your education and career. That education and career will have a big impact on your life. It will shape how you think, who you meet, how you spend your time, where you live. It will be deeply rewarding and equally challenging. It will require the best you have to offer and enrich your life and the lives of those you serve.
The college is here to help you begin your journey in the design life. Our highly ranked programs not only teach professional excellence, but also help you learn important life skills, such as teamwork, collaboration, creative inquiry, crafting and making, and research. In short, you will learn to balance intuition with evidence as you design solutions to the confounding challenges we face.
We offer degrees in Architecture, Graphic & Experience Design, Industrial Design, Media Arts, Design and Technology, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, and Design Studies and have focused applications in the built environment, product design, textile and fiber design, user experience, animation and multimedia, as well as creative practice through the exploration of mediums, composition, and storytelling. All ideas start with design thinking, which is a process that takes a human-centered approach to problem-solving.
No matter what degree program you choose, our faculty and staff are here to support you and provide a safe place for you to experiment, learn from mistakes, and begin your life in design.
So once again, welcome and here’s to great design!
Mark Elison Hoversten, PhD, FASLA, FCELA, AICP, Assoc. AIA
🎮✨ An arcade cabinet. A puppet show. A dying theater.
Add five design students with different skills and endless creativity, and you get Maestro’s Theatre, a playable masterpiece that turned heads at Super Magfest.
Crafted with limited resources and limited time, this retro-inspired game blends physical fabrication, digital storytelling and a whole lot of heart. Read the full story on how they brought it to life at the link in bio.
🎙️ What happens after the statue comes down?
@wknc881`s Eye on the Triangle sits down with @ncstate Professor of Landscape Architecture @kofiboone to talk Empty Pedestals — a new book he co-edited with fellow design professor M. Elen Deming that explores how design can reshape public memory, confront injustice and reclaim space.
From environmental justice to community storytelling, Boone breaks down how designers are responding to the legacy of Confederate monuments — and why what comes next matters just as much as what came down.
🎧 Listen in: link in bio
From markers to modeling clay, foam core to Figma — Design Camp has evolved, but the creativity and chaos (the good kind) remain timeless.
Were you a camper back in the day? Maybe you still have a portfolio, a lifelong friend, or a questionable design decision or two. We want to hear your story.
👀👉 Visit the link in our bio to:
📣 Share your favorite Design Camp memories with us!
🎈 And join us this summer for special alumni events celebrating 45 years of design magic.
🎓 Designers, you did the dang thing.
From sketchbooks to the stage — we caught your best angles (and a few happy tears).
Find your face (or your glowed-up cap), tag your studio family and revisit this massive milestone.
📸 Check out the full photo gallery from the COD’s Spring 2025 Commencement Ceremony in our bio.
“It was such a big deal for me to come here. I never thought I was good enough. But I was a late bloomer.”
🎓 Big shoutout to Industrial Design senior Xzavier Taylor, representing the College of Design in @ncstate’s #NCState25 graduate stories roundup. From sketchbook to spotlight, he’s one of five grads reflecting on the journey that got them here.
📖 Read Xzavier’s story (and meet the other standout grads) at the link in our bio.
