Welcome baskets filled with products crafted by Finger Lakes artisans. Luxurious bathrooms with vanities of natural wood and stone that reflect Ithaca’s beauty. Watercolor renderings of McGraw Tower and other campus landmarks. These are among the concepts that student teams presented to the industry panel for their “Reimagine the Statler Hotel Guest Room” project.
DEA 1110 Making a Difference by Design is a required course for Design and Environmental Analysis (DEA) majors and a popular elective across disciplines. Through hands-on projects, the course introduces students to the breadth of design practice, spanning diverse fields, scales and contexts. Led by So-Yeon Yoon, professor in the Department of Human Centered Design (HCD), the class emphasizes a human-centered approach to problem solving, equipping students with the tools to create meaningful, innovative solutions.
“It’s important to include real-world projects with real clients in our coursework,” said Yoon. “These organizations benefit from our help and it’s exciting for students as they gain professional experience.”
Community-engaged projects are central to Yoon’s teaching philosophy. She is a faculty fellow in engaged scholarship at the Einhorn Center for Community Engagement. Her classes have previously partnered with Bike Walk Tompkins and local restaurants. In October, Michele Tobin, manager of retail buying at the Cornell Store, spoke to the class about “storytelling selling” — explaining why some products never reach the market. That early-semester project launched a partnership with several HCD classes that will continue next semester.