The design of objects, experiences, even institutions shapes how we encounter the world. As a major component of engineering, planning, architecture, and many other fields associated with innovation, design as a field helps us to intervene in and improve our lives. Students interested in design want to effect change and are looking for the tools, expertise, and experience to do so in a responsible, sustainable, and socially-grounded way.
At Keller, we introduce design as a process of deliberative change that combines humanistic critique with instrumental excellence to responsibly intervene in complex, real-world challenges. Our Design courses at Keller are bold, hands-on, and impact-driven. Students fuse creativity with engineering, art, and social science to tackle complex challenges—collaborating, iterating, and innovating in teams and often working with real-world partners to inspire change.
Students in Design at Keller learn methods of problem research and intervention that combine technical know-how with critical thinking. We introduce structured ways to approach complexity in real-world settings, and to creatively apply multiple disciplinary perspectives to real-world settings.
Central to our program at Keller is societal responsibility and service. We prioritize those who our innovative systems impact directly as key participants and stakeholders in the Design process. We take seriously Princeton's motto, “in the nation's service and in service of humanity,” demonstrating how our liberal arts ethos can guide even the most technical of interventions to make the world a better place.
The Design Minor
Our design minor is truly transdisciplinary, drawing on partners across the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences — Computer Science, Robotics, Bio-Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering among them — with researchers in Music, Theatre, Architecture, Anthropology, Sociology, and beyond.
Throughout the program, you will learn core practices of design—ideation, prototyping, testing, evaluation, and critique— and supplement these with advanced training in design methods and theories to drive approaches to responsible, deliberative change.
You will take courses across campus in a topic of your special interest, such as graphic design, urban design, musical instrument design, biological design, or human-computer interaction. Across these courses you will build a portfolio and develop a capstone project of sophistication that demonstrates your mastery of Design concepts sand practice.
Through an advanced seminar course, you will develop a group project in coordination with community stakeholders, led by our expert instructors as you address real-world complex problems.
And via workshops and training, you will adopt our approach to 360-critique embodied in our unique Design for Impact programming, which combines technical excellence with humanistic and social science perspectives upon articulating problems and interventions.
Throughout, you'll be guided by our expert and experienced faculty, as well as benefit from strong peer-to-peer engagement among your cohort at Keller and beyond.
Our Design Minor graduates will be well-situated for careers in design including engineering, user experience, community or regional planning, museum studies, and graphic design.
Design Courses
The Introduction to Design, EGR 107, gives you a foundation to begin your design journey. This course introduces the formal techniques that can assist any engineer or budding designer in getting started.
Our advanced course, Histories and Theories of Design, introduces you to structured critique and novel methods. You'll learn how designers attempt to rectify Design's historic oversights, how to work constructively with communities, and how best to approach user-centered activities to structure meaningful interventions.
Our project-based classes put students directly into interdisciplinary working teams to tackle real-world challenges. You'll move from theory to impact rapidly, guided by our expert faculty. Current courses include The Reclamation Studio, a long-term engagement with community reclamation work in Trenton; advanced courses in Human-Computer Interaction, that pair you with real-world teams developing federated or societally responsible systems; Critical Design, an approach that inverts our approach to typical problems and challenges your assumptions; and Creating Deep Change, which will change how you see problems entirely.
Students will also find value in design courses offered across campus. We maintain a list of classes associated with the minor here.
Design Community
At the Keller Center, we are building a world-class community of community-engaged scholars who know how to translate knowledge into impact.
We host workshops and speakers on design who can help develop your skills to articulate problems and interventions responsibly, with cutting edge methods and techniques.
Combined with generalist programming you'll find special events on AI, fashion design, and health care innovations, as well as on responsible community-based interventions that take social complexities seriously as a premise for design.
Across campus, you'll find professors, researchers, and community members who embrace design in its many formulations. These scholars welcome Design Minor students to their courses. They may also be available to supervise capstone projects that emerge from joint work or from coursework.
The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is currently hosting a Cluster of Excellence in Design. This includes guest speakers, on-campus community members, and special activities focusing on design. Topics in 2026-2028 include alternative AI systems, and regenerative (full cycle) design.
Join our list serve, design-keller@princeton.edu for announcements and opportunities of interest to our community.