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Nancy Richardson Design Center

Nancy Richardson Design Center Community “A diverse mix of voices leads to better discussions, decisions, and outcomes for everyone.”

— Sundar Pichai, Chief Executive Officer of Google

Colorado State University's Land Grant Mission A learning community created for everyone.

Inspired by Colorado State University’s land-grant heritage and mission, we in the Nancy Richardson Design Center are committed to excellence, setting the standard for public research universities in teaching, research, service, and extension for the benefit of the citizens of Colorado, the United States, and the world.

Key values of Design Thinking include empathy and collaboration, and we utilize these values as a means of welcoming our learners and partners. We  are a collaborative community working to address important societal problems facing our world today, through the lens of Design Thinking.

Fabrication lab users hold a large printed sign together in front of the large-format vinyl printer and cutter, the sign reads `RDC` with a galactic image in the font.

Courses

  • Students apply design-thinking prototype solutions to socially important problems.
  • Project-based courses allow students to choose the focus of their projects, catering to varied interests and social problems.
  • A well-established Lifelong Learner program provides empowering adult learning opportunities.
  • We offer dual enrollment courses for high school students, particularly those from low income and rural areas.
  • We encourage faculty, staff, and students to share and use their chosen pronouns.
Professor chatting with student who is holding a garment sitting at a sewing machine.

Labs

  • We have accessible spaces for creators, students, and community members.
  • We helped create the stencils for the RamWalk mural, designed by CSU student Jocelyn Lapham, highlighting the value of community.
  • Students in AM475 utilized our labs to design and create prototype garments that are inclusive of traditionally marginalized consumer groups.
  • The RDC Fabrication Lab spaces were utilized to create braille signs to be used across campus.
  • Our lab staff proudly consists of a gender-diverse group of students and professionals.
A lab technician assists students with 3D printing in the Prototype Lab.

Community

  • Diverse faculty and staff come from a wide array of professional and personal backgrounds.
  • The RDC spaces are used for events including Fashion FUNdamentals, Global Business Academy, and CSU Bridge Scholars.
  • The RDC Lab Volunteer Program invites inclusive engagement beyond current students, employees, and affiliates.
  • We hosted a “Women in STEM” VR demo to foster increased connection-building for female-identifying persons in STEM in our spaces.
Students search fabric swatches in the Design Library at the Nancy Richardson Design Center
  • 24.7% first-generation students
  • nontraditional students (23+) 15.5%
  • 38.8% racially minoritized students

Applications for social change Designing for Justice

We bring together artists, humanitarians, scientists, entrepreneurs, engineers, design thinkers, and creatives from every discipline to tackle important, authentic problems and devise innovative solutions for socially and ecologically sustainable impacts and creative solution proposals to improve human experiences. Application of human centered design and design thinking processes, with a focus on social change and civic engagement, provide solutions to real-world problems facing some of society’s most vulnerable populations. Design justice emphasizes that the greatest impacts are made when design is led through an array of perspectives.

IDEA210: Students prototyped an app for people who are hearing impaired to be notified of imminent threats on campus.

IDEA450: Students design and build an ADA accessible tiny home.

IDEA310F: Students interview someone with a medical or developmental need and create an adaptive piece for them. For example, pockets for people’s walkers, tailoring to make clothing more accessible, and clothing that isn’t available to buy off the rack.

Design thinking students carry a large piece of drywall into the 2023 CSU Tiny House.

CSU Campus Resources

Office of Inclusive Excellence
Assistive Technology Resource Center
Accessibility by Design
First-Generation Students
Pride Resource Center
Student Disability Center
CSU Land Acknowledgment