Summer Design Days
An exciting summer design experience at University of Idaho. June 25-28
Summer Design Days is an annual event on the beautiful U of I campus where students experience a wide range of art and design disciplines through hands-on projects in dynamic workshops led by our world-class faculty.
But there is even more for you! You will have a unique college campus experience, in-person, for four days with design professionals, but also with other interesting students like you.
Join us for an experience this summer that cannot be matched.
Registration will close June 10, 2025. Full reimbursement only offered through June 11.
If you are local and not staying the night on campus, please contact sdd@uidaho.edu for an adjusted rate.
Workshops
Thursday
Pattern Magic Origami Paper Clothing – (Workshop 1: 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.):
Learn about patternmaking, draping, and origami style clothing in this apparel, textiles and design workshop. Create a paper 3D garment using the Japanese Bunka pattern drafting method using origami style garment patterns and half scale dress forms.
Browzwear 3D Apparel Design – (Workshop 2: 1:45-5 p.m.):
See how garments can be designed and fit onto models before having to cut into fabric using 3D apparel software. Customize an avatar, select pre-drafting garment designs, and alter the fit and appearance of the garment using apparel industry technology.
Friday
Embroidery – (Workshop 3: 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.):
Explore the art of hand embroidery, learn basic stitches, and play with creative techniques to personalize apparel.
Marbling Dye Technique – (Workshop 4: 1:45-4 p.m.):
Learn how to transform textiles and make custom art prints using marbling dye techniques.
Thursday
Block Parti – (Workshop 1: 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.)
This workshop will focus on the classic architecture parti. Partis were first introduced in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts) during the 18th and 19th centuries. A parti is an organizing thought or principle. In architecture, it represents the basic idea or scheme that a building design is based on, guiding decisions and informing the overall layout, form, and aesthetics.
Micro Block – (Workshop 2: 1:45 - 5 p.m.)
This workshop builds upon the compositional and organizational foundation of Block Parti. Participants will use various materials to create massing structures for their ideal neighborhood block.
Friday
Making Room: Moving Into the Drawing Workspace – (Workshop 3: 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.)
This workshop will introduce the beginnings of architectural world-building with emphasis placed on orthographic projection as the vehicle to build a room by identifying spatial conditions in the drawing workspace.
Room with a View: Moving Out of the Drawing Workspace – (Workshop 4: 1:45 - 4 p.m.)
This workshop will further explore architectural world-building by moving out of the drawing workspace with emphasis placed on physical model making to ground a view in a particular context.
Thursday
Graphic Design: Transformative Type – (Workshop 1: 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.)
Using Adobe Illustrator, participants will explore the expressive potentials of type as shape. Through the learning of a few key digital tools along with compositional strategies using the principles of design, participants will develop an artwork that visually conveys the impact of the words they are representing. Final designs will be printed at the end of the workshop.
Mixed Media Accordion Books – (Workshop 2: 1:45 - 5 p.m.)
Participants will use mixed media approaches including, drawing, watercolor, collage, and relief print to create a cohesive composition in an Accordion Book format.
Friday
Expressive Drawing – (Workshop 3: 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.)
Using soft colored pastels students will learn and practice the fundamentals of expressive drawing, color theory and color mixing. In the workshop they will create an expressive exciting self-portrait.
Printmaking – (Workshop 4: 1:45 - 4 p.m.)
This screen-printing session would have a variety (~6) of prepared silkscreen images developed on screens and ready to print at stations in the printmaking studio. Students would first become familiar with the printing process on paper as they combine and layer images and create new color and form combinations through overlapping ink films. Time permitting, the second part of this day might involve printing a single-color image on T-shirts, tote bags, or flat fabric. Work on textiles would ideally air-dry overnight and be ready take-home or for ironing (to cure the ink) the following day.
Thursday
Contextual Clues in Space + Place – (Workshop 1: 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.)
What drives design? In interior architecture and design, our mission is to create environments that encourage meaningful moments and respond to user needs and aspirations. This workshop explores the role that precedents play in the design process. Like an archaeologist, learn how designers analyze existing everyday spaces then uncover and interpret layers of meaning to inform and inspire future design solutions.
Creatively Designing Furniture – (Workshop 2: 1:45 - 5 p.m.)
Furniture is one of the most important factors in any habitable setting, and its design can make or break a space. This workshop begins by examining an existing object and then deconstructing and transforming it into a unique furniture design. From concept and ideation to drawing and model-building, participants will follow the design process to rethink and reuse this kit of parts for a new purpose, finishing with a final physical scale model of their creation.
Friday
Making Room: Moving In and Out the Drawing Workspace – (Workshop 3: 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.)
Making Room will introduce how one can interact within spatial design considerations, using the drawing workspace to move in and out of the page at varying scales through the completion of different types of drawings. Students will explore a connective space that we commonly use in our daily lives and will look into how we design for where we come from – and where we want to go – in an interdisciplinary fashion.
Modeling to Communicate the Idea – (Workshop 4: 1:45 - 4 p.m.)
Communicating in design is one of the most important skills one can learn, especially between two and three-dimensional work. This workshop will explore world building in the design environment by jumping between the drawing board and the real world in the form of a physical model that demonstrates space. Students will employ a particular drawn perspective that gives them clear context clues as to how something would be built to scale.
Thursday
Designing a City Park – (Workshop 1: 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.)
In this workshop session you will design a city park! Will it include a playground, an amphitheater, pickleball courts, a skate park, and/or a picnic area? You can also include paths and trails, a lighted fountain or water feature, and a teen hang out zone. From New York City’s Central Park and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park to the Gardens of Versailles, landscape architects design projects, including great parks, help to define communities! Prior to the design workshop we’ll look at some great parks from around the world for inspiration.
Designing Streets for People – (Workshop 2: 1:45 - 5 p.m.)
For decades, streets were always designed with principally the car in mind. However, over the last decade, we have been finding new ways to get the most out of our streets by designing them for people and not just for cars. This workshop session will explore all the innovative ways streets can be designed to support vibrant downtowns and neighborhood centers—as shared streets or festival streets, incorporating parklets, and with streetscape elements, such a street trees that thrive in urban environments, furnishings, pedestrian scale lighting, public art, and more. We’ll review some examples of streetscapes from Idaho and throughout the world prior to giving students the opportunity to design their own multimodal street and streetscape project.
Friday
Designs that Connect People Together with Nature – (Workshop 3: 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.)
Some places in nature, such as our national parks, river corridors, wetlands, and other natural resource lands, are already beautiful places that don’t need to be “designed.” However, enhancing the ways that people can interact with these places and the natural experiences they offer requires some special consideration and skill. This workshop session will explore examples of national park projects, state parks, and greenways and then will give students opportunities to design human scale features and connecting pathways and hubs of activity, education, and interpretation in these locations to better connect people with nature.
Thursday
Character Animation – (Workshop 1: 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.)
Design a character animation in the style of your choice: hand drawn, anime, grease pencil, realistic or another form that excites you. You will discover how to animate your characters using motion capture and to animate scenes in 2 or 3 dimensions. The creations produced during the workshop will be rendered as animations that you can take with you and share with friends.
Friday
Visualizing a Story – (Workshop 3: 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.)
What is your story? Be a storyteller and film director for a virtual production studio. Discover ways to recreate the environment of your story while exploring storyboarding and filming inside a virtual world. Watch as your story evolves from a short text to your visual interpretation. Your finished product will be a virtual environment that you can share with others.
Alien Plant Design – (Workshop 4: 1:45 - 4 p.m.)
In this workshop, students will have the opportunity to design and create their own alien plants using clay and other materials. After completing their designs, participants will utilize LiDAR and photogrammetry technology to scan their plants and import them into a virtual environment. Once in the virtual space, students will be able to navigate and explore the various plants they created using an avatar.
Questions?
Please contact:
Rebecca Senefsky, Director of Recruitment and Retention
sdd@uidaho.edu
208-885-1186