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DESIGN-BS - Design (BS)

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Hasso Plattner Institute of Design Undergraduate Matriculated BS - Bachelor of Science

Program Overview

The DESIGN-BS bulletin page outlines all 2025-2026 degree requirements for students pursuing a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Design from the School of Engineering.  This undergraduate major is administered by the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (the Stanford d.school).  

Our mission is to graduate designers who can synthesize technology, aesthetics, and business factors in service of the planet and human needs.  Students emerge with a strong technical know-how, and visual thinking abilities that provide human-centered orientation to problem-solving. The ability to seamlessly integrate across “right brain / left brain” ways of thinking empowers students to make products, services, and experiences with transformative potential.  Students receive a foundation across engineering disciplines in mathematics, statistics, sciences, technology in society, and engineering fundamentals.  Our core classes draw from the social sciences and foreground ethics, implications, history, and needfinding. Each student pursues a method track for specialized training on a medium of making.  This is paired with the student’s choice of a domain focus area to address challenges in a field where designers create impact. All this culminates into senior capstone projects where students scope and execute meaningful design work.

Completion of all requirements within this undergraduate engineering program leads to conferring the Bachelor of Science degree in Design (DESIGN-BS). This major prepares students for unique internships, postgraduate study in design, careers in entrepreneurial endeavors, public or private sector institutions, and even careers that may not yet exist. 

About DESIGN-BS:

Academic Progress:

Enrollment and Classes:

Minimum Units in the Program

94

Minimum University Units

180