When you engage with our program, you support diverse students on their journey to a profession that needs them. Whatever the nature of your business, IxD students are eager to collaborate with you and put their design thinking skills to work.
“Designing for Activision was an incredible experience. The guidance and support of Activision’s design team throughout our 16 week journey provided valuable real world context to the lessons our professors have shared with us in the IxD program. Having the opportunity to develop solutions that balanced the desires of their users while simultaneously adhering to business needs helped elevate my designs from blue sky thinking to working creatively within practical constraints.”
“Working with the SMC IxD program was a rewarding and mutually beneficial experience. We were able to leverage students in a key demographic (18-34 year-olds) to help come up with ideas and validate them against others in the same demographic. The students were able to come up with solid concepts that we’re actively working to incorporate into our product.”
Provide students opportunities to ask questions and seek advice as they learn and grow in their new profession.
Commitment:
Flexible
Spend time with students at your workplace, expose them to the company culture, and show them a typical day in the office.
Commitment:
1-2 hours (per tour)
Visit students in the classroom, share your passion, and provide insights into your design or tech career.
Commitment:
1 hour (per session)
Give students the opportunity to see what it’s like to work in design or tech by spending one-on-one time with them at your company.
Commitment:
~3 hours (per session)
Provide students work experience at your company throughout the academic school year and summer.
Commitment:
20-40 hours per week
Meet, engage, and offer feedback to students as they show their work.
Commitment:
2-3 hours (per session)
Have students work on challenges or questions facing your business or industry. These might be practical (how do we increase sales?) or exploratory (what’s the future of healthcare?).
Commitment:
Flexible
Share openings for entry or junior-level positions at your company or in your network with graduating students.
Commitment:
Flexible
Bring your company and our students together to collaborate on a challenge in a compressed time frame.
Commitment:
2-3 days
Your financial contributions give deserving students opportunities to thrive and enter a profession that was previously out of reach.
Commitment:
Flexible
Provide students work experience at your company throughout the academic school year and summer.
20-40 hours per week
Share openings for entry or junior-level positions at your company or in your network with graduating students.
Flexible
Have students work on challenges or questions facing your business or industry. These might be practical (how do we increase sales?) or exploratory (what’s the future of healthcare?).
Flexible
Meet, engage, and offer feedback to students as they show their work.
2-3 hours (per session)
Provide students opportunities to ask questions and seek advice as they learn and grow in their new profession.
Flexible
Visit students in the classroom, share your passion, and provide insights into your design or tech career.
1 hour (per session)
Spend time with students at your workplace, expose them to the company culture, and show them a typical day in the office.
1-2 hours (per tour)
Bring your company and our students together to collaborate on a challenge in a compressed time frame.
2-3 days
Your financial contributions give deserving students opportunities to thrive and enter a profession that was previously out of reach.
Flexible
Give students the opportunity to see what it’s like to work in design or tech by spending one-on-one time with them at your company.
~3 hours (per session)
We collaborated with verynice
Engagement: Design Challenge
A local design studio, verynice, and their client, The American Heart Association, challenged the IxD class “Design for Community Change” to tackle food deserts in South Los Angeles.
“SMC's IXD students were a perfect fit to collaborate with our studio, verynice, and our client, the American Heart Association. They brought the curiosity, tools, and diversity of thought necessary to get out of the classroom, ask great questions, and involve community members in co-creating potential solutions about a topic as difficult as food deserts in LA.
Working with them was an absolute pleasure. Within a matter of weeks, they were fully immersed in the topic area, as well as embedded in the communities they were designing with and committed to the client they were designing for. All of us at verynice were more than impressed by how professional and thoughtful each team was about how they work.
They all came up with designs that made the best of the constraints given to them so that each proposed design or recommendation could be integrated and implemented by the AHA while never losing sight of the community needs they aimed to address.”
Shane Chase - Design Strategist @ verynice.
Ready to engage with our program and help our students start their careers? Our industry liaison is here to understand your unique needs and find an engagement style that works for your business. Our students can’t wait to work with you!
