Entrepreneurial Design 2021

This publication is intended as a space for students of the School of Visual Arts MFA Interaction Design program to post about their journeys through our Entrepreneurial Design class.

The class, entering its 10th year, challenges students to launch products into the real world in the space of just 15 weeks. They will face the intimidating challenge of identifying their own audiences and market opportunities, and the unique vulnerability of putting “a piece of themselves” into the real world via their products. To raise the stakes further they’ll be seeking to generate $1,000 revenue and needing to reach beyond their own immediate friends, family, and community to do so.

The class seeks to simulate some of the experiences of operating outside of the academic environment where conditions are less controlled, and uncertainty is rife. This means learning to be nimble, to adapt to unexpected circumstances, and to face the scrutiny not just of peers and faculty but of the public as well. Being entrepreneurial isn’t just for entrepreneurs, these skills are critical for operating successfully as designers and creators in all kinds of environments — from freelancing to joining startups to navigating giant organizations.

We’re teaching the class having been through the program ourselves, and having faced these challenges as students in 2014. Progressing from students to teachers has provided us a fairly unusual perspective — and empathy — for the struggle (but ultimate reward) the process affords. We’ll be encouraging students to post about their progress, assignments and experiences here on a weekly basis, and this will hopefully continue into future years as an archive of times past.

Best of luck to the Class of 2022 as they begin the semester this week!

Sam and Luke