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Human-Centered Design Minor

The human-centered design (HCD) minor is focused on the process of innovation for addressing human needs, and offers a creative discipline that can be applied to a wide range of fields.

The minor consists of three sections:

  1. foundation course in engineering problem-solving and design thinking
  2. courses in social science that inform design practice
  3. a culminating set of design electives

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Student Testimonials

Students discuss the benefits of adding Human-Centered Design (HCD) to their Dartmouth education.

Human-Centered Design at Dartmouth

The six-course HCD minor—Dartmouth's most popular minor—gives students the tools, mindset, and framework for creative problem-solving that integrates the human perspective at every step to develop products, systems, and experiences that generate positive change.

Prerequisites

COURSE TYPENUMBER OF REQUIRED COURSESCOURSES
Math1 courseMATH 3: Calculus

 

Required Electives

COURSE TYPENUMBER OF REQUIRED COURSESCOURSES
Section 1: Design Foundation*1 courseENGS 12: Design Thinking
Section 2: Ethnographic Methods and Psychology**2 courses

Choose 2 courses from the following, with 1 course from outside of the student’s major department:

ANTH 3: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
ANTH 18: Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology
ENGS 15.07: Research Methods for Human-Centered Design
GEOG 11: Qualitative Methods and the Research Process in Geography
PSYC 22: Learning
PSYC 23: Social Psychology
PSYC 28: Cognitive Psychology
PSYC 38: Cognitive Neuroscience
PSYC 43: Emotion
PSYC 50.02: Decision Making
PSYC 51.11 Thinking
PSYC 53.10: Social and Affective Motivations in Decision-Making
PSYC 53.12: The Behavior of Groups
PSYC 53.13: Social Neuroscience
SOCY 11: Research Methods

Section 3: Design Electives
 		3 courses

Choose 3 courses from the following:

COSC 23.01: Augmented and Virtual Reality Design
COSC 25.01: Intro to UI/UX Design I
COSC 25.02: Intro to UI/UX Design II
COSC 27: Projects in Digital Arts
COSC 28: Advanced Projects in Digital Arts
COSC 29.06 Digital Tangible User Interface
COSC 63.01 Augmented and Virtual Reality Development
COSC 67: Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction
COSC 89.34 Human-Centered Genera:ve AI
ENGS 15.01: Senior Design Challenge I
ENGS 15.02: Senior Design Challenge II
ENGS 15.09: Design Ethics
ENGS 15.11: Design & Education
ENGS 15.12: Design & Entrepreneurship
ENGS 18: System Dynamics in Policy Design and Analysis
ENGS 19.01: Future of Energy Systems
ENGS 21: Introduction to Engineering
ENGS 44: Sustainable Design
FILM 51: Game Design Studio
PBPL 43: Social Entrepreneurship
SART 65: Architecture I
SART 66: Architecture II

* It is recommended to take ENGS 12 first before other courses.

** Courses in psychology require PSYC 1 or PSYC 6 as a prerequisite (check the ORC for specific course requirements).

Course Planning

Students planning to pursue the minor should complete the Human-Centered Design Minor Student Worksheet and submit it to Professor Peter Robbie. Students must also enter their HCD minor plan on Dartworks. Keep the following considerations and guidance in mind when planning out your HCD minor.

No course may be used for both a major and a minor, although a course may be part of one of these and a prerequisite to the other, or a prerequisite to both. Satisfactory completion of the minor requires a grade point average of 2.0 in the courses beyond the prerequisites suitable for satisfying the minor.

Except for Math 3, none of the courses listed for the minor may be taken under the non-recording option.

When possible, it is recommended that you complete the course under Section 1: Design Foundation and at least one course under Section 2: Ethnographic Methods and Psychology before taking courses under Section 3: Design Electives.

All engineering majors: Only ENGS courses numbered below 20 may be counted toward the minor.

Students majoring in Cognitive Science, Cultural Anthropology, Neuroscience, Psychology, and Sociology may substitute an additional Section 3: Design Electives course in place of their second Section 2: Ethnographic Methods and Psychology course.

For additional information about majors, courses, and degree requirements, see:

Guide to Programs & Courses

Contact

Questions? For course planning questions, please contact Professor Peter Robbie.