Department of Design (DoD), at the Indian Institute of Technology-Guwhati, was establishes in 1997 and offers for the first time amongst the IIT’s an undergraduate degree program in Design with a focus on the areas of Product Design and Development, Usability Engineering, Ergonomics Research in Design and Communication Design and New Media.

Today, it offers the following Design programs:

• 4 year undergraduate degree program in Design leading to a B. Des (Design) degree
• 2 year Masters program in Design leading to MDes (Design) 
• Doctoral program in Design leading to PhD
  

Located in the north eastern region of the country, the Department of Design has a special emphasis on design and development of the various product and communications systems relevant to the development of the eastern sector.

The improvement of the social sector, the small and medium scale industries and crafts sector is of special significance. This is a unique initiative of IIt-Guwahati. Along with design education, members of its faculty offer consultancy to various industries, government departments and the social sector organizations like NGO’s.

The areas of focus include the deisgn and development of new product and product systems, ergonomics, research usability engineering including studies in human computer, interaction craft and development design studies.

In the areas of Communication Design, thrust is in Graphic design, Exhibition design, Animation design and New Media studies.

The department has full-fledges workshop/studio facilities including wood working, metal, plastics and ceramic processing.

It’s studio facilities include photography, including product photography studio Video studio for shooting and editing and Multimedia computer studios. Human factors/ergonomics laboratory is well equipped to undertake various design evaluation assignments in the above two fields. It has facilities for Product prototyping using Rapid Prototyping machinery. A full fledged Usability Evaluation lab has been established. Labs for New Media studies are in the process of being set up using both Mac based and PC based platforms. With the aegis of the institute the department has the option to draw upon expertise from amongst the other departments. These include Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Humanities and Social Sciences, etc.

The faculty is comprised of 10 full time faulty members who have wide experience in the areas of new product design and development, industrial design, usability engineering studies, craft design, graphic design, video and new media.