To understand who we are and what we do, we must first understand what Human-Centered Design is! Design for America defines Human-Centered Design (HCD) as a process that “first focuses on the needs of real people, then builds and tests ideas with users, and ultimately disseminates implemented solutions to individuals and communities.” A similar definition can be found with one of our campus partners, the Siebel Center for Design. They define HCD as “an interdisciplinary, problem solving approach that identifies the unmet needs of a population in order to collaboratively and iteratively develop solutions.” 

With that being said, Design for America (DFA) is a nationwide network of student-led studios. These studios are nodes of community, HCD education, and localized impact within university campuses across the U.S. DFA Studios are dedicated to connecting interdisciplinary student teams, mentors, and local organizations together by using HCD frameworks to co-create better futures for their communities.

DFA at Illinois is a highly diverse and interdisciplinary registered student organization and non-profit at The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. We welcome students from all backgrounds and majors to form student teams that will be taught the HCD Process to then employ it in the design of solutions that will solve real social problems in the Urbana-Champaign community. Below, you will find a timeline of what a typical school year looks like for DFA at Illinois!