By: Veronica Lynagh, VP of Strategic Initiatives, International Center for Creativity

The years 2020 and 2021 have brought major growth and broad improvements to the ICC's already-innovative program including new facilities and team members. The last innovation came in the form of a summer workshop in footwear design, led by Ryan Dowd, a recognized footwear and industrial design leader with over 20 years of top-brand experience. The Wolverine brand sponsored the workshop which was supported in studio by ICC's resident studio designer and supporting instructor, Trayton Ojala (ICC/CU Class of '14).

Why a Footwear Workshop:

"Footwear design is an incredibly-competitive field that is very popular with young designers, and our grads have had very good placement in the industry including internships and full-time positions at companies like Reebok, Nike, New Balance, Crocs, Wolverine and more. However, the industry is rapidly changing, and we are considering expanding our programming to include more opportunities for students to get focused project work in soft good, particularly footwear, to be even more competitive. “Jim Stevenson, Co-Founder and President of ICC.

"Students are always asking me how to get into footwear design, so I started doing some online research into who the leaders were. What was great about finding Ryan is that one of students knew him from his home church and introduced us. When we saw his industrial design degree from Purdue University and the world class clients he has served, and then heard about his heart for wanting to teach in our kind of environment, we knew we had our instructor!" says ICC Instructor Tray Ojala.

How it Came Together:

Ojala and Dowd worked in tandem to build a framework for the workshop and map it to the design thinking principles and teaching methods that are pervasive to all instruction at the ICC. They further collaborated with other ICC instructors to build a 4-week immersive experience for registrants. Like true designers the development of the workshop curricula was iterative and free flowing; Dowd said, “I think we can get even better, I’m excited about what comes next as the program grows as much as I am the workshop we just hosted!”. 

"The ICC has a long history of brand-sponsored projects to support the experiential learning environment that has set the program apart for years. This project had to be a 'win' for everyone involved as well” says Dowd. 

Because of a prior client relationship with Wolverine, Ryan was able to present this opportunity to them and get them on board as the workshop sponsor just in time for the start of the project which spanned May and early June. Partners like Wolverine help to shape a real-world industry challenges where junior, senior, and recent graduates can thrive. Wolverine’s leadership all had positive feedback and added nuances of their needs that helped drive some of the teaching principles of the course. Students worked through consumer insight and research, sketching, details, construction, profile, height differentiators, all aspects of design that become more meaningful when you’re working with a client with real brand and market needs. 

"These brands are smart. They are reaching into design schools because not only are they getting new and fresh talent, but these students are, in some cases, their current customer, but certainly will be driving sales for the next ten years." says Ojala. 

The Results:

The first footwear workshop was hosted this summer at the International Center for Creativity located in Dublin, Ohio.

reached capacity at 15 students within its first week of being open. Below are samplings of some of the student work. 

• Registration for the workshop was full within days of the announcement of the project which affirmed interest in soft goods and footwear supplemental coursework

• Ryan Dowd applied to, and got accepted by Cedarville University's adjunct interviewing process and will be joining the team fall of 2021

• Two workshop attendees accepted internships inside of the industry (Crocs and Brooks Running)

• Wolverine had very encouraging and supportive feedback for not only the process but also the student work

The ICC, currently the only Christian Industrial Design program in the country and the 5th ranked program nationally. “This workshop modeled what the ICC education is and was always intended to be “industry experts working with students and driving the skills needed for our future workforce. The ICC has always shared the goal of an education that was as close to industry as possible, for industry. Adding Dowd to the team of industry experts makes the ICC even better” says Ojala.

Dowd formally begins his course with seniors this fall. “This model will prepare you better than most others prepare you to go right into the industry; it’s more than projects or competitions that you enter but instead getting right into it with an industry partner; students work on real products and in doing so they are learning and figuring out what they want to do – they can then go after the job they really want. Feeling like a professional designer before you graduate is an incredible way of teaching.” Says Dowd. 

*** Clients and sponsors of the ICC retain the designs and all rights to IP created by the students within their sponsored course. As such only images pertaining to teaching techniques and not final designs and concepts shared and owned by the sponsor can be shared.