Each year, fourth-year students in Ohio State’s Industrial Design major area embark on a journey through their capstone semester, where academic rigor meets design impact. This year, we’re proud to announce four partnerships that are shaping the future of design in Central Ohio and beyond.

About the Capstone Experience

The Industrial Design Capstone comprises two courses—Design Research III (5201) and Advanced Industrial Design I (5101)—that guide students through a strategic design process, led this year by Assistant Professor William Nickley. From problem identification and framing to prototyping and final proposal, students work in close collaboration with sponsoring organizations to address challenges through strategic design.

Previous capstone project outcomes can be found in Ohio State Design’s Research Gallery, some of which have won high honors for undergraduate research at Ohio State as well as winning national design award recognition.

Meet Our 2025–26 Capstone Sponsors

This year’s industrial design capstone features four sponsored project areas, each offering students a unique opportunity to explore strategic design innovation in collaboration with industry and community-based leaders:

Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, LLC

Project Theme: Automotive Interior User Experience for the Back Seat Experience. Students are exploring how digital interfaces, ambient lighting, and sound can facilitate meditative experiences inside vehicle interiors. This year’s project lead for Honda is Kal Whalen, Electronics & Controls Planning & Strategy Dept.

Student Team (pictured below during site visit, left to right): Joe Christiano, Francesca Knoetgen, Sydney Greenwell, Lincoln Ahn, Hannah King.

Huntington National Bank

Project Theme: Designing Financial Clarity for Modern Living. Students are reimagining banking experiences to empower users with clarity, control, and tools for balancing present needs with future goals. This year’s project lead for Huntington is Dennis Burns, AVP, Sr. Interaction Designer, User Experience.

Student Team (pictured below during site visit, left to right): Kora Lilly, Cynthia Szeto, Isaac Moyer, Lea Sokol

Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Parks & Watercraft

Project Theme: Balancing Conservation & Recreation for Ohio’s Public Parks. Students are developing speculative design proposals around “low-impact” recreation in Ohio’s parks. This year’s project leads for ODNR are Heather Bokman, Sustainability Coordinator, and Tracey Coe, Clean Marina Coordinator.

Student Team (pictured below during site visit, left to right): Aliina Lange, Emily Tanchevski, Mica Bendezu, Nicole Li

Neighborhood Design Center (NDC)

Project Theme: Circular Economies from Waste to Community Impact. Connected to “local loops,” a project funded through the Battelle Engineering, Technology, and Human Affairs (BETHA) Endowment, this project explores durable circular economies in Central Ohio with an emphasis on community connections through NDC. This year’s project lead for NDC is Glennon Sweeney, Director of Community Programs & Outreach, with additional support from the Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence (CDME) via Lily Hurst, Lab Coordinator.

Student Team (pictured below during site visit, left to right): Jessica Angst, Cheyann Clingerman, Chipper Orban, Sophie Chu

Partner with Us!

Capstone sponsors play a vital role in shaping the next generation of design leaders. By partnering with Ohio State Design, organizations gain access to a world-class design talent pipeline, engagement with top design scholars, and a fresh look into emerging areas of research. Successful capstone projects can center emerging markets, novel technology application, strategic thinking and innovation, wicked problems, tailored to an organization’s mission and vision.

We’re actively seeking new partners for future capstone cycles. If your organization is interested in sponsoring a project, please reach out to Assistant Professor William Nickley at nickley.3@osu.edu.

Join Us in Celebrating Design Innovation

The 2025–26 capstone cohort is already hard at work, and we look forward to sharing their final presentations during a Spring 2026 exhibition. Stay tuned for updates and highlights from the course—and help us celebrate the power of design to shape a better future.