Design Clubs at Berkeley
We understand that design isn't exactly accessible in Berkeley—so we've made a quick compilation to hopefully introduce some of the design organizations here!
New & Upcoming: D@B’s future events
Ask Me Anything: Motion Designer Abraham Yang
Date & Time: Monday, October 2nd, 2023, 6:30 - 7:30 PM
Location: Dwinelle 229
Welcome to UC Berkeley!
An introduction to design organizations at Berkeley.
There’s many different types of organizations here—as we all know (or are coming to know), club culture is huge at Berkeley! Design at Berkeley (D@B) would love to make design-related things as accessible to students of all levels. Here are just a few design clubs to explore!
Blueprint (BP): Pro-Bono Design Consulting
Blueprint is a tech-design-developer club at UC Berkeley that develops pro-bono apps for nonprofits and promotes tech for social good. There are three different teams in Blueprint: designer, developer, and the external team! Explore tech while making an impact in real-world projects.
Learn more here: https://calblueprint.org/
Berkeley Innovation (BI): Design-Consulting
Berkeley Innovation is UC Berkeley’s first student-run design organization since 2003. As a human-centered design consultancy, BI works with clients on projects ranging from physical to digital products, brands, and experiences. Berkeley Innovation as a whole is passionate about education and making design resources more accessible — we teach the Human-Centered Design DeCal every semester at Berkeley, host an annual HCD conference, provide public design workshops, and more.
Learn more here: https://www.berkeleyinnovation.org/
Diversatech (DT): Design-Consulting
DiversaTech is UC Berkeley’s leading student-run technology consultancy. We combine engineering, design, and business principles to create novel, dynamic, and impactful recommendations. Diversatech has a variety of clients, ranging from Salesforce, Adobe, Figma, Walmart and many more! Every semester differs, so explore the intersectionality of tech and design with Diversatech!
Learn more here: https://www.diversatech.org/
Innovative Design (InnoD): [Pro-Bono + Client] Design Consulting & Teaching
Innovative Design is a creative home for continuous growth. Bringing together our campus’ creatives, InnoD creates outlets for other students to learn design and provide services for other fellow student organizations. We are designers, photographers, and web developers together in a mission to Make Berkeley Beautiful. Innovative Design has three separate categories: design, photo, and web—all of these have differing experience levels, categorized by beginner, gold, and blue teams!
Learn more here: https://www.innovativedesign.club/
Invention Corp (ICB): Pro-Bono Design Consulting
Invention Corps of Berkeley is an interdisciplinary group of students driven to create meaningful global impact through human-centered design. We partner with people and organizations with the objective of creating tangible solutions in the realms of society, health, poverty, and the environment. Some of our clients range from Planned Parenthood to Philz Coffee—Invention Corps emphasizes on real world social impact projects.
Learn more here: https://inventioncorps.org/index.html
Avenues of Design
Design is embedded everywhere in the world—in some way, shape, or form, design is an important feature in many careers. Below are snippets of job descriptions that include design and its process!
Graphic Design: Graphic designers create visual content for print and digital media, such as logos, brochures, websites, and advertisements. Graphic designers can also be included in brand and logo design processes.
Web Design/Development: Web designers and developers work on the layout, aesthetics, and functionality of websites, ensuring they are user-friendly and visually appealing. Web designers use data to create functionality in websites.
Interior Design: Interior designers plan and design the layout and aesthetics of interior spaces, including homes, offices, and retail environments.
Architectural Design: Architects design buildings and structures, considering both aesthetics and functionality while adhering to safety and regulatory requirements.
User Experience (UX) Design: UX designers focus on creating intuitive and enjoyable user experiences for websites and applications by analyzing data sets from users.
User Interface (UI) Design: UI designers design the visual elements of digital interfaces, such as buttons, menus, and icons, to enhance usability.
Game Design: Game designers create the overall concept, gameplay mechanics, and visual aesthetics of video games.
Automotive Design: Automotive designers create the visual and functional aspects of vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, and other forms of transportation.
Product Design: Product designers work on various consumer and industrial products, from electronics to kitchen appliances.
Package Design: Package designers create attractive and functional packaging for products, considering branding and consumer appeal.
These are just a few career routes you could go down in design! Design contains a plethora of skills, ranging from technical to creative roles—it’s embedded and necessary to all parts of the world.