School of Design
Research & Creative Activity
Mike DeAnda originally co-developed
Golden Mart during the early months of shelter-in-place COVID-19 ordinances. After a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2021, this solo tabletop roleplaying game focused on a customer service employee working the night shift as a magical catastrophe down the street threatens the fabric of society was shipped in September 2022.
Nate Matteson led the design team that created the 0xEAE Boost, designed to be a robust, modular, and extensible pedal platform both inside and out.
Assistant professor Sajad Amini and students designers Skylar Baker, Izzy Lima, and Magda Wilhelm were honored with a 2025 Communication Arts Award of Excellence for OPUS, a 2-color inkjet/screenprint poster created to promote the 2024 School of Design capstone showcase event.
DePaul Originals Game Studio is an interdisciplinary lab that brings together game artists, designers, engineers, sound designers, and producers to work together in an ongoing large studio experience.
Faculty and students in new innovative labs at CDM, Matters at Play, directed by faculty Lien Tran, and PUSH Studio, directed by faculty LeAnne Wagner, are collaborating on the design of a VR experience to train law enforcement in trauma-informed and victim-centered interviewing techniques when investigating sexual assault.
CDM is home to several research labs and centers where faculty and students engage in cutting edge research and design.
Grants and programs provide resources for faculty to encourage and support research efforts.
Opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to participate in research with faculty are available.
Featured Work
Faculty
Richard Wetzel and PhD student Sara Bayat Hashemi are working on an interdisciplinary project in partnership with the Environmental Studies program in the College of Science and Health and DePaul’s Egan Office for Urban Education and Community Partnerships. The project investigates how 360° video and a virtual reality serious game can increase interest in conservation and restoration activities in K-12 school children.
Faculty LeAnne Wagner is the director of the new Strategic Partnerships for the Advancement of Research and Knowledge or
SPARK Center, which aims to foster collaboration across disciplines by leveraging data science, design and AI.
Creative Areas
Digital imaging, illustration, and montage, combining digital and traditional Japanese image making processes.
Graphics, animation.
Games studies, queer studies, gender and media, design research.
Generative and computational design, sound, and immersive experiences.
Design, interactive media.
Design of technology tools, learning, design thinking, data dashboards and visualizations, online social learning networks, learning analytics, design patterns, experience design.
Design fiction for ethical worldbuilding—artificial intelligence + metaverse.
Game design, virtual reality, augmented reality, physical games, folk games, art games, games and the avant-garde, serious games, political games, experimental games, indie games, game criticism.
Design, design strategy, social impact design, game design, game development, indie games, transformational games, games for change, serious games, social impact games, tabletop games, interaction design, UX, UI, human centered design, design thinking, web design.
Queer computing & HCI, with research in: sense-of-well-being online, computational boundaries of human experience, oppression and erasure in social media.
Interactive fiction, exploring culture and metaphor with play.
Design, education, game development.
Serious games, game design, augmented reality, virtual reality, location-based games, pervasive games, learning experiences, ideation techniques.
Design, coding, data analysis and visualization, data-driven speculation and futures, multimethod research and mixed methods research, transdisciplinarity, complexity theories.
Graphics, animation, design, branding, typography.