Technology Requirements

Since fall 2020, all students at Iowa State University have been required to own or obtain a laptop computer or other device appropriate to their program of study. The first-year Core Design Program emphasizes hand drawing and manual skill building within studio courses, as well as digital literacy integration via the online Digital Design Literacy course. Students should purchase or bring a computer capable of running the programs used in the digital literacy course.

Please see the current laptop specifications on the Digital Technologies page before making a purchase and note that the College of Design provides Core students with a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud for access to Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop software for the digital literacy class. Please do not purchase an individual subscription.