RALEIGH – It’s a field that touches us dozens of times a day – yet we seldom notice.

“Design touches us in ways we might not even realize,” Dean Mark Hoversten of NC State University’s College of Design says in the accompanying video.  “Design is not just what it looks like – design is how it works.”

NC State’s College of Design spans pursuits that range from product design – say, that ergonomic toothbrush you used this morning – to website graphics, film animation, smartphones, medical devices, fashion, cars, buildings, plazas and open spaces.

The field is rapidly evolving with technology.  Hoversten discusses how architects once drew buildings with their hands, then with a computer keyboard, and now with their hands once again using 3-D systems to move walls as they design structures.

North Carolina is a growing center for the design world, he says.  One highlight is NC State’s annual Art2Wear fashion show, where 8 to 10 design students are selected to design an entire fashion line – and also establish industry contacts that will last them a lifetime, Hoversten says.

He emphasizes that it’s multi-disciplinary work.  Designers work with educators, physicians, nurses, anthropologists, wildlife biologists, engineers and even mining companies.

“Not only the technology is changing so fast, but what you can do as a designer and the difference you can make in the world is changing so rapidly…,” he says.  “It’s an open world out there and designers are really having fun being part of it.”