In Art and Design education, it is challenging to teach basic design courses for freshmen. On one hand, freshmen have a very limited knowledge base, and the transition process from high school to college education patterns may take a long time (and vary on a individual basis). On the other hand, teaching design course requires train abstract insight and design thinking and demands extensive hands-on practice. Future designers need to acquire creation in their curriculum to feel equipped to address design challenges in their career. This paper focuses course design and active learning strategies in basic design courses to increase freshmen' motivation to engage in professional learning. Different from traditional studies where the major focus is basic knowledge teaching and skill training, the course strategies follow the principle of liberal arts, thinking first, and interesting, with the aim to keep the interests of the freshmen and to avoid the creation of frustration in their early studies. The project activities were mainly performed in Art and Design department of Beijing City University. It summarizes course design strategies and share feedback from the students and lessons learned. The results highlight that designed courses increases art and design freshmen' interests in profession learning. These findings show the importance of course design model in design courses to empower future designers to address complex problems challenges through design and innovation.
