This study investigates the elements of classic design foundations exercises in light of an increasing need to incorporate product interaction and design for emergent behaviors in the use of products into industrial design foundations. Visual and conceptual design foundations are the basic building blocks of all design disciplines, the abstract components that structure a visual language—color, texture, shape, volume, space and line. Design foundation projects balance formal and conceptual issues while emphasizing research and the skillful execution of ideas. Foundation exercises teach students how to see, think and develop an idea, and they encourage them to refine their understanding of what a design problem can be. As a result, students experience, in a compact unit, the combination of rational, intuitive, and critical thinking, and they learn to construct meaning using visual form. Industrial designers are increasingly being asked to design products and systems that incorporate interactivity. The present study examines several design foundations exercises in the Industrial Design program at the Arizona State University that extend traditional formal foundations aspects with prompts for students to consider the users of their designs, and to understand form as a bridge that enables the dialog between users and a designed product, system, or service. Form explorations address design for affordances and how interaction- oriented design of product form supports product understanding and leads to new behaviors of use.