Design Lab I
Design Lab I is a foundational studio course that introduces students to visual communication through making, experimentation, and critique. Students build core skills in typography, composition, color, hierarchy, image-making, and visual storytelling while developing technical confidence in Adobe Photoshop.
I approach the course as a working studio rather than a software class. Through short lectures, demonstrations, guided exercises, project-based assignments, individual feedback, and peer critique, students learn not only how to use design tools, but how to make intentional decisions based on audience, context, and communication goals.
Beyond technical skills, the course emphasizes design thinking, critique, presentation, professional communication, and responsibility. Students practice explaining and defending their choices, giving constructive feedback, responding to critique, and revising their work with greater independence. Questions of representation, accessibility, and the responsible use of emerging tools such as generative AI are also introduced as part of the design process.
My goal is for students to leave the course with stronger visual and technical skills, but also with the confidence, vocabulary, and judgment to communicate their ideas, evaluate their own work critically, and approach design problems more independently.
- Course overview, syllabus, expectations, and studio culture
- Lecture: What is Design? — intentional communication, problem-solving, and decision-making
- Introduction to visual research, observation, and storytelling
- Photoshop Workshop: interface, canvas, layers, placing images, Move/Transform, saving PSD filesProject 1: Design as Observation introduction + subject research
- Hands-on basic image composition
- Lecture: image selection, meaning, context, and visual communication
- Photoshop Workshop: selections, Select Subject, masking, basic image adjustments
- Present subject research + 10 visual references
- Begin hand sketching and composition studies
- Discuss how research informs design decisions
- Lecture: balance, contrast, hierarchy, scale, alignment, proximity, and repetition
- Photoshop Workshop: Transform, scale, opacity, layer order, guides, alignment, and adjustment layers
- Present 5 hand sketches / composition studies
- Project 1 studio practice
- Individual feedback and transition from sketch to Photoshop
- Lecture: typography fundamentals, hierarchy, consistency, and type as a visual element
- Explore the timeline as a storytelling structure rather than simply a line
- Project refinement + individual meetings
- Project 1 Final Presentation
- Introduction to Project 2: Design as Client Work
- Introduction to designing from a client brief
- Research movie posters, genre conventions, mood, audience, and visual references
- Develop and pitch multiple film concepts
- Lecture: communicating genre and mood through image, typography, color, and composition
- Begin hand sketches and poster concepts
- Present 5 composition studies and begin Photoshop development
- Photoshop Workshop: compositing, masking, blending modes, and color adjustments
- Develop the primary image and cinematic composition
- Explore typography, focal point, hierarchy, and negative space
- Studio practice + individual client-style feedback
- Revise concepts based on review
- Continue poster refinement and review cycles
- Prepare final outputs and presentation
- Present and defend design decisions
- Respond to client feedback and complete final revisions
- Project 2 Presentation
- Introduction to Project 3: Design as Product
- Research product advertising and competing visual approaches
- Present product research + 10 visual references
- Develop product concepts and identify target audience and brand tone
- Lecture: visual identity, consistency, variation, and campaign systems
- Begin hand sketching
- Present 5 compositions and begin Photoshop development
- Develop three variations of one product
- Explore consistency across typography, layout, imagery, and graphic language
- Studio practice + individual meetings
- Refine the relationship between individual advertisements and the overall system
- Refine all three advertisements as a cohesive campaign
- Evaluate consistency, variation, audience, and communication
- Prepare final presentation and explain the system behind the campaign
- Project 3 Final Presentation
- Introduction to Project 4: Design as Commentary
- Introduction to Design as Commentary
- Select and research a nineteenth-century historical image
- Examine its context, stereotypes, original function, and social meaning
- Discuss representation and the responsibilities of designers working with problematic imagery
- Present research findings
- Begin conceptual sketches and visual reinterpretation
- Connect historical research to personal perspective and contemporary issues
- Explore strategies such as collage, reframing, juxtaposition, fragmentation, typography, and image transformation
- Lecture + Photoshop demonstration
- Present initial sketches
- Studio development + individual critique and feedback
- No Class
- Refine the final static poster
- Individual critique and design revisions
- Introduction to the digital / animated version
- In-class motion poster practice
- Explore how composition changes when design begins to unfold over time
- Refine static and animated outcomes
- Individual meetings and final technical review
- Prepare professional presentation and design defense
- In-class motion poster practice
- Project 4 Final Presentation
Portfolio
Design lab II
Statements & CV