Design Capstone

STUDENTS: Undergraduate seniors in the graduate Graphic Design program.

This course is more than a course, it’s an experience. Because I believe the best way to learn something is to do it, the course is designed as a fully functioning design studio. To truly learn about the design process, you need to experience it in its totality. In the industry there are no project sheets. Part of the job is to decide what a project’s specifications should be. For example, students may need to tell a client what they asked for would not be the most effective solution and suggest another approach, or students may suggest adding supplementary materials, such as a website to accompany a poster. Because of its design-studio focus, this course doesn’t have a lot of traditional lectures or even traditional assignments, because it is a personalized course that helps each student prepare and gain experience in pursuit of their dream job. Instead of me being the Professor in the front of the classroom, I become their Art Director and guide them to work on projects that will help them in the next step of their career. The class takes a benchmark trip to New York City for a number of design studio and agency tours, as well as networking. At the end of the semester, each student presents their final portfolio to the Graphic Design faculty and two outside reviewers.

Project 1: Design Ecosystem

In this project, each student identifies what they want to communicate about themselves as a designer, and then designs their professional ecosystem around this message. This ecosystem includes a logo, a portfolio website, and a full stationery system to use for their job applications and interviews.

Project 3: passion

The goals of this project are to further advance the student’s skills in a specific area and also to get more notice on social media, For 30 days the students spend 10 to 15 minutes a day working on this project, creating one letter or one illustration. They post these on social media each day, and at the end they have a full project to add to their portfolio.

Project 4: client

At the beginning of the class, I interview each student. Based on the interviews, I then assign each student a client that they will work with on one project during the semester. This helps the student further learn about working in the design industry while also making industry connections. Clients have included Sports Illustrated, Blue Chalk, Allure, NBC Universal, and The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA). Students have often received job offers as a result of this project. I work with the companies to create this program each semester and give priority to places that are looking to hire and advance student portfolios.