Syllabus

Course Description

How will you record, capture, detail, archive, and tell your (design) story to others?

Before going into the world, every design student needs to reflect on who they are, what they care about, and how they can actively shape their practice. What would you like to do with design? What kind of designer do you want to be? Who do you want to work with? Where do you hope your practice takes you?

In this course, you will set goals for your professional growth and establish a sustainable workflow for maintaining a public design presence. You will systematically curate, document, and describe your work while exploring how these methodologies can amplify your unique perspective.

Course Specifics

There will be one large over-arching project: a suite of items that will assist you in your job/internship search and any freelance work you want to do on your own after graduation. Depending on your track, and level, some of these optional assets may or may not be applicable. Several of these items you may already have. If that’s the case, we’ll use this time to make them more effective.

Targeted list of desired employers/clients
Website
Selected Portfolio
.pdf, under 10mb, ready to attach in email
Resume/CV
Letterhead Package (optional)
e.g. business card, cover letter, invoice/proposal template
Motion Reel (optional)

The first five weeks of this course will be a ramp-up to Confluence. Confluence can be polarizing. Some look forward to it. And some think it is stressful. I am indifferent; it is simply an opportunity. For those who want a job or an internship with the companies that attend Confluence, great, let’s go for it. For those of you who want something somewhere else… Great, let’s use it as practice.

Once Confluence is over, we’ll unpack what you learned and spend the rest of the course meeting with designers from a variety of practices so you can get helpful information about what’s possible and how some went about exiting school… which will hopefully end the course with you leaving excited and inspired to go out into the world.

Ethos & Expectations

This course is for you. Outside of attendance, I do not require you to do anything. You need to require it from yourself.

I’d like you to leave this class with a well-designed and practical portfolio, resume, reel, and cover letter package. I’d like you to leave this class feeling comfortable talking about yourself and presenting your work to anyone. I’d like you to leave the class with an articulate recitation of your story... With a plan; customized to help you get precisely what you think you want. I want you to practice sustainability tactics and establish boundaries to avoid burnout. I want you to be able to acknowledge when you do feel this way and have recovery strategies. Most importantly, I want you to leave here confident about who you are and what you have to offer.

… But you have to want this also. Why else would you be taking this elective?

Learning Goals

To explore different modes and mediums of presentation as a means to craft appropriate strategies to present design thinking and visual work.
The ability to adapt these presentation strategies for specific contexts and/or audiences.
To develop a sustainable method for documenting, curating, and archiving your process, research and practice (work) which is easy to update, replace, expand, and re-curate over time.
To practice crafting concise and clear descriptions and documentation strategies of your work, research, and process.

Communication

This studio will not use Canvas. Instead, we will use this website, Google Drive, Are.na, and email. This website will be used as a central hub for our class... Bookmark it! The Calendar found on this website shares a broad overview for the mini. It will be updated before every class to share a detailed plan for that session and a note that outlines the expected work for the following studio. Our Google Drive stores significant class materials like slides and final submission forms. The Are.na will be used to share additional examples, references, and readings. These communication tools are hybrid, like those of a professional design studio. Get in the habit of referencing these tools, and try to check your email daily.

Office Hours

I care about your well-being and am committed to supporting your growth. Please reach out to me if you have any concerns, questions, or problems related to the class. I offer office hours for troubleshooting/feedback/etc... in-person and via Zoom. My office hours are T/R from 1-2 pm in MM204a (or B9). To schedule a time (or to request an alternate time), please send me an email. In your message, please offer a few times, a desired location, and a short note about our meeting. Please do not request a meeting during ‘family hours,’ like evenings and weekends. If we are meeting to troubleshoot a technical issue, please send me the appropriate information and/or files as soon as possible so I have time to familiarize myself and better help during our conversation. All emails should be responded to within 48 hours.

Attendance & Participation

This class follows SoD’s attendance policy; five minutes will be considered late, and if you are over 30 minutes late, you will be regarded as absent. Two absences may cause your final grade to drop a letter, as will missing key project milestone presentations or final reviews. Three absences may earn you a failing grade for the course. It is your responsibility to be on time and prepared.

To be considered present in my studios, you must be physically and mentally present during in-class announcements, activities, and discussions. I expect you to have the required materials prepared before class begins. Printing during the start of class time or otherwise finishing the expected work will result in final grade deductions. Activities and reviews happen as scheduled. If you don’t show up or are unprepared, they can’t and won’t be rescheduled. Obligations outside of the studio (like carnival, doctor’s appointments, interviews, other school commitments, etc.…) are not an excuse. A schedule overview is provided on this website to help you plan things accordingly.

If you do not intend to attend a class, or if you are running late, please let me know. Not doing so is unprofessional and can be very disruptive. When unexpected situations arise which may impact this studio, always reach out to me and your advisor (Jamie). Life can be messy! Communication is key!

Syllabus Supplement

Please review the rest of the SOD Syllabus Supplement for details regarding course requirements, attendance, expectations, inclusion and accessibility, and other important School policies.

Evaluation & Grading

Grades in this studio will reflect the necessary effort that leads to successful end artifacts. These criteria should be evident throughout your conduct and presentation of work during the semester and present in final submissions:

Contribution: attendance, participation, motivation, peer engagement, and personal commitment to teamwork & class community
Process: inquiry, search, research, study, networking of knowledge/insights, attention to the quality of ideas, critical thought, authenticity, and voice
Growth: range of experience, rigor, willingness to experiment, take risks, broaden horizons, and challenge oneself
Finish: demonstration of skills in craft, visual design, presentation, and communication of final work, including final documentation

There will be ample opportunities for feedback on your work in progress and final form. If you have any questions, or if at any point you’d like additional feedback, please find me before/after class or during office hours.

Final Submission

At the end of the course, you will be required to submit documentation of your work and written reflection on your process, outcomes, and key take-aways. Begin now the habit of documenting your work in a dedicated folder. Managing design files is a complex system in and of itself. Use this course to practice file management to assist in setting up a flexible and modular archive system. We will discuss file management and documentation strategies further during our first class.

Backup Policy

Setting up and maintaining a backup and archiving strategy for your work while you are at CMU and for future practice is crucial. Operate on the assumption that your hard drive or computer will go down, usually when you least expect it. You will not be excused for preventable loss of data. Consider establishing a so-called three-legged backup strategy: on-site (e.g. portable, external, USB hard drive for nightly backup), off-site (e.g. a constant cloud backup service like Dropbox), and a bootable clone (another physical USB hard drive that you back up once a week, as a clone of your drive which allows you to boot up another Mac — quickly and effortlessly — should anything happen to your own Mac).

I use a portable hard drive (updated working folders every night), work out of Dropbox (which can do TimeMachine-like backups), and use a large stationary harddrive for TimeMachine (backed up habitually every Sunday).