Data-Driven Design

Originally designed for a summer 2011 two-week workshop that ran at RISD from July 25 to August 5th, 2011. The syllabus, lecture notes and assignments are available from the link below.

The course was also taught with some alterations once-a-week over four weeks at the University of Connecticut. For example, the students were asked to visualize the average price of college tuition using the materials and space in the art building.

W See course materials

Graduate Typography 1

This course concerns itself with typography as described in two ways: a purposeful craft that branched off from printing and a formal element within an artistic composition.

The course led seven RISD graduate students included history, letterpress workshop, type exercises and projects. Two websites came out of the class. One that collected student photographs of typography in use, and the other that collected student projects and assignments

W See picturesoftype.com
W See course website

Intro to Web Design

The two-week sprint is complete! Sixteen students ranging from undergraduate to mid-career level each produced a working site in HTML and CSS. See the course curriculum and projects on the course site.

W See website for class

• Website

RISD Senior Degree Project

In spring 2011, I taught two sections of the senior degree project course. To quote the introductory text that I wrote for the website, “Every senior in the department is asked to challenge him or herself by devising, developing, and completing a semester-long work. Degree projects are as varied in form and process as design it self. ”

W See the website for this course

Visual Systems

This is a required course for juniors at RISD. Spring 2012 will be the fourth year I’ve taught the course. See past work at the links below:

W See 2011 class Web site
A See 2010 documentation on flickr
A See 2009 documentation on flickr

Form & Communication

This required course for sophomores and first-year graduate students (not as of 2010) is meant to get students making complex and engaging graphic form. I taught this course in the fall semesters of 2006 and 2008.

A See 2008 documentation on flickr

Workshop: Serendipity in the Digital Library

This workshop asks students to translate the joy of happenstance from the physical library to the digital one. Students will receive an introduction to three Providence libraries. Students will perform three one-day exercises that follow a design methodology of observation, documentation and prototyping. Performed over four days at Fusion Arts, a program for international exchange students at R.I.S.D. August 2007 and July 2008.

W See course materials

Workshop: Expressive Form with HTML / CSS

Web design is often taught from a user-interface and usability perspective. ‘Expressive form with HTML/CSS’ taught introductory HTML and CSS with a focus on formmaking. The three five-hour sessions were taught within RISD’s Form & Communication course in the fall of 2006. Using prompts like: “use only symbols and numbers at very large and very small sizes (then combinE them), students saw HTML/CSS not just as a means to achieve a Photoshop file, but as a way of discovering the unexpected. R.I.S.D Fall 2006. Can be retaught.

Student work:

• Website

Open Re/Search

Since January 2006, I have taught this yearly six-week wintersession course. Quoting from the syllabus, “O/R is the time to focus in on potential areas for deeper study on issues you have identified as important to you.” The course is structured like a grant application: students write a proposal with a schedule and hypothesized results. Weekly one-hour meetings with students nurture the project’s development.