Cultivating Creative Capacity Within Constraints
10 weeks · 7 challenges · portfolio by the end
Individual
01
M 3/30 · W 4/1
Dear Data, Design Vision
Theory
Creativity, data humanism, and visual restraint.
Cases
Hand-drawn data as a design medium.
Design Challenge
See data in everything — your own tastes made visible.
Dyads
02
M 4/6 · W 4/8
An Iconic Opening
Theory
Analogy and experience design.
Cases
How iconic openings are designed.
Design Challenge
Redesign how something begins.
Dyads
03
M 4/13 · W 4/15
The 30-Year Object
Theory
Constraints, durability, and repair.
Cases
Why some things last and others don’t.
Design Challenge
Design something worth keeping for 30 years.
Dyads
04
M 4/20 · W 4/22
Everything Is a World
Theory
The art of interviewing.
Cases
Going deep into mundane worlds.
Design Challenge
Interview someone inside a rabbit hole.
Dyads
05
M 4/27 · W 4/29
Invisible Senses
Theory
Multisensory design and reframing.
Cases
Designing beyond what eyes can see.
Design Challenge
Design a multi-sensory experience.
Individual
06
M 5/4 · W 5/6
Curating & Taste
Theory
Curation as self-knowledge.
Cases
Your own work as data about your design identity.
Design Challenge
What do your choices reveal about you?
Dyads
07
M 5/11 · W 5/13
Get Out of Your Head
Theory
Collective intelligence and creative disagreement.
Cases
How teams and tools make designers smarter.
Design Challenge
Design useful friction — with AI as a disagreeable partner.
Dyads
08
M 5/18 · W 5/20
Ugly Darlings
Theory
Iteration, prototyping, and productive failure.
Cases
Why the first version is never the best one.
Design Challenge
Take something you’ve made and make it better.
Dyads
09
M 5/25 · W 5/27
Less But Better
Theory
Reflection, polish, and storytelling.
Cases
The discipline of removing what doesn’t belong.
Design Challenge
Polish and present your strongest work.
Individual
10
M 6/1 · W 6/3
Who Are You Now?
Theory
Taste, point of view, and creative identity.
Cases
How designers discover who they are.
Design Challenge
Build a portfolio that shows who you are now.