Student Work
Student Work
Open-ended briefs, independent thesis research, and work made with partners across Boston University and the city.
2nd Year MFA Studio
8 syllabi in the archive
Fall + Spring
I have taught both the Fall and Spring semesters of the core design studio for Second Year MFA Candidates. These projects represent work developed for specific open-ended project briefs I assigned to the class as well as more independently developed projects in support of their individual thesis research.
Syllabi: Fall 2026 · Fall 2024 · Fall 2023 · Fall 2022 · Fall 2021 · Fall 2020 · all
Senior Design Studio
6 syllabi in the archive
Fall + Spring
I have taught both semesters of the Senior Design Studio at Boston University, which is the third year core studio class for BFA Graphic Design majors. This work represents open-ended, challenging project briefs I wrote to help the students grow in being able to think independently and with their authorship as designers. Additionally described here are independent BFA Thesis projects which I advised and guided during the students' final spring semester.
Syllabi: Fall 2018 · Fall 2017 · Spring 2016 · Fall 2013 · Spring 2013 · Spring 2012
Junior Design Studio
11 syllabi in the archive
Fall + Spring
I have taught both semesters of the Junior Design Studio at Boston University, which is the second year core studio class for BFA Graphic Design majors. In the fall I give projects to help move students from the foundational design skills they learn in their Sophomore year into being able to adapt their perspective, interests and authorship into the design projects. This continues in the spring semester where they more deeply reflect on what interests and ideas guide them as designers and how they align that with the work they make.
Syllabi: Spring 2026 · Spring 2024 · Spring 2023 · Spring 2022 · Spring 2021 · Spring 2020 · all
The Hill We Climb
A collective installation of 26 posters from 26 individuals, unified by Amanda Gorman's text: The Hill We Climb as read at the Presidential Inauguration. Designed by Junior Graphic Design students to be read from beginning to end across 26 distinct surfaces, the project is inspired both by the powerful words of aspiration and unity and a history of collaborative and cooperative surrealist art projects. The class divided the poem into 26 roughly equal parts of approximately 4–5 lines. Each student then used the text to design a unique poster from their perspective.
From the syllabus: Spring 2021 Junior Graphic Design
Acknowledgments
A design project about striving to understand our identities better and how to personally relate to the multifaceted contexts in which we find ourselves—considering where we come from and what came before us—what shaped our paths as humans. 42 Junior Graphic Design students were asked to develop a deeper understanding of the place and land and the people’s history upon which we are standing and then how to relate their own identity or personal stories to the place in which they presently find themselves. Students then created personal acknowledgments through visual and verbal language and presented this in the form of a printed poster.
Created in partnership with Jean-Luc Pierite, Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana, President of the Board, North American Indian Center of Boston.
From the syllabus: Spring 2022 Junior Graphic Design
More from Junior Design
Sophomore Design Studio
2 syllabi in the archive
Spring
I have taught the spring semester of the Sophomore Design Studio at Boston University, which is the first year core studio class for BFA Graphic Design majors.
Syllabi: Spring 2017 · Spring 2015
Project Briefs
Briefs I have written, reused, and refined over the years.
Second Year Graduate Studio — 2019–22 · 3-week project
Extreme Scale
A project about shifting understanding and perspective. This is your second project, meant to be an experimental testing ground of ideas. It may or may not be a spectacular failure. Considering your research and development on your thesis ideas to date—make something in extreme scale.
Senior Graphic Design Studio — 2017–18 · Second Year Graduate Studio — 2019–22 · 3-week project
Remix
Choose 2 different pieces of content that you are interested in, and present them together as a remix or mashup in a publication. Presenting things in new contexts often injects new life, new perspectives, new understandings into the content. It is up to you to decide the best way to do this. This is meant to be a very fast project so don't overthink it.
I have reused and refreshed this brief slightly over the years. Originally written for senior undergraduates, I have since adapted it as part of the thesis development studio for graduate students. An alternative variation now asks students for 2 random things they are interested in at the start of the semester, without giving them context. I then bring those things back later in the semester and ask them to “remix” those two things. I have also removed the requirement that it be a publication; it is now an open-ended project.
A series of 3 interconnected projects
Design Voice in Three Acts
Designed to help you learn to turn inspiration and ideas into self-generated work. Pick a show from This American Life, 99% Invisible, Serial or S-Town (or another podcast or show). You will make 3 projects as part of this assignment. The first, very simply, is a re-presentation of the chosen show: make a 16-page booklet representing the story from the show you listened to. The subsequent two projects are inspired by the show. They are derivative of the content of the show. You are not retelling the story. You can make anything you want, but you must choose a constraint from the following list:
a brand identity · a video series · an installation · a functioning website · a book of 50 pages or more · a strategic plan · an online store · an exhibition · an intervention · something that can be sold · a methodology · a lecture · a documentary · something interactive · something coded · a movement, cause or campaign · a podcast · a tool · a service