Teaching Experience & Student Work

Teaching Experience

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Adjunct Instructor 1992–2006.

VISCOM 4221 - 001 Design Directive Seminar

VISCOM 4121 - 001 Identity and Systems: Print Design
In this advanced studio course, students have the opportunity to develop comprehensive, print-based media graphic design programs. Building upon conceptual and formal skills introduced in VISCO 3500, students explore strategies and methodologies of content development to produce refined visual communications (i.e., graphic identity programs, promotion/information systems, publications) which engage their audiences in a physically interactive way.

VISCOM 4001 - 001 Advanced Graphic Design I
This course is an orientation toward complex communication and layered information problems. General topics of study are proposed, and students must then develop their own area of focus.

VISCOM 4000 Independent Projects

VISCOM 3003 - 001 Package Design I
Students produce simple and complex three-dimensional studies. Principles of abstraction combined with packaging construction techniques serve as the basis for developing solutions. A variety of assignments are given that explore the integration of typography, image, and form.

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Syracuse University, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Independent Study Master of Arts Program

Visiting faculty, summer of 1995, 1998, 2002, 2006.

The Syracuse Independent Study Master of Arts Program is targeted to professionals returning to school to move their career to the next level. I taught and co-taught two-week intensive seminars on brand research, positioning, and design. I also hosted student "field trips" at Grillo Group offices in Chicago.

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University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, School of Art + Design

Visiting instructor 2009, Adjunct Lecturer 2021–2022.

ARTD 444 Typographic Systems, Spring 2022
Students engage with complex typographic systems across varied media in a studio setting.

ARTD 251 Graphic Design Toolbox, Fall 2021
This studio introduces students to the field of graphic design in theory and practice. The course examines what graphic designers make and the methods that are employed in contemporary design practice. Emphasis is placed on the organization and visual presentation of relevant content across media and their effect within systems.

ARTD 311 Intermediate Graphic Design II, Spring 2009
Goal-directed graphic design problem-solving with emphasis on the methods of thinking and research which precede the making of design communications; development of systems for objective problem-solving. Prerequisite: ARTD 310.

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Student Work

ARTD 444 Typographic Systems, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Students establish design directives to inform the creation of simple to complex typographic hierarchies and systems on screen, in print, and in the environment. We begin with basics and build up to typographic refinement, detailing, and integration. Each project is an opportunity to practice audience-based design methodology and to learn about design history.

Throughout the semester, students are given short, one week assignments intended to introduce and develop skills that complement larger, long-term projects.

Seed packet design focuses on period-specific typography. Each student is assigned a decade to research and base their design on.
Photo order form redesign focuses on type hierarchy, simplification, and clarity.

This project introduces students to a selection of historically significant typefaces, type classifications, terminology, specimens, pairings, grids, and other typographic anomalies.

Here, students focus on hardworking typography. Using actual McHenry County Conservation District (Illinois) content, students compare and contrast typographic best practices for print and online applications. The audience is people of all ages and backgrounds who enjoy nature, including prospective volunteers and donors.

Inspired by a reading of their choosing from a range of selections, students consider how typography plays beyond the page and screen—in three-dimensions, as sculpture, as environment.

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Student Work

ARTD 251 Graphic Design Toolbox, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign