Weekly Assignments, Agendas, and Due Dates
Section 100 • M W 0:00–0:00 AM • Coleman Building, Room C101 • Instructor: Craig Kunce
You should plan to spend about 15 hours per week on this class
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Course Assignments Overview
You’ll complete these design projects in this class. I hope they will be portfolio pieces that help you land your first job.
- You’ll complete your Design & Marketing Strategy (25 points)
- You’ll complete the demo website build (100 points)
- You’ll complete your own website build for a client of your choice (200 points)
- You’ll participate in design presentations and critiques (25 points each)
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Class 1
Day, Month 00, 2028
In Class
- Introduce Course / Syllabus / Portfolio Pages
- Reminder: You must design your marketing materials; you cannot use AI for the design. AI can help you generate art, photos, videos, sounds, text, or colors.
- Introduce: Design & Marketing Strategy
- Demo Website Build: (We’ll do this together in class for a T-shirt company)
- WordPress Subfolder Install
- WooCommerce & Plugin Install
- Add a Product to Your Website (We’ll do one together in class)
- Choose one client from the Clients to Choose From web page, or pick your own.
- If you pick your own client:
- Make sure they have a logo — we won’t have class time to design one.
- I recommend a clean logo on a transparent background (a vector file is preferred). Do a Google search if needed.
- Homework
- Choose your client (real or made up): A company that sells products that you can sell and/or ship online.
- Write your Design & Marketing Strategy (Answer the six questions)
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Class 2
Thursday, Sept 10, 2026
In Class
- Demo Website Build:
- Add two more products to your demo website build (together as a class)
- Brand your website (logo, favicon, color palette, typography, buttons)
- Set the navigation design and the categories in dropdown menus
- Remember: Refer back to your Design & Marketing Strategy often as you design to keep true to your message, audience, actions, and goals.
- Introduce the Demo Website Build Grading Checklist
Homework
- Add the final three products with my images and text to your demo website build
- Begin thinking about and gathering/finding/creating product photos and mock-ups, colors, typefaces, borders, etc. for your client
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Class 3
Tuesday, Sept 15, 2026
In Class
- Demo Website Build:
- Finalize and review your header, footer, and products
- Set up the homepage and design two featured product cards
- Work time in class and individual help as needed
Homework
- Finalize which logo you’ll use for your own website
- Finalize which six products you’ll sell and start creating photos and mock-ups for them
- Finalize your color palette (3–5 colors)
- Try to finalize your typefaces (1 primary) (1 secondary sans serif for buttons)
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Class 4
Thursday, Sept 17, 2026
In Class
- Demo Website Build:
- Finalize and review homepage and featured product cards
- Demo how AI can write your product descriptions, tags, and Yoast SEO categories
- Demo how AI can create product mock-up gallery images with a prompt
Homework
- Continue writing your product titles, descriptions, tags, and Yoast SEO categories
- Continue creating your product and gallery mock-up images
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Class 5
Tuesday, Sept 22, 2026
In Class
- Demo Website Build:
- Demo cart and checkout pages and how to customize
- Demo Square integration with WooCommerce
- Demo product returns and legal pages
Homework
- Finalize your design and marketing strategy (all six questions)
- Continue writing your product titles, descriptions, tags, and Yoast SEO categories
- Continue creating your product and gallery mock-up images
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Class 6
Thursday, Sept 24, 2026
In Class
- Demo Website Build:
- Install Mailchimp for WordPress plugin
- Go to Mailchimp account and create email sign-ups (one for pop-up, and one to embed on the homepage)
- Demo A/B testing in Mailchimp
Homework
- Continue writing your product titles, descriptions, tags, and Yoast SEO categories
- Continue creating your product and gallery mock-up images
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Class 7
Tuesday, Sept 29, 2026
In Class
- Work time in class to finalize your demo website build.
- Buff everything out and be prepared to present your final site next class
Homework
- Complete the Demo Website Build Grading Checklist
- Finalize your demo website build and prepare to present to class
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Class 8
Thursday, Oct 1, 2026
In Class
- Students present their final demo website build to class
- Hand in your Demo Website Build Grading Checklist
Homework
- Continue designing your marketing campaign
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Class 9
Tuesday, Oct 6, 2026
In Class
- Introduce: Client Website Build Grading Checklist
- Client Website Build:
- Begin at the top of your grading checklist and customize your website for your own client
- CAUTION: Make sure I’ve graded your Demo Website Build before writing over it to make your Client Website Build. (Or, you can create a new subfolder and fresh website if you choose, but this will be more work for you)
Homework
- Continue creating your client website
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Class 10
Thursday, Oct 8, 2026
In Class
- Continue creating your client website
- Work time in class and individual help as needed
Homework
- Continue creating your client website
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Class 11
Tuesday, Oct 13, 2026
In Class
- Small group presentations and critiques of your client website build
- Write down the feedback you receive from your group and make the changes you feel are appropriate
Homework
- Continue creating your client website
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Class 12
Thursday, Oct 15, 2026
In Class
- Instructor critique of your client website build
- Write down the feedback you receive from your teacher and make the changes you feel are appropriate
Homework
- Continue creating your client website
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Class 13
Tuesday, Oct 20, 2026
In Class
- Students present their final Client Website Build to the class
- Hand in your Client Website Build Grading Checklist
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Class 14
Thursday, Oct 22, 2026
In Class
- This is for make-up work