Design Fundamentals (Sec 100) – Course Schedule

Weekly Assignments, Agendas, and Due Dates

Section 100  •  T TH 9:30–11:50 AM

You should plan to spend about 15 hours per week on this class

Course Assignments Overview

You’ll complete four design projects in this class. My hope is that they will all be portfolio pieces and help you land your first job.

  1. Week 1–2
    1. Write your client’s Brand & Marketing Strategy (write two for practice) (25 points)
    2. Write your client’s Marketing Plan & Timeline (write two for practice) (25 points)
  2. Weeks 2–6
    1. You’ll Design: A Brand style guide using a logo you choose from my client list (100 points)
    2. You’ll Design: A coordinated set of three additional marketing materials (you will pick these with your instructor). (300 points)
    3. You’ll participate in two design presentations and critiques (25 points each)
  3. Weeks 6–7
    1. You’ll design a 2-page spread of your marketing campaign (see below) for your portfolio. (50 Points)

Class 1

Tuesday, Sept 8, 2026

In Class

  • Introduce Course / Syllabus / Marketing Campaign / Portfolio Pages
  • Reminder: You must design your marketing material; you cannot use AI for the design part. AI can help you generate photos, videos, sounds, text, or colors.
  • Log in to your classroom iMac (use the student ID and password you created when you registered).
  • Open a browser; Western prefers Chrome.
  • Log in or create a new account with an AI Agent. Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, or ChatGPT will work well for this project.
  • Design Project Introduction: Marketing Campaign – Instructions
  • 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.
  • Introduce and complete a Brand & Marketing Strategy for both clients (We’ll walk through this together in class)
  • Introduce and complete a Marketing Plan & Timeline for both clients (We’ll walk through this together in class)

Homework

  • Choose your client

Class 2

Thursday, Sept 10, 2026

In Class

  • Students pick one client to design for.
  • Read through your client’s Marketing Plan and Timeline and see whether it needs corrections or if you want to make changes.
  • Choose three marketing pieces to design from your plan. I’ll be demonstrating the four below in class, so you can choose three of them if you want:
    • Social Media Graphic
    • Email
    • Web Ads
    • 2-Sided Flyer
  • Introduce: You will also create a Brand Guidelines Page for your client (8.5″ x 11″ in Canva)
  • Create or find 2–3 design concepts/ideas for inspiration. These could be sketches, image searches, Pinterest mood boards, or AI-generated design concepts (which I recommend).
  • Remember: Refer back to your Marketing Plan & Timeline often as you design to keep true to your message, audience, actions, and goals.
  • Introduce the Design Project: Overview & Self-Evaluation Form (Students should fill it out now)

Homework

  • Begin thinking about and gathering/finding/creating photos, colors, typefaces, borders, etc. for your client. You’ll begin designing next class.

Class 3

Tuesday, Sept 15, 2026

In Class

  • (30–60 minutes) New Learning: We’ll review how to create your brand guidelines page in Canva.
    • Students will download the Vans Brand Assets Folder (or your own client’s folder) from the Clients to Choose From web page.
    • We’ll upload the assets folder to Canva and get started with our demo
    • Brand Guidelines Page & Canva walkthrough with Vans shoes
  • (20–30 minutes) New Learning/In-Class Discussion:
  • Continue designing your marketing campaign (brand style guide first, then your marketing pieces)
  • Work time in class and individual help as needed

Homework

  • Continue designing your brand guidelines page

Class 4

Thursday, Sept 17, 2026

In Class

  • (30–60 minutes) New Learning: We’ll review this piece of marketing material you could design for your marketing campaign.
  • Continue designing your marketing campaign (brand style guide first, then marketing pieces)
  • DUE: Brand Style Guide
    • Upload a PNG of your brand style guide to: DF Brand Style Guide
    • Print a copy, and we’ll pass them around in class so everyone can see what others are doing.
    • Put this copy in your classroom student folder
  • Watch Video as a class: Design Principles 2 (Layout)
  • (15 minutes) New Learning/In-Class Discussion:
  • Continue designing your marketing campaign (start designing your three marketing pieces)

Homework

  • Continue designing your marketing campaign

Class 5

Tuesday, Sept 22, 2026

In Class

  • (30 minutes) New Learning: We’ll review this piece of marketing material you could design for your marketing campaign.
  • (15 minutes) New Learning/In-Class Discussion:
  • Work time in class and individual help as needed
  • On your own: In class, ask your peers and instructor for feedback on your designs

Homework

  • Continue designing your marketing campaign

Class 6

Thursday, Sept 24, 2026

In Class

  • (60 minutes) New Learning: We’ll review this piece of marketing material you could design for your marketing campaign.
  • (30 minutes) New Learning/In-Class Discussion:
  • Work time in class and individual help as needed
  • On your own: In class, ask your peers and instructor for feedback on your designs

Homework

  • Continue designing your marketing campaign

Class 7

Tuesday, Sept 29, 2026

In Class

  • (60 minutes) New Learning: We’ll review these marketing materials you could design for your marketing campaign.
  • Group Critiques of your design work progress
    • Print your marketing material in color (11″x 17″), and we’ll critique in groups.
  • Work time in class and individual help as needed

Homework

  • Continue designing your marketing campaign

Class 8

Thursday, Oct 1, 2026

In Class

  • (15 minutes) New Learning/In-Class Discussion:
  • Work time in class and individual help as needed
  • On your own: In class, ask your peers and instructor for feedback on your designs

Homework

  • Continue designing your marketing campaign

Class 9

Tuesday, Oct 6, 2026

In Class

  • (15 minutes) New Learning/In-Class Discussion (Group Work):
  • Work time in class and individual help as needed
  • On your own: In class, ask your peers and instructor for feedback on your designs

Homework

  • Continue designing your marketing campaign

Class 10

Thursday, Oct 8, 2026

In Class

  • Group Critiques of your design work progress
    • Print your marketing material in color (11″x 17″), and we’ll critique in groups.
  • Finish your second of three pieces of marketing material and show your instructor
  • Work time in class and individual help as needed

Homework

  • Continue designing your marketing campaign

Class 11

Tuesday, Oct 13, 2026

In Class

  • As time allows, begin designing your 2-page portfolio spread featuring your completed marketing campaign
  • Work time in class and individual help as needed
  • On your own: In class, ask your peers and instructor for feedback on your designs

Homework

  • Continue designing your marketing campaign

Class 12

Thursday, Oct 15, 2026

In Class

Homework

  • Design your 2-page portfolio spread for your marketing campaign

Class 13

Tuesday, Oct 20, 2026

In Class

Class 14

Thursday, Oct 22, 2026

In Class

  • This is for make-up work