ART 418 · Charleston Southern University · Fall 2026
The whole term
Every meeting with what it reads, what it owes and what it argues. The term chart is still the way to find the next session; this is the way to see all of them against each other.
The work
- 15%Milestone 1: the pitchdue Sep 21The opening argument, built across September and presented standing on September 21: the product, the problem it poses, the audience you chose, and the ideas you want to carry into the brand, as a deck with a one-page proposal behind it. Say what the machine did.
- 15%Milestone 2: brand explorationsdue Oct 14The pitch distilled to a creative brief in class, then two weeks of open exploration: a moodboard, the brand themes, and the brand language, with the research behind them and recommendations rooted in the business problem. Say what the machine did.
- 25%Milestone 3: the branddue Nov 4The brand itself, built as the answer to the brief, and the largest body of work in the term. At minimum it carries a mark, a palette, the type, the voice, and three applications. Say what the machine did.
- 25%Milestone 4: the brand book and the landing pagedue Dec 2Where the term lands: the finished brand book, with the product-market fit plan as its go-to-market chapter, and a landing page for signup, both made from the brand's own rules. Say what the machine did.
- 5%Personal statementWritten twice. A first pass in the second week, made with AI in the open, and a final one in the last week, after a semester of work has given you something to say. Say what the machine did.
- 10%PresentationsEvery milestone is presented; the last one runs across the final two class days. Graded across all four.
- 5%ParticipationSeminar discussion, critique, and the studio check-in. Every work session opens with three minutes on your log, and that is where progress gets graded.
- 100%The whole grade
Part I · Brand from Business Data
You take on a product with no market. You find the problem it poses, research who could want it, choose an audience, and build the argument for what you want to make. It closes with the pitch.
Kickoff and Introductions
Introductions, and a walk through the whole semester: what the course is, how it runs, and what it asks of you.
Set
- Reading for Design Practice and Processback Aug 26
Design Practice and Process
An overview of design process and design practice.
Reading
- That Was Then, and This Is Now: But What Is Next?the essay, 8 pp.
- Creative Strategy and the Business of Designforeword and chapter 1 through Segmentation; the close reading is chapter 1, 20 pp.
Version Control, and Design Practice in the Age of New Mediums
Twenty-five minutes on GitHub Desktop, then the lecture. You stand up the project repository in class and your personal statement is its first commit, which is the whole point: the repo exists before the theory does. Then how new mediums change design work.
Reading
- Creative Strategy and the Business of Designthe rest of chapter 1, from Segmentation to the end, 12 pp.
Due
- Personal statement, first passPersonal statement
Set
- The audienceback Sep 9
- Reading for Product Research Workshopback Sep 2
Product Research Workshop
What makes research credible: sources, costs, and the difference between a claim and evidence. The audience hunt starts here, from the worlds your personal statement named.
Reading
- Practical Design Discoverychapter 1, Discovery Defined, 16 pp.
Set
- Reading for Should designers design?back Sep 9
MonSep 7
No class: Labor Day
Should designers design?
The debate over what designers do now: Soleio on designers who ship, Monteiro on design as a job, and how fast the ground is moving.
Reading
- Design Is a Jobchapters 1 and 2, 22 pp.
- Creative Strategy and the Business of Designchapter 10, the eleven questions a creative brief should answer, 12 pp.
Due
- The audienceMilestone 1: the pitch
Set
- The problem statementback Sep 14
- The pitch and proposalback Sep 21
- Reading for Process: Discoveryback Sep 14
Process: Discovery
The technical side of brand: brand infrastructure, brand platforms, house of brands, and how the pieces fit together, with Hall on how you go and ask people things. Your problem statements are on the table today, each framed for the audience you chose and argued against the evidence.
Reading
- Practical Design Discoveryfrom chapter 2, Frame the Problem: the sections on problem statements and project objectives, 10 pp.
- Just Enough Researchfrom chapter 6, Competitive Research, and chapter 9, Quantitative Research: 14 pp. in all
- Just Enough Researchfrom chapter 5, User Research: interview structure and conducting the interview, 12 pp.
Due
- The problem statementMilestone 1: the pitch
Pitch Studio
A working day on the pitch. The strategy at the desk: what the product is for the audience you chose, what has to be true for them to buy, and the ideas you want to argue for. The deck gets built here; Monday you stand with it.
Milestone 1: the pitch
Twenty pitches, three minutes each, standing: the product in one line, the problem you found, the audience you chose with evidence rather than assertion, and the ideas you want to carry into the brand. The one-page proposal you hand in carries the detail, and that page is what a client sees before any work starts. A pitch the room cannot follow is sent back and re-presented at the top of Wednesday.
Due
- The pitch and proposalMilestone 1: the pitch
Set
- Reading for Process: Definitionback Sep 23
Part II · Brand as Foundation
The pitch becomes a creative brief, written in class, and the brief drives two weeks of exploration that set the brand's direction. You build the identity, write it down as rules a machine can follow, and use it as the foundation for the go-to-market: the brand book, with the product-market fit plan inside it, and a landing page for signup.
Process: Definition
Definition: the frameworks a brand uses to define itself and speak to its audience, now pressure-testing the strategy you just pitched before it becomes a brief. Anyone sent back on Monday re-pitches at the top of class.
Reading
- Creative Strategy and the Business of Designchapters 5 and 6, ending with the Creative Strategy Framework, 24 pp.
Set
- Reading for Brand: Storytellingback Sep 28
Brand: Storytelling
Where the design work starts. The story a brand tells, who it is for, and the frameworks for telling it. Mark and Pearson enter here, so archetypes are on the table before you choose your direction. The thread picks up again in Part 2 with voice and language.
Reading
- Creative Strategy and the Business of Designchapter 8, Finding the Gold: turning data and insights into creative business solutions, 14 pp.
- Practical Design Discoveryfrom chapter 3, Set the Direction: assertions, principles, concepts, and Focus on a Solution, 10 pp.
- The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypeschapter 1, the archetype argument, 10 pp.
Set
- Reading for Creative Brief Studioback Sep 30
- Reading for Seeing and Being Seenback Oct 5
Creative Brief Studio
The pitch becomes the brief, in the room. The first half of class distills your pitch into the two-page creative brief that answers Davis's eleven questions; the second half starts the exploration while the brief is still warm. You leave with the brief turned in and the first references pinned.
Reading
- Creative Strategy and the Business of Designchapter 7, the advanced strategy session, 12 pp.
Due
- The creative briefMilestone 2: brand explorations
Set
- The explorationsback Oct 14
- The explorations, in progressback Oct 7
Seeing and Being Seen
Berger's Ways of Seeing, the week your direction becomes a brand. Episode 1 is screened in class: reproduction changed what an image is. Episode 2 is watched before class, and the discussion is how brands look at people and how people are taught to be looked at. The whole series is on the Internet Archive. Episode 3, Possessions, is optional, and episode 4 returns as reading in Part 2.
Reading
- Ways of Seeingepisode 2, Nude or Naked, watched before class, 30 min
- The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypeschapter 2, the twelve archetypes; a third of it tables and case stories, about 12 pp. of text
Set
- Reading for Brand: Storytelling Workshopback Oct 7
Brand: Storytelling Workshop
The moodboarding and brainstorming process, in the room: themes, references, adjacent brands, and analogous technologies, all argued against the brief.
Reading
- Creative Strategy and the Business of Designchapter 12, Sell Without Selling, 14 pp.
Due
- The explorations, in progressMilestone 2: brand explorations
Set
- The brandback Nov 4
MonOct 12
No class: Fall Break
Milestone 2: brand explorations
Twenty decks, three minutes each, last version up first. The new section argues: the moodboard, the themes, and the language have to come out of the September evidence, and the room says whether they do.
Due
- The explorationsMilestone 2: brand explorations
Set
- The direction and the first rulesback Oct 19
Brand Studio
A working day on the brand. The direction gets chosen at the desk, out of the Milestone 2 room notes, and the documentation starts the same day: the first rules go into the repository before you leave, so the build and the book start together.
Due
- The direction and the first rulesMilestone 3: the brand
Set
- The rules, written for a machineback Oct 28
- Reading for Brand Systems: Tokens and Rulesback Oct 21
Brand Systems: Tokens and Rules
What a brand system is: tokens, rules, roles, and guidelines, written for two readers, a person and a machine. Then we take a brand apart at the front of the room into color, type and spacing data, and you do the same to yours. Every decision in your brand gets restated as a rule.
Reading
- Creative Strategy and the Business of Designchapters 9 and 11, leading the client, and aligning target, channel, and messages, 20 pp.
- Atomic Designvideo, 30 min
Set
Brand Systems: Voice and Language
The written side of the system: voice, naming, and the rules that govern copy. The storytelling strand from Sep 28, written down as rules this time.
Reading
- Don't Call It Thatthe opening sections of the workbook, through the first naming exercise, 24 pp.
Set
- Reading for Testing the System with AIback Oct 28
Testing the System with AI
You hand your written rules to an AI model with nothing else attached and look hard at what comes back. Whatever it gets wrong is your to-do list. Use whichever tool you want: rules that only work on one model are not rules, they are prompts.
Reading
- Why A.I. Isn’t Going to Make Artthe essay, 25 min
Due
- The rules, written for a machineMilestone 3: the brand
Set
- The system, reviewedback Nov 2
- Reading for System Review Studioback Nov 2
System Review Studio
The whole system gets a desk review: brand data, rules, instructions, and the skills built for the machine, read as one thing before the brand stands up Wednesday. Then the room is studio time, and the brand is what gets worked on.
Reading
- This is the best time in history to be a designervideo, 55 min
- Ways of Seeingepisode 4, The Language of Advertising, 30 min
Due
- The system, reviewedMilestone 3: the brand
Milestone 3: the brand, presented
The brand showcase. Boards up before class, three minutes each arguing the identity against the brief. The rules work from the last three weeks is in the room too: where the machine already follows your brand, say so.
Due
- The brandMilestone 3: the brand
Set
Design for Meaning: Storytelling, Mythology, and Meaning
A deeper look at story: Joseph Campbell, archetypes, mythology, and how meaning gets made. Lecture first, then discussion. You met the archetype argument before the midterm; today you read your own brand through it.
Reading
- The Brand Gapthe first two disciplines, Differentiate and Collaborate; illustrated and fast, 14 pp. of text
- The Hero with a Thousand Facesfrom the Prologue, The Monomyth: the hero's journey in brief, 12 pp.
- The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypesthe opening of chapter 16, The Artichoke: uncovering the archetypal meaning of your brand, pp. 265-274
Product-Market Fit
What fit means and how a brand argues for it: the offer, the price, the channels, and the signal you would accept as proof. The argument gets written into the brand book as its go-to-market chapter, and the landing page is where it becomes real.
Brand Book Studio
The draft brand book is due today and worked in class: it is marked up overnight and comes back Wednesday. The second half of class works the go-to-market chapter, so Wednesday's revision closes it rather than opening it.
Due
- The brand book, draftedMilestone 4: the brand book and the landing page
Build Session 1
We run a build from a written system at the front of the room, then you start your own.
Set
- The landing page, first buildback Nov 23
Guest speaker, to be announced
A working designer on how the work actually gets bought. Monday because Wednesday is Thanksgiving. If no guest is booked by Monday November 9, this becomes Build Session 2 and November 30 becomes the punch list and the demo rehearsal.
Due
- The landing page, first buildMilestone 4: the brand book and the landing page
Set
- The brand book and the landing pageback Dec 2
WedNov 25
No class: Thanksgiving
Build Session 2
Punch list, scope cut, and a rehearsal of the Milestone 4 demo. The last twenty minutes are on how you talk about this project in an interview.
Set
- Personal statement, finalback Dec 7
Milestone 4: the brand book and the landing page
Live, three minutes each: run the system, show what it made, and name what it got wrong. The handoff README is turned in with it. Everything is due today for everyone; half the room presents today, the other half on Monday.
Due
- The brand book and the landing pageMilestone 4: the brand book and the landing page
Milestone 4, day two, and Wrap-Up
The second half of the room presents, same format: run the system, show what it made, name what it got wrong. Then the wrap: what the machine did and what you did, separated out across the whole term, and the punch list of what has to be in the repository by the end of class today, because nothing is due after it.
Due
- Presentations, day twoMilestone 4: the brand book and the landing page
- Personal statement, finalPersonal statement
The exam window
Final versions
Everything is due by the end of the last class, December 7: the final versions of the brand book, the landing page, and the personal statement, in the repository. There is no exam-week meeting and nothing is due after the last day. The room has already seen every part of the project.