September, in Order
ART 418 · The Business of Design · What you turn in, when, and what it looks like
Workhorse Collective
NameAbraham GarciaEmailabe@wrkhrs.co
ART 418 · Fall 2026
MeetsMon + Wed, 1:30 to 2:50CoversSep 2 to Sep 21
meaninglayer.com/course/business-of-design
Changed Sep 14
The schedule moved. Write this down.
The pitch is recorded
Not three minutes standing. Ten minutes, your slides on screen, you in a corner with the camera on, your voice over them, exported as an MP4. Ten is the most, not the target.
It is due Mon Sep 21 at 1:30
Two files on Blackboard, the deck as a PDF and the MP4, uploaded before class starts.
Sep 21 is the seminar
Should designers design? Nobody presents and nobody sits through twenty pitches. Bring your problem statement printed. Monteiro 1 and 2 to read.
So Wednesday is studio
Sep 16 finishes the deck, then teaches the recording. You record a two-minute first take in the room before you leave.
The next nineteen days
Four hand-ins. One of them is recorded.
Wed Sep 9 · The audience
Three audiences, a paragraph each, and which one you lean to. Turned in on Blackboard, not presented.
Mon Sep 14 · The problem statement
One page as a PDF, on Blackboard. The four boxes, then the sentence in bold at the top. Every claim names a source. Turned in, not presented.
Wed Sep 16 · Pitch Studio
The deck is finished and the recording is rehearsed, in class. Boards, and a two-minute first take before you leave.
Mon Sep 21 · The pitch, recorded
Ten minutes, camera on in a corner, your voice over your slides. Two files: the deck as a PDF and the MP4, with the link in by 1:30. Milestone 1, 15 percent. Class that day is the seminar.
The Order
EACH HAND-IN IS A SECTION OF THE ONE BEFORE IT. NOTHING IS WRITTEN TWICE.
Sep 9 · The audience
The form
Three paragraphs, turned in on Blackboard, and one line saying which you lean to.
Each paragraph: who they are, what they use today instead, what that costs them. Davis, chapter 1, segmentation. Brown, chapter 2, the users context.
Example
Sous chefs at one- and two-location independent restaurants. Today they rebuild tomorrow's prep list from memory after close, off a whiteboard they photograph on a phone. What it costs them is either the food they throw out or a dish pulled mid-service.
From the demonstration deck on the class page. Its numbers are invented and marked; yours are not allowed to be.
Not this
"Small business owners." "Gen Z." "Anyone who needs to..."
A group you could not name three people in is not an audience. A group you could not reach this month is not one for this course.
BRIEF.MD IS ON THE CLASS PAGE. THE AUDIENCE IS ITS SECTION 2, REVISED.
Sep 14 · The problem statement
The form
One page, PDF, on Blackboard. The sentence in bold at the top, then the four boxes under it.
Who, and how you know. What, and what signs show it. Why it is worth solving, and what it costs unsolved. Where it shows up, and where it does not. Every claim names a source. Brown, chapter 2.
Example
Sous chefs at one- and two-location independent restaurants must have tomorrow's prep list built from what the kitchen actually used today, to start service without guessing.
From the demonstration deck on the class page, for Mise, an invented company. Check it against the six traps: it is not anchored on the product, and "actually used" is a claim the desk research has to earn.
Not this
"Kitchens need a prep-list app."
The solution in the need slot. Brown's first trap, anchoring. Also the reason the sentence above never mentions the product.
THE CHECK SHEET WITH THE SIX TRAPS IS IN THE WORKSHEETS PDF ON THE CLASS PAGE.
Sep 16 · Pitch Studio
01
What you bring
Monday's deck, as far as it got, and a collection: images, type, color, screens, objects, anything carrying the descriptors you would use for the brand. Enough to make two or three boards.
Start nowCollecting takes longer than assembling.
02
What you make
Slides 6 and 7: two or three mood boards or style tiles, one per page, each labeled with the descriptors it is testing. No favorite among them. Then the deck is done.
The testWhen we say "authoritative," do we mean police state or kindly professor? A board answers that.
03
What you rehearse
Then everyone records a two-minute first take before they leave.
ThenYou go home with a take to beat.
BROWN, CHAPTER 3, MOOD BOARDS AND STYLE TILES. PRESENT TWO OR THREE OPTIONS. DO NOT HAVE A FAVORITE.
Sep 21 · The pitch, recorded
01
The deck
About ten slides, one per part of Brown's discovery document, in his order: objectives and outcomes, the problem elaborated, the design direction, supporting details, next steps. The boards are inside it.
FormPDF on Blackboard with the MP4, and the slides are what the recording shows.
02
Next steps
The last slide, and the part a client would sign. Scope, outputs, fidelity, a timeline against the milestone dates, priority, and what the work would cost.
Fed byYour project objective from Sep 2, in the brief you started that day.
03
The ten minutes
Recorded: your slides on screen, you in a corner, your voice over them, MP4 uploaded to Blackboard with the PDF by 1:30. Ten minutes is the most, not the target. A pitch that cannot be followed gets a written note and is re-recorded by Monday, Sep 28, at 1:30.
GradedMilestone 1, 15 percent, plus the presentation mark.
NOTHING IN THE PITCH THAT THE READING OR THE LECTURES DID NOT TEACH YOU. THE NEXT TEN SLIDES ARE THE PREVIEW.
The Pitch, Previewed
TEN SLIDES. WHAT GOES ON EACH ONE, AND THE EXAMPLE FILLED IN.
Pitch slide 1 of 10 · Objectives and outcomes
What goes here
The product in one line. The problem statement, verbatim from Sep 14. What a good outcome would be.
Example
Mise builds tomorrow's prep list out of what the kitchen actually did today. Sous chefs at independents rebuild that list from memory after close, and a guessed list costs them waste or an 86 mid-service. Outcome: ten paying kitchens.
From the demonstration deck on the class page. Invented.
Taught in
Brown ch. 2, assertions. Ch. 5: begin at the end.
ONE SLIDE OF THE SEP 21 PITCH. THE EXAMPLE IS THE INSTRUCTOR'S, AND IT IS NOT FINISHED EITHER.
Pitch slide 2 of 10 · The problem, elaborated: business and technology
What goes here
What exists and what does not. The business context, however empty. The technology, as built.
Example
No revenue, two founders part time, one prototype running in one kitchen as a favor. It competes with a whiteboard, a group text, and the POS vendor's inventory add-on, which counts what was bought and not what was used.
From the demonstration deck on the class page. Invented.
Taught in
Brown ch. 2, the four contexts.
ONE SLIDE OF THE SEP 21 PITCH. THE EXAMPLE IS THE INSTRUCTOR'S, AND IT IS NOT FINISHED EITHER.
Pitch slide 3 of 10 · The problem, elaborated: users and content
What goes here
The three audiences and the lean, with the desk research in place of the question marks. What exists to read about the product.
Example
Three audiences: sous chefs at independents, owner-operators of two to six locations, commissary kitchens. The lean is the first, and the tension is that the second one holds the budget.
From the demonstration deck on the class page. Invented.
Taught in
Davis ch. 1, segmentation. Brown ch. 2, gather and process.
ONE SLIDE OF THE SEP 21 PITCH. THE EXAMPLE IS THE INSTRUCTOR'S, AND IT IS NOT FINISHED EITHER.
Pitch slide 4 of 10 · The design direction: the concept
What goes here
One line that says how the product feels, how it works, or both. The Carousel test.
Example
"The list writes itself while you cook." How it feels: the end of the shift is the end of the shift. How it works: the record is made in taps during service.
From the demonstration deck on the class page. Invented.
Taught in
Brown ch. 3, concepts and big ideas.
ONE SLIDE OF THE SEP 21 PITCH. THE EXAMPLE IS THE INSTRUCTOR'S, AND IT IS NOT FINISHED EITHER.
Pitch slide 5 of 10 · The design direction: principles
What goes here
Two or three, each with the finding in front of it. "We learned X. The implication is Y."
Example
We learned that hands are wet, gloved and holding something. The implication: every input during a shift is one tap, and no screen asks anyone to type.
From the demonstration deck on the class page. Invented.
Taught in
Brown ch. 3, principles and implications.
ONE SLIDE OF THE SEP 21 PITCH. THE EXAMPLE IS THE INSTRUCTOR'S, AND IT IS NOT FINISHED EITHER.
Pitch slide 6 of 10 · The design direction: board one
What goes here
A mood board or style tile, labeled with the descriptors it tests.
Example
Made in the studio. Labeled, for example: loud, legible, wipeable.
From the demonstration deck on the class page. Invented.
Taught in
Brown ch. 3, mood boards and style tiles.
ONE SLIDE OF THE SEP 21 PITCH. THE EXAMPLE IS THE INSTRUCTOR'S, AND IT IS NOT FINISHED EITHER.
Pitch slide 7 of 10 · The design direction: board two
What goes here
The second option. A third if you have one. No favorite.
Example
Made in the studio. A second reading of the same product at a different moment: quiet, ledgerlike, countable. The room says which one it is.
From the demonstration deck on the class page. Invented.
Taught in
Brown ch. 3: present two or three options.
ONE SLIDE OF THE SEP 21 PITCH. THE EXAMPLE IS THE INSTRUCTOR'S, AND IT IS NOT FINISHED EITHER.
Pitch slide 8 of 10 · Supporting details
What goes here
The three answered questions. A number with a clear takeaway. One competitor screen. One forum thread. Only what supports the conclusions.
Example
How many kitchens plan prep from memory. What a small kitchen already pays for software. What a sous chef calls the problem, unprompted, in their own words.
From the demonstration deck on the class page. Invented.
Taught in
Brown ch. 2, gather. Ch. 5, supporting details.
ONE SLIDE OF THE SEP 21 PITCH. THE EXAMPLE IS THE INSTRUCTOR'S, AND IT IS NOT FINISHED EITHER.
Pitch slide 9 of 10 · Next steps
What goes here
Next steps, in five lines: scope, outputs, fidelity, time against the milestone dates, priority, and cost.
Example
Scope: the prep list and the printed sheet only. Outputs: identity, the pass screen and printed list, a one-page site. Fidelity: the sheet is production ready, the screen is a prototype. Time: Oct 14, Nov 4, Dec 2. Priority: the sheet first.
From the demonstration deck on the class page. Invented.
Taught in
Brown ch. 2, project objectives. Ch. 3, imagine building it.
ONE SLIDE OF THE SEP 21 PITCH. THE EXAMPLE IS THE INSTRUCTOR'S, AND IT IS NOT FINISHED EITHER.
Pitch slide 10 of 10 · Close
What goes here
The problem statement once more, one sentence. Then the ask: what you want feedback on.
Example
Sous chefs rebuild tomorrow's list from memory at the end of the longest shift in the building. Which of the three boards is the thing we are actually designing?
From the demonstration deck on the class page. Invented.
Taught in
Brown ch. 3, get feedback: be specific about what you need.
ONE SLIDE OF THE SEP 21 PITCH. THE EXAMPLE IS THE INSTRUCTOR'S, AND IT IS NOT FINISHED EITHER.
How the recording runs
Ten minutes, and nobody in the room.
Thirty seconds to the point
Standing, a room looks at you because you are standing. Watching a file, somebody decides early whether this is worth ten minutes. Name the product and the problem on slide 1.
Rehearse, do not edit
One take you are willing to keep. Two run-throughs before you record save more time than editing afterward.
Audio is what makes people stop watching
Record in a quiet room with the earbuds from your phone, not the laptop microphone; lens at eye level, light in front of you. Export MP4, 1080p, upload it to Blackboard with the deck.
Sent back
A pitch that cannot be followed gets a written note and is re-recorded by Monday, Sep 28, at 1:30. Not a penalty. A second draft.