ADJUNCT INSTRUCTOR, ART DEPARTMENT

COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY
Pittsburgh, PA

Taught range in lecture-driven art history and art appreciation, and digital-lab courses dealing with graphic design, web design, digital photography / photo manipulation, and digital publishing both online and on-campus.

Helped to design and implement online learning classroom environment and flow in the art department before the the online shift.

INSTRUCTOR, ART DEPARTMENT

CLARION UNIVERSITY
Clarion, PA

Developed syllabi and course structures, taught intermediate and advanced design courses, ranging in two-dimensional design, color, illustration, photography, printmaking, typography, and portfolio.

ADJUNCT INSTRUCTOR, ART DEPARTMENT

POINT PARK UNIVERSITY
Pittsburgh, PA

Taught introductory graphic design, focusing on page layout and structural theory, as well as Gestalt principles within design.

RELATABLE SOLUTIONS

Focus on bringing practical situations into the classroom.

Concepts revolve around partnering with other students (and clients) to ensure alignment and consistency in user experience and design quality across all intended targets.

REINFORCE IDEAS

Investigate and explore instead of relying on knee-jerk solutions.

Participate in and inform research activities to gather valuable insights, minding existing design solutions and what the audience actually wants.

FOCUS ON THE AUDIENCE

Help to understand intended target for the message.

Utilize research insights and research data (scenarios and personas) to inform and refine design solutions, optimizing them for technical and time constraints, business needs, and output-specific requirements.

CONCISE MESSAGING

Emphasize client and audience, not instructor preference.

Letting students own the design process for wireframes, user flows, process flows, site maps, interactions, high-fidelity prototypes, and storyboards for medium to large features or initiatives in their focused area; this reinforces quality finalized designs as well as understanding the need of the audience, not just what the client wants.

DESIGNING SYSTEMS

Create consistent content that goes beyond one application.

Students need to learn quickly that designed elements don’t always end on just one end-point; a well conceptualized poster can meld into a splash page for a website, or take graphic elements onto a package design, or a logo can live beyond the printed page, becoming animated.