With full autonomy in curriculum design, I brainstormed ideas with industry colleagues, deciding on the theme, "Startup in a Semester," during which the students would survey integral product design process steps — competitive analysis, product strategy, branding, user personas, and wireframes — as they worked towards producing an interactive prototype, which is often used by developers to create the final product and/or share with potential investors. Students worked in teams, collaborating on deliverables while also alternating roles product manager, designer and copywriter, providing them with an understanding of different professional opportunities outside of graphic design that might be of professional interest.

For the midterm, the student teams presented their product design strategy work to a panel of panel of account, creative and technology professionals — co-workers and friends that I invited to provide feedback to the students. I wanted to push the students out of the comfort zone of peer critiques to hear different perspectives from future co-collaborators. By the end of the semester, four students teams presented their ideas for mobile apps themed around groceries, transit, nightlife and restaurants. Their work exceeded not only my expectations, but their own as well, as they were challenged to move past their limited view of graphic design and embrace new technologies, roles and perspectives — mindsets required of successful professionals. Following class, a few students were inspired to move into non-graphic design careers, including user experience design and product management, for companies including SAP, Google and SalesForce.