About

Teaching is a passion

I teach and write because I have a passion for sharing and interacting with learners of every age and ability. I also do it to learn. I've interviewed more than 100 designers about their creative process as part of my research for the book Drawing for Product Designers. Those conversations, above all else, have helped shape my own thinking about visualization and made me acutely aware of just how varied the approaches to design are today.

I've taught every phase of the undergraduate industrial design curriculum and over the years have developed new and innovative ways to enhance learning through the integration of media. I've been fortunate to be invited to run workshops on visualizations around the world, As a result of those invitations, I've been able to work with art educators to incorporate design thinking into their curriculums; I've introduced college faculty members to new approaches and strategies for teaching design visualization; And I've taught thousands of students to embrace sketching as a tool of thinking.

The 2nd edition of my book (Laurence King Publishing, U.K.) greatly expands the focus to include not only sketching physical artifacts but also UI/UX, and social innovation. An entirely new chapter focuses on the increasingly critical skills associated with low-fidelity sketching: mapping, diagramming, wireframing, storyboarding, sketchnoting, etc. to frame and explore ideas at a high level before defining possible solutions. The challenge for designers in the 21st century goes far beyond artifacts to include systems, large scale social issues, and the increasing sophistication of technology and artificial intelligence.

I've been fortunate to partner with others to create online courses for product sketching (lynda.com) as well as design thinking. These experiences and opportunities have been vital to my growth as an educator. I've recently launched my own learning company (thefourthteacher.com) to focus on designing interactive learning resources for inside and outside the classroom. The website will go live in March 2019. If you are interested in learning more about workshops, please go the workshop page

Workshop map

I've been very fortunate to be invited to colleges and universities in 10 different countries to run workshops for students, educators, and professionals. The workshops are a platform for constant experimentation and tweaking of material and approach. The chance to interact with students in short intense formats is so rewarding for everything I do. Students (and educators) provide me with the critical feedback loop that makes this process so rewarding.

hands-on teaching

My favorite part of running workshops is the ability to interact directly with students, review what they've done, and add my thoughts or comments. After presenting material, demonstrating approaches, or setting up exercises, I love to walk the floor, observe, and sketch with students to clarify any issues they might have. I routinely send out surveys to hear directly from workshop participants (image from a workshop in Regensburg, Germany)

Sharing research

I've been presenting my research at conferences around the world for more than two decades. This research spans technology, design trends, d.i.y. culture, photography, and learning. This work feeds into everything I do. I've been able to run workshops at many of the academic conferences I attend,

I'm particularly interested in how we learn, the impact of memory on learning, and the cognition of visual thinking, With the rise of 'smart' products, the designer is required to understand both form-related affordances as well as cognitive ones.

Learning science

Understanding how we learn is central to everything I do. Since writing my book and running workshops based on the content, I've become increasingly interested in new ways of teaching and learning. As I develop new media-rich resources for the workshops, I continue to read the cognitive science literature on learning. The accompanying sketchnote was created from an excellent article by Cynthia Brame at Vanderbilt University.