In the Fall of 2015 I was a Teaching Assistant for the Senior Problem class at the University of Memphis. The class is designed to be a final test for graduating seniors where they conceptualize a fictional business and then create an entire identity for it. It's an extremely intense and focused course but the students usually pull through with flying colors.

My responsibilities were essentially to help out the students with any technical or theoretical help they needed. I would spend about fifteen minutes with each student every class period helping them shape their projects.

The Fall of 2015 was my second time as the teacher of record for Image Design at the University of Memphis. I'd learned a lot teaching it for the first time in the Spring of 2015 and really improved myself.

The class consists of four projects:

The first is an illustrated magazine cover.

The second is a set of icons based on the 7 Deadly Sins.

The third is a metaphorical poster based on an historical event.

And the fourth project is a logo and packaging set. For this semester they had to design a beer logo and at least three individual labels.

In the Fall of 2017 I had the opportunity to teach a Typography I class at my alma mater, the University of Memphis. The goal of the class was to introduce type as a design element to intro level students. We studied the anatomy of type, the power and voice of different typefaces and fonts, and we worked 'round the clock pumping out projects all while only being allowed to use Helvetica and Times.

Project 1 was about familiarizing the students with different letter forms and how they behave in different typefaces. The goal was to zero in on a specific part of a letter, crop it, and present it in a way that shows the beauty of type all trying to stump the rest of the class on which letter it is (without being too withholding). The challenge of this project not only taught the students about the importance of viewing type as form but also the importance of minimalism in presentation.

Project 2 was an extension of the first. The students took what they learned working with type as form and were tasked with adding a second letter to create more interesting compositions. This proved to be a lot more challenging than you would think but I believe they came out the other side with a new understanding of type.

Project 3 could be seen as taking it a step further but it's not without its differences. The students were to create a pattern by repeating one letter. They would scale and rotate but had to leave the letter intact and were restricted to the one letter. It proved to be a little more fun than the previous projects and gave them the opportunity to learn about grids, percentages, math and geometry, and new tools in Adobe Illustrator.

Project 4 was about using type to illustrate a texture. Students were asked to take pictures of interesting textures and bring them to class upon which they were informed that they would be recreating those textures with type. This is also the only project they were allowed to use color and I was honestly impressed with their work. Very solid.

Project 5 is where we really shifted gears. Up until then we had focused on type as forms but with project 5 we started to think about the meaning of type. We focused on nouns. The students were tasked with creating some sort of formal correspondence using type. I think they really delivered on this one.

Project 6 was the other half of project 5. Whereas in project 5 we used nouns, in project 6 they had to use verbs. Furthermore I tried to steer them away from using formal correspondence in favor of a more metaphorical approach but that only worked so well. Both camps of students did a pretty solid job.

Project 7 was the natural next step in our "type as meaning" series. The students were to take two word opposites and create a visualization of them by having the two word act in totally opposite ways. This proved to be a tough challenge. The students had an easy time visualizing the words on their own but having them exist relative to each other was a challenge. However, by the end I could tell they were starting to get the hang out it. This project was extremely important because it taught them to think about design elements relative to each other as opposed to individual elements within a composition. 

Project 8 was what I consider to be the fun project. The goal was to create a brand new set of letters using existing strokes and forms within Helvetica and Times. They were taught how to dissect letters and were tasked with rearranging them into something interesting. A few students stuck to very simple and elegant designs but there were plenty of over-the-top designs with obvious Egyptian, Eastern, or South American influence. This was really their time to let loose and create something fun and interesting while also using the skills they'd learned throughout the semester. This is definitely my favorite part of the class.

Project 9 is where we start thinking about type in the context of "body." Up until now there had been a strong focus on the shape, form, and meaning of individual letters but now it was time to think about how copy can be used to create interesting compositions. The students were given a headline, a sub-headline, and body copy for a fictional film festival advertisement and were told to make three different designs - one headline-dominant, one sub-headline dominant, and one body-dominant. We went over different way to show hierarchical dominance (weight, size, color, breaking the grid, etc.) and the students got to work. It turned out to be a pretty eye-opening experience for a lot of them and I believe everyone learned a lot.

Project 10 was the final project. We took everything we had learned so far and put it to use. Type as form, metaphorical type, formal correspondence, hierarchy - everything! The students were to take a quote, poem, or lyric and create an interesting composition that embodied the spirit of their chosen copy. The results were all over the place in terms of presentation and content but across the board everyone did a solid job. It was a great way to end a semester.