Design Development and Professional Practice

This unit advances students from foundational skills to iterative design development and professional practice. Learners apply sketching, proportion, color, typography, AI and mobile tools to produce accessible, data-informed designs and make real-world business decisions including pricing, client engagement, and rejecting speculative work.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze project data, user research, and briefs to justify composition, proportion, scale, and typographic hierarchy decisions during sketching and design development
• Apply color theory, contrast measurement, and accessibility guidelines to create and document accessible color combinations and typographic systems across multiple mockups
• Demonstrate proficiency in production workflows by creating iterative design developments using budget-conscious desktop software, mobile apps, and AI-assisted tools, incorporating advanced image recognition where appropriate
• Evaluate professional practices by preparing price estimates, comparing freelance and agency models, rejecting speculative work, and assembling portfolio-ready presentations that prioritize above-the-fold impact