From Studio to Classroom: Bridging Practice and Pedagogy for Tech-Driven Design Future

As a designer and educator, my work focuses on integrating emerging technologies into communication design through experimentation, collaboration, and critical reflection. I bring these values into the classroom through initiatives like Creative Emergence: AI && You and Random Actor, a tool I co-developed to explore improvisation and human-computer interaction through performance. These projects encourage students to embrace unpredictability, question authorship, and explore new modes of making across mediums.

As Creative Director of the Spark! Innovation Fellowship at BU’s Center for Computing & Data Sciences, I mentor interdisciplinary teams developing human-centered digital products—collaborations that inform my teaching across the Graphic Design program, the School of Visual Arts, and the College of Fine Arts. This cross-college work encourages students to navigate ambiguity, think systematically, and develop meaningful, tech-enabled outcomes.

These same principles extend into my professional practice as founder of Design Axl, a consultancy working at the intersection of design, data, and emerging technologies. Studio projects—from branding for AI startups to interactive installations—mirror the values I champion in the classroom: adaptive thinking, ethical design, and clarity of communication.

In this talk, I’ll share how these intersecting experiences—in academia and practice—inform a flexible, responsive pedagogy that prepares students to lead in a rapidly evolving design field, not just react to it.