A real brief
We set the frame, not the solution. Just like with a client project.
Your own project
Not assisting. Deciding. From the first sketch to the finished box.
A real handover
In the end, the studio actually uses the result. Day to day, every lunch break.
Six phases.
One project.
Designers Dish is just the example. Every self-led project runs through the same phases, whether it takes three weeks or eight months.
Phase 01
Brief & framework
It starts with a deliberately open brief. A rough scope, a topic, a target group, and nothing more. Everything else is decision space, and that's the first lesson. Without a tightly defined task, you have to learn to define one for yourself: How far does this go? What's actually meant? Where's the room to move, and where's the line? Asking and answering those questions is a core skill you rarely practice in a classroom.
Phase 02
Ideation & game concept
Many quick sketches beat one perfect one. This phase is about getting ideas out before judging them. We sit down together, run through paper prototypes, and test concepts long before anything goes digital. It trains you to think in variations, let go of your first idea, and trust the process. Produce a lot of bad ideas early, and you get to a good one faster.
Phase 03
Concept & look
A moodboard, targeted style research, a deliberate design reference. Here you learn to justify visual decisions instead of just feeling your way to them. What's the common thread? Why this color, why this shape? Those answers need to hold up before a single file gets opened. The output isn't a finished design, it's the foundation everything else builds on.
Phase 04
Graphics & illustration
Your first illustration series, with real stylistic direction. Not a single element, but a whole system that holds together side by side. Mentoring here is occasional, not constant. We're not looking over your shoulder, we're giving input and letting you decide. The goal isn't a result we like, but one you understand and can stand behind yourself.
Phase 05
Prototype & craft
From the screen into your hands. Printing, cutting, assembling. Thinking through packaging. The first time you realize what looked great on screen needs different decisions in the physical world. In the workshop, the first hands-on iterations take shape. Real materials, real trial and error, and the understanding that a prototype isn't a finished product, it's a question in object form.
Phase 06
Handover & playtest with the team
Presented to the whole studio. The project isn't submitted, it's handed over, introduced live, played on the spot. Feedback comes in the same session the result gets used for the first time. It's not a polished wrap-up, it's the most realistic moment in the whole process, exactly how it works with a real client too.
Glimpses from
the studio
Sketches, print sheets, material samples, and the moments in between.
What's left once a project is done.
It wasn't just computer skills that mattered. Hands-on craft and openly communicating your own opinions and ideas counted just as much.
Ready to get in touch?
Just send us an email. A brief note is plenty. What matters most is seeing your work.
