Welcome to Design School!

Sharpen your pencils and ready your notebook. It's time to geek out together.

You know it’s a good day when you match your mood board.

Hi there!

I’m very excited to welcome you to Design School. Before I send out my first post, I wanted to share a little bit more about me: I grew up in Northern California, spent my young adulthood in New England (studying at Smith College and RISD and working for many years at IKEA), and am now living the Pacific Northwest dream in Portland with my wife and son. I’ve been on the Schoolhouse design team for the past seven years, and I feel lucky to work with such talented people everyday.

A cozy corner of my home in Portland, Oregon.

I’ll admit, before the idea for Design School came along, my inspirations and ideas were usually pinned all over my office walls, curated in decks on my Drive, scribbled into notebooks, or filed away somewhere in my head. In other words: not out in the wider world, accessible to all. There is something vulnerable about showing your creative cards! But what I love about design is that it is iterative by nature. It takes multiple rounds (and minds) to reach a final point. It’s an exercise in riffing, where the best version isn’t necessarily what you had set out to make. Design opens up your eyes and expands your understanding of how things work and how people work. It’s a deeply creative practice applied to the most practical parts of our lives.

The view from my desk at Schoolhouse.

But back to Design School. Every Tuesday, I’ll be sharing the things sparking my interest in a few different sections: “Source Material” is the stuff I’m currently collecting simply because they inspire me or might even sneak into a future project. “Behind the Design” is where I geek out a bit more on a particular subject, or give you a look into the design process for a particular product. “No Notes” are those fun little discoveries that don’t require much explanation. Some weeks, I’ll also include a few ways that I’ve shaken up my creative mindset or share a prompt that really spoke to me. I basically experience everything through design and can’t wait to hear more about how it influences your every day, too.

See you in the comments!

Katie xx