What if your origin - your heritage, community, or the friendships that have shaped you - became the spark for something bigger? What if that spark could fuel design thinking, storytelling, and visual communication? 
In this studio, you’ll turn inward to explore your personal identity as a catalyst for creative expression. You’ll learn how to translate memory and meaning into a purposeful brand narrative through design. With a strong focus on brand strategy, visual identity systems, and narrative-led design, Make Your Mark: ORIGINS challenges you to transform personal roots into compelling communication. 

This studio is grounded in current conversations around identity, authenticity, and the role of design in cultural storytelling. You’ll draw from branding theory, cultural studies, and design ethics to explore how individual and collective identity can be expressed visually and meaningfully. 
By engaging with case studies, creative campaigns, and critical texts, both local and global, you’ll begin to understand how designers build trust, meaning, and emotional resonance through their work. The studio encourages curiosity and critical thinking, using inquiry-led design methods to explore themes of representation, place, memory, and belonging. 

You’ll show what you’ve learned through a combination of research, conceptual development, and creative execution. Throughout the semester, you’ll build a body of work that includes narrative writing, brand identity design, and applied outcomes that bring your origin-inspired brand to life across print and digital media. 
Your final submissions will demonstrate how your design communicates a meaningful story - through concept, visuals, and written reflection. You'll be encouraged to document your creative process, explore challenges, and explain how your ideas evolved into a cohesive and purposeful brand identity. 

Across the semester, studio time will be filled with guided ideation exercises, creative mapping, and hands-on design development. You’ll participate in regular group discussions, peer critiques, and one-on-one feedback sessions that help you sharpen your ideas and elevate your design thinking. 
Guest speakers may join us to share insights from the worlds of branding, cultural design, and personal storytelling. Where possible, an excursion will offer the chance to see how place and context shape creative responses. This studio values collaboration, curiosity, and open dialogue, creating a space where your story, and your design voice, can flourish. 

PART 1 - STUDENT KNOWLEDGE OBJECT - 25%?Create an artefact that communicates your studio's progress in knowledge and skills as a reflective practitioner. The designed outcome should effectively convey your process, challenges, and learning. 
PART 2 - BACK TO MY ROOTS IDENTITY - 35%?Craft a personal response focusing on brand identity and visual communication, with the goal of authentically representing your selected 'ORIGIN'. 
PART 3 - MY ROOTS BRAND - 40%?Create a unique brand identity aligned with your chosen ‘ORIGIN’. Through research, identify opportunities, target audience, and brand positioning. Use print and digital media to build a compelling narrative that captivates your intended audience. 

Designing Brand Identity – Alina Wheeler 
https://www.itsnicethat.com 
https://eyeondesign.aiga.org