Beyond the Paper Prototype: Teaching Design for Grades 7-12

Nancy Vanderboom Lausch has worked as a professional graphic designer with Herman Miller, Inc., directed a Kellogg Foundation Grant to improve the delivery system of art in the elementary schools of West Michigan, taught Art Education at Grand Valley State University, and written grants for Ox-Bow. Most recently, she chairs the Art Education Department at College for Creative Studies.

Since obtaining her PhD, Lausch has worked to combine her graphic design experience with the field of art education. As an advisor to DESIGN-ED, a national group organized to explore the application of design in the K-12 curriculum, she continues to explore the nexus of art and design.

Additionally, she continues to work with the Michigan Department of Education to re-write the State Visual Arts Standards, review model design lesson plans for Michigan Arts Education Instruction and Assessment (MAEIA) project, and review the current Elementary Certification requirements.

Stephen Schock has 28 years of design experience—including automotive, medical, exhibit, furniture, graphic, industrial, farming, digital products, toy products, footwear, large-scale sculpture, design research, and design thinking. He has been awarded the IDEA Gold Medal for Design Excellence and Innovation, and received awards for design excellence from the ID Annual Design Review, The Design Journal, and the Henry Ford Innovation Institute.

He has worked for numerous clients and manufacturers in North America and Europe, including General Motors, DKNY, Knoll, Stanley, Stryker Medical, Deutz-Fahr, New Holland, SAME, Marshall Fields, Northwest Airlines, World Wrestling Entertainment, Graceland Entertainment, Hella, Bede Jet, RL corp, and Mitsubishi Electric. He has led multidisciplinary student design projects with Fortune 500 corporations, Nike, Samsung, Stanley Black & Decker, Reebok, Steelcase, and New Balance/Warrior, and research projects with Whirlpool, Magna International, Chrysler, and the user experience group Lextant.

Shock's current focus is working with Detroit centric entrepreneurs and corporations to create product opportunities for local economic development related to lifestyle, health, energy, and material reuse.

Greg Darby graduated from the College for Creative Studies with a focus on consumer product design and furniture design, and has been working in the design field for 20 years. He began his career at Steelcase in Grand Rapids, MI, where he designed and reintroduced two high-end wood office systems for Stow Davis and other various office furniture products for the Steelcase's Wood furniture division.

In 1998, he became a senior designer at Sundberg-Ferar, a product design consultancy in the metro Detroit area, where he worked for 6 years on a wide variety of design projects including automotive interior components, medical equipment, residential furniture, and home appliances. He was the design lead for Kenmore Brand refrigeration products for 5 years, where he helped introduce the Kenmore Elite line of appliances.

Darby managed multiple corporate-sponsored design studios with clients such as Motorola, General Motors, Henry Ford Hospital, Johnson Controls, and Shingle, with projects ranging from social responsibility to medical devices, bicycles, automotive interiors, and watches.

Manal Kadry graduated from College for Creative Studies in 2006 with a degree in Product Design and Certification to teach Visual Art K-12. She has been teaching at Henry Ford Academy: School for Creative Studies since 2009.

Manal is also Lead Designer at Design by MK where she practices interior design. Her strengths as an interior designer are color, renovations, custom furniture, and event planning.