Katalyst Design Emporium

The “Misuse It” Exercise Time: 2–3 minutes Materials: Any object near you Steps: Pick a random object. Think of 5 ways it could be used for something it wasn’t designed for. Pick the most interesting misuse. Turn it into a real idea. Write 2–3 sentences explaining how this “wrong use” could actually work as a product or concept. When I tried this exercise, this was my result: Object: Hoodie Misuse ideas: Turn it into a bag Use the hood as a pillow Wrap items in it for protection Use sleeves as storage Hang it as a curtain Chosen idea: Hood as a pillow Final concept:  A hoodie designed with extra padding in the hood so it can double as a travel pillow. It works as normal clothing but also becomes something useful for long trips or downtime. What I learned:  This exercise highlighted how often I automatically stick to what things are meant to do. At first I couldn't get away from its intended purpose, but once I got past that, it got easier to think of other uses. The ideas felt...

This week I really focused on the structure of design. I used to focus mostly on how things looked, but now I’m thinking more about how everything is set up and works together. Using character and paragraph styles in InDesign helped a lot. Setting them up once and applying them throughout made everything more consistent. I also have a better understanding of typography now, thanks to the typography primer. It’s not just about choosing fonts, it’s about hierarchy, spacing, and alignment.  Legibility and readability are not the same thing, and s mall changes can make a huge difference in the overall piece.  Overall, I’m starting to think about design more as a system, not just how it looks.

  For this project, I chose bat conservation because it connects to work I’ve already been doing, and it gave me a clear message to design around.  I really wanted to focus on the tone throughout the brochure. Bats are usually seen as scary, and I knew I wanted to bring a different emotion to the project. The headline “Not Scary. Essential.” sets the mood for everything else. It’s simple and direct, and it makes people rethink what they assume. After that, I made sure the rest of the content supported that idea by focusing on what bats actually do and why they matter. I wanted the layout to feel easy to follow. Each panel has a clear purpose, starting with why bats matter, then introducing the conservancy, then showing what the experience is like, and ending with how people can help. Breaking everything into sections makes it easier to read and keeps it from feeling like too much information at once. I also tried to keep everything visually consistent. Bats are usually paired ...

Stop Wasting Time in InDesign - Do These 7 Things Repeat Gradient Text Effect How to Design Magazines for Beginners to Print & Publish Spreads Things I learned: How to set/change default text for current and future projects How to edit the text frame (this would have been especially helpful while adding pull quotes with colored backgrounds!). There are a lot of changes you can make to the text frame, like alignment, offset, and more. How to do a scaling gradient text effect with the gradient tool How to use the step and repeat option to evenly space out repeating content (much more precise than copy/pasting and trying to line everything up and space it evenly) Using the color theme tool to crate a color palette for the project

The “Before/After” Exercise Time: 3–5 minutes Materials: None (paper optional) Steps: Pick a simple action.  Something everyday. Write what happens before the action.  What leads up to it? Write what happens after the action.  What’s the result or outcome? Now redesign the middle.  Change how the action itself works to make the transition between before and after smoother, more interesting, or more intentional. Write 2–3 sentences describing your new version. When I tried this exercise, this was my result: Action: Unlocking your phone Before: You pick up your phone to check something quickly After: You get distracted by notifications Redesigned middle:  A phone lock screen that asks what you intend to do before unlocking and filters everything else out. It keeps you focused on the original task instead of pulling you into distractions. What I learned : This exercise made me pay more attention to the flow of an experience instead of just the action itself. B...

A key learning point for me this week is how much structure matters. Constructing the layout feels like building a system that guides how someone moves through the content. When the structure is clear, everything feels more organized and easier to follow.  I've started to grasp typography and its importance. It’s not just about picking fonts, but about how those fonts function. Spacing, hierarchy, and consistency all affect how something actually reads. Small adjustments can affect the overall experience.  I also started thinking more about restraint. We've been taught that "less is more", and I understood that in a general design context, but I'm learning how that also applies to typography. Instead of adding more elements, fonts, or styles, it makes more sense to work within a system and use it well.  I’m starting to see design less as decoration and more as a way to support the content. Everything has a purpose, and when it’s done right, it helps the rea...

I learned a lot from these videos, but here are 5 specific things to summarize: Double-clicking the adjustment/sizing corner of your text box shrinks the bounding box and text for optimization. Using shapes to create interesting breaks in text and white space that still look cohesive. CTRL + ALT + Shift + C fits your image to its frame. How to text wrap letters for dramatic visuals. I learned that grid systems have been around since the Renaissance, and I thought that was a neat fact! The Secret to Perfect Design Layouts How to make BEAUTIFUL and EASY InDesign Layouts Examples of what I learned watching this video: More InDesign Layouts Examples of what I learned watching this video:

The “Three Objects” Exercise Time: 3–5 minutes Materials: Look around the room Steps: Pick three random objects near you.  They should not normally go together.  Combine them into one concept. Imagine they are part of the same product, tool, or system. Decide what problem it solves.  Even if the idea is weird, give it a purpose. Write 2–3 sentences explaining what it is and how it works. When I tried this exercise, this was my result: Objects: Headphones, plant, lamp Concept: A desk lamp that has small built-in speakers similar to headphones and a space in the base for a small plant. The light creates a calm workspace, while the speakers play soft audio without filling the room. The plant adds a small natural element, so the desk feels more relaxing to work at. What I learned: At first, the objects felt completely unrelated, but once I started thinking about how they might work together, the concept started forming pretty naturally. It made me realize that creativity...

Week 1, I worked on a design project that focused on creating a two-page magazine spread in Adobe InDesign. The assignment was to write an article about one of our hobbies and then design the layout as an editorial piece. I chose to write about sewing and designing custom ravewear since it is something I spend a lot of time doing outside of school. It felt natural to design something around a topic I care about. One thing I learned during this project is how important layout is when presenting written content. Writing the article was only part of the process. Once I brought the text into InDesign, I had to think about how the reader would move through the page. Setting up columns, placing images, and organizing sections helped guide the eye through the article. It made me realize that design choices affect how people experience the information on the page. I also learned more about working with typography. Seeing how different fonts interact helped me understand how typography creates ...

For our first project, we were tasked with writing a 2-page article spread featuring at least 3 photos discussing one of our hobbies or interests. Naturally, I  chose sewing and the rave community!  I learned so much while working on this project. So far, I really like InDesign. It feels very user-friendly if you've had any experience with other Adobe programs. I learned how spacing can really affect how legible an article is, as I had to play around with this quite a bit to get it right. I also knew I wanted to include an enlarged quote panel, which I promptly learned needed to be a group before applying text wrapping. I kept losing my text until I figured this out.  Figuring out where to place the images was a bit of a challenge, as I knew I wanted to use circular frames. That changed the page layout a lot as I was editing because of their shape, but overall, I think it worked in the end. I also chose these images specifically because they are a real reflection of my br...

How to make Picture-in-Word Layout:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkF_y1nf8EE 3 EASY InDesign Clipping Techniques:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Yp0Y4sxeYY EASY HALFTONE PATTERN Layout:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMagqgJHg28 What I learned: How to create compound paths out of text and then fill the letters with the picture behind them. How to use the pen tool to create a fun frame. How to use a vector as a frame for dynamic effects. How to create cutout effects using the pen tool and drop shadows How to use Illustrator and InDesign collaboratively to achieve some of these designs.

The “Five Layers” Exercise Time: 3–5 minutes Materials: Paper or notes app Steps: Pick a simple object. Write what it is used for. Ask “Why?” five times. Each answer should go one layer deeper than the last. Use the final answer to generate a new idea or perspective about the object. When I tried this exercise, this was my result: Object: Notebook A notebook is for writing things down. Why do we write things down?: To remember information. Why do we need to remember information?: Because we forget things. Why do we forget things?: Our brains can only hold so much at once. Why can our brains only hold so much?: Because we are constantly taking in new information. Resulting idea: A notebook designed to help organize thoughts visually instead of just storing them. Instead of plain pages, it could guide users through different ways of thinking, like sketching ideas, mapping connections, or grouping thoughts, so information is easier to process instead of just being written and forgotten. W...

The “Overhear Yourself” Exercise Time: 3–5 minutes Materials: Notes app or paper Steps: 1. Write 5 sentences you’ve said recently.  Pick one sentence.  Treat it like a design brief. My Examples: “I’m tired.” “I don’t have time.” “I’ll do it later.” “That’s not really my thing.” "I don't feel like doing that." 2. Ask: What does this sentence say about priorities? What problem is hidden inside it? If this sentence were a product, space, or system, what would it look like? 3. Write 2–3 sentences describing the concept. When I tried this exercise, this was my result: Sentence: "I don't have time." Concept: A calendar app that shows not just your scheduled tasks, but how much time you actually spend scrolling or procrastinating (tracking apps like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook). Instead of adding pressure, it visually reveals where time already exists. What I learned:   I realized how much creative material is hiding in things I say without thinking.  A sentence li...

Our final assignment for week 3 was to create 4 branded touchpoints for our restaurant. As I wrote in this week's Design Blog, I had difficulty with this at the start because I didn't understand what a touchpoint was, let alone that there were different categories for them! Once I understood what touchpoints were, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. While Nightshade & Nectar is a Spanish-Asian fusion restaurant, at its core, it's a tearoom. Because tea is the basis of everything here, I wanted to provide a few tea-centered touchpoints. In-Restaurant: Branded Tea Cups I love the idea of using mismatched china, and customizing different styles of teacups would lean into that concept. A branded teacup supports the idea that tea anchors the entire meal, while tying in the celestial aspect of the environment.  Take-Away/Post Visit: Takeout Bags The bag is simple intentionally. The dark purple tone and silver detailing carry the same aesthetic as the space. When someone walks...

This week, I kept catching myself overdesigning. Every time something felt flat, my instinct was to add more. More texture, more words, more drama. But when I stripped things back, the work felt stronger. The mood is already built into the lighting, the color palette, and the typography; I didn't need to keep reinforcing it in obvious ways. Getting the tone right was the hardest part. If it leaned too mystical, it felt performative. If it leaned too polished, it felt corporate. Finding that middle ground where it feels thoughtful and a little whimsical, but still believable as a real restaurant, took a lot of adjusting. The touchpoints were a challenge for a few reasons.  At the time of writing this, I'm still working on the finishing touches for submission, but I know exactly where I'm going with them.  The first challenge was that I didn't know what touchpoints actually were. The second was understanding what each category in our assignment actually meant. Once I unde...

The “Zoom In” Exercise Time: 3–5 minutes Materials: One object near you Steps: Pick a random object within reach.  (Pen, sleeve, keyboard key, shoe, receipt, anything.) Choose one tiny section of it.  Not the whole object, just a detail.  (The stitching on the sleeve, one key on the keyboard, the tip of the pen.) Describe that tiny section as if it’s enormous.  Pretend you’re looking at it under a microscope or through a camera lens. Focus on texture, shape, shadows, imperfections. Now imagine this “tiny detail” is actually a landscape. What lives there? What kind of environment is it? Write 2 or 3 sentences describing this new world. When I tried this exercise, this was my result: Object: Backpack Tiny detail: Zipper teeth When I zoom in on the zipper teeth, they start to look like a tiny row of metal blocks lined up side by side. They are not perfectly identical. Some catch the light more than others, and a few are slightly worn.  If I imagine it as ...

One of our assignments this week was to create 3 branded social media posts. I chose to go with Instagram, as it seemed the most likely platform for my chosen demographic.  Our instructions were: One post that promotes the dining experience One post that highlights food or ingredients One post that supports the brand story or values Food & Ingredients Post: The Dining Experience: Brand Story or Values: