Foundations
Start here if you are new. Each studio teaches the tools and the vocabulary you need before you begin critiquing. Finish one, then come back and pick Level 200 in the menu above.
Ready for Level 200?
Level 200 is open to both Graphic Design and Photography students. There is a Graphic Design path and a Photography path, and you can choose either one (or both) here or from the Level menu at the top of the page.
Graphic Design 200: Visual Communication
Read finished work: where the eye goes, how the layout is built, and what that structure does to the message. Pick the Graphic Design track here (a Photography track is also available).
Photography 200: Designing with Light
A photography only course on lighting styles, natural light, focus, product shots, 25 photographers, planning a shoot, color and mood, and model releases.
You need the Level 100 vocabulary, but you do not need to finish every lab.
Jeff Fassbinder
Teacher of Graphic Design and Photography
Bio
I teach Graphic Design and Photography to students who mostly arrive without having chosen either one. That is the job, and I like it.
For ten years I have worked in general education classrooms, where a single room holds the student who sketches constantly and the student who needs a credit. My own training is a BFA in graphic design. I am finishing a Master of Arts in Teaching at San Diego State University, and the research I have done there, including a course on design for creativity with technology and AI, has changed how I build lessons.
What I keep returning to is the cost of a mistake. A student learns a demanding skill fastest when failure is cheap, a second attempt is immediate, and the result is visible. A crooked crop, a muddy palette, a misplaced anchor point: each should teach, never embarrass.
Studio Time is that conviction applied to design and photography. I wrote its goals, tested it with my own classes, and decided what stayed. It gratified me to watch students use it. It also made me think, for the first time, about legacy: what a teacher leaves that keeps working after the bell.
What the site is for
Studio Time exists to give every student a path into design that does not depend on already being good at it.
Most introductory courses reward the students who arrive confident. Studio Time inverts that. Each studio breaks a skill into small, checkable steps. The games turn the dull but essential fundamentals, such as reading a ruler, placing an anchor point, or naming a feeling before drawing it, into short rounds a student wants to repeat. Support sits beside every challenge, so a student who does not yet know how to measure in inches can still earn the win.
The intention has three parts. Build confidence before difficulty. Make practice private, so a mistake costs nothing socially. Keep the teacher free to teach, because the site handles repetition and the room handles conversation.
Privacy
Studio Time has no accounts and no server collecting student data. Progress lives in each student's own browser on their own device. I see a class's progress only when I run the site from my own computer, where the data stays private.
How it was built
Studio Time began as my project for Design for Creativity with Technology and AI, a course in the Department of Education at San Diego State University. I built it in collaboration with an AI model, Claude. I set the goals, tested each piece with students, and decided what stayed. The assistant drafted code and copy at my direction, and I treated every draft as something to question.
Games
Short games that build real design skills. Pick one. Your stars and scores save on this device only.
Press Check
Pen Path
Feeling Ladder
Measure Up
Experimental type
Reference Library
Read a design like a critic.
Every layout makes decisions before you read a word. In this level you study original designs and photographs in the manner of famous artists, predict where your eye goes, test the structure with five lenses, and explain how the layout shapes the message.
How a critique works
Your objectives
About the artwork
Every design and photograph here was drawn for this course in the manner of a named artist. None of them reproduces a real poster, cover or photograph. Each case tells you what to search for if you want to see the originals.
Saving your progress
Checking how your progress is saved.
Ten ideas that structure every image
Use these as your vocabulary in every case. Each card says what to look for and where it shows up in the cases.
Vocabulary check
Five questions drawn from the ten ideas. You need four right. You can try again and get a fresh set.
Choose a case
Side by side
Two works that tackle the same job in different ways. Keep both pictures in view while you answer the questions, then write a short comparison.
Critique something from the real world
Pick one design or photograph you can see right now: a poster in the hallway, a cereal box, a sign, a news photo on your screen. Analyze it with the same five steps.
Before you write
- Choose one item. A single poster, package, sign, screen or photograph works best.
- Look for three seconds, then note where your eye went first, second and third.
- Squint. Write down what you can still see.
- Describe the item in words. Do not upload or share photos of people or private places.
Keep it about the design. Do not write names, addresses or other personal information about anyone.
Certificate
Complete every objective to unlock your certificate of completion.